Castine store wins lobster roll contest Hawk watch set for today near Camden

Congratulations are in order for a couple of regular readers in Castine who always make me feel welcome when I visit their store, Castine Variety.

Ernie and Janis Fitch have been chosen by the Maine Lobster Promotion Council as the winners in the council’s best lobster roll contest.

For regulars it comes as no surprise that this honor was bestowed on Castine Variety over 86 other spots around the state. For the uninitiated, for the people who walk past this unassuming corner spot with their sights set on the area’s other fine restaurants, it might come as a shock.

If you haven’t ventured up the cement steps, through the corner door and clutter of locals and the eclectic collection of items for sale and plunked yourself down on one of the half-dozen or so round stools at the counter, you obviously couldn’t know what you were missing.

The Variety, as it’s called locally, is information central in this tiny town that is home to Maine Maritime Academy and some 1,500 residents. On any given morning you’ll see a steady stream of folks come through the front door to pick up their morning paper, get a shot of coffee, share greetings with the Fitches, get their daily dose of town news, and likely have their chain pulled by someone present. A bench outside on the sidewalk serves as home to the local liar’s club that meets all day beginning shortly after 5 a.m. (There are numerous shifts.) Inside, the overflow from round stools at the counter gathers around a table surrounded by the hubbub. Breakfast or lunch orders are often handed hand-to-hand until they reach their intended customer. Informal? Yes. Homestyle? You bet! Good food? Sure enough!

When I saw the press release Monday from the Maine Lobster Promotion Council naming Castine Variety as the winner, I wasn’t surprised a bit.

Congratulations, Janice and Ernie, you deserve it!

To say that last weekend was fine would be doing it a disservice. I’ve been awaiting some warm, dry weather, and Saturday delivered, didn’t it? Clear blue skies, warm but not too warm, a light breeze -it was perfect for enjoying a day on the water.

And that’s exactly what I did – both Friday and Saturday! I had the two days off, so I traded my editor’s visor for a baseball cap, put on my best guide’s face, and headed for Castine. A couple from Boston, heavy into Harley Davidson, was looking for another summer diversion and wanted to spend a day on the water.

Later that evening, five other folks had a hankering to see phosphorescence in the local waters – they were not disappointed. And on Saturday two local women, mother and daughter, went out to ply the waters with me. They were the winners of a Rotary Club fundraiser earlier this spring. I was the prize – not much, I can hear you muttering.

This outing stems from last spring when my editor came to me and asked if I could work a deal with Karen Francoeur of Castine Kayak Adventures for a half-day tour gift certificate, and I would be the guide. The former part of that proposal would be the incentive part, the latter is questionable. Anyway, someone must have had to scratch an itch and the auctioneer mistook that for a bid. Lo and behold, she was on the hook.

Turns out the high (or one?) bidder had been injured skiing and she has yet to mend. So she gave her winning gift certificate to a friend – beware of Greeks bearing gifts! (No letters, please, it’s an old expression, like about 2,000-plus years, which is derived from Virgil’s “Aeneid.” You see, Caesar Augustus commissioned Publius Vergilius Maro (70-19 BC) to author a national epic for Rome. Virgil’s “Aeneid” was written sometime between 29 BC and the poet’s death in 19 BC. It tells the story of a minor character from Homer’s “Iliad” who founded a “New Troy” (Rome). It is in the “Aeneid” that we find the Trojan horse and Laocoon’s warning about Greeks and gifts: “I fear Dardanians [Greeks] even when they bear gifts.”

In the epic the Greeks gave the Trojans the “Trojan” horse as a “gift.” The Greeks’ wooden horse was filled with Greek fighters who overpowered the drunken Trojans. And that’s the truth, according to the Internet. Isn’t it grand?)

Where was I?

Right, the high bidder. It turns out she was in part a loser because she missed out on a fantastic day on the water despite the fact that she would have had to have spent it with me. The high bidder’s friend and daughter, it turned out, were the winners (from my perspective) for having had such a beautiful day to spend on the water (despite the fact that they had to spend it with me…). Turns out they had a great time. It’s true! They told me so and followed up with an e-mail!

As for the Friday night phosphorescence, if “fireflies” in the water don’t intrigue you, check your pulse. They are electrifying. Don’t take my word for it; check out the September Downeast Magazine for an article on them and the tours offered by Castine Kayak Adventures.

Paddling at night is a trip in itself. I think it offers a whole new perspective to paddling. When you add dinoflagellates that emit a greenish-blue glow when disturbed by your paddle and turn the dark waters into a surreal twinkling it is just plain awesome. First-timers and seasoned viewers alike react with ooohs, wows and ahhhs. Sometimes in the summer you get to see fireflies in the tall grasses next to the water and life is exceptionally good.

Our Friday night patrol eventually wound up smack in the middle of a Mother Lode on our way back to the dock. I thought I was going to have to tow people back because they were so entranced by the display. Every dip of the paddle, every drip of water lit up like magical, eerie Christmas lights. The bow wake from the kayaks became a string of green-blue pearls and paddle swirls were pools of twinkling luminosity.

Any time you can spend on the water in a kayak is rewarding, but a night outing spent amidst swirling phosphorescence in the ocean – that’s the best.

If you’re up early Saturday and you want to check out the hawk migration, head to Bald Mountain near Camden at 9:30 a.m. where Don Reimer and Kristen Lindquist will lead a free hawk watch. Bring binoculars and be prepared for a steep hike. Meet in the Snow Bowl parking lot to carpool to trailhead. The outing will not take place in bad weather. For more information contact the Coastal Mountains Land Trust at 236-7091 or check out their Web site at www.coastalmountains.org.

Jeff Strout can be reached at 990-8202 or by e-mail at jstrout@bangordailynews.net.