Northeast Travels 2023 – Ferry to Schoodic Peninsula

One of the things we had read about and wanted to do while in Acadia was take a ferry ride from the Bar Harbor port across to the Schoodic Peninsula. We thought the ferry ride would be fun. You can drive to the same area, but the opportunity to see the islands and bay area from the water and the possibility of seeing some sea life was appealing. 

We had talked about doing it on our last full day there, Sunday. The idea was to check out of our hotel and find somewhere to park down by the harbor area.

After walking down our first evening in town and seeing the set up, in the middle of the night I got the idea to go on Friday while we still had access to parking at the inn. That way we wouldn’t have our luggage sitting in a hot parked car all day and we wouldn’t have to find parking. 

I refrained from waking Russ up at 2 AM to tell him my great idea. He was very grateful that I showed restraint, but agreed with me when I shared the vision at 6 AM. 

While we had our breakfast in the lobby – side note, they had a lovely breakfast every morning with omelettes made to order and some yummy baked goods – we got our tickets for the ferry ordered. 

The short walk to the dock took less time than we anticipated and we were a bit early for our 9:00 departure so we once again enjoyed the scenic Shore Path.

The ferry was not overly crowded and we enjoyed sitting on the very front of the “Miss Lizzie” with a young couple from upstate New York. They had their bikes on the ferry and planned to ride around the peninsula. 

They were fun and interesting and we enjoyed sitting on the top part with them for the return trip as well. The captain’s wife, Linda, was enjoyable as she would come up and share stories and point out porpoises and explain their lobster business and details of “owners” of some of the islands we were passing. We met another couple from Maine on the return trip as well and they were kind to share their binoculars with all of us. 

The ferry ride is $36 for the round trip – you have to buy a ticket for each way, but we agreed one of the highlights of our visit. 

Once you dock and disembark, there is a nice shuttle bus there that runs a circuit around the peninsula and places to see every hour. This service also has buses running consistently throughout the day from the Village Green in Bar Harbor to places in and around Acadia. It is free and the drivers will help load bikes on for those who are young and think riding a bike straight up and down steep inclines is a good idea. This is a service of the park system. 

Since the transport service only passes a stop once per hour, it was important for us to time our visit to make sure we were back for our appointed return ticket time of 2:30. If we needed to, we could have called and had our time changed which offered some comfort. But with the help of a park ranger, a map and our shuttle driver we figured our plan.

One of the places we heard was a must-see was the the wide bottom beach area of the peninsula. Our shuttle driver made sure we had her route schedule, encouraging us to not worry about getting to a particular pick up point. She said just find a place where she would be passing and give her a big wave. 

This was incredibly useful information. 

The Schoodic Peninsula was everything we had been led to believe and more. It was incredible to watch the waves hitting the rocky coast and the symphony of the varied blues and greens of the water churning and spilling over like miniature waterfalls was mesmerizing. We found spots on one of the large, God-hewn “bleacher seats” and sat watching for the longest time. 

I have always found the ocean a place where my soul simply worships. As the endless waves roll in and the water seems to reach eternity, I have always best been able come to terms with how small I am and how big God is better than anywhere else on the planet. Realizing that while I have worked through the every days of life wherever I have lived, the ocean waves have kept their shores and appointed times gives me the deepest sense that God is in control. 

And surely God’s pallete of colors in painting creation is unmatched by any artist.

Apparently I am not alone as there were many students who sat for long periods of time as did we that morning. The addition of rocks and splashing waves changed the vibe from the lazy, sandy, noisy Florida coast, but the effect was still the same. We also got a kick out of watching a harbor seal bobbing around for a while and the way he would dive down to avoid the more strenuous crashing waves coming in. 

Finally we pulled ourselves away and decided to hike along down the road to another place we had noticed on the map. As we were leaving, our young bike friends were arriving. It was so fun to see people we “knew” and wave our greetings to them. 

We walked along the road to the entrance to the Schoodic Institute. This is a research area funded by the Rockerfeller Foundation. The map showed that there was a short trail that offered more views of the coast tucked back behind this location. 

I will insert here that this area was not clearly marked, as are most areas in Acadia. You have to know what you are looking for and I will revisit this in my summary of tips. But for now, suffice to say that this was another one of my suggestions that could have gone south quickly but actually worked out okay. 

Whew.

As we approached a variety of buildings, we saw a group of young people probably in their mid-twenties walking ahead of us. Russ called to them and asked if we were in the right place and they said yes, they work for the Research Institute but were interning for the summer here. They gave us some better directions and we took off for the place where the trail starts. 

