My Musings: Portland, Maine

After New Hampshire, we drove on to Maine. I hadn't ever been to Maine before, and it was the state I was the most excited to visit. We drove from Mount Washington to Bar Harbor, making a stop in Portland, Maine for a true Maine experience, going out on a lobster boat and having lobster rolls for lunch. This was one of my most favorite days of the entire trip!

We went lobstering with the company, Lucky Catch, where we got to learn all about lobster harvesting from a couple of experts.

All bundled up and ready to catch some lobsters!

They asked for some volunteers from our group, and my dad was excited to have to opportunity to get involved!

I found all the details about lobstering so fascinating! Lobstering is one of the oldest industries in Maine, and supports a way of life for thousands of families in the state. All lobster harvesters play an integral role in the sustainability of Maine’s most important marine resource.

Maine is the most regulated state concerning lobster fishing and as a result, leads other states in lobster conservation measures. In Maine, a lobster must measure between 3¼ inches and 5 inches along the carapace or they have to be thrown back in the water.

In the US, the minimum legal size lobster must measure at least 3¼” from the eye socket to the back of the carapace where the tail joins the body. The measure was increased twice in the last ten years, and allows more females to extrude eggs and reproduce before reaching legal size.

In Maine, a maximum size law also exists. Any lobster with a greater than 5” carapace must be returned to the sea. This law exists to protect the “breeders”. Larger lobsters are capable of reproducing greater and healthier numbers of offspring and Maine lobster harvesters feel very strongly about protecting this brood stock.

Lobsters have two different types of claws. The Crusher Claw, which has large, rounded, molar-like teeth on the outside. Inside, the closer muscle of the crusher is comprised of 100% slow-twitch muscle fiber. Slow-twitch muscles are noted for strength and endurance and are characterized by their ability to sustain long, strong contractions. This is the claw to watch out for!

The fast lobster claw has a variety of names, including cutter, pincher, and seizer. This claw has a serrated edge with great tufts of sensory hairs lining the sharp, pointed teeth. On the inside, the closer muscle of the seizer is made up of fast-twitch muscle fibers. Fast-twitch muscle is characterized by rapidity, but is less able to sustain contractions for long periods of time.

There are often little crabs in the lobster traps, the fishermen usually just throw them back into the water.

We also learned how differentiate male and female lobsters. Females have wider tales that have a slight curve. They need bigger tails since this is where they carry their eggs. Males tales are thinner and straighter.

The second way to tell is by their swimmerets. The top set of swimmerets (or feelers) on a female’s tail are soft, translucent, and crossed at the tips. A male’s swimmerets are bony, opaque, and point up toward his body.

So, in the picture below the lobster on the right is a male and the lobster on the left is a female.

By the end of our lobstering lesson, our boat was slowly becoming surrounded by seagulls. They were landing on the roof, and circling in the air, it was beginning to feel a little ominous. Then we learned the fishermen throw out the scrapes of bate from the lobster traps, and this is what the seagulls were anxiously anticipating.

A sweet gal from our group, who was one of the volunteer helpers, was selected to throw out the bate. She was a little intimidated by the somewhat aggressive seagulls. However, the longer she waited, the more anxious the birds got and the closer they came. She eventually got the courage to throw out the bate, and the gulls gobbled it down in seconds.

We threw back all the lobsters we caught, since none of them were of legal size. But there were some lobsters on board that had been harvested earlier in the day.

Our fearless captain.

After our exciting excursion on a lobster boat, it was time to eat some lobster for lunch! There are two kinds of seafood restaurants in Maine: fine dining rooms serving nice wines accompanying poached fish in delicious sauces, and oceanfront spots pouring good drinks to wash down seafood both breaded and fried. Portland Lobster Co. is the latter, and the best of its kind, serving old standards of high quality, including a top-notch lobster roll overflowing with meat. Every meal comes with a view of Portland Harbor from under tent-sheltered tables so you can enjoy your fisherman’s platter and live music every day throughout the summer.

After ordering our lobster rolls, we were handed a lobster buzzer that would alert us when our tasty meals were ready for pick up and we found a seat out on the sunny balcony. It's the little details like this that really make a place authentic and fun.

While many in Maine try to perfect the lobster roll, few actually do. The consistently reliable, Portland Lobster Company, knows the power that buttery buns, creamy mayo and succulent lobster meat can have on people. They don’t skimp on the portions, either! These rolls overflow with the sweet red meat that Maine’s famous for.

This fun eatery has won several awards year after year for their lobster rolls. So, it was the perfect place to try my first ever lobster roll!

I ate the whole thing and was glad I got to try a lobster roll in Maine, however, I probably won't ever feel the need to eat another one. Lobster/seafood just isn't my thing. But I didn't hate it!

Maine really embraces the whole lobster theme ...

After lunch, we had a little time to explore the town and visit some of the fun, quirky tourist shops.

We had seen an ad for the Holy Donut in a magazine at one of our hotels, and we walked right by it duding our wanderings, so we took it as a sign that we needed to get some of these famous potato donuts. Such a fun and happy little surprise.

We had a hard time decided on which flavor to try, so we got a little assortment. They definitely were different than your average donut, their texture is unique. We enjoyed them!

Then we bid farewell to the fun, seaside town of Portland and drove the rest of the way to Bar Harbor, where we checked into our cozy inn where all our rooms had gorgeous views of the ocean. More on that in the next post ...

For dinner that night, we drove out to Bailey Island for a fun dinner at Cook's Lobster House.

Cook's has amazing views of the water from every seat in the restaurant. We were lucky enough to be seated right next to one of their large windows, so we had amazing views of the sunset throughout our meal.