Visit to Little Cranberry Island

It was a three hour tour. The weather started getting rough. The tiny ship was tossed. If not for the courage of our fearless crew, the Sea Princess would be lost. Well, not really, but the seas were pretty rough today.

We knew the weather was going to be iffy, so we decided to sign up for a Ranger-led boat ride and tour. We left out of Northeast Harbor. This harbor was obviously the place where all the yachts and sailboats come. There were very few commercial fisherman working out of this harbor. Judging by the number of mansions looking over the water, they probably couldn't afford to live here.

After leaving the harbor, we went past the Bear Island Lighthouse. This lighthouse is owned by the National Park Service, but you can lease it for the summer. Jackie, this would be the perfect summer job!

After Bear Island, we headed out to sea. The Maine channel is full of granite shelves. The tide goes in and out by 12 feet, hiding some of the shelves, so they build rock markers on top of some of them.  The ospreys also like to use the granite shelves to build their nests.  The nest below has been used for almost 70 years.

Upon arriving at Little Cranberry Island (formally known as Islesford), we headed up Main Street to the general store/post office/bakery/liquor store/hardware store and just about anything else you could think of selling. We got a cup of coffee, which was surprisingly good in addition to a slice of ginger bread, which was more like a ginger/nutmeg coffee cake - outstanding. I guess if you are stuck on a small island with only 70 other people, you must learn to bake.

From Little Cranberry Island, we headed north toward Somes Sound, which the Ranger said "mostly" qualifies as a fjord, in that it was scooped out by glaciers.  We cruised along the eastern shore of the sound, along pink granite cliffs that are so vertical and go so deeply into the water that our boat could sail within 15 feet of the cliffs without risking hitting bottom!

We also learned about the huge "cottages" built by the mega-wealthy in Seal Harbor, including a very large residence that had once been owned by Nelson Rockefeller.

After returning to Northeast Harbor, we walked into town for lunch. When we finished lunch, we walked around and found a really cool little history museum. The sun was shining by the time we got back to the RV.

Tomorrow, will be another bike ride to finish off the remaining carriage roads.