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It gets pretty chilly out on the water, so make sure you dress in layers. Rubber-soled shoes with good treads will help you maintain traction on the boat deck even if the seas are choppy. Tours usually run in the rain (unless it’s extremely heavy), so take a poncho or a rain jacket with a hood. Since this is a smaller boat, you’ll be able to get closer to the puffin colonies while still being the required distance away.
Experience Serenity by the Sea When you Visit Ogunquit in Winter
As the Gulf of Maine warms due to climate change, lobsters are migrating farther northeast for cooler temps and consistent food—all the way out to the pristine waters around Machias Seal Island. The area is currently the most profitable haul along the Maine coast. Due to differences between Canadian and US lobstering regulations (season, haul limits, gear, etc.), boats from both countries feel slighted at times.
What to Know Before Visiting
Maine ocean islands provide the only nesting sites for Atlantic puffins in the United States. We enjoyed getting to see what came up with the traps and getting to hold a live lobster. It was a good length of a tour and I'd definitely recommend it for the kids or adults like me who are still kids at heart. The ship captain and naturalist were very friendly and great guides.
Puffin Tours
Unless, perhaps, it’s raining, or you feel the need to stick close to the snack bar. Being early to queue up meant we were able to stake out a bench at the back of the Hardy III’s top deck, as the seats around us quickly filled. And don’t forget your binoculars; unless you have excellent distance vision, you’ll be squinting to see birds hundreds of feet from the boat. Given that I live only a few hours’ drive from Maine, I went with a US-based puffin tour. Find out more about the road trip and the best places to stop in this post.
Northeast Whitewater
They need isolated spaces away from predators and people. That means you must travel to isolated places to see them but can’t get too close. This project worked and now most estimates put Maine’s puffin population at around 3,000. You'll be cruising aboard the BARBARA FROST, a custom forty foot US Coast Guard inspected passenger vessel (heated cabin and restroom equipped), the fastest and best equipped tour vessel serving the area. 2023 was a successful season, even with the challenges I faced and given the weather was more unsettled than in seasons past.
How to Discover a Rare Bird on a Puffin Cruise in Maine
To get that once-in-a-lifetime Nat Geo puffin photo, you’ll need to take a Bold Coast Charter trip to Machias Seal Island. The small, photogenic birds have a black back and head, white belly, orange legs and feet, a white face and a stout but powerful beak outlined in orange. Their white face and small black eyes give them the look of a clown with wings. Travel aboard the M/V Miss Samantha 9 miles out from Bar Harbor, to visit one of the crown jewels of Acadia National Park. Explore the 130-acre island, Gilley family farmstead, and Baker Island Lighthouse.
Photographing one of Maine's coolest birds was challenging - Bangor Daily News
Photographing one of Maine's coolest birds was challenging.
Posted: Wed, 04 Oct 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]
The distant island of Matinicus is one of the most underappreciated islands in Maine, though that’s how the locals like it. Below, we’ve detailed the location and the port of call for many different tours. To start your puffin excursion, you can visit the Puffin Project offices in Rockland, Maine.
Thorncrag Bird Sanctuary
We’d bypassed the touristy-looking restaurant at the dock where we’d disembarked—I hadn’t been up to eating at that point, anyway—in favor of driving toward our hotel, 40 minutes away in Boothbay Harbor. At about the halfway mark, we stopped in Damariscotta, a sweet little riverfront town where we’d spent a couple hours that afternoon. When we’re out hiking and I see or hear a songbird I don’t recognize, I immediately pull out the Merlin app to make an ID. I won’t even bother to recount how much time I spent stalking a great blue heron that decided to go fishing in my neighbor’s pond.
Aroostook National Wildlife Refuge
In addition to the nesting seabirds, other species commonly spotted are guillemots, eiders, gannets, shearwaters and storm-petrels. Our team does their best to provide you with a high quality experience and has a long-history of conducting successful trips. However, wildlife moves around all of the time so we don’t follow the same route for every trip. That means that these cruises may run longer than 4 hours, so plan accordingly.
First, there’s the land dispute about who owns the island. Canada and the United States have each claimed ownership. Let’s be honest – the puffins really own this island — thousands of them. In late September 2023, an out-of-control fire burned through the historic buildings on the Port Clyde dock. The Monhegan Boat Line office was badly burned, but the boats kept running.
The e-mail confirmation for our trip with Hardy Boat said to arrive on the dock 45 minutes prior to departure. We got there an hour before, and were surprised to find that the line was already at least 15 deep. People also weren’t especially observant of social distancing, but that’s a different story.
Truly a magnificent “Seafari” for all nature lovers with seals, blue heron, an occasional whale, and other coastal wildlife along the way. Although I was able to book a same-week cruise, I don’t recommend it unless you’re already planning to be near the harbor where the boat launches—in my case, this was New Harbor, across from Boothbay Harbor. Making a last-minute reservation means you’re limited on tour days and times, and also makes it exceptionally difficult to find a decent local hotel with availability. Puffins live at sea most of their lives, only coming to land to build a nest and mate. Puffins love being around each other, but don’t like people so much; that’s why the puffin tours in Maine have to be carefully planned.
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