Awake at 3:30 a.m., Leask heads first to the Bath, Maine, outpost of Frosty’s Donuts for a Boston creme, small-town pleasantries and precisely the amount of coffee you would expect for a witching hour wake-up call. Then, it’s an hour drive to the coastal community of Rockland and his floating “office,” the November Gale.
“You’re going to want to sit down,” Leask says when a wave swallows the vessel’s bow as it makes its way well into Maine’s Penobscot Bay. The November Gale tows a rickety 20-foot fishing boat close behind. The sun starts to tease its light over the horizon, but on a merciless December morning, its warm rays are an empty promise.
As a sea urchin diver, this is Leask’s version of a nine-to-five for the 38-day winter diving season. Equipped with a refashioned gardening tool and a mesh catch bag, he descends into the icy depths to rake for the area’s prized green urchin.
“My job is sometimes the easiest job in the world and sometimes my job is the most difficult job in the world,” Leask says.
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Hunter says the department does a survey dive every spring to inform their evaluation on licensing.
As Leask’s head surfaces above the water back in the bay, he doesn’t betray any inner turmoil about his profession’s sink or swim moment.
He’s at peace.
“There’s nowhere else that I can think of that you’re going to escape cell phones and noise,” Leask says.
