Amazing whales!

 Tuesday, September 8, 2015

Pier 7 Boothbay Harbor

Our whale watching boat

Leaving the slip

We woke to a fairly overcast day, and after showering, we went down to the office and got plates of rolls and bread with juice for me and coffee for Robert.  We wanted to take some sort of cruise, so thought we would head into town and see what was available.  I had my eye on a 4 hour boat trip to Cabbage Island and a clam bake for this afternoon.  However, when we found their ticket kiosk down on the pier, of course their sign said “Closed Tuesday!” Bummer!!  So…on to plan B.  This turned out to be a Whale Watching cruise, 3½ hours, leaving at noon.  As we had time, we walked down the street to come upon one of the T-shirt shops having their end of season sale!  I was able to get a beautiful navy and yellow reversible jacket – for $15!  And their T-shirts were $5, so got one for me and three for R.  Talk about being at the right place at the right time…We then decided to take a drive down one of the inlets; very fun – we got to see the swinging bridge swing out and back to let a boat through, and drove through some lovely areas – although honestly, I’m not sure if there is an unattractive part of Maine!  Like France, it certainly photographs well!  Oh!  And we also bought a great detailed map of Maine which hopefully will help in the days to come!

Boothbay Harbor

Lighthouse run by solar panel!

Back to the boat about 11:30 a.m. for take-off at noon.  The boat was well-filled but not packed, which made it easier to be able to get a seat where we wanted.  As it was, we went on the upper deck and found some room – but of course my forgetting to bring the sunscreen didn’t help…we’re both looking a bit “toasty” around the edges about now.  Really, really, a great afternoon!  We got a nice commentary from our guide as we left the harbor – she talked about the various islands and some of the famous people who live or had lived there, and she was really good about spotting whales!  After seeing Orca’s in Victoria, I wasn’t sure how this would be, but we saw probably half a dozen humpback whales, and they were terrific!  Several came up really close to the boat, and we were able to observe their behaviors – blowing, and then showing their tails as they submerged to the lower depths. 

Flipping tail before going down for food

Robert got some really great photos, and we had a wonderful time!  Arrived back at the dock about 3:45 p.m. and headed straight to the car and back to the hotel.  Fortunately, the cleaning crew turned on our air conditioners, so the rooms were lovely and cool…thank you, cleaning staff!

R is now snoring away, and I am blogging…so that hopefully tonight, after dinner, I can get to bed earlier!  Oh!  And we decided to go to Port of Italy in downtown Boothbay Harbor, for dinner tonight.  I was able to download the YELP app, and actually made the reservation sitting at a table in front of the coffee shop Robert had patronized – how neat is that?  So thank you Robbie (that’s my iPhone)!  I do love my iPhone!

Amazing tail!

Wonderful whale!

Arrived at Ports of Italy just a few minutes after our 6:30 p.m. reservation.  I had thought that booking at 6:30 p.m. would be before most of the traffic, but when we arrived, we found the place to be packed!  We were shown to a lovely table – they had a few booths, as well as higher cocktail-type tables.  Service was outstanding.  Our server, Ellen, was supported by at least three other gals who made sure that all our culinary needs were met.  We started with a complimentary bruschetta made from tomatoes with lots of garlic – YUM; a great starter!  For appetizers, I ordered their eggplant stuffed with ricotta, and R ordered their beef carpaccio.  Both came quickly, and were delicious!  My dish was basically very thin strips of eggplant cooked and rolled, with ricotta baked inside and some nice dried ricotta slivered on top and a bit of tomato sauce.  The entire plate disappeared…For mains, Robert ordered gnocchi with pesto – and it came with additional pine nuts scattered over the top; fabulous!  I ordered more eggplant (is there a trend here?) – their rigatoni pasta cooked perfectly with an eggplant and tomato sauce.  Wow!  We were so full that we couldn’t even have dessert – and there were several good ones to chose from! 

Ports of Italy restaurant

R's carpaccio

R's pasta with pesto

My pasta with eggplant and tomato sauce

My eggplant stuffed with ricotta

Robert washed his meal down with an excellent Montepulciano and I had a light Italian wine (not pinot grigio) and I’ve forgotten the name…oh well!  Back to the hotel about 8 p.m. and in for an early night!

Woke up sometime during the night to hear it rain on the patio, and woke this morning to a foggy and cool kind of day.  According to our weather app, it’s going to warm up to the low 80’s here today, but I’m not convinced it will get that high.  Packing up this morning and finishing up the pasta I brought back from the restaurant last night – a perfect breakfast!  Now we are on to Bar Harbor!

m

xxx