Want to photograph the Atlantic Puffin? The best place in United States is Machias Seal Island, off the coast of Maine. My son, Ray Hennessy and I made the trip there recently. We left southern New Jersey early on a Sunday morning getting to Jonesboro, Maine that evening. We stayed at the Blueberry Patch Motel in Jonesboro. It only has about 10 rooms so I would advise making reservations. It is only about 25 minutes from where we took the boat from. We planned the next day, Monday, for photographing the area and to rest up from the drive because we had to get up early on Tuesday morning for the trip to Machias Seal Island. We enjoyed Monday just riding around and photographing along the coast and exploring the many small towns. We had two moose cross the road in front of us. Ray was driving and had his 70 – 200mm on his lap. He leaned out his window and got some half decent shots. Not me. My 500mm was on the back seat and by the time I got out and retrieved my camera from the back, the moose were in the woods. Later in the day Ray spotted either a fox or coyote (we aren’t sure yet) and shot that. I never saw it. We always have competition over who gets the best photos. He won this day. We also got some photos of new songbirds and totally enjoyed the day.
Getting back to the Puffins, we had to be at the dock in Jonesport by 6:00 AM. We booked the trip with Norton. They have permission along with a couple of other outfits to actually land on the island. The others are a lot further drive if coming from the south. Norton advertises that they leave at 7:00 AM but I found out that they sometimes leave earlier so it is best to call them the night before. They don’t decide if they are going out until the morning of the trip. The weather is a big factor along with the tides. We got to the dock (on Sea Street off of Main Street,which is RT187) before 6:00 and it was so foggy you couldn’t even see the boats in the harbor. The lady that runs the operation, Holly, showed up about 6:15 and said it was a go. I guess they are used to fog up there. It was a 2 hour ride to get to the Island. Half way to the island the fog cleared and it was partly cloudy. When we anchored offshore the captain took the little dinghy in to the island to see how the conditions were and to get permission to bring all the passengers in. The Coast Guard stationed on the Island have the final say. They only allow 30 visitors per day. I was really glad when he came back and said we were going in. I couldn’t imagine that after the two hour ride we would just have to take pictures from the bouncing boat as the birds flew by, but that can happen. There were 15 of us on this trip and it took three loads to get us all in. We were then led up a walkway to the center of the island and then groups of 3 or 4 were led to one of the four bunkers (blinds). You open a small window and shoot through that. It was just big enough to get my 500mm lens through. I used a monopod and could pivot the lens enough to cover most of the area in front of us. There were thousands of Puffins and Razorbills and within minutes they started landing close to the blind. Any telephoto lens would allow you to get great photos. Some birds were as close as 10 feet. We could even hear them on the roof. We shot almost constantly for about 30 minutes. I changed from the 500mm to my 70 – 200mm for awhile to catch some flying birds. Those birds move fast. The Puffins are sea birds that spend most of the time at sea but come to a few islands to breed and rear their young. When our time was up we were taken from the blinds and asked to hurry up since the ocean was getting rough and the tide was coming in. When we got to the departure area the captain brought the small boat in to get us. The water comes in to a small cove next to the walkway. The cove is kind of protected by some rocks, but at high tide it come over them directly into the cove. The cove is maybe 30 feet long and only about 10 feet wide, not big enough to turn the boat around. When he brought the boat in the waves were breaking over the stern. He and his mate got out, maneuvered the boat out into the open water and with ropes attached, got it turned around and pulled back into the cove so we could take off with the bow into the waves. I got one foot soaked while getting in the boat. I was glad to get back on the large boat. Holly was telling us that this is the only captain that can turn the boat around like that. She said another competitor’s captain had trouble while loading the passengers and he ended up getting thrown out of the dinghy while the boat got swamped with everyone else in it. She said a lot of camera gear went in the water. We were the only boat allowed to land on the island the day we went because the other captain couldn’t turn his boat around like we did. There is a lot of luck involved to make this trip. We were lucky the day we went. We had great photographing light with just light cloud cover but it could be too rough to even make the trip or when you get there it could be foggy or the light could be bad with heavy cloud cover. And once you get there you may not go ashore because of rough seas. We made the trip back a little faster than going out, going with the waves. It was well worth the long boat ride and the cost of $100.00 each, we have pictures you likely can’t get anywhere else. It was an adventure.
If you decide to do this trip, book it in advance and bring warm clothes. It’s cold on the boat ride with water temps in the 40′s. The ocean was 46 degrees the day we went, July 13th. and that really cools the air temperature. Also, if you stay in the area of Jonesport or Joneboro, good luck finding a place to eat breakfast. We spent a good hour looking and ended up getting pre-made egg and sausage sandwiches in a gas station store.
Hope you enjoy my photos.

Atlantic Puffin

Atlantic Puffin

Razorbills

Puffin in Flight

Atlantic Puffins

Atlantic Puffins

Atlantic Puffin

Atlantic Puffin

Atlantic Puffin

Atlantic Puffin

Atlantic Puffin

Puffin Stare

Razorbills

Razorbill with fish

Incoming Puffin

Atlantic Puffin with fish

Machias Seal Island