Tuesday, June 9

What a day! Spearchuckers, family meetings, whales, destroyers, lobsters and Big Al’s.

Where to begin? Well, let’s start with meeting Ethan at 0700 on the beach for our ride in. The day was overcast and damp but the rain held off during the half hour trip to shore. After unloading the boat and loading the truck it was off to Percy’s for breakfast. It was crowded today. The Percy’s get together every Tuesday morning for breakfast, usually at someone’s home, but today was different. Being the first Tuesday of the month the family celebrates all the birthdays during that month with a special get together. That get together was too big to have at home so they had it at the store. Blueberry pies, cream pies, poppy seed cake, apple pie and a lot of other sweet stuff was on the table, and, of course, we were invited to partake. We met some more of the family and we feel we have been accepted as one of them. Fine, genuine people who have opened their hearts to us.

We also heard a story about Maine’s version of “spearchuckers”. Now, please don’t be offended, this is not meant as a racial slur or epitaph. Let me explain. It seems the art of spear fishing is alive and well in mid-coast Maine. A few boats are specially outfitted with bow pulpits and other gear that allow spear fishing for tuna. Once a tuna is sighted, the “spearchucker” races to the bow pulpit and tracks the tuna. Now, keep in mind these fish are three hundred pounds or larger. They swim a few feet under the surface showing just a ripple on the top. So, relatively calm water is important. Anyway, back to the hunt. The spearchucker is in the pulpit waiting to spear the tuna; both he and the boat operator are looking desperately for that ripple. Once sighted the race is on. Sometimes the spearchuckers get lucky, most of the time the tuna wins.

Oh well, then it was off to Big Al’s. Big Al’s was advertised in one of the tourist books we picked up. The ad made it sound like an interesting place to shop, with all the “odd and unique” items you could ever want. Well, we went to Big Al’s …..for about ten minutes. In our opinion it was a big expensive “dollar store”. I doubt we will return to Big Al’s.

A quick trip to the FOSI office to re-supply and talk with Connie. And a quick stop at the library where they set us up with a free account (out of town people are usually charged forty dollars for a library card). I picked up a few books written by local people. “The Yard” by Michael S Sanders describes the building of a destroyer at the Bath Iron Works, and “Arundel” by Kenneth Roberts first published in 1930. “Arundel” is an historical novel detailing Colonel Benedict Arnold’s doomed march on Quebec in 1775. Arnold travelled up the Kennebec River and through the North Woods in his attempt to reach Quebec.

Back at the dock at 1500 to meet Ethan we ran into a crowd of people. We had heard that a new destroyer was making its’ way down from Bath for sea trials, but this was to happen around 1400 hours. Whenever a new ship is launched it is a big deal. This only happens two or three times a year. The ship has a military escort down the river; sailors are “turned out” on deck while the ship majestically makes its passage to the sea. Bath is known as the “City of Ships”. Rumor has it that during WWII the Bath Iron Works (BIW) turned our more ships than the entire Japanese Nation. BIW averaged one ship every eighteen days! A few years ago it looked like the end was in sight for BIW as the US Navy awarded the destroyer contract to a shipyard in Biloxi, Mississippi. Then the hurricane hit and wiped out the Mississippi facility. The Navy, in its infinite wisdom, had second thoughts about having a major fabrication plant in a hurricane prone area….. and BIW was again awarded the contract. BIW is the major employer in this area and its closure would have had major economic repercussions.

So, back to my story. There we were sitting at the dock and what should appear… a brand new DDG 51 Arleigh Burke Class US Navy Destroyer. After picking up our weekly supply of lobsters, Ethan waited just off Pond Island so we could watch the ship pass. They will not let you get very close, but what a sight to behold. The newest destroyer in the Navy passing right in front of our eyes. Unfortunately I did not have my camera with me but Ethan had his and I hope to get some pictures from him. BIW is contracted to build one more of this class of destroyer and then they tool up for the futuristic Admiral Zumwalt Class DDG 1000.

Then, on the way out we spot something LARGE in the water. We happened upon a humpback whale. We followed it for a while, at a distance. After all we are in a twenty one foot boat and the whale was a LOT bigger. The whale surfaced a few times and we saw the large tail as it dove searching for food. Unbelievable experience, words cannot do justice to what we saw.

Ethan said that seeing a humpback in these waters is really rare. Apparently they don’t normally come in this far. But, today was the day, and we saw it!

Now I’m sitting back writing today’s entry after feasting on lobster.

Life is good!