Bumper to Bumper in Bar Harbour

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Or as the locals might say, “Bump-ah to Bump-ah in Bah Hah-bah”. Despite gaining an hour during our journey from Nova Scotia overnight, we seemed pressed for time this morning. We hustled up to the Lido for a quick breakfast. Continental service starts at 6:30, but hot breakfasts aren’t available until 7:00. We had an 8:00 AM meeting time in the Showroom for our excursion, but needed to clear immigration first, starting at 7:30 AM. Actually it was closer to 8:00 AM before the immigration folks from Homeland Security were onboard. There were more than one disgruntled passengers waiting in line, into and through the casino and to the Explorer’s Lounge where lines were separated into the U.S./Canadian line and Other Non-U.S. citizens. We finally got up to the immigration agents, who were asking everyone where they lived… “Miami… Dallas… Kansas City…” When Sharon got to the front of the line he threw her a change up and asked her where she was born. She stifled the “Dayton” that was about to come out of her mouth, and she managed to finally come up with “Philadelphia”. The agent gave her an amused look, smiled at me, and didn’t bother asking me a question.



We then went to the Showroom At Sea and got our tour sticker. Pretty soon they started calling groups to board tenders and go ashore. We were in the third group, and Sharon and I were among the last four to make our tender but among the first for our group. We have a beautiful day in Bar Harbor, but it was a bit chilly on the tender. Once ashore we walked up towards the busses, then discovered our bus wasn’t there, but up the hill on a side street. We were among the first onboard the bus, and had a bit of a wait for those coming on the next tender.



Our tour, the “Arcadia Park and Lobster Bake” began with the bus driving down the hill we’d just climbed, and then making a sharp left turn at the corner where a new ocean-front hotel was in the final stages of construction. They had just paved one-half of the street that we were attempting to turn onto, and smaller traffic has trying to get around us, while other traffic was trying to go up the hill. We seemed to wait an interminable amount of time before starting the turn, inching forward, but then needing to reverse so that we could complete the sharp turn onto the yet-to-be paved closed portion of the road. Somehow ours did navigate the turn and once we had cleared the downtown traffic we on our way to Arcadia Park, the first National Park in the U.S. east of the Mississippi. The park is composed mostly of land that has been contributed by a list of wealthy Americans that reads like a Who’s-Who of nineteenth and early twentieth century America. Rockefeller (Jr) was the primary contributor. Ford and Kennedy had homes in the area. Martha Stewart currently has a home on the island. When cars were eventually allowed into the park (when Ford changed his mind and thought that that might be a good idea), Rockefeller had a network of Carriage Roads build and then donated land to a National Park. Horses, horse drawn carriages and bicycles are allowed; but, no motorcycles, snowmobiles or any motorized vehicle. Rockefeller stipulated that if this rule was ever changed, then the land should revert to his heirs.



Remember those lupines we saw in Nova Scotia… well they’re here as well even though they’re not native. There is a big brouhaha on the island about whether the Park Service should be pulling up these weeds. Some think the lupines should be removed, some should not. Meanwhile the Park Service is trying to remove them.



We drove up Cadillac Mountain, named after the French explorer who came here after Champlain. Later, when a small British force had captured Cadillac’s wife, they bartered that they would return his wife if he departed the island, which he chose to do and moved on towards where Detroit lies today. There is a spectacular view from atop the mountain, including an impressive view of the Maasdam anchored in the bay.



After a twenty minute stop we drove down the mountain and made our way back to Bar Harbor and to our Lobster Bake venue that was previously the Bar Harbor Gentleman’s Club, made up of course of all those famous forefathers. Again we were stuck in traffic as we crawled through Bar Harbour. Sharon was one of a few who chose not to have lobster, and had a ticket stub to get beef instead. As we entered the building we were directed to large round tables that seated ten people each. There was plenty of space and nobody was scrunched together like sardines, as we had been on Prince Edward Island. They had self-serve iced tea that had been freshly brewed and was the best I’d had since I’d left the U.S. The tea was very good, unsweetened, and they even provided lemon. Sharon said that two women (based on accents may have been Australians) at the table were indicating that ice tea must be an acquired taste as they tried to get it down but finally went to purchase some wine instead. In any case, it was much better than the iced tea served onboard HAL ships. I’m not sure what they serve, but it tastes something like Nestea or Lipton’s equivalent. The HAL iced tea is barely tolerable when a slice of lemon is added.



