The ship arrived at our final port of Bar Harbor, Maine at 7:00AM. The weather was predicted to be in the 60's and sunny. Our HAL tour, "Lulu Lobster Boat Ride, didn't start until 11:30, so we had a leisurely breakfast and then headed out on one of the tenders. On the dock where we arrived was a shop selling blueberry muffins -- and they smelled sooooo good! We walked around for a bit, found where the tour would meet and then were drawn to have a muffin. We split one and it was as good as it smelled!

We were escorted from the dock to the lobster boat where we greeted by Captain John Nicola . Captain John is one of Maine's foremost experts on the lobster industry. During a very pleasant cruise, he demonstrated how lobster traps are hauled by bringing one up. There were 3 lobsters inside. The Captain described all the parts of a lobster trap and how the lobsters (and many other sea creatures) find their way to the bait inside. The bait is place in the "kitchen" of the trap and the lobsters are caught in the "parlor" (so they are called parlor traps). We learned about the anatomy and life cycle of the Maine lobster, as well as some information about the industry. Lobstering in Maine is great -- they harvested 127 MM pounds last year, 60% of which was shipped to Canada. Each lobster boat is allowed up to 800 traps and each trap must display the buoy registered to that boat. Each boat has a specific area where they can place their traps and some of the best fishing zones have waiting lists of up to 20 years. It takes lots of experience to get a license. To get a license, a fisherman must spend at least 1000 hours as a "stern man" (basically an assistant to the lobster boat captain) .

We sailed past the picture postcard perfect coastal Maine cottages in Frenchman's Bay. We saw harbor seals on and around the rock ledges where they rest at the lower tides. We sailed close to Egg Rock Light, one of Maine's most picturesque lighthouses, as Captain John told us some of its history. We really enjoyed the tour -- Captain John's narration was both entertaining and educational.

It was still fairly early when the tour ended, so we decided to do the little trolley tour of Bar Harbor. We bought tickets for Oli’s Trolley one-hour narrated tour of the downtown. We had a great driver/guide who showed us the sights and told us a little of the history. Bar Harbor is named for the sand bar that appears in the harbor at low tide. It is the gateway to Arcadia National Park and was a favorite summer vacation spot for the rich and famous in the early 1900’s. Most of the city burned in a fire in 1947 that burned for 30 days, but the waterfront and downtown were spared.

After our trolley tour we returned to the ship and decided to go to dinner in the dining room to say good-bye to our dining table-mates. Jim and Pat were there, but June and Floyd were not there. It was surprising to all of us because Floyd and June had never missed dinner before. We were all a little worried. (We found out later that June had a stroke that morning and had to be airlifted to Portland where she had surgery to remove a clot from her brain. Fortunately she went home shortly after with no lasting effects of the stroke).

We went to the show, which was a comedian named Jim McCue and then called it a night early.