A few more ocean side odds and ends today. We went for a walk one afternoon down to the boat launch at low tide and spent some time poking around the tide pools. However, these snails on the mud flats were even more interesting. There were easily thousands of them. A herd of little snails all “running” towards the receding tide. They were fascinating to watch, and you could really see them making progress.
One of the other highlights was seeing our own effects of the California and Oregon wildfires. We had a couple days of strangely overcast weather with some very odd sunset colors. One evening the sun basically just faded out as it got lower until it was gone. It really drives home how bad it all was out west.
It wasn’t intentional, but our day started early. We woke up at around 5:45 AM, early enough that the sun wasn’t up, so we decided to head outside to watch it rise over the bay. It was a very peaceful and quiet way to start off.
It was a lot colder than we were expecting so early in the morning, but a warm drink and every layer we had brought up to Maine made it manageable. I don’t know why, but I always feel like sunrises have the best color. We had a really nice time taking that color in and watching it give way to a beautiful blue sky day.
Once we had a chance to get some breakfast and pack a lunch, we packed the paddle boards on to the motor boat and headed to Fort Georges. The fort was built in the late 1800s in order to help defend Portland. It sits on a tiny rocky island right across the main shipping channel from Portland harbor. The ride down from Mere Point is about 15 miles, but it went by quickly. The perfectly calm water made it comfortable too. Once there we anchored and hopped on the paddle boards for the short trip to the fort.
We spent about an hour wandering around the inside of the fort. The main structure is in surprisingly good shape for the age. Clearly solid granite makes a durable building material. Many parts of the fort were open to explore, including some of the living quarters, gun batteries, and powder magazine. The many tiny gun windows all had great views of the channels and boats around Portland.
The highlight of the fort itself was probably the roof view. From here you had the perfect view of Portland itself, as well as the inside of the fort. This was also the home of the only remaining gun that we saw. Once we had our fill of the city view, it was back down the stairs and out of the fort.
At this point I wandered around the small portion of the island that was not part of the fort itself. Like most islands around here it is mostly rock and seaweed, but it was also home to a small sandbar. The sandbar is clearly the most popular place to hang out, and there were a couple of small motor boats pulled up on it while we were there. I had to pay attention though because the sandbar ended up completely under water while I took my photos. Fortunately it wasn’t too deep when I headed back to the paddle board.
We ended up relaxing on the boat for a while and had a nice floating picknick lunch. With the wind starting to pick up a bit we made our way back towards Mere Point. Compared to the morning we had a low key afternoon, and even managed a nap to make up for the early morning. To close out the day we had a classic Mere Point sunset. All in all it was one of my favorite days of the summer.
Today I have a batch of unrelated photos from our stay at Mere Point. As usual I spent plenty of time wandering around the point with my camera, so these are the odds and ends. As much of a pain as 2020 has been, the weather in Maine just kept delivering. The temperatures were very pleasant, the water was calm. This sunset summed up the days well.
There were also some special guests on the bay while we were there. The Infinity and it’s tender ship, Intrepid, spent a couple days anchored between the islands within view of the shore. We took the boat out one morning to cruise around them a bit and get a closer look. These boats are shockingly large. It is hard to imagine having the means to own something like this. I guess I should just try founding a company like Harbor Freight…
We returned to Mere Point late in the season this year to spend some more time away from home. To kick things off we headed out to a new destination we haven’t explored before, Little Whaleboat Island. We were fortunate enough to get a perfectly calm morning, so we put the paddle boards in the motor boat and cruised out. Once we got there we paddled around the shoals and rocks. It was a pretty interesting place for the paddle boards. You could easily see down into the water, and the rocks made for some interesting underwater sights. I couldn’t really get a good look at it from dry land though, so you will have to take my word for it.
After taking a snack break on the boat I paddled over to the island to do a bit of exploring and take some more photos. The island did not disappoint with some classic Maine coastal views. Once I had my fill it was back out to the boat so that we could head home for lunch.
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Given how much we enjoyed our first stay at Mere Point earlier in the summer, we decided we wanted to make a second trip up. We ended up staying for most of the month of September. One of the first weekends we were back up I went for a walk along the coast and took a number of pictures along the way. There were lots of classic sights along the way, including snails, clams, and seaweed. In addition though I saw a couple of more unusual sights. The one I found most interesting were some tiny translucent shrimp. They are incredibly hard to see, but there are actually two in this photo.
With the tide almost all the way out we also got to see the toll the waves and water take on the hardware holding the docks in place. I’m sure this chain used to be a lot more impressive looking, but these days it is pretty thin.
There will be plenty more rocky coast to come, but in the meantime, enjoy the rest of our walk!
