Bar Harbor, Day 4

We slept in and did a few chores before leaving the campsite. Bob worked on repairing the electrical connection from the trailer to the truck. I did some vacuuming and cleaning up. Auggie supervised the whole operation.

Today we have a reservation at 1:00 to go whale watching 20 miles south of Bar Harbor out into the Atlantic Ocean. They go wherever the whales are. The reports of previous trips have said that they have seen whales breeching. That would be awesome! Will we be so lucky? They have also seen Humpbacks, Minke, and Fin whales in the area. This is the feeding ground where the whales come with their babies to feed and hang out for the summer. We left at 11:00 and took the drive into Bar Harbor, arriving at 11:30. We stood in line and waited for them to start loading the boat at 12:30. While we waited, we chatted with a couple from PA about RV travel and places we’ve been. We were the first in line and got our choice of places to sit on the boat. 

We wanted to get the best viewing place for whale watching, so we sat on the bow in the front.

We pulled out of the harbor at 1:00 and headed out into the Atlantic Ocean to find the feeding ground of the whales. The captain said we would be going out 28 miles today, so we sat back and enjoyed the ride. Bob had taken his Dramamine last night, so he was doing well. The ocean was very calm today so that helped a lot, but it was chilly and we were all glad we dressed in warm clothes. 

We chatted with our new friends, Eileen and Charles, who sat near us, on the ride out. Our tour guide explained the different land formations and the naturalist talked a lot about whale behaviors. We passed a really cool looking lighthouse on the way out of the harbor. You know how I like lighthouses!

The naturalist also passed around a piece of baleen that they took from a humpback whale that washed ashore on the beach.

It was interesting to see it first hand after teaching the kids about it for so many years.

As we reached the feeding ground, someone spotted a “blow” of air from a whale off in the distance and the boat slowed down. We edged as close as the law would allow, and waited. A huge whale shark swam by as we waited and watched for whales. He was filter feeding for plankton in our area. As the minutes flew by, we ended up seeing 4 different humpback whales. The captain would announce when the whale would be diving and showing his tail, so we could get our cameras ready. I caught a few pictures of tails, but after that I decided that I wanted to see the real thing and not view the whales through my viewfinder.

I am SO glad I did!! Very close to the boat and totally unexpectedly, a whale breeched and twisted in the air, right in front of my eyes!! It was unbelievable!! SO UNBELIEVABLE! My wish came true. We spent 3 hours on the water and also saw a puffin floating by the boat. What a cute little bird! We saw some harbor seals and porpoises swimming along, and some sea birds flying by. For the ride back, we went inside and got a beverage, while we sat in the sun out of the wind. Our new friends joined us.

We found out through our conversation that they are staying in the same campground that we are, so we offered to give them a ride back. (They had gotten to town by the shuttle.) As we continued our trip back to shore, the captain pointed out a Minke whale that was swimming near the boat. We all ran to the outside deck, to view the whale and see it surface. It was thrilling to see it so close in all its entirety. We pulled up to the dock at 4:10 and all walked back to the car. As we passed Bridge Street, we could see that the tide had almost completely come in. The sand bar was entirely covered up. It was the same view, but how different it looked! 

We dropped Eileen and Charles off at their campsite and went back to ours. We were tired from a thrilling day on the water! We had a cocktail before dinner, played with Auggie, and got dinner ready. Bob cooked chicken on the grill and we watched a little TV before taking Auggie for his walk. Tomorrow after we change campsites in the morning, we plan to drive the Acadia National Park hoping to see a moose. Keep your fingers crossed!