Little Lolly's Small Adventures: Anchored, Bar Harbour. Excursion: A Walk in the Park, Ocean Trail Hike

I had attempted to go to bed early last night but couldn’t sleep. I was absolutely freezing. On went the blanket but I was still cold, shaking and teeth chattering. Eventually I got up and went to join Paul on the sofa and watch a film. 2 blankets, a dressing gown and onesie: 1 ½ hours later I was warm again. I didn’t know what had got into me.

What a day! Paul was up during the wee hours of the morning having been called to the bridge because of the fog and finally got to bed around 4am. My alarm clock went off at 6am waking me and Paul up, only to discover that the clocks had gone an hour back. At around 5:30 we were woken up again. This time it was the bridge ringing - Paul’s arrival wake-up call. ½ an hour later he got another call to say that he didn’t need to come after all because they had forgotten he’d already been up on duty for most of the night. Needless to say, it was pointless because he was already awake and dressed. So Paul was a bit bleary eyed when he rocked up on the bridge for duty. From then on the day became hectic for him.

The ship arrived and anchored a bit earlier Bar Harbour but the Immigration Officials didn’t come aboard until after 8am because they didn’t start work until then. All guests had to see immigration before going ashore. The policy also included any crew’s family on board/non-revenue passengers. Fortunately guests going on excursions were allowed to go through immigration first before anyone else. I was due to go on an early excursion (‘A Walk in the Park, Ocean Trail Hike”) so made sure I was one of the first people in the immigration line arriving 45 minutes before the Immigration officials boarded.

There seems to be no set standard with the forms or process. I have an ESTA visa which allows me to visit the USA for up to a year. On arriving in San Diego after being in Peru and Mexico I was given a green form to fill in which is a visa waiver because I already have a visa. This was originally stamped with date of arrival and an expiry date - giving me nearly 4 month’s stay in the US. Next time I entered the USA again in San Diego after the Pacific cruise I had to fill in another green waiver form – not a problem even though the last one had an expiry date. The immigration looked at the stub of my first form and said I didn’t need to have come because the visa waiver was still within date. When I entered the USA again I filled in the green form as usual and the immigration guy took my old visa waiver stub even though it was in date, and stamped the new one. Today I went through the whole process again only to be told that I didn’t need to see immigration because of the valid in-date waiver. Each immigration official seems to have his/her own rules. Oh well – 2 more weeks and then it will be time to fly home.

As soon as I seen the immigration officials I dashed down to the show lounge to help Eilina, from Shore Excursions, with stickering guests for their respective tours. It got very busy as guests lined up, anxious to get ashore for their tours.

Tendering soon got underway and the group I was with found itself on dry land, ready to hit the trail. It was a crispy cold day but nice – good for a nice walk. Our minivan arrived and we headed off into Acadia National Park to our walking destination on the Ocean Trail.

By the time we got to our destination it was warm enough to dispense with our heavy coats, opting for lightweight clothing instead. Our walk was for only about 2 miles/1.6km, following a track along the rocky coastline at a very leisurely pace. It was an informative walk with our guide stopping now and then to talk about the fishing and lobster industry, point out birdlife and plants as well as explaining a bit about the island and the ecological changes that the park is slowly going through. It was a nice walk and the drive in and out of the Park itself was lovely.

Back at the harbour I headed back to the ship and went in search for Paul. He was busy with the lifeboats so I left him to it. He was soon in the cabin though, looking forward to going ashore for a bit, with the Captain’s permission. So, after a change of clothes, Paul was quickly ready and we headed ashore in the tender.

My favourite sign!

We had a nice wander around the town of Bar Harbour and ended up having a light lunch before heading back to the ship.

Paul had to get back to work so I ended up having a nap, only to be woken up by an alarm and an announcement over the PA system – ‘MAN OVERBOARD’. I first wondered what was going on, and then thought it was probably a drill so went back to sleep. I was in a nice dream when the telephone rang. It was Eilina from Shore Excursions asking me if I wanted to help with brochure folding. I was soon downstairs and had a nice therapeutic session of putting Shore Excursion travel brochures together. Time went fast even though there was only me, Eilina and someone from the ship’s show cast.

I learnt that the whale watching tour hadn’t gone well. Guests were kept waiting on the pier for over an hour to board their observation catamaran even though it was docked at the pier. So guests got very cold, hungry and thirsty. Once on board, things went downhill, not to mention no toilet paper and other things. Also no whales were spotted by the end of the tour. Usually that side of such a tour is not a problem because people are made aware that sightings are not always possible, however it was the build-up of a messy tour that left guests disgruntled and they wanted the tour company to give them their money back. They were told to go back to Shore Excursions on the ship and get their money back, which they did. There was a long queue waiting at the desk…. A proper investigation will be done in order to establish what happened but it is unlikely that the tour company will get their money from the Maasdam.

By the time I got back to the cabin Paul was ready for dinner and looking forward to relaxing. The poor chap just sat down for dinner when his telephone rang, and again. We finally finished dinner in peace but Paul has had to go back to the bridge for an hour or so. No doubt he will want to hit the pillow as soon as he gets in – if he’s not called out again.

Oh yes, and someone did go overboard. Guests getting off a chartered tender onto the ship were warned to ‘mind the gap’ and ‘watch your step’ but one guest didn’t look where she was going and down she went. Plop. Into the ‘drink’. She was quickly fished out by a quick-thinking crew member. She wasn’t hurt, just a rather cold after her unexpected swim. Fortunately the whole scenario was captured on CCTV.

Time for bed in a minute. It’s been quite a day!

MORE PICTURES

Acadia National Park Walk