I can't believe it's already been six days. I still can't believe we are in Maine...
I can't believe what happened today.
We got up early and headed out to the park one last time to say farewell. We went to Little Hunters Beach, not to be confused with Hunters Beach, which we visited a few days ago.
We were fortunate enough to have the beach all to ourselves
The cobblestones here are notable because you can often see chunks of the older, mostly darker bedrock suspended in the granite.
In the 1800s cobblestones from Maine beaches like this one were used to pave the streets of New England: Boston, New York and Philadelphia. It is now illegal to remove cobblestones from Acadia National Park.
Trees here grow in the most unforgiving spaces
If I could take just one?...
My pile of rocks
Another stream emptying into the sea... That makes three this trip.
Sammy Christmas everybody
View of Little Hunters Beach from an overlook
Thus concludes the good part of the day...
Next... We went on a whale 
Hundreds of damn cruise ship passengers waiting in line for whale watch tours, nature cruises, lighthouse tours, foliage tours, etc... These bitches are why we couldn't do the whale watch a few days ago, when we had initially planned to. It was sold out. Today's was sold out as well, but we obtained a reservation online. Yay?
Blueberry Muffin. Not the last time Sam would see it.
Leaving Bar Harbor
Damn cruise ship
Another damn cruise ship
Julie, the naturalist who served as tour guide
One of the porcupine islands, so named because the trees growing there give the appearance of quills
Sam, before the onslaught
Cadillac Mountain to the right, obscured by clouds
Egg Rock LighthouseIf you'll notice... I have no photos of the actual whale watch part. There is a good reason for this. The seas were extremely choppy -- swells at 4 - 5 feet. The captain had warned us of this ahead of time. Some people got out of line to get a refund or a voucher to ride another day. However, today was our last opportunity to attempt this. So we stayed on and suffered the consequences.
It wasn't so bad at first. Then once we got out of Frenchman Bay and into the Gulf of Maine, it got crazy. Then after crazy, it went beyond ridiculous... It was ludicrous. Yes, we went to plaid. The boat was pitching and heaving... The passengers were pitching and heaving... Sam puked multiple times. I attempted to go downstairs to the galley to get him a Queaz-Away wristband. Somehow -- did I mention the pitching and heaving part? -- I managed to fall down the stairs. It happened so fast that I'm not sure what exactly went wrong. One minute I was clinging to the rail for dear life, and the next moment I was sliding down the stairs on my back, head first -- still clinging onto the railing. Clinging but my hand was sliding along all the while. I thought for a moment that I was going to get tossed off the back of the boat. One of the crewmembers came to my rescue. Not. But he did ask if I was hurt, to which I replied "I don't know." That's when I realized my back was sore. But everything else seemed OK. Except that the boat was still pitching and heaving. Ughh.
He told me to fill out an incident report, and then he helped me to the galley where I purchased the Queaz-Away wristbands for $10. After that I ducked into the nearest handicap restroom for a quick pee. I will spare you the details of this experience... I can't believe I didn't piss all over myself.
On the way out, I noticed some people were snacking on hotdogs and other puke-centric goodies, oblivious to the mayhem. I made my way around some of the pukers and back up to the top deck outside, where Sam was clutching to his seat. I was not really feeling the nausea until after my fall. By this point, it was all getting to me. We just wanted off. I was praying that a whale would surface somewhere nearby soon enough so we could get the hell out of there and back to land.
Thank you "Lunch." Lunch. Not a good name at the moment.
We did manage to catch a few glances of Lunch, though. We even saw her blowing/exhaling, which was neat but hardly worth all the torture.
I won't mention the parts about when the boat would rotate to follow the whale. At one point, I thought we might have actually hit it. Or a car. Or something large.
Very soon after that crash, Julie announced that the captain had decided it was time to call it a day, due to the unsafe conditions at sea. As consolation, they would offer each passenger a voucher for another tour in the future. And with that, they turned the boat around and took us cautiously back to Bar Harbor. The ride back was especially freezing. I thought I would puke at some point, but it didn't happen. I was falling asleep, worn out from all the excitement?