If you watched the mini-series Lost as I did, I was briefly concerned that we had wandered into some sort of encampment and were about to enter into an alternate universe from which escape would be dire. 

Thankfully my fears were soon allayed as we found the Welcome Center and discovered that this was all, indeed, a part of the National Park system. The Welcome Center had real Park rangers and lots of information about what is happening on the peninsula in regard to research into the area’s unique plant and animal life. 

We were able to fill our water bottles and get clearer directions on the trail and how to reconnect with our shuttle bus and we headed off along the Sun Dew Trail with strong feelings that we had made a good choice. 

The trail was mostly made up of roots, moss, mud and rocks, like 90% of all the trails in Acadia, but it was flat. We took a few side tracks for the scenic overlooks and found our way back to the exit in time to flag down our shuttle. 

She took us through the rest of the area that she covers and returned us to the little shop and restaurant area of Winter Harbor that is a short walk away from where our ferry would take us back home. 

It was around 1:00 by this time so we found an eye-appealing spot called J. M. Gerrish where we got to sit on the front porch and enjoy some lively conversations with some other guests. There are many French Canadians that visit this area, a lot from the cruise ships that dock in the harbor and send guests in for a day of excursions. 

A funny and charming couple a bit older than us were at the next table and made me laugh a lot. They had tried to offer to move to a smaller table since they were just having coffee and there were larger parties that needed more space. 

The waitress had misunderstood which led to their hilarious conversation about how their desire to NOT be a problem turned into them being perceived as a problem. The gentleman’s chair was wedged against mine and so in order to get out to wash my hands after I ordered and later to leave,  I had to engage in conversations with them where they vented their new status as the trouble people in a humorous and very French manner. 

The restaurant offered a New England sampler for lunch that included a cup of clam chowder, a small lobster roll and, of course, a slice of blueberry pie.

I was all in.

Russ, having sampled my clam chowder the day before, was a convert so he ordered a cup for himself and sandwich. Still couldn’t sell him on the lobster roll ticket, but half way is better than no way. Our hiking had left us dehydrated so we enjoyed several glasses of their iced tea and water. 

The staff was really super sweet and we enjoyed our meal and the cooler breeze so much. After lunch we took the 3/4 mile walk down through Winter Harbor to the ferry landing. Lobster traps are everywhere in this area and the fishing industry is huge, of course. It was all so different and interesting. 

As we waited for our fellow passengers to return, we visited with the lady who keeps the gate there. If you want to get some flavor for the ferry experience and “Mainers” and are on social media, you should check out their page on Facebook (below). The gal who does their “lives” is the one we chatted with and she was so fun. Turns out she is quite the local celebrity as passengers would stop and chat with her. 

Just like our trip over, we were delighted with views of porpoises and a bit different pass by some of the many islands. The breeze was so refreshing after a rather hot day of hiking the peninsula. We returned to our hotel and got ready for our dinner reservations at a place called Geddy’s (pronounced Jeddy’s). It is a popular seafood restaurant with a lot of atmosphere. It was very crowded and noisy but again we had a delicious dinner. 

We both had the fish and chips and then shared yet another piece of blueberry pie, this time with ice cream. I can’t quite explain how different blueberries are there. They are smaller and so filled with flavor. Yum!

After dinner, we shopped more of the stores since the weather was much improved and enjoyed another walk down the boardwalk, past the inns and bed and breakfasts along the way. Both of us were thankful I had the 2 AM epiphany as that was the most perfect day of our visit for the ferry ride and we definitely slept well that night from all the fresh air and good food. 

There are many options available for being out on the water from the Bar Harbor area. Some offer opportunities to view whales, puffins, seals. Others are ferries to some of the islands for a day of exploring. The company we used even offers a schooner trip with multiple sails flying. I would highly recommend any of these excursions if you visit that area. 

We did discover that there is a large company that provides the whale watching and such, but the one we used is smaller and provides the Winter Harbor Ferry.

It takes a little work to find! I am linking their website so you have the number. No kickbacks for me and I also want to give you the Facebook pages for the ferry and the two hiking groups we followed to pick up pre-trip planning tips. 

Facebook page for Ferry is “Bar Harbor to Winter Harbor Ferry”

Link to their page for reservations is https://downeastwindjammer.com/ferries/bar-harbor-schoodic-winter-harbor/

Facebook page for hiking information is a group page – Acadia National Park Hiking is the one we used the most.

Also highly recommend contacting the Bar Harbor Chamber of Commerce and actually visiting the Park Headquarters, which we never did….sigh…newbies <3