Lobstah!

I read about Captain Jack's Lobster Boat in the Lonely Planet's New England book. Going out with a lobster fisherman sounded like an interesting thing to do, so we gave him a call. He docks his boat at the dock in the little town of Rockland.

For $30 each, he will take people out for an hour and a half  with him when he tends some of his 150 or so traps that he has in the bay.

Even though it was an overcast day, we saw several beautiful sailboats going out for the day --

Each lobsterman has individually colored buoys attached to his traps --

The traps are in waters that range from 20 to 65 feet deep, The Captain has a measuring caliper in his right hand  --

In Maine, you can only catch the medium-sized lobsters. The little ones and the larger ones -- the breeders -- are tossed back overboard.

This is a nice one -- it might be the one I ended up fixing for supper. The yellow bag hanging in the trap is the bait. He was using frozen whole ocean perch.

This little guy was going back over board --

The lobsters he kept had their claws banded and were tossed into the bait box with the perch until we got to shore --

This is the light on the end of the Rockland Breakwater that extends 7/8 of a mile out into the bay. The light is 39 feet high and is visible for 17 miles.

You can't get dinner much fresher than this! We paid $5 each for him and a buddy (wholesale dock price). The Captain's recipe for cooking: Bring an inch of water to a boil in the bottom of a pot; put the lobster in on its back; bring it back to a boil; steam for 10 minutes.