Day 6 - Ah, the sweet smell of seasickness...

Tuesday seemed like it would be a much better day. Karen and I had agreed that even if I wasn't feeling 100% better, whale watching would certainly be a doable endeavor. We had gone on the whale watching cruise when we had been to Acadia 9 years before and recalled that it was a pleasant cruise that didn't require a lot of energy. The kids loved the idea. I did feel better, so everything was a go.
We parked in downtown Bar Harbor and walked to the wharf to get on the ship. The whale watching ships are pretty big - double hulled catamarans built for speed, stability and maneuverability. Still, the captain made sure to tell us that there was a pretty heavy swell - anywhere from 3 to 6 feet - and that some of might feel "a bit squeamish." Remember that. Setting out was great. The water was calm and wasn't too cold. We had brought warm clothing because the temperatures out in the open ocean could drop down to the high 40s. We passed the Porcupine Islands and that famous four-masted schooner that is on the Maine state quarter.
As we hit the open ocean though, the temperature began to drop quickly and the ship began to dip and roll a bit. It's pretty amazing how quickly that bit of motion can upset the whole body's sense of well being. Within minutes, a few people were using the easily accessible sea sickness bags. Fortunately, we felt fine - for the time being. Egg Rock lighthouse lies just a little ways off the coast and is an observation post for biologists to watch the arctic terns and puffins. We saw quite a few of them around the small nub of rock. Further into the ocean, the swells were a bit more serious. By this time, we had gone into the cabin to get some hot cocoa, as the outside temperature was a nippy 51 degrees. Cole was the first to fall... He had buried his head in Karen's lap and assured us he felt all right before he threw up. The "motion of the ocean" has affected us all, but not as badly as Cole. There was a lot of lying the head on the table and wondering when the ship was going to turn around. Of course, the purpose of the trip was to see whales! Oh yeah, almost forgot about that. No whales. Not even hint of a whale. Oh well.
The trip back in to Bar Harbor was much more pleasant as we were riding with the waves instead of plowing into them. The upshot was that because we didn't see any whales, we got tickets fro a another cruise when we go back to Acadia. Maybe we'll do the nature cruise next time.
Our stomachs had sufficiently recovered so that lunch seemed like a good idea. We went back to cabin after negotiating with the kids. They wanted to eat out for lunch and then hike. We countered with: go back to the cabin for lunch, go hiking and then eat dinner out and shop in Bar Harbor. Mom and Dad were successful.
For the afternoon, we traveled to the other side of the island to climb Flying Mountain, which was classified as a moderate hike. We lucked out again. The weather was perfect and there was virtually no one else on the trail. I was feeling much better and had no problem with it. Flying Mountain overlooks Somes Sound, Eagle Cliffs and Valley Cove. Somes Sound is the only fjord on the eastern coast of the United States. Normally, people think of Norway with fjords, but we do have our very own. Essentially, a fjord is a long, steeply walled ocean inlet that is fairly shallow at the opening and grows progressively deeper that was carved out by glaciers. The kids had fun just saying the word "fjord" over and over again. The trail from the top winds down to Valley Cove which is an idyllic spot. Legend has it that because of the relatively calm waters of the sound and privacy of Valley Cove, pirates would hide and ride out storms centuries ago in that spot. Supposedly, there is some treasure buried. We didn't look too hard though. The kids found their own treasure by wading the water, clambering over the rocks and pointing out the numerous jellyfish that we saw.
From Flying Mountain, we headed to Southwest Harbor to check out Bass Harbor lighthouse. This is probably one of the most lighthouses in the world. It sits right on the very southern edge of Mount Desert Island and has a nice view of the Cranberry Islands to the south. The kids were duly impressed with the building itself, but were quickly taken in by the rocky shoreline which of course, just begged to climbed on. We did this for a while and then decided to head back in to Bar Harbor for dinner. What would a trip to New England be without a lobster feast? That was dinner and it was delicious. The kids were adventurous and tried to lobster which they liked. After dinner, we shopped in town for souvenirs for a couple of hours - Cadi had to find the perfect sweatshirt that had Acadia on it. It was finally tracked down... Tomorrow, we plan on climbing more peaks as it is our last day. :(