Before we arrived, we did the five mile detour to Matinicus Rock, home to Maine's largest Puffin colony, in the hopes of spotting a few of the adorable seabirds.
We were not disappointed. Although we could not land, we circled the little island twice and saw hundreds of them bobbing around in groups on the sea around us. I had the easy job of driving the boat while Maryanne tried to get good shots of the birds from a rolling and pithing platform.
The harbor at Matinicus Island is much too small and crowded with local lobster boats for anchoring, so we picked up one of the available visitor moorings. The system for paying is to go ashore, ask around, and see if you can find the right guy. Or you can put money in the attached canister. Just for the fun of it, Maryanne dug out our checkbook (I didn't even know we still had one!) and wrote her first check in what must have been a decade. With that done, we went ashore to have a little look around.
We enjoyed a day of simple, fun, quirky, idyllic island living!
We really would have liked to find a cafe or a pub as our way to contribute to the local economy, but alas, they have neither. We had to settle for an honor bakery where you take what you want and leave your cash in the box with the rest where we were able to pick up a fresh fruit popsicle (and pastries).
Fortified for the day, we decided to walk literally every trail on the island. We saw mossy forests and rocky sea cliffs and even found a little fairy village that seems to have been a school project.
Then we went to the library (One room. Just let yourself in and shut the lights off when you leave) for the only internet on the island. While we were in there, we noticed a lot of the islanders stopping in the middle of the road outside to check their messages.
One more stop at the bakery shack for an afternoon snack pretty much exhausted the available entertainment options on the island, so we made our way home for the night. This is when Maine's big tides got us. When we had arrived, the dinghy's gunwales had been almost level with the pier. It was easy to step off. Now our little boat was a tiny, half-grounded speck of yellow at the bottom of a long, slimy ladder.
When we got back to Begonia, I decided that between all of the sweaty, dusty walking, and the coating of seaweed slime from the ladder, I was going to follow the lead of some of the revelers on a nearby charter boat and try a refreshing swim/bath.
Well, those people are crazy. This water is still way too cold to be going into it for fun.
Mooring location >> On google maps - payable by the honesty system (instructions in the screw top jar on the mooring setup).
No comments:
Post a Comment