The Margaret Todd at sunset
15 June 2025
I set my alarm for 4:50 a.m. on May 29. Sunrise was at 4:52, plus however long it would take for the sun to emerge over Long Porcupine Island in Frenchman Bay.
Dawn, which is what my "Sundial" app calls that murky light before sunrise, was already in progress. My camera says I took my first picture at 4:42.
I always take a peek at the dying trees on the west end of Sheep Porcupine Island. There are fewer standing each year.
Even without my hearing aids, I heard the lobster boat before I saw it.
When I zoomed in, my camera picked up the orange hues from the sky.
When I aimed the lens away from the east, the camera caught the pink reflection of the sky on the water.
The air seemed hazy. My camera's failing focus motor wasn't helping.
Our room was toward the south end of the hotel. The way the land curves, I couldn't see Egg Rock Lighthouse from the balcony. The tide was on out; the breakwater was visible.
Back to the east, at 4:45:
What was that jiggling over in the corner of the balcony? A spiderling making its way to its daytime hiding place! (Its daytime nook was not in a decent spot for a macro photo, so I waited until it was out on its web again and identified it as Zygiella atrica. Nobody on iNaturalist has corrected me yet.)
The sky over Long Porcupine was getting yellower.
The foreground had gone from pink to orange.
I changed to a short exposure and zoomed in:
Because the automatic lens cap failed a while ago, and hasn't fully closed or opened for more than a year. I've had to use my fingers to push the slats back. The lens has some nicks in it now, which messed up my pictures.
When a line of sunlight appeared on the bay, I knew it was almost time to go back inside, close the curtains, and sleep for a few more hours.
When I woke up again some time after 8:00, Jack had already shaved and showered. While getting dressed, I made coffee from the beans and press I'd brought from home.
Self-serve breakfast comes with the room fee. We usually try to eat outside, but it was chilly, and very windy.
We went back to the room. I drank my coffee and tried to take some pictures of the wind pushing the water across Frenchman Bay.
The water had a greenish tint to it that my camera failed to capture.
We decided to drive to Northeast Harbor to walk through the Asticou Azalea Garden. I always bring the SpiderCam with me. In a web over a little stream, I found an orb weaver I'd never seen before, maybe Araneus nordmanni, which you can zoom in on if you want to see.
Later, in the bathroom, there was a tiny jumping spider on the screen above my head that I had to photograph before I did my business. I didn't get a good picture, but iNaturalist knew what I was looking at: Naphrys pulex, a "flea jumping spider." If I post the photo here, you'll see what looks like a blurry giant, and I'm not going to do that to you.
Normal people go to Asticou to chill out and look at the flowers. Me, I photographed organic scum at the edge of the pond.
And, of course, a few flowers:
Jack had made dinner reservations for 6:30 at Porcelli's, which used to be Salt and Steel, which used to have Dave Matthews Band posters in the bathroom and once had an Araneus diadematus on the balcony. (Most people remember food. I remember spiders.)
There was enough time in the late afternoon for me to walk over to the sand bar. The tide was going out. I walked as far as I could get, which was the near low point we got caught on last August.
4:45 p.m.:
At 4:47 p.m., there was enough sand bar exposed to walk over to the next low spot.
I turned around and went looking for my favorite low-tide rocks, which I've named. I would have to wait a few minutes for the water to recede.
I could see Mustache Rock.
It was 4:58. I waited.
I finaly got across and reached Mustache Rock at 5:06.
Hipster Rock, which once sported bushy eyebrows and extreme bearding, was now completely covered in seaweed. Hello, Cousin It.
The smell of smoke wafted over. On the mainland, landscapers were burning brush. Bar Harbor very nearly burned to the ground in 1947. I was surprised this was allowed; maybe it wasn't. (It seems that the National Park Service link to the fire's history has been DOGEd. I guess the fire was too woke or something. Here's a link to a PDF.)
In the evening, fog sometimes rolls into the bay. There wasn't anything more than a bank of low clouds this time when I stood on the hotel room balcony around 6:00.
Bald Porcupine Island with some of the breakwater visible:
Burnt Porcupine:
Sheep Porcupine:
We walked down the Shore Path to get to the restaurant. When we turned onto the wooded section that leads to Wayman Lane (and Party House), we stopped to look for the fox kits. I got better photos this time.
After dinner, we went back to the Town Pier to find the sunset.
I laid down on a floating dock and took pictures through a cleat.
The sun went behind the low clouds and didn't leave us with much.
On our way back to Main Street, I caught the sunset's reflection in the windows of a building on West Street and in the windows of the Harbor Master building at the top of the pier.
On the other side was the Margaret Todd. There's always the Margaret Todd.
I turned around for one last look at the western sky.
Bar Island:
Dang. The tide was out. We could have been on the sand bar for this. Oh well. I can't do all the things all the time.
The moon was up. So was the prominent scuff in my camera lens.
We got our ice cream at Ben and Bill's this time, and sat on a bench along Main Street. There was enough light in the sky at 8:30 that we could sort of see the full outline of the moon against the lit crescent. (I was doing this without a tripod, at 40x optical zoom.)
The sky would be cloudy in the morning, so I wouldn't have to set my alarm for another sunrise. Instead, the plan was to sleep in and ride my bike up Cadillac Mountain.
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