Mealtimes for Homo sapiens at Hog Island are a convivial time to review what's been seen, heard, smelled, or felt during the day. Longtime cook Janii Laberge and his young kitchen crew prepare healthy meals for meat eaters and vegetarians. On July 4, students are surprised with a holiday luncheon feast, complete with hamburgers on the grill and pounds of succulent watermelon. On the last evening, Laberge prepares a Maine lobster bake; the crustaceans are caught by island staff in the camp's 10 lobster traps.
Come to your senses in the middle of Muscongus Bay
(Page 3 of 3)
Bit by bit, everyone starts to slow down. As Benz said on the first night, ''This isn't school; you don't have to do anything if you don't want to." Still, learning more about the flora and fauna of the island seems to bring out the child in many an adult. One afternoon is spent exploring the pools that dot the island at low tide. A man from Alaska and a doctor from Pennsylvania draw a fine-meshed seine through the 59-degree water; a clump of people crouch to pick through and identify the various seaweeds and animals captured in the net. Another 1 1/2-hour class on insects ends with grinning adults swirling nets in the air to catch dragonflies and damselflies.
Each evening, guest lecturers visit the island to give an overview of their work. Gathered in the Fish House, students listen to marine biologist Diane Cowan explain the migratory patterns of Homarus americanus, the American lobster. Cowan uses identifying tags to track the crustacean in her work with the Lobster Conservancy, a nonprofit research and education organization based in nearby Friendship. Another evening, Steven Kress, director of the National Audubon Society's Seabird Restoration Program, regales students with the history of puffin restoration on Eastern Egg Rock, a treeless island at the mouth of Muscongus Bay. Bonnie Bochan, a Hog Island instructor, talks about her 20 years spent inventorying and protecting songbirds in Ecuador. Whatever the topic, we sleepy students perk up in response to the lecturers' enthusiasm.
On the final Saturday, 49 well-tanned campers enjoy their last communal breakfast at The Bridge. Bags are taken down to the dock to load onto the boat for a quick trip to the mainland. Some are eager to pick up their cellphones, to connect again to life off island. Others linger over breakfast, exchanging e-mail addresses and promising to send photos. Michelle Rueneger, a naturalist from Clearwater, Fla., acknowledges that she is looking forward to seeing her husband again.
As she heads down the dock, she waves her hands at the ocean, the rocks, the clustering trees:''It's so beautiful and there's so much out here!"
Contact Melissa Waterman, a freelance writer in Maine, at waterman@gwi.net.
Advertisement
Advertisement