My Life As A Sternman # 11 & #12

Sept 20, 2013
My Life As A Stern Man #11

Hi Folks,
Another beautiful day out on the water today. It has been such a rainy summer that any nice day, especially this late in the season, should be appreciated.

We had guests on the boat today; a chef from one of the local, upscale restaurants in the Old Port and his wife were invited aboard to see how the lobster his restaurant uses (from Maine Lobster Direct) is caught and delivered.

They were a delightful young couple and really interested in the whole process so we steamed out to the last of our traps between Portland Headlight and Ram Island Ledge. (We have been taking traps out of the water because it's the end of our season.) The Cap'n was able to show them 'eggers' and the difference between male and female lobsters, also the rock and sand crabs we get in our traps, as well as sand dollars and hermit crabs.
I stood aside and let him assume some of my duties as stern man. Bet you can guess what I so graciously let him do.... BAIT BAGS! The Cap'n chuckled and said I was so nice.
His family back in Greece are fisherman so he was a natural. It was interesting to find out that lobster is not a big favorite and very little is used in Greek cooking. Their lobster is the warm water spiny variety - missing the large crusher and ripper claws - so only the tails are used. It was a throughly pleasant day having them on board and we wish them well in their future.

Sept 21st...
We're back out again the next day to haul some more traps in. As we finished up, Royal Caribbean's Grandeur of the Seas was coming in to the harbor so we followed her down the channel.

I'm busy taking photos of her and seeing lots of flashes going off. The passengers on board are taking photos of us. I'll bet we're in lots of scrapbooks around the world!
Well, that's it for now. Be safe and, as the Cap'n likes to say, "stay out of the hot sun".

 Sept 25, 2013
My Life As A Stern Man #12

Hi Folks,
Well... I hate to say but this is my last blog of the year. On Tuesday, we head south for Florida's warm water and sunshine.
We left early this morning (0:00 dark hundred for the last time...yea!😀)

to haul out our remaining strings of lobster and crab traps. It would have been nice if the weather had cooperated but it was breezy and chilly enough for long sleeves.
We cast off and steamed over to Union Wharf to pick up one of our favorite people, the owner of Maine Lobster Direct. He wanted to take some photos (I think) of his very favorite lobsterman. And, of course (she says modestly), his fav stern-lady....although probably the only one he knows😏.

This last trip was bittersweet for me. I will be glad to get back to Florida - I've missed my friends, scrapbooking buddies, and the warm weather. We traveled this beautiful state, saw amazing places, ate at some fabulous restaurants and met wonderful, warm people. I have had an incredible summer and LOVED every minute as a sternman. Being with the Cap'n all summer has been the icing on top of the cake😘.



The boat has been hauled out and our traps are stowed for the winter. .

A huge thank you to Main Lobster Direct for allowing me to share my experiences. Lee, you have the absolute best and freshest lobster and seafood in Maine....dare I even say the whole United States! Hopefully our orders throughout the winter will sustain us until next summer. And a 'shout out' to Shawn at MLD for taking the time from his busy schedule to post my blogs - sorry if I bugged you😶. (note from Shawn "I loved doing it!")
I'll say good bye for now but look for this stern-lady again next summer as she rides the waves with more adventures in Casco Bay (and maybe even beyond😉).
Well, that's it for now. Be safe and, as the Cap'n likes to say, "stay out of the hot sun".

Catching up with "My Life as a Sternman"!

Sept 1, 2013

My Life As A Stern Man #8

Hi Folks,
Well, it's Labor Day weekend and the Sunday ban is lifted as of today September 1st. The weather was warm, humid and really beautiful with a glassy sea. There were a fair amount of lobster boats out today. We had just finished hauling around 1:00pm when there was quite a bit of unfortunate excitement on the water. A 39 ft Sea Ray power boat caught fire in the main channel off the Portland Head Light. We immediately picked up speed and went to the rescue, along with every other lobster boat in the area. The lobstermen here in Portland/Casco Bay may not always get along but when there's trouble, you couldn't ask for a more tight-knit group willing to immediately pitch in and help.

The first boat on the scene rescued four passengers and a dog, then backed off as we all were told by the Coast Guard (via radio) to stand down in case the boat exploded. We could see the smoke turn from white to black all the way in. Unfortunately, she burned to a total loss. I'm sure we'll hear all about it on tonight's news.

 

The lobsters seemed to be celebrating the weekend too. They were dancing around inside our traps, flapping their tails and waving their 'crushers and rippers' and just couldn't wait to jump up and get banded. Wait.....that's not what they're doing?...not celebrating?... Well, I'm doing my 'happy dance' because we hauled some mighty big bugs today. Several were well over 2 1/2 to 3 pounds.