It was our turn to go by the buffet table (not an all you can eat buffet). I got two small boiled potatoes, a half-cob of corn and a lobster, skipping the mussels. Sharon got a very nice slice of prime rib. On our tour we had learned about lobsters. Our tour guide says that if you see a 15-pound lobster from Maine advertised, you can be sure that it’s not from Maine. There is a minimum size and maximum size for lobsters to be harvested in Maine, those not in the proper range must be set free. Lobsters must live about 7 years before they reach about one pound. Once they reach this maturity, they can mate and once the female reaches maturity she is always pregnant. Females retain offspring inside her body for one year, and then on her tail for another year. Lobster men who catch a female and see that she has offspring attached to her tail, will cut a notch in her tail and return her to the sea. Then, future lobstermen who catch her will see the notch and return her again to the sea. There are hefty consequences for any lobsterman caught with a lobster with a notched tail. And lobster licenses are not easy to get. Four lobstermen must either retire or die before a new license will be issued. The license comes with a color code, such as orange and blue, and that is the color used to tag the buoys to which lines are attached to the lobster traps. The lobster boat also has the same color tag, and whoa to the lobsterman who is caught stealing someone else’s catch (especially if caught by another lobsterman). A lobsterman may have up to 800 lobster traps, but it’s rare that one would deploy that many because they need to be checked every two days. In Maine the lobstermen can work year round. The lobsters thrive here because of the cold water which increases oxygen thresholds. This time of year the lobsters come in close to shore to shed their shells and mate. The female lobster will choose a mate, clonk him on the head with her claw to get his attention. He gets the idea and follows her into the shallow waters where she will shed her shell. The male can then mate with her. The lobster’s external shell cannot grow and so must be shed when it gets too snug. The lobster will spend its time hiding in crevices in the shallow waters until its shell is ready to protect it again, and it returns to deeper waters, feeding on the bottom.



I needed a little help getting the meat out of the lobster; but, that I did. We had been drawn butter for eating the lobster. The lobster was very tasty, even better than the tail I’d had in the Rotterdam Dining Room the night before. But as a filling meal, this wasn’t that. Besides what I’ve said so far, there was a small snap-container of coleslaw and an individual blueberry tart with half a strawberry… and that was it. On the other hand, the slice of prime rib Sharon ate was quite sizeable and tasty and more than she could finish. After lunch, we made our way back to the ship.



Back in our cabin, I went up to the Explorer’s Lounge and obtained today’s Sudoku and Ken-Ken puzzles and two Coke’s while Sharon began packing for tomorrows’ disembarkation. We did the puzzles and afterwards we packed our bags as well. Sharon went out to enjoy our Lanai lounge chairs but a few minutes later someone started smoking a few cabins down so that forced her back into the cabin. About the time she was thinking about going out again a couple walking on the deck decided to take them over. Since it’s almost time to go up for Trivia we decided to not say anything to them. This is the first time we’ve seen someone else use them but it’s also the first day it’s been nice enough to spend much time out there so I suspect many people ignore the Reserved notices.



We went up to play Team Trivia, sitting in our spot in the Crow’s Nest, and were soon joined by our other two team members. We should have known in which U.S. city that Martin Luther King was killed, but we couldn’t come up with anything better than Macon, GA. I knew that it started with an “M”. Sharon did know which continent 4 volcanoes were on, including Deception Island (Antarctica). We only got 7 points and were nowhere near the winners that had 12 points and got free drinks from the bar as their prize. We beat the kids again and I guess it’s a good thing they didn’t win the prize. We got back to room, and Sharon got ready for mass. The guy that was laying in our Lanai deck chair outside our cabin was gone, not that we wanted to be enjoying the pleasant breeze outside a few chairs downwind from a smoker. The fumes had flooded into our room when Sharon had gone outside to sit in the chair a bit, but promptly returned.



I forgot about the “no jeans” dress code, and guess I’ll have to do a little unpacking so that I can get properly attired for dinner. I had thought that this was the Master Chef’s Dinner Night, which I wasn’t that interested into attending again, and tried to convince Sharon to try Canneletto’s (which came highly recommended from her sister), but she said she wanted to get the Baked Alaska. Sharon however knew that they had started doing the new International Menu for the last night. We both ordered a Coke; but, we still have almost $15 left on the half-priced beverage card (for sodas). I ordered the Mediterranean hummus, couscous and pita appetizer and Sharon ordered me the Vietnamese spring roll. Sharon had the Argentinian tender beef soup with veggies and I had the Mediterranean creamy potato and seafood chowder. Sharon had the braised beef over cheese curd grits and green beans. I had the pasta with Italian sausage, cheese sauce and tomato with escarole. I had a very petite chocolate cake in chocolate sauce with a liquor base with which I wasn’t familiar. And of course, Sharon had her Baked Alaska, but it came with some strawberry ice cream (which never makes her a happy camper).



We stopped in the casino for Sharon to make a final deposit. She cashed out her card. I played some blackjack, but had to wait until they opened a second table. Things didn’t start well, but I was making only minimum bets after three hands… and that persisted for a couple of shoes. Things did turn around, and when they did it wasn’t long before I’d recouped the slow start and actually was $100 ahead. I decided to quit on a winning note and returned to the cabin to complete my packing.

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