Yesterday I finally arrived in Maine and who was there to welcome me? None other than Smokey the Bear. Okay, okay it was really a statue of Smokey but it made me happy to see him at the information centre I stopped at once I crossed the border from Massachusetts. What can I say, the simple things in life are great. So…anyway…I got my ass out of bed early this morning to drive over to the Portland Head Light situated on the cliffs of Cape Elizabeth. The lighthouse’s first lighting was in 1791..a whopping 225 years!

Portland Head Lighthouse

Portland Head Lighthouse

It was a gorgeous morning except these nasty little bugs that kept attacking us foolish photographers who were offering ourselves up as an early breakfast. Once the sun was fully up it was time to get my own breakfast back at camp before moving my campsite once again to Sherwood Forest in Pemaquid Point. Yup, that’s right, I’m camping in Sherwood forest tonight…should be fun.

After setting up my new campsite I went out to scout the Pemaquid Point Light located about 30 minutes south. Most of these lighthouses are in historic parks and there is an entrance fee during specific times of the day. Now don’t let that deter you as the fees are pretty minimal. For this scout I didn’t really need to get into the park as I could see what I needed from the neighbouring restaurant and gift shop (where I had a pretty huge dinner overlooking the ocean). My goal for this mission was to see what to photograph later that night. And let me tell you this is a great place to get some great star photography photographs.

Milky Way over Pemaquid

Milky Way over Pemaquid

The bright blue in the water that you see in photo above is bioluminescent algae that is being stirred up by the crashing waves. Pretty neat, don’t you think? Now, what I really came here for was a night shot of the lighthouse.

Pemaquid Pt Lighthouse under Starry Skies

Pemaquid Pt Lighthouse under Starry Skies

What I love most about this is the rock striations leading up towards the lighthouse and the mirroring of the milky way doing the same thing from the sky. This all comes down to timing on when the milky way will be in that position in the sky. I’d like to say that I had planned it that way but no, I was pretty lucky that it just happens to be in the right place. Tomorrow I’ll come back and get the sunrise from this spot.