I had two choices when I decided to book the trips to Seal Island. Only one boat each from Canada and the US every day are permitted to bring tourists to see the Puffins, Razorbills, and Terns.
As a side note, the more I watch the webcams found at the link above, the more fascinated I am by the Razorbills. I still have a thing for the Puffins, but I’m expanding my range of bird obsessions. 🙂
A maximum of 15 passengers are permitted (I think that’s correct) from each country per day as it’s a highly protected site. The trip to Seal Island leaves from Grand Manan on the Canadian side and Cutler, Maine in the US.
I chose to take the trip from Cutler as it’s only 20 miles down the road. Grand Manan might be close as I look at it across the water, but it would take me hours to get there and I’d have to spend the night before the trip.
My test run yesterday found a beautiful little town (the International Settlement Hierarchy would say village because there are fewer than 500 residents).
Unfortunately, my next scheduled trip there probably won’t happen. I received an email saying a cold front is forecast, resulting in a small craft advisory for this afternoon and Wednesday with 10 foot waves expected. It’s good thing I booked 3 trips.
Just outside Cutler I saw this extraordinary peninsula which appeared to be growing electrical towers. This is the Cutler Naval Station and consists of 13 antenna. Two of them are 997.5 feet tall, the rest are in groups of 875 and 799 feet in height respectively. The entire arrangement is 1.871 km (or 1.16 miles) in diameter. They are used for coded one way communication with submarines.
One last note on Cutler. I am no psychologist, but I suspect anybody who names their boat “Contraband” has some issues with authority. 🙂
This Fundy Migrant's Tale 