Tuesday 23 June 2026--Heavy rain on and off this morning; then at midday there's a real blow. I watch the swaying trees from the comfort of my living room, glad that I'm not holed up in the room at Tides Inn & Social.

I booked the trip to Machias Seal Island three months ago, when dates came online; they sell out quickly. It was the reason I've returned to Grand Manan, and the seed from which the rest of this trip sprouted. I just happened to pick the one day this week that would end up getting canceled. There's no point dwelling on bad luck...you get what you get, and you're happier if you can roll with it. I've been lucky with the weather in my years of traveling, overall. When I went to Norway in early September 2022, I had a long string of sunny days; everyone there said it had been rainy all summer, until the day I arrived. When a domestic issue forced me to postpone my week in the Faroe Islands in 2016, the week I missed was miserable, and the week I got was mostly very nice. And the once-in-a-lifetime eclipse viewing of 2024 landed on a cloudless afternoon, after iffy early forecasts. Even when I've had weather disruptions, as I did in Iceland in 2013 and 2017, I was happy enough with the adjusted itineraries. So I won't complain. Not too much, anyway.

The weather calms late in the afternoon, and I go take some moody photos of the beach and the smoke sheds in the fog, before heading up to Grand Manan Brewing for pints and footy.