Date: 2004-10-20
From: exploring the maine coast: day 4

To: exploring the maine coast: day 4
Miles today: 0.0

"a day on the boat"4:30.it is my new favorite time of the day. it must be. i¢ve only seen it the past three days. i¢m almost getting used to it by now.wait. no. who am i kidding?how do i keep finding myself getting up at 4:30? something just doesn¢t seem right about this. but, i was awake at 4:30 this morning so that i could drive to the marina (ross and mandi told me to just take the car for the day. i don¢t think they wanted to get up early again.) and make sure i caught the lobster guys before they went out for the day. i figured i¢d get up extra early and get there extra early. i figured it would be good to have some quiet time by myself before i set out on the boat. so, again, it was about 32 degrees this morning. and, again, a layer of frost covered everything.i arrived at the small parking area beside the road at the marina at a little after five o¢clock. i was in need of some quality time alone with the Lord and that is exactly what i got. before i knew it, chris was pulling down the drive and parking his truck at the dock. a grabbed my camera and bag and walked down to the dock to say good morning.i guess i really am about to head out on a real lobster boat. it almost doesn¢t seem real. but, it is.chris and his first mate, tim, are preparing the boat for the day. she is a nice boat. a thirty-six foot long beauty by the name of ¢therese j.¢ why are boats named after women most of the time? i would say all of the time, but in christmas cove the other day i did see some funny guy who named his boat, ¢master baiter.¢ get it? right. okay. that was a little.....awkward.anyway, a floodlight on the rear of the wheel house lighted the deck. there were about thirty lobster traps ready and waiting patiently to be thrown to the depths of the sea. separating the wheel house from the open deck of the boat was a large live-well. covering the live-well was a large tray. it was littered with rubber bands, knives, pliers, and other various pieces of equipment. the live-well was divided into two compartments and there was a six-inch square opening in the top of each compartment. attached to the side of the well was another tray that was divided into six sections. the live-well measured roughly 2 x 3 x 4 feet. beside the live-well was a fifty-five gallon barrel full of water. there was a heater core in the water.i stood back out of the way as captain chris and tim readied the boat. i noticed that tim was wearing shorts. i liked him right away. the engine was warming up and it wasn¢t long before chris invited me aboard. i carefully stepped over the side of the boat onto the deck. tim welcomed me aboard as he tossed the guylines from the boat. i went and stood beside chris in the wheel house as we shoved off at exactly six o¢clock. this is it. there is no turning back now. i bet if i had to i could run and make a diving leap and land on the dock. nope. now it is too late. we are pulling farther away. i¢m in it for the long haul now. i may as well make myself comfortable.chris and tim pulled on orange, rubber, bib overalls and large rubber boots. chris also put on a waterproof sweatshirt as well. they both cussed and drank mass quantities of coffee. tim smoked cigarettes. chris had a couple of cigars that he said he was going to save for later. chris told me to look down in the cabin and grab the extra pair of rubber boots for myself. i thanked him and slipped my already damp shoes off and put on the waterproof boots. i knew my feet would be happy for the rest of the day.our first and only stop of the day was at another small marina. we pulled up to a dock and my two companions grabbed four rectangular containers and started walking up the dock. naturally, i grabbed my camera and followed. we walked to a small shack beside the water. the smell of fish was overwhelming. chris opened a garage door on the side of the building and the rank stench of dead fish hit me head on. i backed up a little bit and made a point to breath through my mouth. the shack was completely full of 55-gallon barrels. each barrel was completely full of dead fish. bait fish. the bait fish of choice is called a heron. it measures about 8-10 inches in length. the guys filled the four containers that they¢d brought up from the boat plus two more containers with bait. each container measured about 1 x 2 x 3 feet. they dragged the containers back down to the therese j and it took both of them two lift each container on board.we shoved off once again and set our course for the sea. our route took us down the sheepscot river towards the sheepscot bay, which feeds into the atlantic ocean. along the way chris entertained me with conversation, giving me bits of history and local gossip and teaching me about the lobster industry. he was intrigued by my stories and my adventures. tim readied some of the traps that were on deck and got things organized for the day. steam billowed out of the water barrel beside the live-well. i learned that these guys are out on the boat from june through december. chris told me that they¢ve been out in subzero temperatures before. they spend the months of april and may readying the traps and the boat. they usually work six days a week. the sun rose above the water. a baby seal swam