ME II: Cliff Island + 11 days left

· Maine Event

Today was super fun! We got up early as usual and went to the farmers' market. We got oysters and lettuce - diligent about not getting much as we need to eat down our food. We had a plan to go to Chebeague island and wait for low tide so we could walk across a sand spit to Little Chebeague island (PDF), which is a state park with no residents other than maybe a caretaker. It was wonderful to be back on the ferry and amongst the islands. Last year they were part of our usual running around but this year there were significantly more people and it felt oppressive to even get to the ferry. Anyway, we met up with RJ and went on our way to Chebeague and then there was a 30-minute layover at Cliff so we got out to stretch our legs and then were so wowed by the beauty that we unanimously chose to stay on Cliff and skip Chebeague and Little Chebeague. It was miraculously beautiful and Matt discovered a new trail at the end to go to the furthest out northern point on the little end below.

Cliff Island day.
Deering Park with many Canadian Geese. Why don't we eat them again?
Farmers' Market Goodies.
Our ferry out was the mail boat also known as Maquoit. Maquoit means "bear place" or "bear bay". in Abenaki. The Maquoit Bay is the mouth of the Androscoggin and Kennebec Rivers. This is where Atlantic Salmon (now nearly extinct in the wild) ran in great numbers drawing the bears.
Perfect classic island house
Deer! On the island and later several turkeys...we could definitely survive here :)
Little roads with very few cars.
Lovely views of the sea everywhere
A fork in the road as both narrow
Ragged delicious cattails
A beautiful specimen of a Butternut tree, at first I identified it as a Walnut. It is in the same family.
Snails on the seashore forever
Beautiful cliffs right before we discovered the trail
Notice at the entrance to the trail. This is so good it restores my faith in humanity.
Hallway of Cattails
Big Tree petrified and underfoot
This is where we had a break and a snack
Island country
The beautiful Atlantic Ocean
Someone had been here before
Perfect day for a walk
Little human sized roads and yellow leaves
One and only one tiny store on the island and it is closed for the season.
Cliff Island coastline on the mainland side
Wabanaki to take us home. Are these not the absolutely cutest ferries EVER. Wabanaki means People of the Dawn Land in Abenaki.
Pizza for dinner back in Portland.

Whew. I hope that wasn't too many photos. This was a big day. I hope you see something extraordinary. Island love 💙

Sending love, Tawnia

Many many many birds out there on the islands:

  1. European Starling
  2. House Finch
  3. Rock Pigeon
  4. Black-capped Chickadee
  5. Herring Gull
  6. Canada Goose
  7. Mallard
  8. Ring-billed Gull
  9. Song Sparrow
  10. Blue Jay
  11. American Crow
  12. Red-bellied Woodpecker
  13. Double-crested Cormorant
  14. Common Loon
  15. Bald Eagle
  16. Great Black-backed Gull
  17. Common Eider
  18. Black Guillemot
  19. Yellow-rumped Warbler
  20. Morning Dove
  21. Northern Cardinal
  22. Cedar Waxwing
  23. White-throated Sparrow
  24. American Robin
  25. Wild Turkey
  26. Osprey
  27. Great Blue Heron
  28. Red Breasted Nuthatch
  29. Surf Scoter
  30. Bufflehead