“What is winter like on the island?” We’re back at that time of year that summer visitors ask about the most. My standard answer is, “Pretty quiet. We often get rain when the mainland is getting snow. It can get pretty windy, causing boat cancelations and power outages.”
I don’t tend to mention the weather extremes because they are not always the norm, but there are times when living out here in the winter gets pretty challenging. For instance, when the temperature drops into negative numbers, ice starts to build up on the floats, along mooring pennants, and on the hulls of boats in the harbor. It’s fascinating to see yet pretty menacing. The ice has to be pounded off with sledgehammers.
Below zero temperatures also generate a phenomenon known as sea smoke, where the warmer water creates vapor when it hits the cold air causing the ocean to look like it’s steaming hot. When there’s a lot of vapor it can be difficult to navigate. Avoiding the extra work and worry of maintaining a boat in the harbor is why many of the older fishermen take their boats out of the water at this time of year.
Our town of five islands was not spared. Damage from that storm is still being repaired.
A few years ago we had a storm at Christmas time that knocked out power for three days. When the temperature dropped to the single numbers, friends had to build fires in the woodstoves of people who were away to keep their pipes from freezing.
Last January we had back-to-back storms that wreaked havoc along the Maine coast. Our town of five islands was not spared. Damage from that storm is still being repaired.
On Islesford, the stretch of road that leads to the connecting box where the power cable comes ashore from Great Cranberry was only just repaired in mid-December.
It’s not rare for a visitor to ask if it ever freezes over between here and Mount Desert Island. I think the last time it did was about 100 years ago. If it’s cold enough, ice will build up in places like “the Pool” on Great Cranberry and in Somes Sound.
When warmer temperatures cause the ice to break up it moves out into the Eastern Way or the Western Way, depending on the tide and wind. In one recent winter there were so many ice chunks piled in the harbor at Great Cranberry the mailboat couldn’t get to the dock to tie up.
When extreme weather is forecast, we start preparing. Many of us make food that can be heated on a gas stove top, and we fill extra containers with water to use when our pumps aren’t working. Quite a few of us have generators.
When a storm hits, we hunker down but also keep an eye on each other. When the power goes out, people will check around to see if the downed lines are local to the islands.
A mainland power outage has a much better chance of being fixed in a few hours. If the outage originates on either Great or Little Cranberry Island, we have to wait for the seas to calm down enough to bring the Versant trucks out on the barge.
If the power is out for more than a few hours people are invited to homes with generators to do things like check email, charge phones, and take showers. People with portable generators have driven them around to power up refrigerators and freezers for a few hours. Kindness prevails.
To leave the island at this time of year can require extra work. Most of us have some form of island vehicle with a better car or truck on the mainland. That’s two cars to shovel out after a snowstorm or two frosty windshields to scrape just to head out for groceries or an appointment.
I’m content to stay home as much as I can in the winter. I’ll dedicate the first two months of the year to reading, artwork, and jigsaw puzzles. It’s my best time to rest and recharge. I’ll sit by the woodstove and cross my fingers that Mother Nature will send us a mild winter, one as neutral as my typical description to a tourist in August, but with a little less wind.
Crossed fingers or not, we’ll get what we get and we’ll deal with it. It’s always beautiful but sometimes dangerously so.
Barbara Fernald lives on Islesford (Little Cranberry Island). She may be contacted at Fernald244@gmail.com.