by the boat. the temperature was no more than twenty degrees. chris pointed out a bald eagle¢s nest. i could see buoys from lobster traps everywhere i looked. the water was littered with them. each lobster boat has its own color buoy. the buoy for the therese j was blue, white, and orange. captain chris has 650 lobster traps in the water right now. yes. i did just say 650 lobster traps. (we were going to check about 225 traps today). he estimates that he has fifty miles of rope in the water, running from the traps down below to the buoys on top of the water. last year they hauled in about 3800 miles of rope. do you even know how much rope that is? can you fathom how much rope that is? think about it this way: if you were on the very tip of key west, florida, and got in a car and started driving. and kept driving. and drove all the way across the country to seattle, washington, you will have only driven 3500 miles. you would still have to drive another 300 miles- that¢s 140 miles on to vancouver, british columbia, and then still another 160 miles to who even knows where in canada. if i were sitting in the west end bakery in asheville, north carolina, and got in my trusty ford ranger and hit the open road. and kept on the open road for just over four days straight, i could drive all the way to visit my good friend-the iceman-in sitka, alaska, and drive just over 3800 miles. 3800 miles is far. i can¢t believe these guys haul that much rope in one year. it is pretty crazy.at about 7:30 the fun began. we reached our first line of traps. chris has a sonar system on his boat and on the sonar he has used a gps unit to plot out where various trap lines are. there are anywhere from 10-25 traps in each line. we pulled up to the first trap and chris eased back on the throttle ever so slightly. he held the wheel in one hand and reached out with a gaffer in the other. he snagged the buoy with the gaffer and pulled it up out of the water. he killed the throttle and ran the rope from the buoy through a wheel and a crank on the boat. with the turn of a knob, the rope started winding in, pulling the lobster trap towards the surface. the crank hauled that rope in fast. and, the best part about it was that the rope was neatly coiled on the deck of the boat at chris¢ feet. he could control how fast or how slow the crank would pull the rope in with a lever. with a splash the lobster trap shot out of the water and into the air. in one quick motion, chris killed the throttle on the hoist and reached out to pull the trap up onto the side of the boat. as soon as the trap came to rest on the boat tim was there with a bag of fresh bait. tim¢s job was to remove the old bait and replace it with fresh bait while chris pulled lobsters from the trap. a lobster must measure at least 3 14 inches along the length of the back to be kept and sold on market. lobsters that measure less than 3 14 inches get tossed back into the water to grow big and be caught again another day. lobsters that are carrying eggs are released as well. when tim finishes with the bait he helps chris finish pulling the lobsters. the lobsters that are big enough to keep are tossed into the divided sections of the tray on the live-well. these guys worked quickly and efficiently while i stayed back out of the way and snapped pictures.the trap was closed and latched and when chris gave the word, it was dropped back into the water. the rope ran out as chris drove towards the next buoy. tim told me to watch my feet when the rope was running out. he said it would not be good if my feet were to get tangled up in the rope. i said that he didn¢t have to tell me twice. i¢d hate to get pulled overboard and sink with the lobster trap. i would hate to dedicate my life to the sea like that.with the first thirty traps that were checked, tim would tie on one of the traps that we¢d brought out with us. this way more traps could be put out in the water without using more buoys. each lobster trap measures 1 x 2 x 3 feet. it is made out of a heavy, coated wire, and is weighted with bricks. each trap is also tagged with chris¢ name and license number.as chris was heading towards the next trap, tim would ready the next bag of bait and start to band the claws on the lobsters. that¢s right. the rubber bands that you see on the lobsters¢ claws in the tanks at the grocery store are actually put on by a guy on the lobster boat. after the claws were banded, the lobster was dropped into the live-well. both chris and tim would frequently dip their gloved hands into the barrel with the warm water. i couldn¢t imagine doing this job in subzero temperatures. it must be miserable. we worked our way out through the sheepscot bay and into the atlantic ocean. from the mouth of the bay i could see reid state park, which my friends and i visited the other day. tim pointed out monhegan island in the distance and the much closer seguin island, with its lighthouse. the sun was bright and we were being followed by a few seagulls. every time that tim would empty a bag of old bait into the water the gulls would dive straight for it.as the day wore on, we worked our way back into the sheepscot bay to check other lines of traps. there were other boats out checking traps in the bay as well. the captains and crews of all the lobster boats were friendly to one another and would give