It's time for a good old fashioned lobster bake at home this weekend. There is nothing better than bringing home lobster fresh off the boat, putting our big kettle on the BBQ and chowing down 25 minutes later (Hint-MLD's OriginalCan-Bake, especially with shellfish, gives that very same 'fresh off the boat' flavor).
That's it for now. Be safe and, as the Cap'n likes to say, "stay out of the hot sun".

 

Sept 9, 2013

My Life As A Stern Man #9

Hi Folks,
Today's blog isn't about lobstering but about sailing because we just got home from a fantastic windjammer cruise aboard the Schooner Mary Day.

We spent the first night aboard in Camden Harbor, where we were greeted by Ted, our lighthouse guide for the cruise, dressed in a traditional keeper's uniform. 

The crew (Brittany, Jen & Jenny) showed us to our cabins and around the ship. The following history is from the Mary Day's Captain, Barry King.
"She was built in 1962 from an original design by Capt. Havilah Hawkins, who had formerly owned and operated schooners. The Mary Day was the first commercial sailing vessel built specifically for windjammer cruises. As a commercial sailing vessel she was designed for a different purpose than any of the other vessels at the time but she is none the less a commercial sailing vessel; the first schooner launched along the coast of Maine since 1938. Her design reflected the best examples of Capt. Hawkins' experiences aboard older schooners and added his own well-founded ideas about how to make a schooner more comfortable and easier to maintain.

The term “windjammer” was originally a derogatory term used by sailors in steamships when they referred to those sailing vessels that, instead of sailing straight up wind had to tack back and forth sailing as close to the wind as possible to go places. Nowadays the term windjammer refers to any of the traditional sailing vessels offering over night sailing cruises along the Maine coast."

Starting in Camden, we sailed up Penobscot Bay to Fort Point lighthouse, where we anchored for the night. First Mate 'Becca took us ashore in the Schooner's yawl boat where we met the Keeper and climbed to the top of the lighthouse.

Ted told us the history of the light and it's beautiful 4th order Fresnel lens.
Back down, we explored the ruins of Fort Pownal (dating from 1759) as this was originally a military base.
 

Off the next morning, we headed back down the other side of bay, eventually anchoring in the late afternoon at Eagle Island for another tour of the privately owned Eagle Rock lighthouse.

Sailing down Penobscot Bay the next day, we continued to meander among the islands enjoying the scenery and other boats along the way. We saw plenty of buoys and lobstermen hauling their gear.

Apparently in this part of the Bay, lobsterman only fish 2 traps per string... we would be exhausted trying to haul and reset 61 strings (120 traps) every two days! We anchored in a lovely little cove for the night.
Our last day out we crossed the Bay, sailing more in the open (instead of among the islands) and had a wonderful wind in our sails.  It was a great ending to a perfect cruise.

All totaled, we saw 15 lighthouses, climbed two, experienced rain, wind, sunshine and generally great weather, ate wonderful food, cooked by Rick on a wood stove,and made some great friends! 

It was nice to trade a diesel engine for quiet sails but we're back to reality and ready to start bringing in some gear as it is almost the end of our season. I'll let you know how things are going. That's it for now. Be safe and, as the Cap'n likes to say, "stay out of the hot sun".

Sept 10, 2013

My Life As A Stern Man #10

 Hi Folks,
It was a very cold 44 degree start with some fog this morning. You know, I don't understand the fog here in Maine. It comes in and out of the harbor and islands with no rhyme or reason. One minute it's getting heavy and we're loosing visibility, then I'll look up again and it's literally lifted up over the islands and there's bright sun. No warmth but still sunny. By the time we started hauling traps my fingers were frozen and my nose was dripping. You know it's really hard to wipe your nose with fishy gloves on. It's even harder to hold your breath over the bait barrel when you have to sniff to keep your nose from running. Yuk!

There must have been love in the air because today was all about 'little things'...baby crabs, baby lobsters, small fish and eels in the traps.

And lots of eggers too - both female lobsters bearing eggs as well as crabs with eggs.

Probably four out of every seven lobsters and all the crabs had to be thrown back because of eggs.

Even juvenile sea gulls were out in force today. And were they funny to watch. They were all grouped together (like teen agers) floating along with us while we hauled. Of course the mother gulls were chaperoning from the outside of the group. I'd dump old bait out of the bait bags over the side of the boat and the teens would just float there looking at it. After about five seconds, the mothers would start screeching, telling the kids to dive for the bait.

 The teen gulls just looked at the screechers...you know that look your teen gives you when you've said something that sounds like a foreign language. This went on for about three traps...just long enough for the mother gulls to decide the juveniles were about as dumb as a can of sardines (sound familiar). The adults took over and came flying out of the water every time a trap was hauled up. As soon as I emptied a bait bag, they were diving over each other and fighting for every morsel. Pretty soon the teens got the message (hummm) and joined in. I ended up having to empty the old bait into a bucket or I'd have been cleaning bird poop off of everything, including us!

Well, that's it for now. Be safe and, as the Cap'n likes to say, "stay out of the hot sun".