18.7.2012 – 18.7.2012  26 °C

We had a nice sleep in this morning before we got up for a yummy home cooked brekky (bacon this morning) and worked out how we were going to spend our day in Bar Harbour. We actually decided to spend the morning taking a brief look at the island and spend the afternoon out off the coast on a puffin and lighthouse cruise.

Our drive around the island took in the middle part of the NP and down to Nth Harbour. The island has a couple of towns that are not part of the NP, Nth Harbour is one of these. It was once the home of the Rich and Famous (and probably still is to an extent) so this meant that we did find some biggish homes, set on manicured lawns overlooking the waterfront! The town itself is also a bit of a fishing village so you have the nice contrast of lovely homes with a fishing fleet down in the marina! We stopped at a small marina where a group of kids were all out getting their little sail boats ready for a trip on the bay. The water is crystal clear, the hills are dark green, red sails on the horizon.. a very pretty picture!

We continued our drive around the island and ended back in Bar Harbour. We grabbed a slice of freshly cooked pizza at the local bakery before I grabbed some sea sickness tablets and M&D did some window shopping in the local stores. Once I had my drugs we jumped back in the car and headed to the harbour to join our Puffin and Lighthouse boat journey.

We were fortunate in that our boat was quite small with only about 40 passengers so we were able to ask the crew plenty of questions without feeling like we were monopolising their time. On the other side though our trip was almost four hours.. Now this sounds good (all of the other trips were two hours) until we discovered that this trip takes longer because there are two stints of 40 mins of just driving the boat to the puffin sanctuary. The second 40 mins was just too much of nothing (and was a bit rough so M felt a bit unwell).

Anyway, back to the trip… So we left the harbour and spent the first 20 mins or so just leaving the harbour. The harbour is dotted with many little islands, some of which are owned by the NP service and some private. There is one big island that has been owned by this one family for so long that it is still registered as being in the state of Massachusetts (remembering we are in Maine)! The islands are all covered in pine forests, which means it is pretty hard for us to see the mansions!!! Actually, that is another thing… I had always pictured this coast line to be a rocky barren coastline (similar to the Shetlands or Cornwall) and it is absolutely not! The coast is rocky, but is covered in pine forests so you don’t get the wild atmosphere that the English coastlines have!!

Our first stop was to this little lighthouse that is in the harbour. The lighthouse was once in use by the maritime board but today has been sold off as a private house. It is heritage listed, so the lighthouse will always remain, but it no longer shines its light out over the harbour. The lighthouses in Maine (of which there are 60 something) are in two separate categories, big and small. The big lighthouses are the ones that are out on the coastline showing where the hazards are in the main shipping lanes whereas the smaller lighthouses are the ones that are in harbours directing smaller craft etc.

From our first lighthouse we continued out thru the harbour and northward towards the puffin rookery. Once out of the harbour the wind did pick up a bit and the waves got up a little but we are pretty lucky because today is a really calm day.. I had taken my drugs though so I was loving the feeling of being out in the sunshine and the wind! An interesting thing about the water here is the amount of lobster traps in the ocean… Every meter there is another lobster trap (and this goes for the whole of our four hour trip)… I sure do feel sorry for Mr Lobster, he has no chance of ever surviving the fisherman’s traps!! I’m guessing that the fisherman know about sustainable fishing, but looking at the number of traps I’m surprised they haven’t fished the lobster to extinction!!

Back to the cruise… Puffins have been reintroduced to Maine. The island we travelled to today is one of three puffin rookeries in the USA and the little dudes hang out in the sandy cliffs below the lighthouse. I was pretty excited about seeing the little guys again (because they are just so cute) but was really disappointed to discover that we were unable to go very close to shore. This meant that the only puffins we could see were ones either on the water near to the ship or flying past! No great views of the little guys hanging out near their nests L. They are easily my favourite birds (because they have such character) so I was pretty disappointed… I did get to see my little friends again but not in a close enough environment where I could really appreciate their quirkiness!! The island is a wildlife habitat (which is why we couldn’t go any closer) so at least the population of puffins should be able to flourish here in Maine.

As I said earlier, the trip back to the harbour was quite dull and was actually pretty cold (Luckily we had brought jumpers and rain jackets so we had some layers to ward off the chill). We were all pretty happy when we returned back into the harbour and to our last stop on the cruise, another little lighthouse. This one is also home to a big group of seals, who were all having a snooze on the rocky ledge. Again, we were too far away to get a really good look at the seals and with them all sleeping I was pretty disappointed all around with my wildlife encounters! (I have certainly had much better in other places of the world) It was nice to get out of the harbour though and see some of the shore up close and personal!!

Our day ended with us heading up to the mainland to try out some Maine Lobster. We had been recommended to go to this particular lobster pound to try some of the local delicacy. (Apparently back in the 1800s lobster was not considered a delicacy.. there were so many of them in the waterways that the prisoners at the local gaol ate lobster for every meal!!) D and I ordered a lobster each and M had a crab sandwich. The biggest issue for me is that the lobster was delivered out on a tray still intact! Hmmm.. I’ve never de-shelled anything that requires nut crackers so I was a little lost as to how to open up this humungous overgrown bug. Luckily, the tray liner had a detailed drawing of how to break your lobster apart so I sort of achieved getting my lobster out of his shell. The best part was the tail (only because I couldn’t get to the claw bits) but the meat was bit tough and all in all I wasn’t really that overcome with the flavour. To be fair, for me the process is just too much work, so by the time I got to eat the bug I just couldn’t be bothered!! Clearly, I’m not cut out for eating big shellfish!! Tomorrow, we’re off, leaving Maine behind and heading into New Hampshire.

Song of the Day– B52’s, Rock Lobster