5470-R2_CIC_February2018_Calendar_Web

Marty’s Memories: Keeping the Passage Open by Marty Trower

What a strange time of year. We are completely at the mercy of the weather, and it is difficult to get out of its way. There is no monotony though, and weather is the common denominator of chat. Right now, we are still encased in white and a trail has been broken and maintained from the Stone Pier across the chunked- up ice to Cousins Island. The Islander makes a racket plowing through it; her engine revs with energy and pushes the boat back and forth, side to side, just to get away from the float. When I was in art school in Portland in the 1960s, I tried to get out to Chebeague as much as possible. One frozen February night, I was in a car with friends in the Yarmouth area and I asked whether we could just ride down and look out over at Chebeague from the Cousins Island wharf. They stayed in the car while I got out and gingerly picked my way through the snow and down the ramp to the end of the float. It was so quiet down there and so very dark. I could see the lights on inside my friend’s car and hear the hum of the car radio. I crept down the ramp and was surprised to see the bulk of the water taxi, Polly-Lin ,

tied up to the float. I hopped on without thinking and screamed when I saw a mound on the center engine cover move and then speak! “Who’s there?” it boomed. A blond head and the lanky shape of Smitty, the boat’s captain emerged from a gray blanket, and I tried to explain what I was doing there, late at night, in the middle of the winter. Smitty used his converted lobster boat as a water taxi from the time we lost the Nellie G —and were left stranded, except for the Casco Bay Lines ferries that came from Portland and the other islands to Chandlers Cove—until the Islander was built and put into service. Smitty ran the boat himself and made sure to keep the traveling lanes open by going back and forth at night, taking nap breaks in between while tied up to the Cousins dock, as I found out that night. I was pretty embarrassed, but Smitty was jovial and actually seemed glad for the company. I didn’t stay long though, returning to my new mainland friends who couldn’t possibly understand my need to grasp a piece of Chebeague, even in the middle of the night, in the middle of a cruel winter.

Dr. Redmond of Casco Bay Chiropractic

is coming to the Wellness Center on February 2

You can now have your chiropractic treatment right here on the island! Call his office to schedule your appointment (829-1200), and let them know you would like to be seen on the island.

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FEBRUARY 2018 CHEBEAGUE ISLAND COUNCIL CALENDAR