Coastal visit
Jun 22
Saturday had very comfortable weather temperatures hovering at around 75 degrees without a lot of humidity; I decided to take a chance and drive to Cherryfield, ME with Robin in hopes to spot Bald Eagles feeding on migratory Alewives in the Narraguagus River. The Alewives are an alternative prey for Loons, Bald Eagles, Heron’s, Osprey and other fish eating birds as well as triped bass, bluefish, tuna, cod, haddock, halibut, American eel, brook trout, rainbow trout, brown trout, lake trout, landlocked salmon, smallmouth bass, largemouth bass, pickerel, pike, white and yellow perch, gulls, terns, cormorants, seals, whales, otter, mink, fox, raccoon, skunk, weasel, fisher, and turtles. Alewives are plentiful which is why so many feed on them; other fish species benefit from this as well as some of food chain is spread out.
We made one detour in Gouldsboro to stop at her uncle’s that lives right on the coast, we wanted to look for Starfish and other shells for decorations in our future bathroom. The tide was starting to revela the coastal floor which provided us room to walk over ledge and found sea urchin’s, spike shells, spider shells and crab shells.
Next stop was Cherryfield, which ironically is the Blueberry capitol of Maine. We found the Narraguagus River, and a road that follows it; we stopped and hiked around on various trails but unfortunately did not spot any Eagles- I think if we had brought the kayaks we would have found a feeding ground eventually.
Robin’s parent’s live in Prospect Harbor, their house is about a mile from a sandy beach we we found razor clams; we headed to the Prospect Harbor Lighthouse in search of live crabs for decoration (boiled red and then dipped in acrylic). While I was taking photos of the lighthouse Robin was looking for crabs and shells; the tide had receded enough to reveal the hardened molten rock in which many clams, snails and other sea life clung to. Robin found a young crab hiding in between two boulders in a pool of water, we were able to capture it without pinches. I looked over admiringly at Robin bent over picking something up and slipped right into a pool of stinky, muddy, ses water- my legs, arm and chest splashed and covered a disgusting stomach turning smell. Fortunately we were not far from her parent’s house, we headed there quickly to clean up.
After cleaning up we headed to the Schoodic Byway which is 10 minutes from her parents. The gleaming sun was setting fast over the Atlantic. We arrived just in time at our favorite spot on Schoodic, an area that David had shown me last year and the very same area that Robin’s Brother Aaron had shown her as a child. We sat on the fringe of ledge 60′ above the waves crashing into the walls, watching the glowing radiant sun sink towards the horizon while listening to gulls crying below and lobster boats bringing in the day’s catch in the distance, our seats the meeting place of ledge and loose solid held together by roots of pine trees grasping on for life. The air was brisk; even for us, we sat arms around each other with a blanket over our legs until the sun had sunk to the west.
