Continuing with days 4 & 5:
[Day 4] : July 7 – We ate breakfast at the motel (coffee & a microwaved breakfast sandwich from the office) and headed out for our 3.5-4 hour Puffin & Whale Watch tour. In ME, in July, it is not hot (well, at least not compared to a MS summer) so thankfully, we brought a raincoat and a sweater (I did still have on sandals because…summer). It was a beautiful, not too cool, morning and we all loaded up on the Friendship V. Of course, we chose to sit up on the top deck of the catamaran because it’s easier to see and it’s outside (there were seats on the second level, which is closed in).
Once we got out into the open water and we picked up speed, we. were. FREEZING!
When we got close to a lighthouse, we slowed down so we could hear about the lighthouse and take pictures. We saw several lighthouses and made our way to Petit Manan Island, where the puffins nest. Unfortunately, I did not have a camera that could zoom close enough to get a good picture (and the catamaran can’t get too close because it would disturb them), but I did have binoculars and could see them “up close” (insert all of the heart eyes…I LOVE PUFFINS!)
[Side note: Puffins are about 10 inches tall so it is very hard to see them at a distance, without binoculars]
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| PUFFINS (via Bar Harbor Whale Watching) |
We also saw some seals relaxing on the rocks and playing in the water. After leaving the puffins (and seals), we headed out to the area where the humpback whales had been seen (the captain of the catamaran was in communications with researchers). We would see them from a distance but by the time the catamaran got to that area, the whales would be diving and we would wait until they surfaced again. We did finally get to “just the right spot” and we were able to see the whales fairly close.
Everyone was happy and we headed back to shore. We disembarked from the catamaran and headed toward to the Sand Bar/Bar Island. Bar Island can be accessed by crossing the Sand Bar during low tide. [If you get caught on Bar Island when the tide comes in, you have to call for a boat to come pick you up. Because vehicles can be driven onto the sand bar, there have been instances where vehicles get stuck/lost in the sand bar during high tide.]
After exploring Bar Island, we ate lunch at Leary’s Landing Irish Pub and then caught one of the Island Explorer buses (free!, courtesy of L.L. Bean) and headed to Jordan Pond, in Acadia National Park.
Catching one of the shuttles back into Bar Harbor, we got off at the Village Green (center of Bar Harbor). On our way to pick up supper (pizza) at Rosalie’s, we stopped at the Pink Pastry Shop. They have several different pastries and sweets to try but I got a lemon blueberry whoopie pie….OMG!! DELICIOUS!
From there, we headed to Rosalie’s to pick up pizza to take back to our room (because, let’s face it – supper tastes better wearing PJs and watching TV)
[Day 5] : July 8 – On this day, we went kayaking. I didn’t think I would be able to take pcitures because we were kayaking on the ocean…but I was wrong. I would have had plenty of opportunities. Oh well, maybe I can go back to Bar Harbor someday and take pictures while kayaking. This was a guided kayak tour and was around 4 hours long. We were able to see and touch jellyfish (you can touch and pick up certain ones). We stopped at one of the Porcupine Islands (there are 5: Bar, Sheep, Burnt, Long,& Bald) to eat lunch.
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| source |
While I wish I had been able to take some pictures to share, it was still fun and relaxing just being on the water:)
Once we got back from kayaking, we walked around town, did a little shopping, and when it was time for dinner, we stopped at Route 66. It was decorated like….well, I will let the pictures speak for themselves
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| I felt like Elvis was watching me eat… |
Come back for the rest of the trip on Saturday!
Puffins, Lobster, & a Near-Death Experience {Part 1: Days 1-3}
