Welcome to September everyone, or as I like to call it “Weight Watcher’s Month”. The first means we have less than 30 days to get ready for this year’s big haunt (link here). Damn you short day months!! From this point on until we officially open the trail, sleep will be very sparse and days/nights will be driven at a hectic pace. On top of that, there’s a lot of miles still to be put in on the trail as my 2nd 100K ultra attempt looms a mere two weeks after all the guests have had their fill of food, drinks and frights – thus the significant amount of weight loss. As you would probably assume, I need to back away from the day to day Intrigued responsibilities to focus on the 15+ still in process props that are littered about my basement (some started at the end of last year). Then I can then start assembling all the veteran scares that have already had their fright night debut. Don’t worry, you will be in good care as we once again put the Intrigued HQ in Brad’s capable hands. Quite fitting, as this also happens to be his 1 year anniversary month (his first post was on 9/12 – link here). It has been a true blessing to have him on board, especially in these frantic times. I’ll try to pop in from time to time to check on things and make sure things don’t get too crazy (looking at YOU Lawyer Dept!). Turns out, Brad has the perfect post too kick off this month chock-full of huffin’ and puffin’.
Take it away Brad…
Earlier this year, Brian and I participated in the First Annual Intrigued Corporate Team Building Event, ICTBE v1.0 (see here). Brian and I were hiking through the woods and talking about upcoming events for the summer when I mentioned that Jan and I had booked a trip to Acadia National Park. When Brian heard this, he gave me a photography assignment: find a Puffin. I said, “Sure.” Little did I know, there aren’t any Puffins anywhere inside Acadia. At least not in the parts of the park you can drive or walk to. However, many tour operators near Acadia will take you on a “Puffin Cruise” to see them. This meant we’d be on a 65-foot boat (anything under 500 feet in length is small to me) on the Atlantic Ocean on a “three-hour tour.” Remind you of any 60’s TV theme songs? Just sit right back and you’ll hear a tale . . . (try to get that song out of your head now)
As Jan and I arrived for the morning Puffin cruise, we were told the fog was too thick and the morning cruise had been cancelled. There was another cruise that same afternoon if we wanted to switch. We did. Jan and I arrived for the afternoon cruise and were told there was patchy fog and that, most likely, we would be “in and out” of fog all afternoon around the islands. The tour operator also warned us that temperatures on the open ocean are sometimes much cooler than on land, so we brought along rain jackets and an extra base layer. Standing on the dock with the warm sun and a very slight breeze, it felt like we had too many layers of clothes
Visibility in the harbor was great. We could see fog in the distance around some of the outer islands and thought we might be OK. Jan and I boarded the boat, covered our cameras as best we could, and motored off through the harbor islands.
Hit the jump to read how this foggy Puffin excursion turns out.
Initially the sun was warm, and the ride was smooth, almost as if we were sailing on a flat calm. But as we neared the outer islands at the edge of Bar Harbor, the chop began – all two to three feet of it. So did the cold. And the fog. I’m not talking patchy stuff that burns off in the warm New England sun. I’m talking Yukon Cornelius-style “thick as pea soup” fog. (It was the last time we would have clear views until we were near the same island on the way back. That must have been what they meant by “in and out” of the fog, “in” at the very beginning, and “out” at the end.) At this point I’m wondering if we were just about to waste the next 3.5 hours looking at a grey sea and grey fog. The fog was so thick we could only see about 25-50 yards across the water in any direction. No horizon whatsoever for us landlubbers. Craptastic! (Brian, do I get the bonus now?) I was very glad I doubled up on Dramamine before setting sail. At least the warning bells ringing on the buoys provided some level of entertainment as the boat passed by them in the fog.
After 90 minutes of pitching and rolling, and rolling and pitching, and me wondering what I had gotten myself into, we arrived at Petit Manan Island, located several miles off the Atlantic Coast of Maine, northeast of Bar Harbor.
Our guide is explaining that even though we might not be able to see them right this minute, the Puffins and Common Eiders and seals and terns, are still out there . . . somewhere. Fog means nothing to them.
What was that? It looked like a small football flying past the boat.
There goes another one. It’s a squadron of Atlantic Puffins! (Fratercula arctica)
Don’t worry, the photos do get a little bit better (see Notes). Though since they were roughly 50-100 feet from the boat, all we could see were shapes at the edge of the fog.
Puffins have been clocked at up to 55MPH. But to sustain that speed they have to flap their itty-bitty wings up to 400 beats per minute. If Puffins stop flapping their wings, they fall like rocks from the sky.
