9/2 to 9/5 - Lubec, Maine

The drive south from St Agatha to Lubec on Wednesday was half good, half not.  US 1 to I-95 at Houlton was good, but from Houlton to the coast it was more bone-jarring pavement.  We were told it was because of all the big trucks traveling that section, many of them loaded with logs.  There is no other road to take so we couldn’t get here any other way.  We’ll have just one more section of US 1 on Wednesday between here and I-95 near Bangor.  We’re hoping it won’t be as bad because it’s much more heavily used by tourists.  Maine has three big industries – seafood, lumber and tourism.  Maybe the roads most used by tourists will be in better shape.

After driving so far from NC we ended up in Mars Hill……Maine, that is.  Complete with a windfarm taking advantage of a ridge which sticks up over all the surrounding land.  We also went through Charlotte.  Felt right at home.

Lubec (pronounced Lu-BEC) is the easternmost town in the U.S.  It’s a tiny little place at the end of a spit of land between the ocean and Johnson Bay, just across the narrows from Campobello Island, NB, where FDR and Eleanor had their summer home.  Our campground is on a spur in the bay which gets terrific sunsets.  It’s the only campground in Lubec.  It’s tiny, approximately 28 sites except this weekend.  It’s busier than usual because of Labor Day and people are being stuffed into places that aren’t really sites.  There isn’t a speck of shade and the spaces are so close together it’s like being parked on a dealer’s sale lot.  Our site is 19.5 feet wide and our RV with slides out is 13 feet.  Both neighbors are crowded towards our site so we actually have about 18 feet.  Picnic tables are across the road and 40 feet in front of the sites.  They’re capitalizing on the view which is great once you get out in front of the campers.  We’re glad we’re getting to see this area but sardine-can-camping is not our thing. 

Sunset on Wednesday.

Sunset on Saturday.

Skinniest campsite we’ve ever had.  This place wasn’t designed for big rigs with slides on both sides.

On Thursday we went into Lubec (about 1.5 miles away) to check out the town and arrange for our whale watching boat tour on Friday.

This house has an Acadian star on it but it’s the only stylized one we’ve seen.  Every other house with a star has a regular-shaped one.  Most are yellow but a few are customized to match the trim.  There are stars on lots of houses in the St John Valley around Madawaska.  After puzzling over it for a while we finally found someone to ask about it.  The 2014 Congres Mondial Acadien (Acadian World Congress) was held in the Madawaska area last year.  There was an influx of about 30,000 Acadians which the area’s available hotels and campgrounds couldn’t handle. Everyone who was willing to help the visitors put a star on their house so people would know where to go for assistance and lodging.  They’ve kept the stars on their houses even though the next gathering will not be there.  Since the 2019 Congress will be held in southeastern New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island, the stars here probably mean the same thing as in the Madawaska region.  It is anticipated that the Congress will draw as many as 300,000 people which will be a huge benefit to the economy of NB and PEI……and hopefully even the Maine border region which was originally part of Acadia.  This area sure can use any help it can get.

The main street in downtown Lubec.  Many buildings have been abandoned and are falling apart.  It looks like the town is really struggling.  Most of the open businesses are restaurants which will soon be shutting down for the season.

Lubec is at the southern end of the Bay of Fundy which has the highest tides in the world.  In this area the tides range from 19 to 29 feet (highest at full moon).  At the head of the bay where Nova Scotia and New Brunswick come together, about 170 miles northeast of here, the tides are around 55 feet.  I thought this sounded really cool and was looking forward to seeing it.  What I didn’t know was that the bay, island and tidal river areas covered by the massive tides have a very gradual drop so you end up with mud flats stretching for long distances when the water is down.  There’s a whole lot more “down” time than “up”.  Only when the tide is nearly in is that part of the coastline pretty.  The rest of the time it’s muddy and unattractive.  The actual ocean coast is different, like around the light houses and the islands with cliffs on their waterlines.  Where it is rocky the coast drops off steeply so it looks good no matter where the tide is.  

