Coastal Maine and Puffins!

15 Jul-8 Aug 2026

Atlantic Puffin

From Lubec I headed back to Newport and my friends Kate, Jeff and Kevin. Kevin and I did a day trip to New Harbor to do a puffin boat tour. Finally a boat tour that didn't disappoint!

Me and Kevin on the boat at Hardy Boat Cruises. We're ready to see some puffins

They took us out to Eastern Egg Rock Island where the pufins nest. It is a seabird sanctuary and the only people allowed on it during nesting season are the researchers.

It's very hard to get shots of the birds with a telephoto lens on a moving boat but here are the best ones I was able to get.

I didn't see any on the land. They were all out floating around.

Puffins are called "clowns of the sea" because of their brightly colored beaks

They're just so cute!

The buoys you see are lobster pots

This one is a little blurry but he flew by the boat carrying a fish in his mouth! How cool is that?

Research facility. The fish head building to the right of it is the composting toilet.

So many birds

Black Guillemot

Laughing Gull

The researchers hide in these blinds to the right to observe the puffins

We went on the afternoon cruise and the trip back was a little chilly for this Georgia girl. Kevin was nice enough to lend me his jacket for my legs.

So many of the houses have the cedar shingle siding. It weathers well in the harsh Maine weather.

Buoy trees. I just thought these were cool. A lot of people decorate with colorful buoys

They had a driftwood tree in their yard too

After the puffins, we visited Pemaquid Lighthouse. It was commissioned by John Quincy Adams in 1827 and built the same year. It's also featured on the Maine State Quarter along with a schooner.

The Oil House was used to hold the oil which fueled the lighthouse lamps. A tender would said as close to the rocks as possible, send a heavy line to the shore and transfer the oil.

Kevin at the top of the lighthouse, taking a picture of me, taking a picture of him.

I had to make a quick run up to Bangor and finally got a picture of the giant Paul Bunyan statue.

Here is the Legend of Paul Bunyan:

Though towns from Quebec to California claim to be the birthplace of the legendary woodsman Paul Bunyan, we in Bangor know that he hails from the Queen City. According to the Record of Birth found at Bangor City Hall, Paul was born to Jacques and Sarah Louise (DuBois) Bunyan on February 12, 1834 in Bangor, Maine.

He weighed 50 pounds at birth and continued to grow at such an astonishing rate that the Bunyan family soon ran out of room in the city, and had to relocate to the North Maine Woods, where young Paul could have room to run.

As a young man, Paul couldn't find work suited to his enormous stature and strength, so he invented logging and set in motion a new industry upon which our great country was built. As he moved west with his companion, Babe the Blue Ox, in search of more trees to fell, he dug the Great Lakes to provide Babe with a suitable watering hole. His footsteps filled with rainwater and created many of the freshwater lakes that march through the Midwest.

On the southern leg of his journey he let his peavey drag behind him on the ground, digging out the Grand Canyon, before swinging back north to create Puget Sound to make enough room for floating his logs to the mill. Everywhere Bunyan traveled he left his mark on our nation, inspiring tales as tall as its hero. The stories of Paul Bunyan's feats were first shared by woodsmen at logging camps throughout the country, and first published in the Detroit News-Tribune by James MacGillay in 1910.

Bailey Island Bridge

A few days later, Kate took me to Bailey Island. She spent a lot of time here growing up and has a friend with a house there. She also named her dog Bailey after it. The bridge to the island is the only cribwork bridge in existence. Completed in 1928, the open split granite cribwork permits free flow of the swift tidal currents. Pretty cool looking too!

I love how some of the houses have the cedar shingles trimmed to make designs like these seabirds

How would you like this view from your back yard? I sure would!

Beautiful egret with his reflection

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He decided to fly over to see some friends

Cormorant drying his wings. Did you know that cormorants have less oils on their feathers than other birds so their feathers are not completely waterproof. That's why you see them spread their wings like this to dry them.

Periwinkles everywhere. The rocks here look like petrified wood.

The far tip of Bailey Island is called Lands End. There's a store, small beach and a memorial to all Maine Fishermen

Lobster boat coming in

Beach at Lands End

Mackerel Cove

From Bailey Island we went to Georgetown to Five Islands Lobster Company for lunch. It's outdoor seating on a pier and as you can see, we had a beautiful day for it.

The best part of the lobster

I forgot to take a picture of the "before" but needless to say, lunch was delicious!

All those floating crates have lobsters in them. They're left in there to keep them alive and fresh in their natural seawater environment until they're sold.

The call it Five Islands because there are five islands around the pier

What a beautiful view

If I haven't said this before, I'm in love with Maine!

Overall, it was a great day exploring this area of Maine and a great way to wrap up my time in Newport with my friends.

L.L. Bean Flagship Store

I left Newport and headed to Freeport for a few days. Freeport is the home of the L.L. Bean Flagship Store.

The flagship store isn't just one store. It's several buildings with different departments. This one had hunting and fishing gear along with the shoe department.

I've never seen so many different lures

Nearby is Wolfe's Neck Woods State Park. I had no idea there was an Osprey nest with a great viewing area on the trail. I only had my phone with me so I made a quick trip back home to get my Canon and telephoto lens. This is one of the parents returning with nesting material

And off he/she goes to find more. There's a chick in the nest too but you can't see it. It would pop it's head up every now and again but I kept missing it.

Isn't my girl pretty? We took the trail down to the water.

The island behind us is where the Osprey nest is

Portland Head Lighthouse. Is this photo quintessential Maine or what?

No trip to Maine is complete without visiting the most famous lighthouse in the state. Portland Head Lighthouse was completed in 1791. It was the first lighthouse built by the US Government and is the oldest lighthouse in Maine. Today it is fully automated and the lighthouse keeper's house is a museum.

I wasn't able to visit the museum because I had Sage with me

The other side of the lighthouse

Ram Island Ledge Lighthouse and sailboat

Ram Island Ledge Lighthouse is about a mile out from Portland Head Light. It sits on a jagged ledge in Casco Bay and was erected to warn ships away from a dangerous chain of underwater ledges near the entrance to Portland Harbor.

A sailboat tour leaving Portland Harbor. Sailboats are so beautiful.

Another tour boat. This one shows you what a typical day of a Maine Lobsterman is like. Here they're pulling up a lobster trap. I didn't do this tour but maybe next time I will. I think it would be interesting to see what they do.

There's a trail from both sides of the lighthouse that goes along the coast. I found some interesting vegetation along the trails.

Three bumblebees gathering pollen on the thistle

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Both of these plants are edible. Rugosa rose, also called beach rose (left). The rose hips taste fruity with floral notes. Staghorn Sumac (right) is not the same as poison sumac. The red clusters can be soaked in water to make a lemony flavored drink.

We're leaving Maine so we'll wrap this up with one last picture of Portland Head Lighthouse with Rams Island Ledge Lighthouse in the background.

Photo credit goes to my friend, Dan Will

Next time we're going to be in historic Massachusetts. See you there!