Ted Spurling decided to retire from writing a monthly column for Working Waterfront in favor of writing occasional pieces. He asked me if I would be interested in taking over for him in his monthly report. Ted’s individual style and historical knowledge of the Cranberry Isles presented me with a daunting challenge. How could I possibly qualify to author the Cranberry Report? One might ask the obvious question, “Have you lived there all your life?” The quintessential answer, “Not yet.” I’ve lived on Islesford year-round for 27 years and I am a fourth-generation summer person who married a sixth-generation island lobster fisherman. Our sons grew up here and graduated from the same two-room school as their father and grandfather before them. While I will never fill Ted’s shoes, I sincerely hope to be a sufficient successor in presenting a perspective of island life.
The kids are enjoying a new salt-water aquarium at the school. There is an ongoing supply of assorted sea creatures to study, thanks to local lobstermen and women. One of the creatures to create great interest among fishermen was the “Barbie doll lobster” caught by Mark Fernald on Sept. 13. The v-notched female appeared in Mark’s trap about 1 mile south of Baker’s Island dressed in a blue top and a red and white checked skirt. Two of her legs sported red high-heeled sandals. By the end of October, she had made her way four miles east of Mark’s original catch, having appeared in four more traps. Fishermen are constantly checking the tails of female lobsters because it is illegal to sell a v-notched female. She has become part of the breeding stock in the ongoing effort to conserve the lobster industry. In this case, Mark admits, “To see if she had a v-notch, I had to look under her skirt.”
October 2003 was the wettest on record in 60 years. We’ve had 10 inches of rain for the month. For the Columbus Day weekend, many summer residents returned to close up their homes for the year and to attend the annual Harvest Supper at the Neighborhood House on Saturday night. Over 140 people were served delicious turkey pies and a variety of desserts. The memorial service for Lucien Poulin on the following day brought all of the same people and more back together in the Congregational Church as we took time to honor and remember a good island friend.
Oct. 15 was a stormy day. David Bunker clocked wind gusts of 72 miles per hour at his home on Great Cranberry. Anticipating a power outage, people started to fill containers with water, located candles and flashlights, and replaced their remote phones with ones that did not require electricity. At 10:45 a.m a small tree by the Ravenhill barn fell on a power line knocking out all of Islesford1s power and the power to just one house on Cranberry. After 24 hours our phones were out too. Apparently island phone service also requires electricity, and the back up battery is only good for one day. Ingenuity, good spirits, and mild weather carried us through three powerless days with ease. People with generators were generous. David and Cindy Thomas invited people over to watch the Red Sox games. A sign on Evelyn Boxley’s door read, “Hot showers, bring your own towel!” Twelve people took her up on that offer. Several people drove around with generators, offering a few hours of power to help keep refrigerators cold enough to save the food. School was canceled Thursday and Friday. On Thursday, Oct. 30, solar storms provided an incredible display of the northern lights. These were not just the often seen pale green curtains, but bursts of red and pink. The same evening there was a presentation by the school children and George Gaines Swanson about the Lewis and Clark expedition. Forty people from Islesford attended a community potluck supper and the informative event. As November arrived, the “dip of the month” club was still going strong. Cindy Thomas, Cynthia Lief, Danny and Adam Wriggins, Jesse Minor and Barb Fernald took their November swim at the sand beach on Nov. 2. Air temperature was 45 degrees, water temperature was 54 degrees. While it felt cold, it was much milder than a year ago on Nov. 3, when the 17-degree temperature set a record.
Fishermen have been seeing the migration of thousands of cormorants, coots and sea ducks with the occasional flock of geese higher overhead. Smaller birds often find offshore lobster boats a welcome haven for a brief rest and protection from pursuing gulls as they make their way south. About five miles southeast of Baker’s Island, Bruce Fernald had three juncoes land aboard the DOUBLE TROUBLE. He put his hand out the cabin window and one of the little gray birds hopped onto his finger. Half an hour later, the birds left the boat to continue their journey. At least this year none of them tried to use his nose for a perch! November’s first week was very busy with town-related activities. Though the day was cold and raw, there was a good turnout of voters on both islands for Election Day. The Board of Selectmen held a Wednesday meeting on Cranberry with lively discussions concerning the upcoming bids for a new solid waste collection and disposal plan. The next Selectmen’s meeting was moved to Dec. 16 on Islesford to provide contractors with more time before the bids are opened. Warrant articles were submitted for the upcoming March Town meeting including proposals to change the Town’s fiscal year and to move the annual town meeting to August so more summer residents could attend. Our town’s trend to seek the expertise of both voting and non-voting residents is a recent and necessary one.