Claudia and I are leaving Sunday for a two-week trip to Maine. We'll be spending time in Bar Harbor, Eastpoint, and Boothbay Harbor. This is not intended to be an all-lighthousing trip, so I've tried to keep our lighthouse destinations to a reasonable number. We've seen all the major ones from Nubble to Pemaquid, so we're concentrating on the coastline above the Portland area.

Besides Portsmouth Harbor NH, which we'll visit on the way up, I'd planned for us to see Bass Harbor Head, Hendricks Head, Rockland Breakwater, Owl's Head, Marshall Point, and West Quoddy. If we have time at Eastpoint, we'll drive over to East Quoddy. Also, if there's a convenient boat ride around Seguin Island, we'll probably do that.

I'd welcome comments as to any I've overlooked in the categories of:

"It's too important a light to miss," or

"We'll be right there anyway, and it won't take much extra time."

Any suggestions would be most appreciated.

Bruce

Just so you know, you won't get a very good look at Hendricks Head unless you see it from the water. There are tour boats out of Boothbay Harbor---just make sure they go by the light.

If you do drive down Southport Island to see Hendricks Head, you can get a good look at The Cuckolds Light (my favorite in the world) from the public landing at the tip of the Island. There is a sign pointing to the landing.

Have a great trip!

IMHO East Quoddy should not just be an "if we have time" destination, it should be the main goal of your entire trip. My visit to East Quoddy is one of my most memorable lighthouse memories. The only one I rank higher is my visit to Split Rock Lighthouse...

I totally agree with the other posts. I visit Maine on a regular basis (at any opportunity). There is just something about it that grabs me.

If you are going to be in Boothbay for any length of time there are a couple of fun things to do that are lighthouse related but also have other things. Cap'n Fish does a Kennebec River/Bath tour that I have been on a couple of times. You see 7 lights and many osprey. We have also seen bald eagles both times. WWW.Capnfishmotel.com will give you some good information. Also a fun day trip is out to Monhegan. They have great hiking as well as a beautiful lighthouse.

You can see Seguin in the distance from the Cap'n Fish tour but I wanted to get up close and personal so I called Howie Marston (207) 389-1883 and he took us out to the island on his lobster boat. That in itself was a fun adventure. The landing was an adventure also. He gets as close as possible and then you hop out of the dinghy and wade on in. I don't know if anything has changed in 2 years but it was a "not to be missed" in my opinion. The bonus was that he got very close to Pond Island on the return trip for some lighthouse shots and there were seals all around us. I found Captain Marston on the Friends of Seguin web page. WWW.Seguinisland.org

The fun thing that we did this year was a trip out to Isle Au Haut. WWW.Isleauhaut.com will give you schedules. We just cruised out and back but I will go back and do some hiking there. The boat had a pickup at the lighthouse so we were very close and got great pictures. The bonus lighthouse is Saddleback Ledge. You can see it to the right of the Isle Au Haut light tower. I had my binoculars with me and got a good view. While you are there you can also see Mark Island light, Pumpkin Island light and Eagle Island Light. Mark and Eagle Island are in the distance (I'll go back in a Kayak at some point) but Pumpkin Island is very close.

The best thing that I ever bought at Lighthouse Depot is the Lighthouses of Maine map. It has great directions. I have worn it out over the years. We are down to only 9 lighthouses to see. They are mostly downeast, so next September my vacation will be spent seeing the last 9 and hiking/kayaking around Mount Desert Island.

I'm not usually this wordy. See what happens when you ask about Maine Lighthouse?

Have fun, Terry

Paul is right. DO NOT skip East Quoddy - it is a truly wonderful experience. Down the ladder, across the beach, up the ladder, thru the woods, down the ladder and across the beach to the light. An adventure walking out to it! Don't forget that you must go out at low tide, so check the tide tables (15 foot tides in the Bay of Fundy!) The tourist center just into NB was a very good and helpful stop. Buy stuff in Canada, but be sure to use a credit card (usually get far better conversion rates than the locals offer.)

Did we mention DON'T MISS East Quoddy????

Have a fun trip,

Dave

We're back! We had a wonderful time, thanks in no small part to the great tips from you guys. I didn't get a chance to thank you all before leaving, and was off-line during the trip, so a BIG thanks now!

Paul and Dave, I agree completely - East Quoddy was the best lighthousing adventure we've ever had that didn't involve climbing over barbed wire!

Terry, we took the Kennebec River cruise, and we did see bald eagles and osprey in addition to the lights. We went counter-clockwise, which I understand is not the norm. It's great though, as it saves the best (lighthouses) for last.

Bill, my favorite picture from the entire trip is now only a mental one, since it was too ethereal to photograph: the Cuckolds Light fading in and out of sight through the fog on a misty morning. I took photos of the light later from the Kennebec River cruise, but it wasn't the same . . .

I'll post some photos next week when I have a chance to upload them. Again, thanks to you all for the tips.

Bruce

Bruce, glad to hear you had a great time! I have to agree that East Quoddy is one great adventure! We were lucky to be there at low tide when we were there in 1998. I ventured out there while a group was coming back. They warned me about the tide, but I made it back while just having to walk in about 2 inches of water. Within just a few minutes after that, the water was 3 times that deep! It's a great place, but I wouldn't want to get caught out there at high tide!

I agree East Quoddy is a must! We took the trip over to Campabello Island and it was well worth the time. Marshall point is another great lighthouse to see. I am pretty sure that you can take a cruise out of Bath to go to Seguin. While you are in Bar Harbor there is a small airport that we took a small airplane ride and saw many of the lighthouses in the area from the sky and it was great!

Hello all, our 21 day lighthouse trip to Maine, Mass, R.I. has finally ended.We saw a total of 40 Lighthouses, most was up in Maine. Like you all said the Quoddy lights was beautiful.
While standing on the trail looking over the East Quoddy we saw a pod of whales swim by,it has been a great trip and long.We drove to as many lights that we could then took a boat trip out of Portland Me. After we left Maine to go over to Cape Cod we slowed our pace down.We stayed on the Cape for 13 days, which included working a week as keeper at Race Point Lighthouse.
Even though we had to work a bit, picking up the guest, cleaning and so forth. I did manage to do some good fishing off the beach, caught alot of 20- 30 pound blue fish.
The guests was nice, Lighthouse Annie was there with her husband and mother for a night, they own the lighthouse store on 6A in E.Sandwich. Every night we had people coming and going, but you need more then a night at the Lighthouse. One night I decided was time for a lobster party, so I went down to a local Lobster man and picked up 16 2lb lobsters and a 5 lb one just in case we didnt have enough.
Well let me tell you 10 people with all those lobsters what a feast, considering one of the guest was a gourmet cook, he prepared a dinner fit for royalty.He made a corn chowder, fresh blue fish,like I have never tasted before.And other goodies.
What lobster that was left over we had great lobster salad for a few days.I decided that for now on working at the Race Point we will have all the guests join in on pot luck dinners and a lobster bake when ever we can.Our next schedule for working at Race Point will be next Sept.7th-14th 2003.
Hope to see you all there and if you ever have the time to stay at Race Point stay more then a day and enjoy it.
Tony and MaryAnn Poldino

Here is something in our local paper that might iterest some of you. go to WWW.Parade.com
It is about the government giving away lighthouses and how to get them.And also check out the Natonal Park web site on the page also.
Tony SunMoonBeacon@aol.com

It sounds like you had a fabulous time, Tony! Did you take any pictures to share with the members of the CF?

Bob