We had a lovely day in Bar Harbor.  The sun shone all day, there was a light breeze, and the temperature was pleasantly warm.  There is no geographical sites unless you drive up to Acadian National Bark, which we drove through last summer.  The museum is Native American history, which I have seen lots of over the years.  What is attractive in Bar Harbor is the seaside, the shops (assuming you shop), the clapboard buildings and the beautiful estate ‘cottages.’

Bar Harbor was a hotel town back in the day.  There were enough hotel rooms for 2,500 people, but in the late 1800’s some wealthy influential people began to build summer cottages to ‘get away from the city.’  Gradually the hotel rooms disappeared and more and more cottage cropped up.  Over the last 10-15 years, Bar Harbor has become increasingly  popular as a summer holiday destination and there are many new ‘old style’ hotels and many of the grand cottages are B & Bs..

The harbour navigation pilot getting off and US Border and Immigration arriving. We had not booked a tour here since we drove through the area and stayed in Bar Harbor two nights last summer.  We just wandered around the town, tried to locate a cache (DNF – Did Not Find) in the Village Green, walked the Shore Path (we did find a cache along here), and wandered back to town again.  We were in no hurry to be anywhere, the weather was pleasant and sat on a bench at the harbor for almost an hour before getting on a tender back to the ship.

There were two HAL ships in the harbor today.  We met the Maasdam at St. John’s and it was also anchored in Bar Harbor.  The Maasdam will be ending its current cruise in Boston tomorrow too.  After that the Veendam and the Maasdam will be on an alternating rotation going up the New England/Canada coast for the fall colour season.  We had thought the Carnival Splendor that was also berthed in St. John’s might be in Bar Harbor today but they didn’t show.  The two HAL ships made for a busy enough town as it was.

The crew of the Veendam has been working very had over the last few weeks making sure everything aboard is in tip-top working condition because today in Bar Harbor they undergo a Coast Guard inspection which determines whether or not we set sail again.  I am pretty confident we will pass.

“Tha-tha-that’s all folks.”  The exploring (via cruise ship anyway) has ended.  Bar Harbor is our last port of call. Everyone on the ship – passengers and crew – was screened by US Border and Immigration officials this morning.  Tomorrow morning at 7 am we dock at Boston’s Black Falcon Terminal Cruiseport and everyone will be off the ship by 9:30.  Tonight we pack.

When we get to Boston we will take a cab into the city and locate the condo we have rented for the week.  We will also have to find a grocery store and lay is some provisions, especially breakfast foods.  We can drop off our luggage at 11:30 but we can’t get the key until 3.  The condo is located in Beacon Hill, near the Boston Common, right on the historical Black Heritage Trail so we will probably walk that route before going to the condo to settle in.  Another week of adventure beckons.  Stay tuned….