Portland Head Light
Category Archives: lighthouses
The Summit
Because of the time and because we were thirsty and hungry at this point, we skipped some of the scenic turn offs after the Bubble Rock adventure and just headed for the summit. I can’t say we made a Bee line because the road was still quite twisty as it wound around the mountain.
The views were amazing. It’s easy to see why this is a National park.
Finally turning the last corner we saw the parking area for the summit of Cadillac Mountain. It really is a “bald” summit. There’s no tree cover to speak of, just a cap of rocks.
The snack bar had some ice cream and snack foods like nuts and power bars and some local treats like blueberry candy but no real food. Not even hot dogs. It did have restrooms however and that was almost as much of a priority at this point as food.
I bought a fruit drink and a water and met JR at the car. We took out the cooler and found a rock to sit on while we had out “makeshift” lunch. My left over french toast was coming in handy. It wasn’t bad cold.
Properly refreshed we wandered over the rocks taking in the magnificent views of Frenchman’s Bay.
With virtually no shade, staying on the summit for the rest of the day in the hot sun wasn’t an option. We decided to move on and return for a sunset visit.
When we planned the trip I said I wanted to see the lighthouses. JR said they were all in the park. Now he spread a map out and only one lighthouse showed up. So with JR navigating and me driving we set off back down the mountain the see if we could find this one lighthouse.
Pretty soon we had crossed out of the park and were passing through little towns and rural fields. Eventually we reached Bass Harbor Head Lighthouse.
We were able to walk right down to it but didn’t see any paths or trails around it. Since I have been back I have learned that there is a trail to the rocks below. The pictures I had seen of this light were all taken from out to sea. If I ever get back to that area again I will have to look into that.
Having found the lighthouse we could put a “mission accomplished ” stamp on that part of the trip.
Time to head back to the motel and grab a quick shower before we headed out for dinner.
Extra! Extra! Read all about it!
I am so excited I just have to share this news! In my part of the world one of the biggest newspapers is the Boston Globe. I like the “Globe” and browsing the Sunday Travel Section recently I saw a new feature called “The Sight”. Apparently this alternates with “The Rave”. “The Sight” is a reader submitted photo of something seen or experienced on a trip. “The Rave” is a 150 word story about an experience on a trip.
I thought it over and decided to submit a picture to “The Sight”. At first I was disappointed because all of the pictures being published were from exotic places, not the good old USA. I figured my little picture didn’t have much chance if they wanted foreign travel.
Well, just as I had given up an email came in confirming who took the picture and where the photographer lived. That was easy. Me and Taunton Ma.
Bingo. I got a response right back thanking me and telling me my picture will run in the Travel section of this Sunday’s Globe. WOW! My feet have not hit the ground since.
I know not everyone is from here so I’m including the picture right here. You may recognize it as a cropped picture of the lighthouse that currently graces the header of this blog. It’s the North Lighthouse on Block Island.
So I guess I can now add that I had a photo published by the “Globe” to my photo credits. 🙂
And that’s enough bragging for one day!
Fog, a Lighthouse and Seals
The Captain raised the anchor and turned our little vessel into the wind for the last leg of our 3 hour tour. There wasn’t much to see except grey, choppy seas and fog. The naturalist said we were about an hour out from Egg Rock Island, our next destination.
Hmmmm an hour and heading into the wind with wet clothes??? Not a good idea. I could see hypothermia being a problem so even though I didn’t want to go into the cabin I didn’t have much choice. I took a seat way up front by the “snack bar” (I use that term loosely) which also happened to be where the heater was located. The sick folks were all huddled in the back. Oh I have been there and done that. I know how miserable they were feeling.
I was almost dried out and semi warm when one of the few children still mobile popped into the cabin too. He felt that heat and glued himself to the grate effectively blocking the heat for anyone else in the room but at least he was warm and he is a child…women and children first and all..I took the high road and kept my mouth shut. If someone else wanted to tell him to move they could but it wasn’t going to be me. 🙂
In spite of the situation, once I warmed up the hour passed fairly quickly. I chatted with the Naturalist about the type of seals and tried to avoid looking in the back. Eventually the Naturalist went outside. When he came back he announced that Egg Rock Island was in sight. Time to go back into the wind, spray, fog and cold.
