When the alarm went off at 3 a.m. I thought it was a fire call and jumped out of bed and into my Husqvarna, not-up-to-code, pseudo-fireboots and headed for the door, forgetting to put on my pants.

Mostly, the only time I get up at that hour is to go to the bathroom. But in this case, the alarm was set for 3 a.m. to “go lobsterin.”

Sunrise is quite early this time of year, and I wanted to be on the water for it, photographically.

I made it, but 3 a.m. is not for sissies! Little traffic though, that was nice.

We left the dock on the east side before 4 a.m. Got bait from Rob Begin and crew and headed out to traps fairly close by. Not many “bugs” coming up on the first hauls, but the captain said that would change. It did.

The sun was beginning to show.

“Kind of punky sunrise,” our captain said. There was glob of scud (college meteorology speak!) on the horizon with a fairly solid bank of clouds just above.

It didn't look promising, but hey, at 4 in the morning, if the sky had been chartreuse with electric butterflies, I may not have noticed. My eyes were slowly adjusting — thank goodness for auto-focus cameras (did I say that?!).

As the day brightened, I noticed many local boats working along the shore. Since I'm not usually up at that hour, let alone on the water, it was nice to see. In many cases these boats were tied up at docks when I'd see them during the day. They are a hard working bunch.

When the sun finally began to show up through the clouds, we were out around Mouse Island and traps were becoming more productive. I tried to stay out of the way and watch as the boat worked — perfectly synchronized and very efficient.

Made me think differently about our occasional lobster feasts.

I got dropped back at the dock just in time to head home for a nap.