Walking Into the Picture: Bar Island Sunset

Sunset from Bar Island

31 May 2018

I dragged Jack out onto the sand bar again. It was an hour past low tide and the sun had just gone down. This sunset was very orange. My camera made it more so. The light was low enough that everything in the foreground was in silhouette. The low clouds reflected orange back to the water.

'Sup, girlfriend?

 

Jack and I walked all the way to the island. I climbed up the steep bank of rocks.

Recently when I've stalked Bar Harbor camera 3 I've noticed a filmy blob at the tip of the island (center right below). There isn't enough resolution to figure out if it's a rock or a tree. It only showed up recently, and as I got closer on foot I realized why.

It's a stand of young trees. They only leafed out a few weeks ago.

Last year, Jack and I sat for a while on the log on the other side of these trees. I don't remember them because they were next to us, out of view of me and my camera.

I used my phone for three panoramas. They distort and warp in a fun way.

I started this one facing back towards town.

This one started facing the sunset. Bar Island is in the middle and town is on the right.

This one starts facing town and ends at the island. It's the most realistic view of all three. To the left of the young trees, in line with the high tide seaweed, is Jack in silhouette.

 

We were losing light and restaurants would soon stop serving. We turned toward town, the sunset at our backs.  I stopped to turn around every few minutes.

The sky looked as if someone had taken a wide piece of chalk and scribbled a tight, orange zig-zag.

From the mainland over by the setting sun came live drums from a marching band. Sound carries far out here. Sometimes we heard cheering. Jack guessed it was coming from the College of the Atlantic, which I found amusing, because they only have something like 300 students.

When I was choosing colleges I considered the College of the Atlantic for all of five minutes. The selling point for me was that it was in Bar Harbor. What killed it was that the only major they offered was human ecology. I was down for the ecology part, but what the fuck is human ecology? I'm glad I passed it over, because my freshman year was so hellacious that I transferred out and vowed never to set foot in that town again. I refuse ever to sleep in that state. "Imagine if that had been Bar Harbor," I said. "You'd be making annual trips to --------."  I shuddered.

One last look around.

We found a good restaurant by accident. It was so much to Jack's liking that he said it goes on the list for "if and when we come back." He's said this a couple of times today.

Moonrise was orange tonight.

"If and when." I don't want to come back because I don't want to leave.