One guy (grossly overweight and out of shape) almost lost his tripod, camera and bag in the surf when he lost his footing on the rocks. Later, after he set his tripod and tried framing his shot (wrong sequence btw) he realized the batteries in his camera were dead and in swapping in new ones, dropped half of them into a crevice in the rocks. Only the slender arms of a young oriental chick retrieved them for him! I watched her with interest - one, she was really nice looking, but two, she had on high heeled dress shoes and was clambering over the rocks with skill!  Amazing, those Orientals! She was taking pictures of her boy friend and he was taking pictures of her. The lighthouse was just incidental for them. Obviously with other things on their minds, they never made it to sunset and left after only a few minutes! Another couple, in their early twenties would be my guess, not intent on taking pictures of the lighthouse or anything else for that matter, were sitting on a rock at the edge of the surf - hand-in-hand - whatever. The sun was rapidly dropping and the calm ocean was glistening. At about that time, the girl looks up and exclaims, "Look a dolphin!" Sure enough, a single dolphin was coming into the sound, breaching every 50 yards or so. That surely had to be one of the most romantic moments they had ever experienced (in public anyhow). They never made it to sunset either! 

So anyhow, after all that only the hardcore photographers were left. At about 8:15 the sky started getting some color so we started shooting away. All the others tethered to their tripods and me jumping from rock to rock.  As it turned out, the sunset started ok I guess, but turned into a rather bland display. I made a few good shots . . . and mostly some not so good shots - but that's what photography is all about. One of my shots from this session is above.

Sunday, 06/29/0, Day 11. This will be a rest day - ha ha. Up early and off to the east to the Prospect Point Lighthouse (N44° 24.258' W68° 0.848'). If you'll remember, that one is occupied by the Navy - plenty of chain link and barbed wire - at least down to mean high tide - the chain link that is. I arrived a little later than I'd wanted as this was just a stop on the way to Jonesport (N44° 31.876' W67° 35.870') and a meeting with the guy taking me out to Machias Seal Island on Wednesday. I didn't want to arrive at his place anytime before 10 am - this was a Sunday. Anyhow, I was at the lighthouse by 7:30 and was turning the Jeep around (the road dead ends at their gate) and noticed a couple individuals in fatigues, helmets, M16s, etc, standing guard at the gate. Hmmm. Should I just drive off or stay and start shooting pictures of the compound?

Hey, let's go shoot! I parked about 30' from the gate and got my camera ready. I put on the 135mm lens and walked out to the beach (there is no sand on a Maine beach - in fact, there is no rock smaller than a basketball! - Try throwing your beach-blanket on that!). Well, that was the wrong lens. I had to go back to the Jeep and put on the loooong lens, the 100-400mm. By this time the guards have disappeared. I trek back out to my position on the beach and start shooting. I'm about 100 yards away so am shooting at about 200-300mm - after about three frames, I notice about four kids playing in the tidal pools in front of the house and running back and forth - not exactly welcome additions to the composition. I decided to wait them out. I sat on a big beach boulder for a while, and the kids came and went and came out again. I trekked back to the Jeep and waited them out while listening to the radio and reading the newspaper.  Well, they outlasted me. I left for Jonesport. If I have time, I'll come back for the shots - only much earlier in the morning - perhaps before the kids get up.

I arrived at Jonesport right on time, met the guy - Barna Norton. He's been doing this since 1940. My guess is that he was at least 25 at that time. His son, John, now drives the boat - which looks like a lobster boat modified to carry passengers. See http://www.machiassealisland.com -- The trip is about 30 miles out so that's about two hours on this little boat each way and about two hours on the Island itself. MTF (More to Follow) after the trip. Since we get back to shore early in the afternoon, I may try to make it to Quoddy Point for a few shots of the lighthouse there -- it's only another 40-50 miles up the coast.

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