And essentially, day last.
I successfully convinced Rob to try something new so we got up early and headed back once again to Perkins Cove. This time we were there for a lobstering tour!
Hey - it wasn't exactly deep sea fishing but at least we got out on the ocean finally.
It was a cold day. Jeans and sweater weather to be sure, and frankly another layer would have been nice out on the open sea.
This was so much fun. Our tour guide was very knowledgeable both about the history of the area as well as all about lobstering. We learned about all of the conservation efforts they do.
For instance, did you know that there is a minimum acceptable size for a lobster? Did you know there is also a max? Anything outside those parameters has to be thrown back. Also if they pull up a female that has eggs - it was not divulged how they would know if she had eggs - then they put a notch on her and throw her back in to increase the lobster population.
Also the lobster traps are built to fall apart in case they get stuck on the bottom so eventually any caught lobsters can get free. AND they have escape routes for lobsters that are too small.
Well now you know.
Also in case you ever wondered why lobster is so expensive, it probably has to do with the fact that on average they get one good lobster out of every three traps. We checked 3 traps on our tour and had 3 good lobsters and 2 that were released. Which seemed like a bad day until they told us about the average so it seems we had a good day.
Another thing we learned is sea urchins might find their way into the traps but the lobstermen (or women) are not allowed to keep them. If you want to get sea urchins you need a special permit and you can only dive for them. Not sure why, them's the rules.
We enjoyed that tour so much we decided to take the next tour going out in an hour, this one went out to Nubble Lighthouse and had alcohol on board.
Look - it's my vacation. Adult beverages are not frowned upon.
Also I should mention that these tours were on the Finest Kind I and II (I think - maybe II and III). This is not a paid advertisement (I wish) but if you ever find yourself in the area we definitely recommend.
This time we got seats right at the front - which means we occasionally got splashed a little but also meant an unobstructed view. Nubble Lighthouse is about 8 miles away so it was a nice little cruise. And Rob was very excited to see the lighthouse from the ocean.
We saw more of the coastline and even saw some harbor seals - from a distance, in the water. You would just see a little black head pop up every now and then - they looked like dogs almost.
Afterwards we had lunch at the Oarweed - crabcakes for me and steamers for him. Surprise! We ate outside along the Marginal Way and it was another lovely point of view.
On our way back to the cottage we stopped at Frisbee's Wharf in Kittery. Mostly it was just a great place to take photos.
Back at the cottage, Rob noticed some cars going over to Phyllis' property and since he knew she wasn't there he was prepared to tell someone they had to park elsewhere. Turns out it was Jerry and Connie with some friends and Jeanne was there cooking them dinner. And we had been invited for drink but missed the note on the table.
We showed off the ring - because who doesn't like doing that? - and chatted for a bit before heading out to our dinner.
Dinner was again at Weathervane where we ate our last lobster and Rob had his last bucket of steamers. He was very sad about it.
We took one last brief walk on the beach - it was cold and there were a lot of people having fires.
And that's really it. I have one more post for day seven but it's less vacation-y.