Trip Report: September 30, 2019 5 Night to Maine/Canada on the Disney Magic – Day 3, Part 1

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Day 3, Part 1:  Bar Harbor, Maine

I took so many pictures on this day that I am going to break it up into 2 posts.  

Today we were in Bar Harbor, Maine.  We had booked a private tour with At Your Service Tours.  We chose the 5 hour minivan tour, but our tour ended up being 6 hours so we got an hour for free! I chose them based on the excellent reviews on TripAdvisor.

Bar Harbor is a tender port, which means that the ship anchors offshore and tender boats shuttle the guests to shore.  Since we were not on a DCL port adventure, we had to first go to the Buena Vista Theater to get a ticket and be placed in line to board a tender.  We were supposed to meet our tour guide on shore at 9:00 AM, so we got up at 6:45, got some breakfast from Cabanas, and went to the theater at 8:15.  There were not very many people in the theater, and it was only a few minutes before we were handed a ticket and told to go to deck 1 aft. There, we swiped our cards and boarded a tender boat.

These tender boats were much larger and nicer than any I had been on before (Grand Cayman and Cabo San Lucas). All of the seating was indoors, I am guessing because of the northern climate.

All in all the tender process took about 45 minutes (from the time we got to the theater to the time we reached land) and we got to shore right at 9:00 AM.  The weather was chilly (40s/50s) and overcast.

As we exited the tender boat, we had to climb a steep ramp to get to shore.

We walked through a small building and onto the main road, where we were to meet our guide.  This was looking to the right:

And to the left:

We easily found a company representative and he walked us a little bit down the street to wait for our driver to pick us up. This is Main Street, where we shopped later after our tour:

While we waited, the guide took our picture:

We were right across the street from the West Street Hotel.  The guide told us that it is the nicest hotel on the island and has a rooftop pool.

This street (West St.) was really pretty.

Behind us was a lobster restaurant at low tide:

After a few minutes, our guide for the day, Bill, pulled up in a minivan and we climbed in.

The first (and main) thing on our list was to visit Acadia National Park.  As we drove that way, Bill gave us all sorts of information about the island (he has lived there his whole life except for a 2 year stint in Boston) and pointed out interesting things that we were seeing.  I can never take good photos from a moving car, so I didn’t take many but I did get one of this house.  The houses we saw were very quaint and New-England-y.  He told us that lots of people leave for the winter and only spend summers here.

When we first arrived at the park, we stopped at the Visitor’s Center so that we could get our National Parks Passport stamp and so that I could buy a magnet (I collect them from our travels).

The trees and foliage were beautiful, and there was a noticeable pine scent in the air.  It was a perfect, crisp fall day.

We went into the Visitor’s Center and made our purchases.

Next we began the drive through the park.  We drove the main loop through the park with several stops along the way.  At the first stop, we got our briefly to take a picture of the ship:

Our next stop was Eagle Lake.  The foliage was so pretty!

Then it was on to the peak of Cadillac Mountain, the highest point on the island at 1,530 feet.  Bill told us that for part of the year, it is the first place in the U.S to see the sunrise, and that watching the sunrise here is a very popular activity.  It also gave us a great view of the Magic.  Unfortunately, it was extremely cold and windy up there!  The girls stayed in the car most of the time, and my husband and I froze and practically got blown away trying to get some good pictures.

Bill took a group photo, which turned out a bit awkward due to the wind and cold:

When I had checked the forecast right before we left home, it said highs around 60 and sunny, so we had only brought hoodies with us.

After we got back in the car, Bill offered us some blueberry muffins that his daughter had made with fresh Maine blueberries.  They were divine!  He also had bottles of water for us.

We stopped here to take in the view, but didn’t get out of the car:

Bill showed us a tree that a beaver had nearly taken down:

Our next stop was the Wild Gardens of Acadia.  Bill said that many people don’t want to stop here, but I’m glad we decided to because it was beautiful!

There were all sorts of pathways to explore, and beautiful ferns everywhere. Now that we were at a lower elevation, it wasn’t so cold.

There was also a small building with some information inside about the park, including this model of the island that allowed us to trace the path we took through the park:

We got back into the car and drove to Sand Beach, which was just gorgeous and what I imagined a Maine beach would look like:

Next, we drove a little further down the road and stopped at Thunder Hole. Thunder Hole is a small inlet, naturally carved out of the rocks, where the waves crash against the shore when the seas are rough. Down below there’s a small cavern where air and water is forced out when waves hit and it sounds like thunder.

There is a path down closer to the water, but it was closed for safety reasons the day we were there.  Bill said there have been some accidents here with people getting too close to the water when the waves are big.

While we were here, we went into a small gift shop across the street and bought some blueberry soda, which Bill had recommended.  It was really good!

This concluded our time in Acadia, and next we were off to see more of the island and get some lunch.

To be continued in part 2!

Up Next:  Day 3, Part 2 – Bar Harbor