Monhegan Island

We visited Monhegan island, which is about 10 miles offshore guarding the entrance to Penobscot Bay. It’s an island of hardy lobster fishermen during the non-summer months. In tourist time it has artists, beer brewers and small inn keepers and restaurateurs. They don’t lobster here while the lobsters are growing into their new soft shells.

Georgia on a tight mooring in the Monhegan harbor (with Kokomo in the back right). This is the first time we’ve actually paid for a mooring in Maine – the cheap cruisers that we are. The bottom here is supposed to be full of 300 years of junk, making anchoring a dicey operation.

The island is covered with good hiking trails that take you along the cliffs.

One hike takes you to the wreck of the tug Sherman, rusting away.

Monhegan trail critter – aka muskrat- munching fresh dandelion greens.

Free range island chickens hanging by their ride.

The K through 8 Monhegan School, perched on a hillside overlooking the harbor.

I just never knew they had blonde mermaids. I should have paid better attention in school.

Lobster gear waiting to be setup and wrap around the keels and props of unsuspecting sailboats.

Lobster traps waiting for the Monhegan season. When you see how dense the lobster pots are put down in Maine and you know the history of the fishermen of the area wiping out the Cod fishery on the banks, it seems like the last lobster will be caught anytime now. But it turns out that they aren’t really catching free range lobsters from the wild. It is far closer to lobster farming. They put great lobster treats in the traps. The small lobsters willingly jump in and get a great meal. Then when the traps are lifted, the undersized lobsters are thrown back in. They get hungry, find another trap and chow down. Eventually, in a few years, they get big enough to harvest. Sounds a lot like farming to me.
 

After all this hard tourist work, we stopped at the only outer island brewery in Maine for a cold pint of their ‘Lobster Cove’ brew.

Downtown Monhegan as seen from the harbor, one of our Maine favorites.

Paul