Saturday, July 21, 2012

Another Cruise

Today we had reservations on the Sea Princess out of Northeast Harbor to tour  the Great Harbor of Mount Desert and Somes Sound Fjord.

We needed to be at the marina by 9:30 and it’s at least an hour and a half drive from home.  We gave ourselves a little extra time to find a bite to eat before cruise and left here at 7:30.  We were in plenty of time to get great seats on the boat:

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While we were waiting to board, we snapped a few pictures around the marina:

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We were soon underway and cruising past the Bear Island Lighthouse:

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Our guide, Ranger Susan, pointed out these Double Crested Cormorants and I got a quick picture.  When I downloaded it and zoomed in, I spotted a seal sunning on the rocks.  Really, all you can see in the picture is a shiny spot to the right of the birds, but I think it’s a seal!

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I managed to get a fairly good shot of this Black Guillemot:

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Soon we docked at Little Cranberry Island, known locally as Islesford, where we spent about 45 minutes looking around. 

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Jim might be the bird picture winner today with this Bald Eagle in flight:

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and this Osprey in the nest:

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Along the way we got a very brief glimpse of a couple of porpoises, but we were not fast enough with the cameras.

All too soon, our two and a half hour cruise was over and we were back at Northeast Harbor:

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It was a beautiful day for a tour around the islands!

Once we got back on land, we drove over to Bar Harbor where we found another lunch spot:

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And tried something other than lobster today!  Jim had a sampler platter with Maine shrimp, clams, and scallops with a side of clam chowder, while I opted for the haddock sandwich with a side of shrimp and corn chowder.  Delicious!

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After we ate, we needed to stretch our legs and walk a few bites of lunch off while we explored Bar Harbor:

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It was time to get back to our little abode and take care of the dogs who were waiting patiently for their afternoon walk!

A beautiful day in Maine!

3 comments:

Tumbleweed Dee said...

What a great area, we'll be there in 2014. I'll keep this blog handy for reference.

Lee Ann McCormick said...

Wow, what a fun filled day! And yes, that certainly would be the bird pic of the day Jim! I gotta say, your lunch looked wonderful, love corn chowder & corn chowder with shrimp, yummoooooo! Thanks for sharing your cruise as well & keep the pics coming! Hugs, Lee Ann & larry

Mark and Dortha said...

Glad you had a great day...I loved reliving it through your post.