Roaming in ghostly, seaward Maine

There are no paved roads and no restaurants. Because of a fire in April there is no Post Office. But there is a mailbox. And, as of a couple of weeks ago, there is a small general store. There is one bed-and-breakfast but no public restroom. Ferry service from Rockland takes more than two hours and runs just four times a month in summer and once a month in winter. Otherwise you can fly from the tiny airport in Owls Head or boat over yourself. For groceries, islanders grow their own, head down to the general store, or fax orders to the Shaw's supermarket in Rockland. It's $8 per banana box delivered by air.

We meet captain George Tarkleson in Rockland. His boat is the Robin R, a 35-foot Mitchell Cove lobster hull set up for cruising back and forth to the island, which he does up to a few times a day most days from May until October. The other man on the boat, an islander, has plastic bags from a trip to the supermarket in Rockland. We pound out over Penobscot Bay, through the rain and fog, past Owls Head and the Mussel Ridge Islands, and then out into what feels like the open ocean. The boat is twice as fast as the ferry, and a rough enough ride today so that halfway through the trip a grocery bag falls and spills cigarettes, Doritos, and a bottle of rum.

It's all of a sudden sunny when we near the island. We glide past the painter Bo Bartlett's summer studio on Wheaton Island and into the harbor, which could be part of the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disney World, only it's full of lobster boats instead of pirate ships. It's low tide and there are no floats, just long greasy ladders to climb from the boat to the pier.

Matinicus is not a spontaneous trip. Before we left we took care of all the details. We booked passage on the Robin R; we secured a cottage; we went shopping for six meals plus wine and beer; and we called Ann's Mermaid Taxi to pick us up in the harbor.