On days we don’t have excursions in the morning, we usually try to go to the dining room for a more leisurely breakfast and away from what I call “the Battle of the Lido” where it’s every person for him or herself, getting what we want and finding a table. Since we each have two hands, we are usually able to get everything we need in about three trips – unless I forget a spoon or some other item. Breakfasts are more relaxed in the dining room. On our last full day, we went to the dining room and usually request a table for four. It gives us a chance to meet someone new. In Bar Harbor we were meeting two ladies, traveling separately, and found one who lives in Florida now but was born in Brazil. The other lady is from Battle Creek, MI. Barb told her that she had graduated from Albion College since it’s not far from Battle Creek. As it turned out, the lady was an Albion graduate too, but ten years older than Barb . They had a good time with their Albion talk.
As we arrived in Bar Harbor, we were required to go through immigration with US officials doing a passport check onboard prior to being permitted to leave the ship. That quick process completed, we decided to take the tender to Bar Harbor in the morning as we had a rare afternoon shore excursion from 1:30 until 5:30. It was a glorious welcome home with blue sky and sunshine to greet us and temps into the 80s! That felt so good after not having experienced anything over 70 until we reached the Canadian Maritimes a few days ago. We had the chance to wander the town and do a bit of shopping in Bar Harbor.
For those who don’t know Bar Harbor, Maine, it’s on Mt. Desert Island in southern Maine and the center for lobster fishing as well as tourism and is the gateway to Acadia National Park, the first national park east of the Mississippi. It’s one of those places that is busy and bustling during the summer months and nearly abandoned in the winter. It caters to cruise ships and it’s easy to see why!
After spending a couple hours in town, we decided to take the tender back to the ship for some lunch before taking the afternoon shore excursion. However as we showed our required ship cards to go back, security told us we were being held on shore as four inconsiderate guest hadn’t bothered to do the immigration inspection. Their inaction impacted the plans of those who wanted to return. We don’t know how it was resolved, but after 15-20 minutes, we were allowed to return. That gave us a chance to continue our packing and to get some lunch.
Back on the tender to the shore, we boarded our shore excursion called “Best of both Worlds” a play on the importance of the lobster industry as well as the beauty of Acadia National Park. We saw some old vacation homes for the rich of yesteryear and made a quick stop at a small Bar Harbor college, College of the Atlantic, which enrolls about 250 students and emphasizes human ecology.
From there, we drove to the Oceanarium which shows how the lobster industry works. Unfortunately a few months ago, a fire had devastated the primary building and makeshift facilities were having to be used. The crusty but wry sense of humor of the seasoned lobster fisherman was interesting. He showed how one tells the difference between the male and female, how the lobster traps work, and reassured those concerned about how lobsters are put into a boiling pot. Lobsters have tiny brains to the point of some saying they have no brains (which I find reassuring as sometimes I feel like I’m the one with no brain). Traps are designed so that the lobster is lured by the scent of the bait into a trap through a cone netting that allows it in the trap but not out. Since the memory span of a lobster is miniscule, they don’t remember how they got in. The compartment into which they crawl is referred to as the kitchen. There is a similar cone netting that permits them to crawl in, but not out of the storing compartment, called the living room. Fishermen come and harvest the lobsters caught in the traps. By the way, the lobster has to measure a tail shell of at least 3 3/16th inches – that had been reduced from 3 ¼ inches. Since lobsters don’t feel pain due to their tiny brains, placing them in a pot doesn’t cause a painful death. Lobsters needn’t fear me however, as I don’t see the big deal about having lobster for dinner. Give me some beef on weck instead, or even a peanut butter and jelly sandwich rather than lobster!
Our next destination was Acadia National Park where we enjoyed the scenery from the bus. As we rose higher and higher it gave us a wonderful panorama of Bar Harbor and the coast. We could even see the Maasdam in the harbor. We stopped several times for the required photo opportunities. There was one particularly memorable stop. It was so we could see Thunder Hole where the waves rush in and with no place to go, the water swirls up and makes the sound like thunder. I am sure many have seen similar places (Hawaii visitors certainly have). We had 15 minutes to view Thunder Hole, make a pit stop if required, and check out the Visitor Center. I went in and found Barb there, chatting briefly with a young man who seemed quite interested in finding out our impressions of Greenland and Iceland. He commented on how he really wants to visit Nuuk, Greenland (national capital) and Reykjavik, Iceland. We finally had to apologize, saying we needed to get back to our tour bus. We went down the slight hill as Barb commented, “I hope we aren’t the last ones back,” and in the next breath, I yelled, “It’s moving!” The bus was starting to pull away without us. I started running behind the bus, waving my arms frantically and hoping the driver would spot the frantic tourist running behind him. Some people were crossing the road in front of the bus and I yelled for them to stop the bus. Luckily the bus stopped and we sheepishly got on. Barb asked if we were late, commenting that her watch read 4:09 when our return time was 4:10. (Sounds like a teenage excuse doesn’t it? But the tour guide admitted they were pulling away a bit early and apologized profusely.) It seems she had done her required count, found 31 people, so she thought she had everyone and they could leave. What she forgot was that she started with 31 but after her initial count at the start of the tour, two more people had boarded, making the actual count 33. The guide had 31 stuck in her mind, so off they went – without us! We found that several who were seated near us called out that we were missing so probably they would have stopped anyway, but when we saw the bus start up, we didn’t know that! Needless to say, at the last few stops, we were quite early in our return. While we liked Bar Harbor, and it wouldn’t have been as serious be left there as, say Djupivogur, Iceland, it was still somewhat unsettling to think about missing the last tender on the last full day of the cruise. But the worst never happened, and we boarded the ship with the rest just before we pulled anchor and headed for Boston, getting ready for our departure on Saturday morning.
Chuck
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