8 Aug - Lighthouse Boat Tour

8 Aug
Today we drove to Bar Harbor early to secure a parking place, so we could take a lighthouse boat tour.  Since we arrived early, we walked around the shops that were not open yet and at 0930 the ship departed from Bar Harbor.

This map shows the general route of the ship and the lighthouses we saw.  We took about 125 pictures but will just post a few here.

Our original ship cancelled for some unknown reason, so minutes before we were scheduled to leave they transferred us and about 30 others over to a larger ship.  The new ship was a really nice catamaran so it was very stable and spacious.  Of course the original passengers who were already on board took all the seats on the upper level, so we maneuvered up front to the bow and sat on the aluminum deck.  It gave me great access to the tips of the hulls for pictures, and the captain always swung the boat around so all passengers got a view of the lights, no matter which side you were on.

Doreen center, front and me taking a picture from the tip of one of starboard side hull 

The weather was great with a few passing clouds.  They told us to dress warmly so I wore a sweatshirt and Doreen a light windbreaker.  The ship had a great sound system so the narrator could easily be heard.

We departed Bar Harbor dock and made our way around Mount Desert Island.  The waters were littered with thousands of colourful bouys attached to submerged lobster traps.  Each lobsterman is licensed with the State of Maine and his bouys are uniquely painted.  They are required to check them every two days and if they don't the lobsters will begin to chew on each other.  More on lobstering after we take our lobster boat ride on Wednesday!

Along the coast of Mount Desert Island are beautiful residences belonging to the very wealthy, such as Rockefellers, Morgans, Martha Stewart, heir to Campbell soup, etc.  Many other cottages are for rent with typical cost $5000-$20,000/week from what he said.

  We passed many ships, navigation bouys and other interesting objects.

Cruise ship near Bar Harbor

One of the many sailing ships

A lobster boat with the traps on board

A four mast ship just lowered her sails and pulled into harbor

Navigation bouy

CG = Coast Guard?

The coastline was breathtaking.

White rock is from a fault line during a 2000's earthquake.

Rock climbers, another "tour" you can take.

Another coastline view

Large nest on the rock

Here are the lighthouses we saw during our boat ride.

Bear Island Light

Great Duck Island Light

Baker Island Light

Winter Harbor Light

Egg Rock Light

Following our boar ride we stopped for lunch at one of the local seafood/barbeque places along the road.  I had a lobster roll and Doreen had a haddock sandwich. So here is what a lobster roll looks like:

Tomorrow we head north and east towards Calais.  We will have lunch in Machias ME with Chuck McCoubrey, another Air Force buddy from Loring back in the 1970's.  We will also visit many other lights up the coast plus Eastport and the "Old Sow" which is supposed to be the second largest whirlpool in the world.  It is where the fresh water and salt water merge.  Should be a great trip!