Puffins aren’t penguins, even though they look like little penguins. On land they waddle much like a penguin. They nest sort of like penguins. Puffins even eat some of the same things that penguins do. But they are not penguins. Since flying really isn’t their thing, Puffins prefer to float or swim. However, when they “fly” through water they are nearly uncatchable, or so I’m told.
Jan and I were having a hard time tracking them through the fog on the top deck of a rolling boat. There was nothing really for the camera to focus on or for us to hold onto and take pictures at the same time.
Luckily, we were on the leeward side of the island where the water was settled just a bit. By “settled” I mean not as much chop, just rolling waves, causing the boat to rock side to side. Sometimes quickly. Standing in the middle of the open area on top of the boat, I was “OK” with balance. Jan was getting tossed around near the railings and banged up and bruised, having to brace herself with the edges of the hard plastic bench seats. (Need Dramamine yet?) Luckily, our camera lenses have two forms of VR (Vibration Reduction). Remember the staff at Intrigued use Nikon cameras and lenses in case there are any potential blog sponsors out there. VR-1 reduces motion of the camera in your hands assuming you are standing on a steady platform. VR-2 reduces motion when the platform you are standing on is moving. Jan and I were certainly making our VR-2 enabled lenses earn their keep at this point.
The captain of the boat let the engines idle, and the boat bobbed about 75 yards from the rocks at the water’s edge. Shapes on the island began to appear through the fog as the boat drifted a bit closer to the rocky shoreline. There is a tall lighthouse (still in use) and a few buildings. The island is staffed for research and for tending to the light.
Puffins, Common Terns, and probably some Black Guillemots and Laughing Gulls are swarming around the volunteer in the “blind”. The tour guide told us that the staff have to carry a stick above their heads to make it safely to the blind. Terns and gulls will attack the highest point of a person; the stick acts as a stand-in for that highest point.
Just then (imagine clouds parting ever so slightly and a chorus singing), we had a small, almost clear patch in the fog and could crank out a few semi-clear photos through the haze . . . for about 3 ½ minutes.
Our guide shouted that Puffins were floating just ahead of the boat to starboard (right-hand side). Guess who ran over there first, ignoring the three points of contact rule for landlubbers at sea? That’s right, me.
The double dose of Dramamine seemed to be working. Or the excitement of seeing Puffins overrode the queasiness I was beginning to feel after 90 minutes of hopping and bobbing (apologies to Sir Elton John) on the ocean. I was certainly glad I wobbled across to the other side of the boat; the fog was quickly coming back in.
The lifespan of a Puffin can average 30 years. Puffins like to eat small fish. Lots of small fish. They have been photographed with several held crosswise in their bill. Puffins will capture several of these fish during a single dive, sometimes as far as 200 feet down. A few sites claim that Puffins like to fish in groups of seven. Wouldn’t you know, when I reviewed many of the photos, the groups on the water or near us usually contained seven puffins. I guess they always like a tie-breaker during important Puffin votes.
No other way to put it; Atlantic Puffins are cute!
Almost as quickly as the fog cleared, it set back in again. We were back to a world where we could only see about 100 feet on either side of the boat. There was one last clearing in the fog for all of about 60 seconds.
Puffins nest in colonies on small, usually rocky, islands. A mated pair will raise one dull white egg at a time. Incubation takes 36-45 days. Then the chicks, known as Pufflings (how cute is that!), lounge around for another 38-44 days before striking out on their own. A mated pair will often return to the same nest the following breeding season, often with the same mate. With their global population decreasing, Atlantic Puffins are listed as vulnerable.
Right after we took this photo, the boat fired up its engines, and we began the 90-minute trek back to Bar Harbor, or should I say “Bah Hahbah” . . . in the fog.
Thank you for reading. If you want to see more Puffin photos from our trip to Acadia National Park, please visit here.
Credits:
Thanks again to Jan and Allyson for proofreading and editing. Thanks to Jan for some of the photos in this article.
Notes:
We were in nearly complete fog for most of this story. I’ve had to use a moderately heavy hand in the digital darkroom to help these photos be non-monochromatic. Some had slight bits of color when we took them, I’ve just helped the color come out a bit. No Puffins were harmed in the editing of these photos. Hundreds of photos ended up on the cutting room floor which was NOT pitching and rolling, by the way. The two photos below are the same photo, except one is before Lightroom adjustments and the other one is after somewhat heavy-handed adjustments and a wee bit of cropping. Most of the trip looked like the first photo.
Before
After (See!? There are seven of them)
Life Intrigued 