each other a wave and if close enough would sometimes stop to chat for a few minutes. but, not for too long, though. there were traps to be pulled. after the deck was cleared of extra traps i walked around freely. i think i¢d be a natural lobster fisherman. i had no trouble walking around on the moving boat. i had no trouble finding my sea legs. and, i never once thought about getting seasick.i ate snacks throughout the day. chris and tim never once stopped for a snack or a break. they survived purely on coffee, cigarettes, and cigars. if they had to pee, they would just pee on the deck of the boat. there was so much water running over the deck that it would get washed off instantly.i was fascinated by this lobster catching process. both chris and tim knew their rolls well. each one had a job to do and he did it very well. there was never a lag or a lull in the process. one person was never waiting on the other person. they worked mostly in silence, concentrating on the task at hand. i took photograph after photograph after photograph. i couldn¢t believe that i was actually out on a lobster boat. it was too incredible to be true. i never imagined that i¢d end up here.         some of the traps contained only one or two lobsters. others contained as many as fifteen lobsters that could be kept and sold. some traps held lots of lobsters, but none that were big enough to keep. chris measured every lobster that looked questionable. he said that the ones that might get thrown back, but were really big enough would add up pretty quickly. he said he could lose hundreds of dollars worth of lobsters in a day if he threw back the ones that might be big enough. so, he measured every single one that could be a keeper. sometimes there were as many as twelve to eighteen lobsters on the tray waiting to have their claws banded. i glanced down into the holding tanks now and then and watched them slowly fill up. chris would never look down into the tanks. i don¢t think he wanted to know how many lobsters they were catching, or weren¢t catching, for that matter. afternoon turned into late afternoon and we headed back out into the ocean to check a few more lines of traps. chris eventually glanced down into the holding tanks. tim looked at chris and looked at me and shook his head. i think it is the unwritten rule that chris isn¢t allowed to look into the tanks. after seeing how full the tanks were, chris mentioned that if they filled them completely, they would make over two-thousand dollars today. $2,000. that is some serious cash. of course, i¢m sure it all averages out with the days where they only bring in five lobster.the last trap of the day was checked and chris turned the boat around to head back towards the dock. he called me up from stern (that¢s boat talk for ¢back of the boat¢) where i was sitting to the wheel house.¢take the wheel,¢ says chris.¢say what?¢¢here. take the wheel so i can go back and help tim start cleaning up for the day.¢¢are you sure? are you serious?¢¢of course. just point it in that direction.¢and, so, i drove the lobster boat. that¢s right. you can now call me captain grizzly adam. i drove the boat for almost an hour while tim and chris cleaned everything. i can¢t believe that i actually got to drive that boat. it just doesn¢t make sense. none of it does. i¢m supposed to be hiking on the AT, not driving a lobster boat.with the boat clean, tim took the helm (that¢s fancy boat talk for wheel) and brought us the rest of the way in while chris and i chatted. he gave me the option of getting dropped off back at the dock or going with them to sell the lobsters. what do you think i did?back at the place where we¢d gotten the bait so many hours before, chris and tim started dishing out the lobsters into crates so that the lobster guy could put them on the scale. they kept dishing them out and dishing them out. not only did they fill the live-well today, but they also filled two crates. after all the lobsters had been crated and weighed, chris got a receipt from the lobster guy and we headed back over to the dock.569 pounds.that is how much lobster we brought in today. i asked chris if today was a good day and he said, ¢let me put it this way, adam. last year we only broke 500 pounds on five separate days. so, yes, this is a very good day. you can come back and join us whenever you want. you seem to be good luck.¢i thanked him for the offer but told him that i was hitting the trail again tomorrow.we docked the boat. i changed back into my shoes and stepped back onto the dock. it was five o¢clock. eleven hours since we shoved off this morning. these guys worked for eleven hours and never once took a break. they never once slowed down. they never once ate a snack. they never once complained.these guys are tough as nails. they are my heroes.i shook hands with chris and tim and thanked them so very much for letting me tag along. they said they enjoyed my company and hoped i wasn¢t completely bored. i told them i was actually completely enthralled with the whole thing. i loved it. i got chris¢ address so i can send him some prints from the photographs i took today.i survived my first day on the lobster boat. i couldn¢t have asked for better weather or better company. today was a great day.going out on the lobster boat is by far one of the coolest things i have ever done.