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July 5, 2019

Liam requested that we take the ferry one day, so today was the day.  We made a brief stop at the Southwest Food Mart IGA to refresh our picnic supplies and then continued to the ferry port in Bass Harbor.

We reached the ferry port at 10:15 and were the third car in line (later some reserved cars arrived) for the 11 AM ferry to Swan’s Island.  The ferry boarded exactly 15 minutes before departure.  The crossing was super smooth and only took 35 minutes.  The children enjoyed getting out of the car and enjoying the boat ride.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When we arrived on Swan’s Island we decided to head for Burnt Coat Harbor Lighthouse with the thought that it might be a good spot for a picnic.  Unfortunately, when we got to the parking lot there were too many cars, so we went a little ways up the road and stopped at the parking area for the nearby trail and ate our lunch there.  It had a clean pit toilet and we made due.  Once we had finished eating, we took the trail for a brief hike to coastline and continued to the lighthouse.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Unfortunately for us, the tower was being renovated so we could not go inside as you usually can.  We did however get to go into the Lightkeeper’s house which had nice displays and a retired school teacher answer any questions that visitor might have.  The children very much liked this stop. Eventually we walked back to car and started exploring the island.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Swans Island is known for having a nice sand beach (called Fine Sand Beach) and we headed in that direction next.  We enjoyed the nice scenery along the way and then spotted a sandy beach after a few minutes and stopped.  The children enjoyed splashing in the water and examining the seashells.  While there we found out the THE Fine Sand Beach was farther down the road.  We enjoyed this small beach enough that we definitely didn’t mind.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By the time we piled back into the car it was almost 2 PM, so we did a little more wandering around and returned to the ferry port a little after 2 for the 3 PM ferry.  We were third in line (not counting reserved vehicles) and felt lucky to get on this completely full ferry back to the mainland.

Once back on the mainland, we made a stop for gasoline and snacks at Freshies on our way back to the house.  After a brief stay in the house and dinner we headed back out.  For our last night in Maine we attended the Great Main Lumberjack Show in Trenton. The show is run by Tina Sheer of Survivor: Panama fame and Ultimate Survivor Alaska and became a highlight of our trip.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The kids absolutely loved it!  They were able to participate and meet all the lumberjacks at the end of the show as well as Tina herself.  The show is a wonderful 1:15 of two teams of lumberjacks competing to see who can complete lumberjack tasks the quickest.  It is also in the evening when most of the island has slowed down for the night.  What a perfect day to end our stay in Maine.

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