On this first day of the New Year, it seems appropriate to celebrate with cake. I don’t mean real cake – I mean ice cake. Ice cakes really do look like round sugar-dusted cakes sitting along the shore. As I looked at them one snowy Monday afternoon when the seascape faded from white to gray, […]

On Christmas Eve, I had the pleasure of seeing a premature baby seal released at Head Beach in Phippsburg with an impressive crowd of onlookers. Premie had been rehabilitated at the Harpswell Triage Center of the Marine Mammals of Maine (MMoME) after being found in Surry, Maine more than seven months ago. I won’t recap the whole experience […]

As we creep closer to the official start of winter, it is apparent that fall is on its way out. The last of the leaves are down and are covered with a variable crust of ice and snow. Looking across the water, the deciduous trees faintly stand out against the evergreens as lacy skeletons, delicate […]

After writing last week about keeping tenacious marine life from fouling boat bottoms, I thought I’d follow up with a description of just how these intertidal oddities stick so well to things and the innovations they inspire. Let’s start with marine snails. One of my favorites is the smooth periwinkle — that tiny yellow snail […]

We have now entered the month of December and most of the docks and boats along the coast are now sitting on dry land. It always makes me sad to see all those lonely piers sticking longingly out into the water. But, it is also a neat opportunity to see all of the strange marine […]