Eastport, Whales and Old Sow

July 28, 2021 

Hi Blog!

We moved north up the Maine Coast to Eastport, the easternmost city in the United States. Our campground was on the shores of Passamaquoddy Bay, just a short boat ride to the Bay of Fundy. This is as close to Canada as we could get this year. From our campsite, we could wave to the Canadian campers on Deer Island.  Too bad we couldn't come ashore.

Eastport is known for lighthouses, whales, mustard and the "Old Sow." We decided to spend our first day in Eastport exploring. Since downtown Eastport was only two miles from our campground, we decided to walk into town for breakfast. On the way, we stopped by Raye's Mustard Mill and Museum. They've been grinding small batch mustard since 1900. There are dozens of flavors to pick from. Unfortunately, the museum was closed for renovations. However, their downtown gift shop was open! Because we live in a small RV, we had to limit our purchases, but we can always order more and so can you: https://rayesmustard.com/.

After a great breakfast on the outside deck of the Waco Diner looking over at Campobello Island, we started our grand tour of Eastport. Most of the small businesses in Eastport are located along Water Street. The Fisherman greets visitors at the entrance to the harbor. The statue was originally built as a prop for a reality television show called Murder in Small Town X (we found it ironic that the producers of a "reality" show found it necessary to build a "fake" statute for the show):

The tiny town of Eastport sits across a mile-wide strait from Campobello Island, which is on the Bay of Fundy in the Canadian province of New Brunswick. The downtown waterside structures are mainly two- and three-story brick storefronts, most of them built soon after a fire in 1886 destroyed all the wooden buildings of the old downtown. We walked out a commercial dock so we could get a better look back toward Water Street and the old brick buildings.

European fishermen and traders came in the 1600’s, but the area wasn't settled until 1772. Maine was originally part of the Massachusetts settlement. However, far from Massachusetts authorities, it was a smuggling center from 1807-1809. Eastport was also occupied by the British during the War of 1812. During the occupation, Eastport was again a thriving smuggling port since the Federal government considered Eastport a lost cause with the British fleet dominating the Bay of Fundy.

Water Street sits high above the marinas. The tides in this area can reach up 25 feet. The boat docks rise and fall with the tides.

After visiting Raye's Mustard Gift Shop, we stopped in to the Tides Institute & Museum of Art. Founded in 2002, the museum hopes to foster innovative and cross-sector works. It focuses on education and preservation efforts. We enjoyed the moody, broody lithographs of Stow Wengenroth.  This one is titled, "Dark Harbor":

As with many tourist towns, businesses are still getting staffed up after Covid shut so many of them down.  Several of the restaurants have cut back their hours and are only open for dinner. We did find a nice local coffee shop that served salads and pastries. The spinach and goat cheese croissant was amazing. After lunch, we made our way over to Eastport Windjammers for our coastal voyage on the Starfish Enterprise (get it, Trekkies?):

One of the main reasons for the coastal cruise was to get up close and personal with the "Old Sow" and her little piglets.  The Old Sow is the largest whirlpool in the Western Hemisphere, and the second largest in the world. There have been numerous tragic encounters. Boats go in and don't come back out. Some 40 billion cubic feet of water floods into Passamaquoddy Bay with each incoming tide and mixes with the counter-currents from the St. Croix River to the north of the bay. There's a 400-foot-deep trench to the southwest of New Brunswick's Deer Island Point that continues as a 327-foot trench to the northwest. Bisecting the trench is a 281 foot undersea mountain. All that water flooding into the bay has to negotiate a right-angle turn to get around Deer Island Point, and then it slams into that undersea mountain. When heavy winds coincide with especially high tides, it becomes liquid chaos and disaster for the unwitting seafarer. 

After narrowly escaping the Old Sow (our captain may have added one or two dramatic waggles of the boat), we worked our way over toward Campobello Island so we could look for marine life. We encountered a bald eagle, a couple gray seals and several minke whales like the one pictured below.

The East Quoddy Lighthouse also known as the Head Harbour Light is located on the northernmost tip of Campobello Island. It is the oldest lighthouse in New Brunswick. The facility is open for tours, but only during low tide. We had the chance to visit Campobello Island in 2018, but we never got a chance to take the tour as the tides were too high to cross over to the lighthouse. Maybe the third time will be the charm!

In addition to seals and whales, we also spotted sea kayaks being bounced around by the wind and waves.

Back on dry land, we stopped to quench our thirst at Horn Run Brewing before making our way over to Quoddy Bay Lobster. Unfortunately, the takeout part of the lobster pound was closed. 

After a day full of adventures, it was time to make our way back to camp. If weather cooperates, we hope to explore more of Downeast Maine. Stay tuned.