A Whale Of A Birthday!! – Monday – July 15, 2013

Gin will celebrate her 50th birthday a little later this month.  The big thing she wanted to do to mark this milestone was go on a Whale Watching Cruise.  Since it can get very chilly (actually cold) even in July on these cruises, they watched the weather and selected the hottest day to make reservations.  Today was the DAY!!!  We were booked on the morning cruise and needed to arrive by 7:30am.  Just the girls…Gin, Syl, Pam, Tricia and I were going on this adventure. 
 
We had some time to look around the harbor area before we boarded the Atlantic Cat, our Catamaran.  It was very strange to see Bar Harbor without all the crowds of people.  About 8:00, we boarded and found our little corner of the boat on the top deck in the back left.  It was a great spot with a wonderful view!!

As we were boarding, we recognized a young man we had met in the Everglades.  Yes, it was Ranger G, the ranger that took us on the Nine Mile Pond Canoe Trip.  He is working on whale research here during the summer.  It really is a small world!!

The Catamaran can really fly.  Our ride out to our first stop was just amazing.  The views were spectacular!!  This cruise made two stops.  The first was at a lighthouse which is a Puffin breeding area.  It was a beautiful spot.  We did see Puffin…but it was from quite a distance.  So we could not get very good photos;o( 

The next time we stopped was when whales were spotted.  I had hopes of seeing a whale, but you have no guarantee.  You can’t control Mother Nature:o))  Well, Mother Nature must have know this was Gin’s Birthday Wish and did not disappoint!!  I lost count of how many whales we saw.  They were everywhere and some were very close to the Catamaran.  We saw Whales right up to the time we had to head back to the harbor!!!

The weather had turned much colder and we all huddle up for the chilly ride back to the dock.  But what an amazing day, it could not have been better!!  Lots of fun, laughter, wonderful views and SOOOOO many whales!!!  It was the perfect way to celebrate Gin’s birthday:o))


Happy Birthday GIN!!!!
 
20 - Happy Birthday GIN!!!
 
 
click on any photo to enlarge
or
hover your mouse pointer on a photo for a description
 
00a - views around Bar Harbor
00b - views around Bar Harbor 00c - views around Bar Harbor 00e - views around Bar Harbor
00d - views around Bar Harbor
 
01a-flowers01b-flowers01c-flowers01d-flowers01e-flowers01f-flowers
 
 
 
 
02 - pre-boarding photo - Pam, Syl, Gin, Nancy, Tricia
 
02a - Our Catamaran - AtlanticCat02b - Our Catamaran - All Aboard02c - Our Catamaran - Our spot top deck back left corner02d - Our Catamaran - getting ready to launch
02e - Our Catamaran - leaving the dock02f - Our Catamaran - get up and GO
 
 
 
 
 
04a - Just having FUN!!04b - Just having FUN!!04c - Just having FUN!!04d - Just having FUN!!04f - Just having FUN!! - Pam is in there
 
 
 
 
 
05a - Views as we were cruising05b - Views as we were cruising05c - Views as we were cruising05e - Views as we were cruising05f - Views as we were cruising05g - Views as we were cruising05d - Views as we were cruising
 
 
 
 
 
06a - Puffin Breeding Island06b - Puffin Breeding Island - many different birds06d - Puffin Breeding Island - Puffins06c - Puffin Breeding Island - Puffins06e - Puffin Breeding Island - Puffins06f - Puffin Breeding Island - Off to find the Whales
 
 
 
 
 
07 - Whales - first sighting Mom and Calf  07b - Whales - little closer Mom and Calf
07a - Whales - 3 at same time
07c - Whales -  07d - Whales
07e - Whales - slapping flipper07f - Whales - slapping flipper07f2 - Whales - slapping flipper07g - Whales - slapping flipper07h - Whales - slapping flipper
07i - Whales - tail07i3 - Whales - tail07i2 - Whales - tails07i4 - Whales - tail
 
 
 
 
 
19 - Heading back to Bar Harbor

8 comments:

  1. WOW what a cruise. Gin sure got her whale's worth. Great pictures as usual!!

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  2. I love your picture of the wake of the cat with the islands, awesome! You got some photos of flukes too! Great day.

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  3. Fantastic- glad the whales showed themselves for you. They are really majestic. Great pictures!

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  4. What a wonderful, wonderful time with wonderful friends! So glad that we were all able to share this with Gin! :-)
    Fun times indeed!!

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  5. What a fabulous day you all had. Wish I could have been there! Great pictures as usual!

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  6. What an awesome way to celebrate Gin's birthday! So glad the whales put on a good show for her!

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  7. Great pictures of another great day! I can hardly believe how cool it was on our ride back to the harbor.
    Syl

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