Gemini

The three of us (at Taylor's request) had decided to go on a whale watch this year. The last whale watch we were on a few years ago (remember that trip, Sophie?) was a complete fog-out. The fog and mist was so thick that you could barely see the front of the boat from the rear. Plus I felt very seasick through most of the 3 1/2 hr trip. Ugh. And to top it all off...we didn't see a single whale.

But I was still looking forward to this trip because I LOVE LOVE LOVE being out on the ocean. The seasickness is only sporadic for me (it happened on a cruise Jim and I were on too, but the seas were rocking 10-20 foot swells out there in the Atlantic-woah) so I was hopeful that I would feel fine.

We had all three planned to go, but at the last minute we found out that dogs were not allowed on the Whale Watch trips (although they are allowed on other boat trips lasting 1-2 hrs), so Jim volunteered to stay behind with Mikko and let Taylor and I go. Such a great guy, isn't he? :)

So we headed into Bar Harbor a little early, bags packed with all the essentials: sunscreen, check; sunglasses, check; 3 jackets, check; [it's freezing out there!] camera, check; iPhone, check; [not that I ever leave it home..lol] license, check; [this is new..security stuff, I guess] water bottles, check. I think we were set.

We stopped to get sandwiches to bring on the boat from, you guessed it, Morning Glory Bakery,

[I had the Mountain Mama sandwich, my new addiction : Baked local organic tofu on a hoagie roll w/ house pickled radish & carrots, cucumber, fresh cilantro dressing and greens] 

and then we headed down to the harbor.

Bar Harbor is much more of a tourist town, slightly kitschy, but the harbor is very pretty. Somewhat of a working harbor, but much more of a pleasure boat harbor. You see everything parked here; lobster boats, ferry boats, cruise ships, sail boats, pleasure boats, yachts, and schooners. 


 

The views of the Porcupine Islands are lovely from here.

 

We queued up in a line at the dock entrance to Bar Harbor Whale Watch Company, and waited to have our ID's checked.




























We finally climbed onto the boat, settling into a bench at the rear of the ship.






Before we pulled out of the harbor, just like onto a plane, there is a long safety lecture you must listen to. The part I found most amusing was when they said "Please remove your hats and sunglasses. They WILL blow off. If they do, we will NOT turn the boat around to get them!"




Obviously, if they have to say that,
SOMEONE must have insisted they turn the boat around to get one of these.
Can you believe it?
Of course, you do.


We headed out of the harbor...

and we were super excited, especially when they said they had been spotting whales all week on their previous outings.

The boat traveled at a pretty high speed, but it still took over an hour 

to get to the whale's feeding grounds off the coast of Maine.

The wind happened to 'whip my hair' into a lovely style....hahhaa

It was amazingly peaceful and quiet once we we arrived to our destination. At first we only spotted the occasional gull, and a lone sailboat out for a pleasure sail.

But we soon heard the shout of the naturalist on board that she had just spotted a finback whale.

We had been taught by the naturalist to look for the mist that shoots up when the whale exhales, to help spot them, and it wasn't long before we got an eyeful of a humpback whale not too far from the boat.

 So very very awesome.

 The whales are identified by their markings, and humpback whales are easily identified by the color and markings on their distinctive tails.

This little guy happened to be named Gemini, and was last spotted 5 years ago in this very area.

Bye, bye, Gemini.

 And.....to sum it up:
No seasickness.
No fog.
Lots of sunshine.
Very cold.
Great sandwiches.
Yummy hot chocolate.
Nice crowd.
Nice crew.
Fantastic views.
Awesome adventure with my girl.