European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - October 16, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse A writer Sid Moody bearded skipper of the 38 foot wooden Sloop Dixie recently charted a course through the lonely Island of Down edit Maine and new Brunswick stopping frequently along the Wey. By Sid Moody associated press Here the Long Rocky lingers of headlands and the probing inlets of the sea Arm wrestle or tides show the evenness of the struggle. At lows ledges and Isles emerge. Advantage land. At highs the swishing swells Bury them. Advantage sea. Ii is the islands of Maine and new Brunswick where an easy truce maintains. Outposts of land hostage to the sea. Some Are Bare skirted with Ocean kelp at water s Edge fringed with lichens and Brambles on lop. These Are not the resort islands the Nantucket a and marthas vineyards to the South the water is too cold. They Are islands whose character is set by those determined or driven to live on them. Work islands. Summer Cabin islands. Defiant islands. Artists islands. Bird islands. Even Seal islands. Rocks cast in the sea to find their Way. Orphans maybe but a Community of individuals Loo. Very much individuals. Not simply latitudes and longitudes on a Chart. 88 degrees 59 minutes West 44 degrees 09.5 minutes North Robinson Rock Halfway up Penobscot Bay. Andre was probably born near Here. He is a Harbor Seal. Every summer afternoon at 4 he puts on a show Lor tourists gathered along the seawall in nearby Rockport. Leaps out of the water with a saucy hip of his Tail plays dead puts out a fire applauds with his dippers at his antics. Kids Tove it. Harry Goodridge trained Andre since he was a Pup. I d just give him a Lish whenever he did something Clever. Two things you have to know about seals. One is they re super intelligent. The second is they la sell their souls Lor a Andre usually Winters in an aquarium on Cape cod. In Spring he s released and always swims Back to Rockport. He made it in six Days this Spring even though he has cataracts. I asked him How he did says Goodridge. He won t Tell Andre Summers in a pen so he won t climb into skills arid swamp them. Or nip at oars of passing dinghies. Olten at night wild seals swim in from Robinson Rock and sleep on the platform outside Andre s pen. Andre has had ample Chance to return to the Rock. But he does t. He s sold his soul Lor a Lish. 66-50 West 44-39 North Soine 2.500 people and maybe a cow or two live on grand Manan a 13-mile Island at the Mouth of the Bay of Fundy ust Over the Border. Its 300-foot Cliffs Are surrounded by ship wrecking currents fog lobsters scallops and herring. On a Clear Day ii looks like a fir covered ice Floe but is in Lac an immense Lishing Dock. Even its one agricultural product comes irom the sea. This is dulse thymes with pulse a seaweed that is dried packaged and sold Here and on the Mainland in new Brunswick to health food eaters and those who grew up on grand Manan eating dulse As though ii were potato chips. I be chewed it All my says the lady in the store at North head who looks a healthy As anyone can be on an Island where they advertise no smoking Binge on the Market bulletin Board. Tastes she says. The cruising guide to the new England coast compares the taste to the Tongue of an old shoe rescued from a lobster bait barrel. Have a bite offers the lady. Definitely not a potato Chip. Lobster info la also different on grand Manan. It s a hard life anywhere but on grand Manan there Are More rocks fog and currents than Maine. And the islanders fish in Winter when lobsters have stopped shedding and prices Are better. Most lobster men can t swim. When the water barely reaches 50 even in August Why bother vhf radio antennas next to Housetop to receivers Bear mute witness to the dangers. But grand Manan lans have a leg up on their american counterparts. Manners Are on their own period. In Canada the government restricts licenses so on grand Manan the 100 or so licenses bring whatever the Market will Bear when one infrequently comes up for Sale. Ten thousand dollars currently on the Island. But a licensed Fisherman gets an outright $30.000 lobster Mon Fithen off Deer Isle left the owl t headlight Tondi Len Finelon a tit of land n for Rock Nufa Grant for a new boat a Low interest loan for the rest of the $50.000-100,000 Price from the Bank As Well As a fuel subsidy. Ottawa has also built several huge docks on the Island big and sturdy enough to hold two tractor trailers abreast. Mainers grumble about unfair Competition. But Lishing is All grand Manan has if you Don t count dulse and you May not want to. The Rigours of the life Are expressed in grand Marian s lobster boats broader higher bowed beefier than Maine boats. The mainer can always turn his Back to the sea and head Inland to try something else. On grand Manan said a lobs Lerman soaking up the Sun while he could at the wheel of his parked pickup if the fish go. So do 67-06 was 44-30 North ten Miles West Southwest of grand Manan is a Home of one of the world s greatest airlines. This is Machias Seal Island a Pool table Green Rock in a restless sea. It is a nesting place of the Arctic Tern whose twice a year commute rom one Polar Region to the other is one of the longest migrations in nature. Machias Seal is also one of the southernmost roosting habitats of the Atlantic Puffin called the Parrot of the sea because of its plier shaped Orange and red Bill it flies with the Grace of a Turtle. Also roosting Here is he razor billed Auk a roman nosed Lishing Bird that resembles a tue does Penguin with the addition of a Hollywood mod White Stripe around the Rump and by. The terns make it All possible. They Are fighter plot Deal Swift fearless to the Point of attacking humans i defense of their nests. They keep at Bay the gulls we would otherwise eat everybody s eggs. Under their squawking canopy the puffins raise the one annual egg occasionally leaning Forward Stith Perch until they Are almost falling then flapping the wings frantically to gain airspeed before crashing a the rocks below. Minutes later they return with a Cardl Small herring sticking out of their beaks like Jack Stroh meanwhile the auks Curry each other s velveteen. Feathers to a High Sheen All the while growling not surprisingly an Arctic Tern do bombs a human intruder who is too near its to Onul. A Lew months the fledgling will be summering near the Antarctic Circle
