Change In Plans

This short post is about being in Maine, and catching lobster. This was a completely new experience for Zola and for me.

We are staying with my sister and brother-in-law in Falmouth, Maine, just north of Portland. Su and Dave have a classic, 100-year-old New England house, right on Casco Bay. From their front porch, you look out at the bay, dozens of moored boats, and the off-shore islands beyond.

Yesterday, we took Dave’s boat down to Portland for lunch. Because of a boating incident two years ago in Captiva, with me at the wheel (opinions vary as to how much danger we were actually in), India was in a state of constant agitation while we motored down. Her agitation level went up many fold when Zola took the wheel, even though we were going only about 15 knots. Even Tallulah kept yelling “slow down!” from the foredeck.

On the way back, India and Tallulah rode in the car with my sister, leaving Zola and me on the boat with Dave and his two young sons. First, Dave felt free to open up the motor, and to zoom back at about 30 knots. As we crashed through some chop, the bow rising and slamming the water, Zola yelled “This is frickin’ AWESOME!” Little boy fun for all ages.

On the way back, we checked Dave’s lobster traps. Until we did it, I had no idea how lobster were actually caught. Each box trap has multiple entry points. The lobster swim into the trap (backwards) to eat the bait, which is rotting herring, placed in a mesh bag. I filled the bait bags as we checked the traps, which was pretty nasty. My hands still smell like herring. The lobster can crawl out once they finish eating, so I guess the key is to pull the traps before the lobster finish eating. Dave’s traps had been sitting for a few days, so the lobster had pretty much cleared out.

One by one, we pulled the traps up (heavy work), pulled them into the boat, and checked for lobster. Ofthe five traps, two were empty. One had a little tiny lobster which we threw back. Between the last two, there were three big lobster. Dave checked them for eggs (if present, lobster goes back in, which seems like a good rule). We took the three we caught home, and ate them last night for dinner.

It was great to see Zola so engaged in a new activity. He thought it was great.