We sailed the entire night and arrived at 7AM at our first port of call, Bar Harbor. Despite the storm and fog last night we slept peacefully through the night, suffering no ill effects from the weather. I was surprised how many people reported they had problems last night with handling the rough weather. I have to assume all our travels on the sea has conditioned our bodies to handle rough seas.

It was pretty foggy when we arrived but there were signs that it would lift sometime during the morning. As a result we decided to not cancel our 9AM trip to Acadia National Park which occupies most of the the island (called Mount Desert Island-pronounced correctly as either desert or dessert) where Bar Harbor resides. The population of Bar Harbor is about 5,000; the population of the entire island (connected to the mainland by bridge) is 10,000.

 

 

 

We had to anchor off shore as even our small ship is too big for this port. The ship carries its own 40ft. skiff, that can hold 35 people, is used to shuttle people to/from the ports where dockage is not available. The transfer went smoothly as only 27 people signed up for the morning tour of the park. By the time we reached shore the sun was shining brightly even though the bay was still partially shrouded in fog. In fact it was difficult to see our ship even though it was quite close to shore.

Once on land we met up with a local guide who drove us to three different popular locations in the park, describing the park and what we were seeing as he drove. The first stop was Cadillac Mountain, the highest point in the park with an altitude of 1,530 feet. Those of us from the West said it should be named Cadillac Hill, not Cadillac Mountain. The park was created in 1916 as the Sieur de Monts National Monument. In 1919 it was expanded and renamed Acadia National Park. This all came about because of efforts of the Rockefellers and other wealthy people who had maintained summer property on the island and wanted it preserved for future generations

.

The views of the sea from the top of Cadillac Mountian were hindered by the fog blanketing the water, but we were able to see the surrounding countryside. It is heavily wooded and would certainly look magnificent in the autumn when the leaves turned.There are considerable rock formations throughout the park, mostly pink granite.

Our next stop was at the local botanical gardens maintained in the park by local volunteers. It was originally started on the estate of Dr. Abbe, one of the early settlers here. It is just starting to bloom but we got to see yellow ladyslippers, which I have never seen, and many different species of ferns. There are hundreds, if not thousands of flowers, shrubs and trees in the garden.

The last stop was at Thunder Hole, a rock formation at the shoreline which can emit a thunderous noise when wave conditions beat up against a wave created cave on the shoreline. Today our guide said the hole was whispering, not thundering! It still was pretty loud.

We returned to the ship in time for lunch. Stan, Cindy and I returned to the town after lunch to shop and walk around the cute downtown area. I wanted to go mainly to find a reliable WiFi source so I could finish my blog entry from yesterday and get it posted. Yvonne decided to remain on the ship and read her book in the cozy lounge while we were gone. I managed to find a bar where I sat with a local Bar Harbor ale and completed that blog entry.

As I completed my walk around the town to take some pictures I witnessed the fog advancing and retreating on the bay and I was reminded of the famous Carl Sandburg poem called “Fog”:

“The fog comes
on little cat feet.

It sits looking
over harbor and city
on silent haunches
and then moves on”.

By the time I returned to the ship the fog had finally burned off the bay and the whole surrounding area was in bright sunlight for us to enjoy the many offshore islands near the town. The town is indeed one of those iconic New England towns with lobster boats bobbing in the bay and brightly colored homes and businesses on the shore.

The ship cocktail hour starts promptly at 5:30 and when I saw the staff member carrying in a platter of deviled eggs I commented to her how we liked them. She proceeded to tell me that on this ship they are “angel eggs”, not deviled eggs and we all got a good laugh.

Tonight’s after dinner entertainment was a local lady singer/pianist who took us on a musical history tour, playing songs from the early 1900s to the present. She focused on those written by famous composers who wrote songs we all remember. It was truly a walk down memory lane.

By the way, today is Stan and Cindy’s 54th wedding anniversary and we all wished them many more years of wedded bliss!

By the way logged 10,457 steps today. I earned that ice cream sundae I had during the piano recital!