Maine, Bar Harbor - Saturday, June 27, 2015 - Whale Watching

Whale watching today!!  I’m stepping outside of my comfort zone again today.  Since I don’t know how to swim I usually avoid being in a situation where I could possibly drown.  The advertisements said we would be going out about 20 miles from Bar Harbor into water that was 400 feet deep.  Sounded pretty scary until I realized I could drown in the deep end of a pool in someone’s backyard – might as well do it big if it is my day to go.

 

We had lunch at Stewman’s Downtown again today.  We watched a group of kayakers heading out.  That one headed for the pier ended up with its nose into it.

 

 

We really enjoyed our haddock sandwiches, mine was with sweet potato fries.

Our whale watching boat the Friendship V is similar to its sister ship.  We chose to sit outside at the rear of the second deck.  I wasn’t sure whether or not I would get seasick so this seemed like a good location J.  Not a problem, enjoyed every minute and it was a great picture taking location.

In the harbor the wind was pretty brisk.

The wheelhouse has lots of bells and whistles.

I made sure to check out the location of the life boats and the life jackets.

We are on our way.

Another picture of the schooner in the harbor.

The houses on the cliffs were amazing.  This one was my favorite.

This lighthouse isn’t always on the whale watching tour.  We were able to take a little longer trip today because the boat didn’t have to be back for another trip after us.  This is the light on Mount Desert Rock.  The lighthouse was built in 1847.  This lighthouse is further offshore (21 miles) and more exposed than any other on the east coast.  The “rock” is only 600 yards long and 200 yards wide.  It is frequently submerged by waves in storms.  The keepers of this lighthouse were paid more than keepers of other lighthouses, they had to be pretty hearty souls to be able to stand the isolation and barren location.  Rainwater was collected but drinking water had to be shipped in.  Electricity was provided by a small gas powered generator.  There hasn’t been a keeper on the island since the 1970’s when the light was automated.

In 2009 Hurricane Bill did a lot of damage to the house and outbuildings.  All of the furniture and equipment on the first floor of the house were ruined when it flooded almost to the ceiling.

Now the only inhabitants of the island are harbor and grey seals.  A few looked like they were coming out to greet us.

See the mountains faintly in the distance?  That is where we came from.  We ended up being 37 miles from Bar Harbor in water that was over 500 feet deep.

The whale we spotted today was a fin whale or razorback.  This is the second largest of the whales reaching up to 90 feet in length and about 73 tons.  They are called the “greyhound of the water” because they can reach speeds of over 25 mph.  Our captain clocked this one today at about 16 mph.  This species of whale is an endangered species right now.

The whale today never got completely out of the water.  This type of whale can leave the water entirely and then dive to a depth of 800 feet in search of food.

 

 

Since it had to come up for air about every 15 minutes we got several looks at it.

 

 

 

I know that since there isn’t anything in the picture to compare it to it is hard to judge it’s size (this could be a sardine swimming in a pan J)  You’ll have to trust me on this one – it was huge!

 

 

The water was kind of choppy in the harbor, but it was very calm out where we ended up watching the whale.

Although I started out on the outside of my comfort zone, I would do this again.  It was an amazing day.