Deb and I visited the most northeastern point in the continental United States: Lubec, Maine. The sun rises there before anywhere else in the country. It's that part of Maine that juts out to the right directly into the Bay of Fundy. Amusingly, though it is a lengthy drive north for us, Maine still has a *lot* more land north of it. The entire coastal area of Maine from Lubec downward, including Acadia National Park, is called "Down East" by Maine locals.
Crossing the bridge from Lubec to Campobello Island, brings one into the New Brunswick province of Canada! You generally need a passport these days to travel between the U.S. and Canada, so we made sure we brought our passports along. Visiting Campobello Island was definitely one of the highlights of our entire trip.
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| Colors on the Canadian Coast |
Here's a Canadian view of the bridge between Lubec (United States) and Campobello Island (Canada).
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| Canada Meets U.S. |
A view of Lubec from Campobello, Island.
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| View of Lubec from Canada |
We saw lots of seals in the water near high tide, as that's when they are able to find more food.
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| Accomplished Swimmer |
Fishing is a huge industry in this part of the country. Plenty of seafood available in every restaurant, especially delicious
lobster, of course.
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| Two Girls |
We were the only people on Raccoon Beach, where we began our walk along a gorgeous trail to Liberty Point. It was one of the most enjoyable hikes we've ever been on!
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| Raccoon Beach |
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| Mossy Trail |
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| Canadian Shoreline |
The wildflowers were incredible.
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| Deb Among the Wildflowers |
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| Joyous Day |
Along the trail we visited the Sunsweep sculpture, seen below on the right hand side. There are two other related sculptures across North America at the same latitude. They signify a friendship bond between the U.S. and Canada.
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| Sunsweep Sculpture |
The lighthouse on the northern tip of Campobello Island shows on Google maps as being on a separate island, but one can walk to it during low tide.
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| Extreme Hazard |
There is a system of bridges and ladders one needs to navigate to get to the lighthouse.
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| Bridge Walk |
Bay of Fundy tides move 25 feet in this location. In the photo below, taken at low tide, the top of the dark area is the approximate line of the high tide.
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| Head Harbor Lightstation |
Here's one of the ladders needed to traverse the low tide ocean floor. I had to ignore my fear of heights going up and down these steep see-through crooked ladders.
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| Don't Look Down |
The red and white theme is very pervasive here:) We were told it is Saint George's Cross.
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| Standing Tall |
The wide angle end of my zoom (12 mm; 24 mm equiv.) enhanced the perspective in this next photo.
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| Perspective |
I took this next picture of smiling Debra from way down below her on the "beach" - which is only a beach at low tide, as otherwise it is completely underwater - using my telephoto lens. I was actually 110 feet away, according to the camera's metadata.
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| Open Arm Rejoice |
After returning back to Lubec, I tried some night shots using my new tripod that I'd brought with me. It is hard to appreciate just how dark it was for these next photos, but it was quite dark out. Our unaided eyes could see only the very brightest light in this next photograph. The long exposure photograph actually allows one to "see" things otherwise unseen in the dark. My camera could not successfully autofocus on the lighthouse, so I had to use manual focus mode. Of course manually focusing wasn't much easier. I couldn't really focus on the lighthouse light itself, but rather I had to focus on the reflection in the water. This is 4 sec. at f/2.8, ISO 1000:
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| Mulholland Point Light Doing Its Job |
There was more available light on Lubec's deserted streets, thanks to the street lights. This is 3.2 secs. at f/5.0, ISO 200:
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| Lubec At Night |
Another shot looking from Lubec at the Canadian end of the bridge, from Lubec. The lights are at the Customs buildings for the border crossing. They're open 24 hours:)
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| Customs Lights |
Here's a mermaid I spotted in downtown Lubec:
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| Quoddy Red Head |
Not much going on in Lubec at this hour. In fact, someone pulled up in a car and parked directly behind us perhaps to watch what we were doing; he might have been a police officer but he didn't leave his unmarked vehicle. Is it unusual to be setting up a tripod and grabbing pictures of a deserted town at night?
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| Nightlife in Lubec |
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