Acadia National Park

We spent several days in Acadia National Park - a GREAT place! Unfortunately, there was very limited cell and virtually no Internet available where we were anchored for the visit. So... a longer than usual blog.

We spent one day riding bicycles on the carriage trails,

trails put in by John Rockefeller so his guests could enjoy the beautiful surrounds while in a horse drawn carriage. The trails wind past several ponds, with only moderate slopes, designed not to overtax the horses..

The views were all spectacular. This is Bubble Pond, along the carriage road.

Jordan Pond, the home of the famous Jordan House and it's popover lunch - the view of Jordan Pond and "the Bubbles" from the lunch area.

Another day, we did some hiking on the trails along the coast, with unending spectacular views.

This is Otters Point (river otters that live up the river, not in the ocean)

Next day, we took the free LL Bean bus to SW Harbor, and also took a little hike on the Wonderland Trail, which ended up on a rocky point, where we saw two schooners passing in the fog.

We also did the usual things like laundry, grocery shopping, and exploring Bar Harbor - or, as they say here "Bah Hab Bah".

As we left our anchorage in Somes Sound, we passed one of our favorites, a schooner sailing slowly up the sound. Always beautiful.

Next, we went to an anchorage at Winter Harbor, still part of the Acadia park system, but on the mainland of Schoodic Peninsula instead of Mt. Desert Island where most of the park is located. The entrance to the harbor is graced with the usual picturesque lighthouse.

While only about 10 miles east of Mt. Desert, tourism gives way to serious lobster fishing.

We took the LL Bean bus to Schoodic Point, another rocky promontory.
Exploring Schoodic Point's big granite boulders on the beach, we saw some interesting veins of other rock mixed in.

Part of the park activities is a sculpting competition, 7 artists from around the world (selected from 150 applicants). The competition is every 2 years. Here is last year's winner, "Cleat", in the Winter Harbor harbor

The competition was set up at the closed US Nays Intelligence installation at Schoodic Point. This is reputed to be the base or at least organization where the ill fated sky ship USS Pueblo (captured by the North Koreans - remember?) reported. These artists really get into their work!

Luke caught this shot of two lobster boats "on the hard", waiting for their chance to go back into the water and live again.

Winter Harbor also has an eagle family - mom, dad, and 2 juveniles, about 2 yrs old. Here's one of the parents.

Leaving Winter Harbor this morning, we passed Schoodic Point

and the lighthouse at the island of Petit Manan. Pretty desolate...

A little afternoon fog rolled in, just as we were reaching our destination for the night, Roque Island.

After the fog cleared, we took the dinghy to shore, to walk the 1 mile sand beach, the only one in this area. It was deserted and nice to walk on. Only about 45 miles from the tourist center of Acadia and Bar Harbor, we are nearly alone - only 2 other boats spending the night within this beautiful Roque Island Archipelago.

Tomorrow we plan to head for one more down east location, not sure which one yet, but after that we will probably turn around and begin our adventure westward and southward (up west?).