The spit of water between Lubec and Campobello Island is called the narrows.  When high tide turns there’s a great rushing of water back out to sea.  In the picture the water is rushing to the right.  Gulls were riding the current, apparently just for fun.  The whole area was full of seals body surfing while a fish buffet was being delivered to them.  The pin-sized black dot is a seal’s head.  I couldn’t get a picture of a group of them.  The gull towards the front is standing on a breakwater which was covered with water at high tide.

Here’s the breakwater at lower tide.  It wasn’t even all the way out. 

On Friday we went on the whale watching and Old Sow boat tour.  Much calmer water than the puffin trip.  We saw only one whale but it was performing beautifully so was worth at least ten non-performers.

Minke whale breaching off Campobello Island.  The minke whale (pronounced “minky”) is the smallest of the ten baleen whale species, only 15 to 30 feet.  They filter krill, plankton and small schooling fish through baleen plates which grow from their upper gums.  Baleen is made of keratin, similar to our fingernails.  Minkes can live up to 50 years and are found throughout the world in subtropical to both polar regions.  They usually travel alone, sometimes in a small group, and spend less time near the surface than other whales.  We were very lucky to see this one up close.  It breached about eight times so we got a good look at it.

The other “event” of the boat tour was to see the Old Sow which is the biggest whirlpool in the Western Hemisphere and said to be the second biggest in the world.  It is at its best at the full moon which we’re past right now.  It also runs only one hour a day (actually two hours but the other hour is during the night).  We got there as it was winding down so what we saw was a lot of roiling water and several piglets.  It is thought that Old Sow got its name from the pig-like grunting noise it makes when it’s at its peak.

Picture from the internet.  This is what the whirlpool looks like at its best and what we were hoping to see.  I couldn’t even get a decent picture of any piglets, just a lot of churned up water which wouldn’t make any sense when seeing the pictures.

We went north past Campobello Island looking for more whales which we didn’t find.  We did get a good look at East Quoddy or Harbour Head Lightstation.  It’s a beautiful place, accessible on foot only when the tide is low enough.  As the water level comes up rapidly one would have to be very careful to return on time.

On our way to the Old Sow we passed the town of Eastport, Maine.  It’s only 3 or 4 miles from Lubec by water but 38 miles by land.  There’s no ferry so the land route is necessary unless you have access to a boat.  It’s a very attractive little town, quite a bit bigger than Lubec.

One of the many summer homes on Campobello, visible only from the water.  Some of the houses on the cliff had stairs built down to the water but not this one.  That would be a long climb back up.

Saturday morning we drove over to Machias to take in part of the Bold Coast scenic highway (a 66-mile round trip).  The Machias River pours under the road into the bay.  This is the way things look when the tide is out.  Mud.

The “scenic highway” really wasn’t scenic.  I had read that there were scenic overlooks but there weren’t any.  Most of the highway goes through the type of trees which are not scenic.  When it reached areas where water would have been visible (as in the harbor at Cutler), with the tide being too far out what we saw was more mud.  We were underwhelmed. 

On our way back from Machias we stopped at a visitor center and learned that this was one of a very few days during the year when the public could go up the West Quoddy Head Lighthouse.  So after a quick lunch we headed over there.  Fortunately it’s only about 5 miles from the campground.

  

West Quoddy Head Lighthouse.  It’s a beautiful place with a lovely view of Grand Manan Island in the background (which belongs to Canada).  The light and foghorn have been automated for years.  Upkeep has been assumed by the West Quoddy Head Light Keepers Association.  Every light house we’ve been in has been in a Coast Guard/private partnership where the CG maintains the light and the private organization takes care of the light house.  All these lighthouses have been restored by non-profits which were organized to save them.

At the top of West Quoddy Head Light.  Grand Manan Island on the horizon.

On the rocks below West Quoddy Head Light.  We went down there to get a picture of the lighthouse from a different perspective.  It’s a good thing we didn’t take our time at the rock where I took the picture or we would have had to wade to get back.  The tide moves really fast.

Today we went to the Salmon Festival at Eastport but I’ll cover it tomorrow (or Tuesday) along with our trip to the Roosevelt-Campobello International Park tomorrow.