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<\/a><\/p>\nThe silence lets him know that he\u2019s blown it. We know that he doesn\u2019t know what he\u2019s talking about. \u201cWell, there is no boat,\u201d we explain, \u201cand we\u2019ve already had the ferry this month.\u201d That usually results in a confused lull. \u201cWell, don\u2019t you have your own boat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t fish, can\u2019t afford it,\u201d we explain. Safe year-round transit across 22 miles of leaden sea would require considerably more boat than the open summer runabout he\u2019s no doubt envisioning.<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, how do you…?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAir service.\u201d<\/p>\n
As most people outside Alaska consider charter air service slightly less than real, the next question makes clear that the eager mainlander thinks the service is like Amtrak or Greyhound: \u201cWhat times do they fly?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhenever you need them \u2014 except when they can\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat does that mean?\u201d<\/p>\n
Oh, if it\u2019s foggy or raining or snowing or the wind is blowing too hard out of the wrong direction or the island\u2019s dirt airstrip is too muddy.<\/p>\n
A passenger has to \u201cmake a flight\u201d with the air service. That means make a reservation in a tentative sort of way. You have to work around the weather, mail flights to other places, and the occasional medevac flight and aircraft maintenance.<\/p>\n
Thinking himself a top-notch planner, a visitor will book a flight several months hence, only to arrive on the designated day in conditions variously described as \u201cdungeon thick o\u2019 fog\u201d or \u201cthicker\u2019n boiled owl shit.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Matinicus, \u201cYou can\u2019t get there from here\u201d isn\u2019t lame Maine humor; it\u2019s a weather report.<\/p>\n
Island residents do this transportation dance year after year, but that doesn\u2019t make it any more convenient. Hearing about the airservice limitations, the visitor will ask, \u201cWon\u2019t one of the fishermen give you a ride?\u201d<\/p>\n
Yes, they might, but this isn\u2019t like college. There\u2019s no ride board where people stick a little note, \u201cAm going to Bangor on Saturday, would like to share gas.\u201d Lobstermen have no reason to call half the neighborhood just because they have plans to steam across the bay to buy rope and beer.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s a scenario most of us on Matinicus have experienced. After doing your mainland shopping, you wait four or five hours at the Knox County Regional Airport, hoping for a window in the spiteful weather. You make multiple phone calls back to the island to ask about the fog and the ceiling, or the likelihood of finding someone on the mainland going home by boat today.<\/p>\n
The phone rings. Somebody on a bad cell phone connection crackles something about having heard a rumor that one of the fishermen is \u201cover there somewhere\u201d (that means on the mainland). \u201cWe think Fred is over there and he might give you a ride.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat time is he leaving?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI heard maybe around four.\u201d (It is now, of course, about 3:45.)<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere does he go out of?\u201d \u201cI don\u2019t know. Spruce Head, I think.\u201d (There\u2019s a mythology that residents of an island community know where everyone is and what they\u2019re doing, all the time.) Convinced that this is actually going to happen \u2014 that you will sleep in your own bed tonight \u2014 you now have 15 minutes to get from Owls Head to Spruce Head.<\/p>\n
You organize the children and dogs, pull the milk and pork chops from the airport cooler, and head down Route 73 in a harried hurry. In Spruce Head, there\u2019s too much fog to see any distance. Is he here? Is he not here yet? Was he ever here? Did he leave already? You\u2019re also now wondering where you\u2019ll leave your vehicle for the next few weeks. Yes, weeks. When you live on Matinicus, you can\u2019t go to the mainland every time you need a can of beans.<\/p>\n
After driving between a few lobster company wharves, you call the airport and ask about the flight\u2019s status. \u201cThe ceiling picked up for a few minutes,\u201d you\u2019re told. \u201cWe just made the flight.\u201d<\/p>\n
Freelance writer Eva Murray \u201986 moved shortly after graduation to Matinicus, where she and her husband have raised two children. This essay is adapted from \u201cGetting Here is None of the Fun,\u201d which first appeared in <\/em>Maine Boats, Homes & Harbors and is included in Murray\u2019s collection of essays, <\/em>Well Out to Sea (Tilbury House, 2010).
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