Cause I'm a little seal girl livin in the real world......

Something I always wanted to do is go out with a lobster fisherman and learn a little about lobsters and the capture of them. SO off we went on the LuLu www.lululobsterboat.com and a most interesting, educational afternoon in Bar Harbor.

Our captain (Captain John) was not only a knowledgeable fisherman, he was also a comedian...which always makes the tours much more fun.

This is the wench, which the lobstermen of today use, enabling them to pull many more traps than in the old days when it was done by hand and the traps were wooden, waterlogged traps, weighing approximately 100 lbs. or more. The little pink/green sign is the LuLu's color identification and all the traps are marked with this color buoy to identify the trap as belonging to LuLu and Captain John......and you had better NOT pull or mess with them unless you are in fact Captain John!! He does mention however, this is not really a problem. Their is a lot of respect for the lobster fisherman and their laws!

This is one of the newer traps, costing anywhere from $50 - $100 each. You definitely don't want to loose too many. AND, pleasure boats surely don't want to wrap a prop around the hundreds of ropes dotting the fishing areas.

We learned SO much on this cruise. Not only about the anatomy, but about moulting, defense mechanisms (throwing a claw), hiding and what they eat until they grow their new shell. They actually drag their old shell into their hiding space and live off from that while they are growing the new one. Nature is SO amazing.

Salt and I so want to bring Emma to this region. She loves science and particularly marine biology. She would have been asking a thousand questions.

I always love these clever little signs.....

While we were cruising, the schooner, the Margaret Todd was out on one of her tours. She is such a beauty. We considered taking a sail on her but there is just so much to do and so little time, it didn't work this year.

We saw several seals while we were out.

This is a piece of kelp, which ended up in one of the traps. It is used in chewing gum, ice cream, etc. It is an adhesive that holds them together. There was a doctor on board who had served in Iraq and said they used it on wounds in the fields.

Across the street there was a small museum which we also took in.

This is just one of the interesting artifacts.....

As it was our last night in Maine, we had one last lobster dinner. These were cooked right on the campground by an elderly gentleman who's grandson is a lobster fisherman and brings them fresh out of the ocean.

We ate out on our picnic table watching this incredible sunset over the water..... Goodbye Maine....it was wonderful!