The Sherman Zwicker. I wonder if it was named after an unfortunately-named real person?
This is our 'cruise' ship, I think the captain told us that it used to be a Navy ship and was maybe even at Pearl Harbor before it was converted to a passenger boat.
Me and Ma pre-cruise
Our first lighthouse of the day, the Doubling Point Lighthouse. Built in 1898. Apparently when it was first built, it was located about 100 yards down the shore (to the right) but they had to move it after a year because ships kept turning just past the lighthouse and they were running aground. Oops.
Looking down the Kennebec River. I think what I noticed most about the rivers there was that they had so many trees! And they came right down to the shoreline. Not all developed like so many rivers down here.
The Kennebec Range lights. They help boats to stay in the middle of the river. At night, if you are lined up right, you'll only see one light. If you can see both, then you are not directly in the middle. And you are in trouble my friend. Big trouble.
My Mama. Isn't she so cute?!?!
An eagle nest. I was quite disappointed in the lack of eagles in this eagle nest.
Squirrel Point Light. Also built in 1898.
This is a house. One house. Seriously. It's a little small, dontcha think?? Sheesh...
Perkins Island Lighthouse. Also built in 1898. Apparently the government got a bunch of money to build lighthouses which is why so many of them were built during the same year.
Perkins Island Lighthouse, Fog Tower and Keeper's House
100 points if you can spot the seal in this picture. That's about as much as we ever saw of seals, the tops of their little heads. But they were so cute!
Pond Island Light. Built in 1821 on the 10 acre island just south of the mouth of the Kennebec River.
Close up of the lighthouse which is the only building left. The Coast Guard destroyed all the other buildings (including the keeper's house, boat slip and fog tower) in the 1960s.
More waves crashing on the rocks - I couldn't resist I tell you!!
This is Seguin Island Lighthouse, the second oldest lighthouse in Maine built in 1795-96. The island is only 1.5 miles off the coast of Maine but to the original keepers and their families I bet it felt like 1 million miles. Everything they ate had to be grown on the island. Bad weather and rough seas kept them from being able to take a boat inland very often. And just looking at the island, it would seem crazy to try and find a place to dock!
There are some stories about the island.... one has to do with the train track that they built to take stuff up to the top of the island. If you look at this pictures closely (if you click on it while holding control it makes it big) you can see some white buildings on the bottom left of the island with a track heading up to the lighthouse and keeper's house. One day the keeper's wife, her 18 month old daughter and the family's new puppy were at the top when something broke and the cart started rolling down the track. The woman tossed her daughter to safety but couldn't jump off. She survived but was badly hurt when the tram hit the bottom but the poor little puppy died. =( And like any good lighthouse, there is also supposedly a ghost living on the island. The story goes that one of the keeper's wives asked for a piano to be brought over. However after about 3 months, it became apparent to her poor husband that she only knew one song! So one night he took an axe to the piano, then to her and then he killed himself. Legend has it that you can still hear the song playing some nights...
Hendricks Head Lighthouse. Built in 1829.
This one has a story too but it's kinda sad... one night there was a bad storm and a ship wrecked just off the coast. It was too rough for the keeper's to row out to help but as they were outside watching, two mattresses floated up. They pulled them in, cut them apart and found a wooden box with a baby girl inside! And also a note from the baby's mother giving her child to God. But the little girl lived and ended up being adopted by a doctor on the island. At least there's a sorta happy ending!
Mom and I post cruise. You'll notice we are a bit more bundled up now! It gets chilly out there on the ocean. And now on to the....
We ate here. Five Islands Lobster Co. Or as the locals call it, the Dock. This is a working lobster dock so while we were eating, lobster boats were coming in and delivering fresh lobster (mere moments before we ATE THEM!) and they were picking up bait to head back out. Another thing that surprised me were the mosquitoes - they were AWFUL!! Florida mosquitoes die off when it gets windy and chilly but not these suckers. They were ferocious.
Oh. My. Look at the size of those monsters! 3 lbs of fresh lobster just waiting to be eaten. 
These are called steamers. 20 steamed clams.
This is the part that you eat. I know, it looks pretty gross huh? So you pull it out of the clam, rinse it off in some seawater and then dunk it in butter before eating it. And they are pretty good! Although butter makes anything taste good.
We had no idea how to eat a lobster so some kind gentlemen took pity on us and came to demonstrate.
After. Yep, we ate all of it!
And I got butter and lobster juice all over me. But it was SO worth it!
View of the bay from the dock. Beautiful!It may be hard to believe but I do still have a lot of pictures left! So I'll be working on getting the rest up soon!
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