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Tourists board the Lucky Catch in Portland.

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Staff photos by John Patriquin/ Staff PhotographerAbove: Jennifer Steinberg and her son Benjamin, 3, from Cape Elizabeth, learn to band a lobster aboard the Lucky Catch recently. At right: Amy Singer of Philadelphia takes a photo of fog-shrouded Bug Light as the Lucky Catch sets out for a day on the waters of Casco Bay.

ABOUT THIS SERIES MAINE: SEE IT LIKE A TOURIST offers a sketch of some of the state's tourist spots, many of which Mainers recommend to out- of-state visitors but never visit themselves. THE SERIES WILL RUN through the summer in the Maine Sunday Telegram.

SEE AND HEAR MORE ACCESS AN audio slideshow of the Lucky Catch on Casco Bay at: www.pressherald.com.IF YOU GO TICKETS FOR A Lucky Catch Cruise are $22 for adults, $14 for children and $20 for seniors. Trips to Portland Head Light leave at 10:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. daily. Seal Watch cruises leave at 12:15 p.m. daily and 3:45 p.m. every day except Saturday and Sunday. Trips to White Head Passage are offered at 5:30 p.m. in July and August only. FOR MORE information, visit www.luckycatch.com or call 761-0941.

Staff Writer

So you think you know everything there is to know about lobsters?

Even if that turns out to be true, there are other reasons to take a tour of Casco Bay in a lobster boat, with a real lobsterman who will let you help him fill bait bags, band lobster claws, and toss traps and undersized lobsters back into the ocean.

Reason No. 1: The sight of 3-year-old Benjamin Steinberg (or any other child) decked out in toddler-sized lobstering gear, including an oversized fisherman's hat with the brim turned up. Too cute.

Reason No. 2: Side-splitting entertainment in the form of Samantha, aka Sammy, the mostly-border collie pet of the captain. Watch her razor-sharp reflexes in action as she tries to snatch crabs in mid-air as they are being tossed overboard. (She never actually catches one.)

Reason No. 3: After the cruise, you can buy the lobsters you catch for a bargain price, since there is no middleman. Voila -- you've had a nice couple of hours out on the water, and now you've got dinner for tonight.

Tom Martin, captain of the 37-foot lobster boat Lucky Catch, runs three to five 90-minute lobster cruises a day out of Portland during the summer months. It's a good trip for visiting family and friends who are curious about lobsters and how they are caught, especially since passengers can put on aprons, pants and gloves and participate. But even people who live here year- round can learn something they didn't know before while they're on board.

Motoring out into the harbor one recent foggy morning, Martin explains to his 11 visitors what's in store for them. He'll stop at four lobster buoys, he says, and there will be two traps at each buoy.

"We're going to show you guys things like baiting the traps, measuring the lobsters," Martin explained. "Hopefully we'll get a lot of other sea creatures in there. It's a nice day out there today. It might be a little bit foggy at times."

SEA AND LEARN

On board are Dottie Edwards and her friend Myron Benware of Queensbury, N.Y., near Lake George in the Adirondacks. They have been to Maine before, but this is their first time on a lobster boat.

"We're just doing everything there is to do," Edwards said. "We did the whale watch, we did the puffin watch, we did the lighthouse thing, and now we're doing lobsters."

Mark and Amy Singer of Philadelphia, along with their 3-year- old daughter Emma, are visiting family in Cape Elizabeth. They've never done this before, although Emma has a book about lobster fishing she likes to read.

Jennifer and Andrew Steinberg -- Jennifer is Amy's sister -- are also on the boat with their two children, 4-year-old Rachel and 3-year-old Benjamin. They have lived in Cape Elizabeth for five years, but this is the first time they have taken the lobster cruise.

Matt Roche and his wife, Mary Catherine, are visiting Maine from Marion, Ark., just outside of Memphis, Tenn. Roche said their main interest was in getting out on the water and seeing some of the sights around Portland before heading up the coast to Bar Harbor.

"The lobsters are interesting," he said, "but being out on the water is probably the main thing."

Nearing the first stop, next to Fort Gorges, Martin points to a white buoy with a green stripe and red top -- it's one of his -- and explains that every lobsterman has his own color pattern.

"But that's not the one we're going to pick up first," he said. "We're going to grab this one up here in front of us. At each stop, we have several buoys out, and each time we run a tour we alternate which one we pick up, so they all stay down for about three days before we pick the same buoy again."

Martin grabbed the buoy with a hook and showed his passengers a number on top. Every lobsterman has to have his or her license number on the buoy and on the trap at the bottom, so there can be no mistaking who it belongs to, he explained.

Martin...