Little Lolly's Small Adventures: Maine

Showing posts with label Maine. Show all posts

Back in Bar Harbour, Maine.

The Maasdam had no choice but to sail through fog again as we headed to Boston. Paul has been fortunate not to be on fog watch too much as it seems clear around midnight.

View of Bar Harbour from the Maasdam's forward camera.

Boston, yesterday, was a turnaround port and as usual there a 'zero count' was in force and everyone had to disembark including non-revenue passengers. It was chilly outside the terminal unfortunately and was glad to be able to get back on board when allowed to do so.

We sailed overnight from Boston up to Bar Harbour where we have set anchor for a couple of hours. It was a cloudy, overcast day. In a way it would have been nice to have gone on a tour but on the other hand I'm glad I didn't.

Me and Karen with our new lobster friend. Thanks to Karen for this
photo. Oh yes .... the ice cream shop sells lobster
ice cream. I didn't try it ....

Paul needed more stationery so a bit later I joined forces with Karen (singer) and 2 other staff members for a bit of a wander around town and pick up things as and when.  There was a market in a small park in town so we had a bit of a looksy around while there.

Bar Harbour is a lovely little port town and situated on the outskirts of Acadia National Park. The park itself is well worth a visit. It is a beautiful part of the world from what I remember from a tour or two that I did last year when the Maasdam was here.

When I got back to the Maasdam I was greeted by a staff member with a tray of steaming cups of hot chocolate. Being a bit numb from the cold - I soon had my paws around a cup and felt myself defrosting from the tips of my fingers down to my ankles.

The Maasdam's route to Halifax.

The Maasdam left Bar Harbour around about 3pm but I was too tired to stay awake. I needed an afternoon nap.

Tomorrow we arrive in Halifax. Paul is talking about heading to bed early in case he is on fog watch so ... time to hit the sack. Also bear in mind that the clocks go forward 1 hour.

Anchored just off Bar Harbour, Maine, USA.

Fog - view from the top deck.

During the Maasdam's sailing between Sydney (Nova Scotia) to Bar Harbour (Maine, USA) there was lots of fog so Paul was on fog watch quite a bit of the time - during the day and also he ended up with the wee hours of the morning shift (12 midnight to around 4am, yawn 😫)

The medical dummy has a hangover,

I went to help shore excursions with brochure collation and folding and on the way down stairs I saw the medical dummy being sick underneath stairs - probably hung over from a heavy night on the tiles with his imaginary friends!

It was a beautiful sunny day when the Maasdam dropped her anchor just off Bar Harbour. Guests looked forward to getting off the ship and stretching their legs a bit after being stuck on board for the last 2 days.

Bar Harbour

However. Things did not get to a very good start. Everyone had to go through customs and immigration before even thinking about going ashore. The problem lay with tours going through immigration and people got a bit confused, possibly from not reading instructions properly. Some people went to immigration and then came down to the showroom for their tour, others correctly came to the showroom first before the group would go up to immigration. After immigration the tour groups were led down stairs to the tender platforms. Things fell apart at that stage because some of the guests going on tours went in other directions, following other people and not keeping an eyeball on ship staff taking them down to the tenders. Eventually all the tour groups finally went ashore, even if it was in drips and drabs. A valuable lesson has been learnt by ship's staff and I believe a better plan is going to be hammered out to ensure things run a lot more smoothly in 2 cruises time when once again guests will have to meet with immigration before going on tenders.

After lunch I headed ashore and had a wander around the small town of Bar Harbour, picking up some stationery for Paul's office along the way.

The Maasdam has now set sail to Boston. More fog is predicted so Paul may be up again during the wee hours of tomorrow morning.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Sailing through fog

View from our cabin window

Photograph from the ship's on board camera.

The printing room

The printing room and the chap in charge. He prints almost
anything that is required.

Judy from shore excursions - brochure pages coming out from
the print room to be laid out on tables.

Pages have been laid out on the tables, and 3 of us are collating
them together.

Judy is back in the print room with the collated
brochure piles and is putting them through
the stapling machine.

Brochures are stacked in a box - we found it easier to put them
on top of each other in a box turned on its side.

Bar Harbour - views from the ship

Portland. Excursion: The Best of Maine: Portland Head Light & Kennebunkport.

Heading along Eastern Promenade

Paul got a call during the night - there was thick fog and he was needed on the bridge. So he did a few hours stint 'on the watch', and headed back to bed around 4am. He was given time to sleep in but he was not a happy chappy when my alarm clock went off. Apparently he went back to sleep but was not a happy chappy when his own alarm clock went off - he had to get up at 9am (rather than 7am) and start his day's work.

Today there was a difference in the way the tours were handled off the ship. Instead of guests going into the showroom about half an hour to 15 minutes before their tour departed, they were asked to head straight down to the pier where they were directed to their tour bus. It seemed to work very well and I think, for the Canadian ports, that will be the way things will be run until the Maasdam gets back to the USA.

Portland Head Light

I found the tour bus to which I had been assigned to and met Judy, a petite elderly guide. She was the same height as me so no craning my neck to look upwards for a change! I was glad I was with her for the day because she turned out to be a fun and very bubbly person.

Our first part of the tour was a drive around Portland to give us an idea of what the city looked like. We drove along the Eastern Promenade, passed the City Hall, Cathedral, Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital and other places of interest.

Fort Williams

From there we headed to Fort Williams Park and Portland Head Light. Apparently Fort Williams served as a military outpost for coastal defence during the Spanish American War and the Korean War. The lighthouse itself was commissioned by George Washington in 1791 and is the oldest lighthouse in Maine. We had time to wander around the grounds and to take photographs.

Wedding Cake house

The Bush estate at Walker's Point

Back in the bus Judy kept us entertained with her version of history and places of interest to visit, but not boring anyone - bearing in mind that there were a few teenagers with us today. As a result, the drive to Kennebunk went very quickly. At Kennebunk we passed by the 'Wedding Cake' house. The house looks like a wedding cake and the story that Judy told us was that Captain Bourne, a ship's captain, got married but was unable to take his bride on a proper honeymoon because he had to go back to sea. So, he had the house built as a gift for his bride. Wikipedia gives a totally different version of events - here is the link: Wikipedia & Wedding Cake House . Unfortunately the house starting to look a bit tatty and needs restoring. It looked very unusual though and would be well worth a proper visit. Unfortunately we didn't have time to go in.

Kennebunkport

Our drive through Kennebunk also took us past Barbara Bush Gardens, Walker’s Point (on which the Bush estate stands), and past Victorian style and ‘shingle’ style houses. It is a very pretty area.

Pier staff letting go the Maasdam's ropes - we are setting off!

Eventually we arrived in Kennebunkport where we had plenty of time to explore and have lunch. Kennebunkport is very popular and is a sweet little harbour town with art galleries, antique shops, 'boutique' shops, a hotel, restaurants and much more. I happily wandered around the village (I forgot to take photographs though!) and forgot to have lunch. We could have probably spent more time in the town but we had to get back to the Maasdam on time.

On the way back Judy talked about the lobster industry and 'husbandry'. She got out a fake plastic lobster and gave an improvised demonstration how it is caught (using a miniature lobster pot), how it is sized; whether male or female, and why lobsters claws are banded. At times Judy had some of the guests in tears with laughter.

The Maasdam's route to Saint John from Portland.

We made it back to the pier with about half an hour to spare so some of the guests had a quick dash around the waterfront, others went back to the ship.

It has been a lovely day. I hope tomorrow will be just as good!

I have managed to quickly film the lighthouse as the Maasdam headed out of the bay.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Drive through Portland