"LIGHTHOUSES AND PUFFINS"
Cadillac Mountain
White lighthouses and smiling puffins! Driving along the coastline of Maine in northeastern United States gave me the feeling that I was on Fukui or Toyama's beach in Japan. The Atlantic's high waves were beating against Maine's shores. The cold air felt comfortable. It was wonderful to reach the Acadia National Park situated east of Ellsworth and encompassing about half of Mount Desert Island. Although it is the fifth smallest of the fifty-six national parks, Acadia is the tenth most visited one. Maine's many lighthouses and a puffin island preserve are well worth a visit too.
 Portland Headlight |
Mount Desert Island was a summer place of the wealthy and famous from the Northeast during the nineteenth century. Many fashionable historical hotels and restaurants exist still in Bar Harbor on the island. The northernmost golf course in the United States also is nearby; it is known as Bo Valley Golf Course. In 1919 the Acadia National Park was established thanks to the efforts of two prominent men of means. Today many of the park's neighbors are still private property owners. The resulting boundaries are therefore irregular. The summit of the 1,530-foot high Cadillac Mountain gives a marvelous view of an island carved by ancient glaciers. Another sight in the island park is the Bass Harbor Light that should be visited at sunset; in the twilight the light is very beautiful.
 Bass Harbor Headlight |
In addition, the lighthouse tour has sixty-six other sites that begin south of Portland at York. There the Nubble white lighthouse stands on a small island. During the Christmas holidays it is all lit up in festive mood and looks like a beautiful picture postcard scene. Northward along the coastline is another notable lighthouse near Portland. This one is washed by strong waves at Cape Elizabeth and is unusually lovely in the early morning's red sunrise. Mid-Maine has another exceptional lighthouse on the Pemaquid Peninsula. Here, too, Atlantic waves keep scouring the rocks that protect the lighthouse. After leaving the Acadia National Park the lighthouse tour leads next to Lubec that is the northernmost point of the boundary between Canada and the United States. However few visitors stop here to see the colorful red and white West Quaddy Lighthouse. Their absence made me feel sad thinking that so few could enjoy the flaming red fireweed flowers just at their peak. Another lovely lighthouse is located on Machais Seal Island.
 West Quoddy Headlight |
When weather permits between Memorial and Labor Day weekends, boat tours leave from Jonesport about fifty miles south of Lubec and take visitors to observe the Atlantic Puffins on Machais Seal Island. Norton of Jonesport arranges these morning two-hours-long boat trips to the island that is ten miles offshore. The founder of the boat service, Barna Norton, came to Jonesport in 1940 and still greets visitors and jokes with them every morning at 7 AM. His son now guides the tours.
 Atlantic Puffin |
In the early twentieth century the puffins were killed almost to extinction until the island preserve was set aside to rescue them. Alaska has the only other habitat for these birds that are called sea parrots because of their big beaks and cheerful looks. The puffins are on the endangered species list of UNESCO. Machias Seal Island has about three thousand puffins as well as other seabirds that come to breed. There are so many nests and chicks that visitors must use the paths to avoid stepping on them. Even so, the parents of chicks hover in the air and scream warnings against the intrusive visitors.
 Pemaquid Point Lighthouse |
Only thirty pre-registered visitors are permitted to take a morning boat trip. Upon reaching Machias Seal Island, no more than fifteen can go at a time to the wooden blinds from which to view the puffins; others remain at the observation deck or its immediate vicinity. Three or four persons can peer through small holes in a blind to watch or photograph nearby birds.
The puffins did not realize that we were spying on them from the blinds. Their unusual posing and smiling as well as their playfulness made me laugh. Even any insignificant movement seemed so cute and won my heart so much so that it was difficult to stop photographing and filling my pockets with reels of exposed film. The two-hour stopover soon ended. We headed for the boat with puffins on our minds.
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Acadia National Park P.O. Box 177, Eagle Lake Road, Bar Harbor, ME 04609-0177 Phone: 207-288-3338 www.nps.gov/acad |