We were late arriving here by about an hour and that delayed everything . The US Border authorities came on the ship and wanted to verify all people and passports and that took some time. Then the ship people gave priority to the people going on ship's excursions for going on the tender. So our 10am tour on Oli's Trollies was going to be missed. However other people used their cell phones to call Oli and get it changed to 1pm.
So we arrived in town just before 11am and did some wandering. It is very much a tourist seaside destination and with the great weather lots of people out and about.
Bar Harbor itself dates from1769 and is located on Mount Desert Island which is attached to the mainland by a bridge. Acadia National Park is a big part of the island. Oli's tour took us on a 2.5 hour adventure around the town and up in to the Park. The town had grown from being the playground of the rich and famous , now to the playground of those less rich and less famous but still with a few spare dollars.
Our first stop in the park was at the peak of Cadillac Mountain, a height of 1530 feet above sea level . The views were spectacular. In the top photo you can see the town of Bar Harbor and our ship. When the tide is out people can walk across from the town to the island pictured.
Next stop was Sieur de Monts and the Wild Gardens of Acadia. Very pretty.
The last stop on the park tour was Thunder Hole. It's a small channel in the rocks and when the waves come in the noise is quite loud and the splashes terrific. Sadly for us we saw none of that but you can imagine what happens when you see the geography.
We returned to the ship afterwards and Deen did some packing while I did the first draft of this post. Then up to the Crows Nest for final drinks with our little gang saddened of course by the goodbyes. Dinner in the MDR also happened to coincide with Indonesian Independence Day. Some of the staff were in Indonesian traditional dress and then ,as is the custom on the last day of a cruise, the march of the baked Alaska and the celebration of the dining room and culinary staff. Always a fun moment. More goodbyes to our table mates and the guys in the MDR who did such a great job of looking after us for the past weeks.
Our evening in the dining room was capped by a 56th anniversary celebration for two of our table companions of the past 5 weeks, a very delightful Dutch couple from Victoria BC, Henny and Kees. They are both very experienced cruisers and have a lot of interesting stories to tell. The ship presented them with a terrific cake and the dining room staff sang to them. Very nice moment.
You can see the Indonesian staff in their batik shirts.
The suitcases are now outside the door waiting to be picked up. Hopefully we'll see them again in the terminal building in the morning and then our shuttle to our hotel where we've parked the van for the past 5 weeks. We 'll be driving home Saturday getting in some time early Saturday evening.
So I didn't send this Friday night or Saturday morning as I had no Internet time left. So we got home just after 7pm and are very road weary. This trip took less time than the one to Boston aided by little traffic this time in Boston and somewhat faster roads by going up through Montreal.
Hard to believe 24 hours ago we were enjoying a great meal with new friends on board a luxury cruise ship. Now back to reality.
So this is pretty much the end of the regular blog posts. I'll do one more some time shortly after getting home with some overall thoughts and impressions of our trip.
Location:Bar Harbor, Maine
We have really enjoyed your blog. Thanks for taking us along.
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