Hiking Isle au Haut

9-8-05 more:
We then went to the boat and left for points unknown. There was a big debate in my mind about weather we should go to the cranberry islands or the Ilse au Haut. We went back and forth as the wind was good for the cranberry isles but we were close to Isle au Haut. Eventually I decided that we should go to Isle au Haut because part of the island is a nature preserve associated with Arcadia park. The inlet is small with out much room to anchor (there are no moorings) but we found a suitable anchorage and took off on a hike. Brint thought that the sea trail was too demanding so he went by the road and I took the trail. It was challenging but with many beautiful views of forest and sea shore. There are many rocks with foamy waves crashing over their tops. Somewhere along the trail I lost my hat and went back to look for it but never found it. I was late and concerned that Brint would come after me so I continued on hatless. Brint wasn’t and the trail juncture where we were to meet so I walked back on the forest road toward the landing. After about a quarter of a mile I found a number of rocks on the trail and almost passed them by. However, I went back for a closer look and they spelt out “Have gone back Carl” So Brint had left me a message. This was a relief as he could have come after me and gotten hurt on the shore trail I had taken as it was rather difficult with many exposed roots and hard climbs. As I closed in on the bay there was Brint setting at a picnic table talking to a group of hikers that had come over on the ferry. It was more like a large lobster boat and couldn’t take cars. There is a town on Isle au Haut toward the North end of the island at which the launch also stops. We had a good talk. One couple was from Maine and the other ladies were from Rochester NY, the Rochester walking group. None were spring chickens and it was amazing that a couple of them could do it at all.

We then dingied back to the Windchaser and checked the depth. However, my depth gauge was reading zero which was obviously in error as we were not sitting on our side. We were still floating and bobbing with the waves. Another boat about 30 ft inland with twin keels was anchored just in front us and it’s owner waved from his dingy as he passed. Brint and I invited him over for a glass of wine and heard is stories about sailing the Maine coast. His wife had passed away a couple of years ago so he sails with friends and does some single handing as he was doing at this time. Al was a retired Scanning Electron Microscope expert who had worked most of his career at Yale. He told us about the intricacies of preparing specimens for SEM analysis. This was of interest as part of my doctoral work used an SEM to look at the mutant bacteria I was studying.

After he left Brint and I had clam chowder for dinner. We didn’t need much more as we had a fair amount of wine, cheese and crackers with Al. After dinner Brint talked about his university career, he was first in his class of chemical engineers at Cornell. He also opined on old girlfriends and our mutual friend Dick M. who was a fraternity brother at Cornell.

During the night I got up several times to check the boat’s position as the harbor was narrow and shallow. We were OK but if one moved the dingy or anchor lines the whole sea glowed with bioluminescence. It was strikingly beautiful. Pouring water over the side produced the same glow but it lasted longer. Perhaps it contained nutrients that the algae liked. At my 3:00 observation I noted that the lights were on in Al’s boat so he must have had some trouble sleeping or had also been up to check his position.