Stonington, Maine
July 19, 2024
When Larry suggested a return trip to Maine this summer, he mentioned finding a quiet spot on the coast. Stonington is just that, a small lobster village that is still primarily a quiet lobster village with some tourism but (thankfully) not discovered by the summer hordes.
On our way, we stopped at the Peary-MacMillan Arctic Museum at Bowdoin College. Both Arctic explorers were college graduates, and the museum has a wealth of artifacts, mounts, and photos from the expeditions of the early 1900’s.
We had planned to spend only a little while, but stayed almost two hours because of all there was to see and learn. Afterward, we grocery shopped and fueled up for the next week as there won’t be many opportunities on Deer Island. We had a lobster roll at LDI Lobster Dock and Dine as a late lunch/dinner, and we can report these were probably the best we’ve had.
Connecticut style, warm with butter, is better than Cape Cod style, served cold with mayonnaise, and here in Maine, we had a hybrid, which is warm lobster with a teensy bit of mayo, no celery, served warm on a brioche roll grilled in garlic butter. Mind blown. I’m not saying I’ll ever make a lobster roll, but if I ever make another grilled cheese sandwich, I’ll grill it in garlic butter!!
We pulled into Greenlaw’s Campground near Stonington at the bottom of Penobscot Bay, where our centrally located site only needed one trax to level. Larry assembled the bikes, so we were ready for a week of exploring!
We biked into town that weekend to check out the Lobster Boat Races, a Maine version of drag racing, and while we were there, we purchased tickets for the Isle au Haut ferry later in the week and biked to nearby Ames Pond.
Back at the docks, Larry spoke with a lobsterman who said that some boats are for racing only and others are working lobster boats.
We left before the big races to have lunch and leave for Castine in the late afternoon for our bioluminescence kayak tour. It was Bastille Day, and several events were occurring that we thought might make parking challenging to find. We drove past a street dinner on Court Street, where everyone dressed in their whitest whites and sat at tables arranged down the street.
We found our parking spot in the Town Dock parking lot and made dinner before joining our tour.
The kayak tour in Castine Bay and our experience with the bioluminescence was very different from Florida. In Florida, the bioluminescent organisms were much smaller and glowed so that you could see the outline of fish who swam by crabs and the foam on the waves. In Castine Bay, the organisms were small and discrete and seemed to sparkle when disturbed. Unfortunately, on our evening, the bioluminescent organisms were playing hide and seek, so we paddled around the bay in the dark until we finally found them and didn’t have much time to enjoy them before returning to the dock.
We finished well after midnight and considered spending the night at the boat launch as we wouldn’t return to the campground until 2 am. At least a dozen deer kept us wide awake on the drive home, some standing in the middle of the road daring us to bother them, and others loitering roadside looking undecided as to whether they should run out in front of us! The next morning, we slept in and took the day off until we biked a few miles to Burnt Cove for an evening crab and lobster boil. The setting was quintessential Maine, dockside in a picturesque cove, with delicious crab and lobster fresh off the boat!
On Tuesday, we were at the ferry landing at 6:20 am to load our bikes onto the ferry and head out in the fog to Isle au Haut (haut is pronounced “hoe”).
We were the only passengers other than some locals hired to look at moving some houses on the Island. Larry especially had a nice chat with them about their travels—they’d hiked rim to rim on the Grand Canyon—which confirmed our beliefs to work hard, play hard, and buy good gear for your adventurous life. On the Island, we first biked to the ranger station, where we ate the breakfast burritos I’d packed.
We chatted with the friendly ranger before biking to the Robinson lighthouse and then Duck Harbor Trail to Deep Cove.
It was a solid two-mile hike to a quiet cove, though not as scenic as we would see later.
We stopped by Shark Point Beach along the road before parking our bikes and taking the Ebens Head Trail to Eben Head. Eben Head was a neat hike to a rock outcropping with a panoramic coastline view. We saw a seal checking out lobster traps and the lobstermen making their rounds of the traps.
Larry even captured a lobster being returned to the sea!
As we biked and hiked, we found blueberries and raspberries for snacks!
We took the Goat trail to Western Head, where we ate a Mountain House dehydrated meal we’d made ahead. This trail also took us to Barred Harbor, Squeaker Cove, and (a different) Deep Cove. There were tons of roots, rocky beaches, panoramic views, ripe berries, and tons of roots and rocky beaches. It was a trail to remember and well named, as you needed to be a goat to navigate it well!
Afterward, we completed biking the 12-mile perimeter of the Island, bought a magnet at Shore Shop Gifts, and caught the 4:30 ferry home. It was a different return trip, with a boat full of day hikers and a large family on bikes. We’d seen only four people the whole day, so we had no idea where these folks were! The Island’s magic that day was in the southern part of Acadia National Park—in its solitude, remoteness, wildness, and feeling of isolation (perhaps heightened by the fog). I guess that speaks volumes about who we are.
This island looks different from the morning trip!
Back at camp, we showered, had a snack, and fell into bed, where we slept almost 11 hours, perhaps from all the activity compounded by sleep deprivation earlier in the week. We changed sites, as there was an electrical issue at our site, and we like the new one even better tucked into the woods.
In the late afternoon, we dressed up for a rare and memorable treat! We drove to Aragosta at Goose Cove, a small resort restaurant a few miles away, for an 8-course tasting menu, each with small portions but fabulous taste combinations of locally sourced land and sea dishes. We enjoyed each other’s company and discussed where we’ve been and our plans for the future. As one of our friends would say, “wonderful, wonderful!”
On our last full day on the Island, we biked back down to the docks, where we met Zach from Stonington Paddle for a four-hour paddle.
We paddled first to Green Island and The Preserve, where we walked a trail. He identified plants and birds and discussed the granite quarrying around the area.
Ghost pipe-never seen these before
We strolled past a quarry pit where locals often swim before paddling to Little Camp Island, where we beached the kayaks to roam about.
This seal was checking us out
We rock-scrambled and hunted for blueberries and raspberries, and Zach tried to find clams—clear skies and mostly calm winds made for a perfect trip to end our time exploring Stonington.
Back at camp, Larry disassembled and stowed the bikes while I did laundry before Larry grilled a steak dinner for us to enjoy. On Friday, we left Stonington and headed down east, stopping at the Wooden Boat School, and Larry watched some classes in progress for a while.
We walked to the dock and agreed that this area had an undeniably perfect vibe.
Next, we spend a week in Acadia National Park!
Isle au Haut is currently seeking residents according to this article:
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2024/06/13/lifestyle/tiny-maine-island-recruiting-new-residents/