Here, we’re watching the alchemy of dusk change the sea in Great Cove into hammered silver. We’re looking southwest through one of the two passages into the island-sheltered Cove. The moment lasted about a minute on Thursday (December 5).
In the background, slightly right of center, we can barely see Champlain Mountain rising like a blue whale above and well behind the islands in Eggemoggin Reach. The mountain is on Isle au Haut (“High Mountain Island”), about 11 miles out in the Atlantic. That island was “discovered” and named in 1604 by French explorer Samuel de Champlain, perhaps the best of the original European explorers of North America. The mountain, of course, was named in his honor.
Oldtimers here tell us that, when Champlain Mountain disappears from our view during the day, it’s going to rain or snow. In our experience, that’s true most of the time. (Brooklin, Maine)