Lobster Fishing
Updated: Jun 27
No rush this morning as our first activity wasn’t until 10 in Southwest Harbor. Dan & Jane made the kids favorite breakfast - French Toast with peanut butter and syrup. So sticky but the kids devoured it.
Our main activity for the day was going on a lobster boat to experience lobster fishing as well as hopefully seeing some wildlife. We met up with our captain and guide at the Southwest Harbor docks at 10 and then we boarded the Elizabeth T for our adventure. One other family from Florida joined us and we set off across the harbor to see the coastline. While we made our way out to the ocean, we passed several small sailing schools with kids who looked as young as our kids sailing around in circles and figure eights.
We saw some of the coast line protected by Acadia National Park and then it was off to find our lobster traps. Commercial lobster fisherman have tags for up to 800 traps while our boat had tags for about 10-15 traps. Each buoy is color coded and registered with the state. Ours were purple with black polka dots. The first one they pulled up was empty so the captain asked Ainsley to pick a number between 1-9 to decide which trap we'd go to next (she picked 5 since it's her Golden Birthday). It was a great choice, the trap contained a lobster that was just large enough to be a keeper as well as a crab. Everyone was very excited!
We learned that most lobster traps contain 3 compartments: the kitchen where the bait is kept, the middle section is the living room and the inner most compartment is the bedroom. It also contains a trap door for undersized lobsters to crawl out as well as biodegradable hinges that will disintegrate after about 3 months in case a lobster is caught but no one retrieves the trap. After age 5 lobsters molt once per year as they grow larger. During that molt, they lose their hard shell, eat it for the calcium and then lay low until their new soft shell hardens. The soft shell lobsters are often a little sweeter and are a favorite of the locals. They can't see the bait but it attracts them due to the smell of the dead fish in the bait trap. Lastly, we learned that not only are lobsters right or left handed but their claws can break a finger!
After they banded the claws, the lobster was passed around the boat and everyone got a chance to hold it. The crab was small enough that the claws didn't get bands but we did hold it carefully by the back legs to make sure we didn't get pinched. The captain made his way around a few more islands to see a lighthouse as well as a large rock landing where grey and harbor seals sunned themselves. Then it was time to make our way back to the harbor. Our boat just has a catch and release license so the kids tossed our catches back into the water.
All the kids took turns driving the boat back in. Liam took the last shift and was navigating the boat through the channel almost all the way to the slip. It was such a fun experience!
Back on land, we stopped for lunch at a restaurant in same parking lot as the marina before heading to our afternoon hike. The Ship Harbor hike was a figure eight hike along the coast and through the forest with great views of the coast. It was a relatively easy 2 mile hike with minimal elevation gain. The kids did a little bit of tide pooling along the way as well. Once back at the cars, the Barnowsky car headed home while we continued the loop on the quiet side of the park. We stopped at another light house and enjoyed following some of the recommended stops from the GuideAlong tour.
FInally it was time to head back to the house. While we made dinner, the kids braved the water and went swimming in the lake. There are two kayaks at the house and even though there weren't paddles, the kids had an absolute blast playing in the shallow water and puttering around in the kayaks. Our AirBNB host ordered two paddles so they'll be able to kayak tomorrow with them!
Tomorrow's forecast is rain so we'll be making some adjustments to the plan based on how hard it's raining. Regardless, I'm sure it'll be another fun day in Maine.
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