Samantha's birth announcement, and even a picture, got on the Internet to keep island fans and summer residents up to date on the major events here. Samantha brings the total number of year-round residents to 58, according to Paul MacVane, the island's unofficial counter and ferry greeter. In the summer, Cliff's population grows to more than 400. While summer residents are an important source of work for the construction crews that live and work here, the most critical need clearly is year-round families with children. Basically, all we're saying is, we have a good place to raise kids,'' said Howard.
Islanders boast about the sense of community, the lack of crime, the peaceful beauty.
But they don't try to hide the hard realities of winter, isolation or the 90-minute ferry commute to Portland. A mini land rush has hit Cliff Island after a magazine article generated about 500 letters inquiring about the living options on the island. Residents, nevertheless, are optimistic that newcomers will fill the vacant houses this year. All it would take is one percent of the people who responded, they say. Typically, when students reach sixth grade they take the ferry to middle school on the mainland, or their parents move ashore.