Egg Rock Island is a big nesting site for many types of sea gulls. Its pretty flat and open without much cover. Consequently it is like an all you can eat buffet for passing eagles.
Our guide told me that last year there were so many eagles that not one sea-gull chick survived from that nesting season. They were all eaten by eagles. He said sometimes it was really hard to watch. Nature is beautiful but also cruel. Every creature is just struggling to survive. We didn’t see any eagles today but judging from the number of gulls soaring over and around the island losing one season of chicks didn’t put much strain on the population.
As we came closer to the island we could see what looked like grey boulders only they moved. These were the seals of Egg Rock. The Island is a major haul out for Northern Grey seals and harbor seals.
We didn’t stop here, just slowly motored past then it was back to the harbor.
As we entered the outer harbor the sea changed again. Here the fog rolled back and the sun was out.
We passed a beautiful island with a cliff face.
Our guide said that the Navy used it for target practice. The “subs” used to come into the harbor and shoot torpedos at the cliff face where it dropped into the water.
Looking back I could see the line of demarcation between the foggy sea and the sunny inner harbor.
Back at the dock I let the sufferers off first. I enjoyed the trip. I doubt if the weather is always this bad but if anyone else plans to take this tour I recommend taking extra sweatshirts and even oilskins or rain gear…and of course your medication of choice for seasickness. You may have blue skies and fair sailing but you never know and it’s better to be prepared.
A New Day
What a difference a day makes…or in this case a night. It was humid and foggy when I went to bed but I woke up to sunshine! A lot of the humidity seemed to have passed, as much as could be expected when one is on a small island surrounded by the ocean.
The one remnant of yesterday’s adventures was that my legs are sore and very tired. They ache. I can really tell that I over-did it yesterday. I guess that’s what they mean by being a weekend warrior..but I did it in one day. So the only thing I have on my to do list today is to make it out to the other lighthouse.
The first order of business was to find some place for breakfast. That wasn’t too hard. The Pastry Shoppe had their version of egg mcmuffins as well as cinnamon rolls and Danish and various breads. Juice was Nantucket Nectars by the bottle.
Breakfast over, I tested my legs by walking up to the porch of the Harborside Motel. Not promising. If they were just sore I figure I could walk it off but my right calf kept cramping. I sat down on the porch and let the morning sun wash over me. There was a breeze off the harbor. I could just spend the day there watching the world go by. It was so nice…and so not me ! No, no matter if my legs hurt or not I need to find some way to get to that 2nd light house.
As I sat there debating my options… bike rental, moped, taxi….the taxi company with the friendly driver pulled up to the taxi stand. I hobbled over to ask about the “Tour”.
Apparently all of the taxi companies also offer a tour of the Island. It’s a nice drive, about an hour-long and the driver doubles as a tour guide telling you about the history of the island. It’s $55.00 and the rate is the same for all of the different companies.
The driver I was talking to was named Jim and he said he would stop so I could get pictures too. That decided it. I climbed in and he let his dispatch know he was doing a “tour” and we were off. He had a small photo album of old pictures so I could see what the island used to look like. A familiar refrain seemed to be …Right here was ____________until it burned down . Some of the places that burned down were rebuilt but many were not.
We made it to the Southeast Lighthouse but since I had already told him I’d been there the night before he just drove past. We stopped a little farther down the road where a dirt path took us to the top of the Mohegan Bluffs. There was a stairway down to the bottom. 
I’d like to climb down there someday but my tour stop wasn’t long enough for that today.
We passed through a “Hollow” that Jim explained had miles of hiking trails and was all preserved land. No one can ever build on it. We reached another little town where we passed the New Shoreham Police Department. Jim explained that the town was New Shoreham but the island was Block Island. That explained some of the confusion I had when I was looking for accommodations.
Then we reached the North side of the island and the lighthouse came into view.
Now I could see why the locals said it wasn’t an easy walk. The shoreline was not a sandy beach but covered with rocks and stones. It would be hard walking and very easy to turn an ankle. It ‘s a pretty lighthouse.
I took my pictures from the parking lot and once I had them we started back toward the ferry terminal. 
Hard to believe it was almost lunch time. I felt sure I’d be spending some time roaming around looking for a place to eat.Even though I’d taken the easy way with the tour, I still had some walking to do if I was going to find the “Poor People’s Pub” for lunch.