Get Out on the Water

You have to get out on the water when you visit Acadia.   It’s so much a part of living here, of the experience of being in Maine.    There is just a certain perspective from the water that cannot be missed.   It would be like going to the tropics and spending all your time inside an air-conditioned hotel room and car.

There are many-many ways to get a water adventure, and with most of them, you won’t even get wet–unless it’s raining:  Here are six of my favorites:

1. Take a mail boat to an island and bike or hike around  Frenchboro, Swans Island, one of the two Cranberry Islands or beautiful Isle au Haut.   These are little-known trips that only locals know about.   Our mail boats get the people who live on the island on and off, like a ferry, but at a lower cost and without cars.   The first two islands mentioned are accessed by a ferry leaving from Bass Harbor.    From Southwest Harbor, the boat to the Cranberries is an excellent choice for an afternoon.    There are two pick up points one off Clark Point Road, the other on the Manset side of the bay. Finally, Isle au Haut, part of Acadia National Park, is accessed by a mail boat from Stonington on nearby Deer Isle.

2. Get out on the water yourself with kayaks: options include taking yourself out or joining a guided tour and starting out in freshwater or a saltwater adventure.   Other options are how long: one or two hours versus all day on the water.  It depends in the beginning on your experience and readiness for the adventure.    See my blog on kayaking for more information about the experience.

3. Take an organized nature cruise:  These vary from 2 hours to four hours.    Acadia National Park cooperates with four tours to provide rangers who discuss the natural & cultural world that you move through on these cruises.   Your choices include a motor boat to Baker Island, a sail on a four-masted schooner in search of wildlife and history (see the boat on our banner at the top of this page), a tour with a diver going to the bottom of the ocean, or an historical cruise to Islesford Island.   More on this at the National Park website.

4. For the biggest thrill, and possibly the waviest cruise, consider taking a whale watching cruise or a lighthouse tour: With the whale watch trip you go out on a larger boat; a four hour trip to the open ocean (halfway to Nova Scotia)  and along the way you find out about the natural creatures that call the Gulf of Maine home.  Seeing whales is all but guaranteed!  The lighthouse tour includes historical information and is a must for photography buffs.   The best pictures of lighthouses are taken from the water.

5.  Go out on a sail or a fishing adventure.    Here your choices are big or small.   From a small 2 person boat to a large schooner cruise, from 2 hours to 4 hour tours or more.   Take a morning tour, afternoon or a sunset sail.    While sail is a bit more of an investment on your part, the quiet and historical component are incredible.   There is also a fishing adventure available.   Most tours are leaving from Bar Harbor, although Southwest Harbor has a few available also.

Can’t decide? Just take a walk around the docks in Southwest Harbor. There’s sure to be a watercraft to catch your eye.