Parks and Tourists and Cruiseships

 

 

The blue line is a very loose representation of our route on our latest two week trip toward Bar Harbor and back. We took our time sailing the whole way there, spending nine days in five different ports to get to Mount Desert Island and Acadia National Park. We enjoyed ourselves there for three nights and then with the exception of a couple hours, motored all the way back over two days.

When we pulled into Bar Harbor there were surprisingly few sailboats around and we were the only one at anchor in the harbor, right in front of some fancy hotel. On our way into the dock we were hailed by new friends, John and Nina from New Brunswick, on their boat Whisky Run. They were celebrating Nina's birthday and graciously invited us to join them in drinking their beer. Jon had just been saying that despite tendencies to the contrary, he wouldn't mind doing some socializing. We were beginning to feel a little isolated with so few other people living on their boats where we are. Cocktail hour on Whisky Run was just what we needed and gave us some insight into how to identify other like-minded cruisers as we bob around among million dollar yachts. So John and Nina, ten years from now in the Caribbean, there will be a party on our boat. Please come drink our beer.

In Acadia we took full advantage of the free bus to see the sites and hike around. We hiked up a trail called The Beehive where there are sections with iron rungs bolted into the side of the cliff to use as a ladder. Jon went up them, I went around them, and we both made it to the top. Like any national park, there were tons of people visiting from all over the world. It was fun being on the bus listening to children behaving badly in various foreign languages we could identify, and others we couldn't.

The town of Bar Harbor was certainly abuzz with activity. And actually, I shouldn't have said we were the only boat anchored, because while we were there at least five different ginormous cruise ships anchored nearby and taxied thousands of passengers into town. It was strange being in such a touristy place after weeks of sparsely inhabited and remote islands. So try as we might we acted like tourists , buying ourselves too many appetizers and drinks to have any honest claim as frugal cruisers. We did find an amazing and cheap pizza and movie place , Reel Pizza, that I wish existed everywhere. Part of our indulgence was in an attempt to score free wifi we could pick up from the boat, but our efforts were almost always in vain and only resulted in unnecessary afternoon cocktails. Ugh, it is so hard being cheap. Though we did manage to get something for nothing in Bar Harbor. The harbor master took pity on us after hearing our story of the 25-year-old Maine cruising guide we'd been using to locate services and gave us his old copy of a guide to the entire New England Coast!

 

In part because our bank account could take it no longer, we decided to hurry back to Rockport to start prepping the boat for our final cast off. But the wind had other ideas, dying down significantly so that what took us hours coming in, took a full day of tacking, luffing sails in shifting winds, and finally motoring on the way out. The next day required navigating two long channels in more light winds, so we motored most of the way home making it in time for dinner and a much appreciated real (coin-operated) shower.