Janet Lanier

David and I went on vacation to Bar Harbor, Maine for a week.  Why Bar Harbor?  Well, David's sister, Karen got a graphics job with the Acadia National Park this summer and we thought this was a great opportunity to visit a state neither one of us had ever visited before.  We LOVED Bar Harbor!  I will be posting various events from our trip, so keep checking back.

One of the more exciting events on our trip was the whale watching tour.  The Bar Harbor Whale Watch Co. gives a long tour out into the ocean in their catamaran which has three decks and can accommodate around 300 people.  On a good day, you can see whales, puffins, seals, porpoises and other interesting wildlife.  They give several tours throughout the day, so we signed up for the 4:30 pm Sunset Whale Watch.  We were hoping to see the puffins on the island of Petit Manan but we were informed that the puffins migrated the very day we arrived in Bar Harbor. It was a warmer than usual day for Bar Harbor (low 80s) but we knew that we needed to be prepared for chilly temps on the tour.  Once you get into open seas and you feel the brisk winds, you really want to be wrapped up.  We had extra layers of hoodies and wind breakers and we were very glad we did!  I even brought my wrist warmers which were perfect because I could still operate the camera.

We scurried to the top deck to be able to have a wide open view of the ocean and so that we could clearly hear the announcer yell out "whale at 11 o'clock!" or hear interesting information about the wildlife we were seeing.  The announcer was a young woman from the College of the Atlantic, who had great enthusiasm and was a wealth of knowledge.  Sometimes a tour will result in no whale sightings and the company will give you a voucher for another tour time which I thought was quite fair.  Fortunately, we had a great day for viewing and we saw many whales come up several times.  It was a beautiful day and we were told the seas were calmer than usual.

As we sailed out, we could see the many lobster traps with their brightly colored buoys floating.  Each buoy is painted uniquely so that the fishermen can identify their traps from the others. 

It wasn't long as we got out into the open sea, that we started seeing whales.  The Gulf of Maine is host to humpback, finback, and Minke whales.  First we would see the spray from the whale's blowhole.  It was like looking for the smoke of a steam engine train in the distant.  As we got closer, we could see the whale's back and dorsal fin slowly rolling into the water.  You could tell when the tail was about to come up and flip just by how the whale curled forward.  Whales are identified by their tail markings and our announcer informed us that we were seeing some whales that had only been seen a few times, so she was very excited about this particular tour.

Sometimes we would see two whales and they often would come up at the same time in sync.  It was a beautiful sight!

In addition to a few porpoises that swam by, we also saw a seal far off that was bobbing up and down in the water.  We were told that seals will often bob like this when they're sleeping. The thought of this made me chuckle.

We were so glad that we went on this trip.  It was worth the price and I would do it again if I had the chance.  The catamaran is a beautiful and speedy ship with plenty of comfortable seating, good views, and a galley with food and beverages.  If you ever visit Bar Harbor, the whale watching tour should definitely be on your schedule.