Finally we reached the dock, then the room, then the bed. This was one to sleep off. Good thing I brought those nausea pills leftover from my labyrinthitis attack.
Geez, I feel sick all over again just describing it.
It wasn't so bad at first. Then once we got out of Frenchman Bay and into the Gulf of Maine, it got crazy. Then after crazy, it went beyond ridiculous... It was ludicrous. Yes, we went to plaid. The boat was pitching and heaving... The passengers were pitching and heaving... Sam puked multiple times. I attempted to go downstairs to the galley to get him a Queaz-Away wristband. Somehow -- did I mention the pitching and heaving part? -- I managed to fall down the stairs. It happened so fast that I'm not sure what exactly went wrong. One minute I was clinging to the rail for dear life, and the next moment I was sliding down the stairs on my back, head first -- still clinging onto the railing. Clinging but my hand was sliding along all the while. I thought for a moment that I was going to get tossed off the back of the boat. One of the crewmembers came to my rescue. Not. But he did ask if I was hurt, to which I replied "I don't know." That's when I realized my back was sore. But everything else seemed OK. Except that the boat was still pitching and heaving. Ughh.
He told me to fill out an incident report, and then he helped me to the galley where I purchased the Queaz-Away wristbands for $10. After that I ducked into the nearest handicap restroom for a quick pee. I will spare you the details of this experience... I can't believe I didn't piss all over myself.
On the way out, I noticed some people were snacking on hotdogs and other puke-centric goodies, oblivious to the mayhem. I made my way around some of the pukers and back up to the top deck outside, where Sam was clutching to his seat. I was not really feeling the nausea until after my fall. By this point, it was all getting to me. We just wanted off. I was praying that a whale would surface somewhere nearby soon enough so we could get the hell out of there and back to land.
Thank you "Lunch." Lunch. Not a good name at the moment.
Lunch is a finback whale who has been seen throughout the Gulf of Maine since 1982. Lunch has very little dorsal fin left and was given that name because it looks like a shark came along and bit it's fin off for "lunch." In truth, Lunch lost it's fin when it was hit by a twin engine boat propeller.I only know this because I googled it. We were too focused to pay attention to the whale. Julie had announced that we should keep an eye trained on the horizon and breathe the fresh sea air to help with the motion sickness. So that is what our priority was when everyone else was either puking or squeeling with joy at the whale sighting.
We did manage to catch a few glances of Lunch, though. We even saw her blowing/exhaling, which was neat but hardly worth all the torture.
I won't mention the parts about when the boat would rotate to follow the whale. At one point, I thought we might have actually hit it. Or a car. Or something large.
Very soon after that crash, Julie announced that the captain had decided it was time to call it a day, due to the unsafe conditions at sea. As consolation, they would offer each passenger a voucher for another tour in the future. And with that, they turned the boat around and took us cautiously back to Bar Harbor. The ride back was especially freezing. I thought I would puke at some point, but it didn't happen. I was falling asleep, worn out from all the excitement?
Finally we reached the dock, then the room, then the bed. This was one to sleep off. Good thing I brought those nausea pills leftover from my labyrinthitis attack.
Geez, I feel sick all over again just describing it.
Yeah we went back. After our nap.
Sam, still wearing the Queaz-Away wristbands I risked my life for
Gem skulls in a storefront window... Maine Tourmaline is a popular product here.
Capped the night off with one last visit to Ben & Bill's... Tonight we sampled the Lobster ice cream. Buttery. My bite had a chunk of lobster in it, which thankfully I could not taste.
Lobster ice cream (bottom middle)
Sam got Sinful Chocolate, and I tried Pumpkin Pie.Not as rich as the Pumpkin Cheesecake ice cream, but still good!
2 comments:
OMG, you poor things...sounds like our trip to Shell Island but 100xs worse. Hope y'all are okay and end the trip on a better note.
I hate that it didn't work out for you. I have to admit that you telling this story is funny though. You are back home now....yay! I am sure you would rather be in Maine, but I am happy! The pictures are so gorgeous! Thanks again for posting them so quickly! I can't wait to see y'all!
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