I've been spending the past few post-exam days putting together my March trip to Maine. In the process, I've discovered an incredible tool for planning which lights to see and skip, especially offshore.

Flickr.

I've used Flickr for several years now for my photo hosting, and love to peruse it whenever I'm planning to travel somewhere. But I never thought to use it for lighthouse planning. Here's how it's useful.

Example: I'm trying to figure out if I can get a good enough shot of Wood Island, ME Light to make it worth a stop. So I plug "Wood Island Lighthouse Maine" into the search function, and get this picture: http://flickr.com/photos/brentdanley/569918815/

This looks like a nice shot, from where I'd be taking mine. I might even be able to get tighter. So I click "More Properties" (under "Additional Information") to see what focal length it was taken at.

Seeing as this shot was taken at 112mm, I know I can both get a nice, tight shot with my 75-300 telephoto, as well as some more "atmospheric" shots at wider focal lengths. So I add the light to the itinerary.

I'm doing this for my whole trip, and it's amazing how much easier it is to judge the worthwhile of a stop this way, as opposed to looking at maps and trying to remember what a lighthouse a mile away looks like. (It's easy to forget the scale!) It reminds me of the day I realised how useful satellite photos and GPS coordinates could be in my lighthousing planning. I'm also seeing some great photographs and getting ideas for perspectives to use on my trip.

Hopefully this little tidbit can help others in their planning.

I am planning to go to Maine May 15th for 10 days with a friend. I want to see the lights from Acadia national and north. Have you come across any boats other than the ones on lighthousefriends.com. Does anyone know if I will need a passport for crossing into cambello Island?

Fran,

We needed some form of ID when we travelled there by RV in 2005. I'd be surprised if a passport or the ID Pass isn't required now.

A lot in the Acadia NP area can be viewed by car and there are boat tours out of Bar Harbor. Those viewable by car include:

Bass Harbor Head
Egg Rock is viewable from Cadillac Mountain.
Prospect Harbor
Winter Harbor
West Quoddy Head
Lubec Channel Light

Sandy

Campebello Island is in Canada. Unless you plan to live on the bridge between the borders you should have your passport or the new passport card with you.

Another helpful tool is marinas.com. Using Greg's Wood Island as the test, you get this page . Different info from what Greg was after, but you get a selection of aerial images for the lights that they have. I like that perspective because it may show you what the road to the light looks like and give you a feel for parking availability and such. Doesn't tell anything about the light other than coordinates and a bit of a map, but it is useful in your planning tool box.

That is a great site Dave.
I guess I better get started on a passport
Thanks Sandy

Fran, if you are not planning to leave North America and will arrive via anything other than airplane, look at the new passport card . A lot cheaper than the passport book. You might also consider getting both at the same time - only $20 more for the pair.

Looks good to me.

My AAA magazine came today and had a brief article about travel documents. They referenced a web site that has some helpful information - www.http://getyouhome.gov/ . Mentions that for travel by land you can also use an Enhanced Drivers License , but the site says the only states issuing those are NY and WA with AZ, VT and MI coming soon. (EDLs have an RFID chip in them which transmit a number to the border people and pulls you up on their screen.) Before I tried to use an EDL I would be sure it worked! Hate to be stuck in Canada, eh?

I love Flickr. You can not only find that type of info, but people who want to learn photography can do so by looking at the exif data. (more properties) I hadn't thought of using it to guage distance, but I will definately do it in March when I go to Florida. (This trip will actually happen. lol I'm shooting my sister's wedding, and will be taking in a few lighthouses as well.)

To see my Flickr page with lighthouses, and many other cool things, go here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/26322101@N04/