Acadia & Downeast

I need help... I%26#39;m having great difficultly zeroing in on a weeks stay in Maine this summer. We would like to be on the ocean, my husband wants to see/hear the surf. Explore the coast. Go whitewater rafting and bout tour to puffins in addition to hiking. We prefer to be away from the busy tourist spots as much as we can. Three kids 17, 15 and 11. We%26#39;re traveling from Chicago and will also be spending time in Boston and NYC. Thanks,

Cathy

Acadia %26amp; Downeast

Well since you titled your post %26#39;Acadia %26amp; Downeast%26#39;, consider this my vote for Acadia. I think you can meet *most* of your conditions in Acadia. I will just get one thing out of the way, since you are visiting in summer you really should expect some crowds. You can still have your privacy but it is the busy season. They don%26#39;t put %26#39;Vacationland%26#39; on the licence plates for nothing!

If you stay on the Island, you will have plenty of hiking (and biking), boat tours, and choices of homes on the water. Bar Harbor is going to be the busiest spot on the Island but other places like Northeast and Southwest Harbors are considered the %26#39;quiet side%26#39;. Here are a few rental agencies for the Island:

http://www.knowlesco.com/

http://www.lsrobinson.com/

http://www.maineislandproperties.com/

I would suggest not staying north of Bar Harbor on Rte 3 only because thats how everyone gets on the Island.

I dont recall any whitewater rafting on the Island but I would expect you could find some inland. It would probably make for a good day trip.

I think Acadia offers a good mix of privacy and nearby activities to keep your teenagers active and happy. If you you don%26#39;t think the area may be private enough, consider going more north up the coast.

Acadia %26amp; Downeast

I also would vote for Acadia, but as it is basically my back yard, I may be a bit biased.

Re: whitewater rafting. Acadiafan is right---none on MDI nor, as far as I know, in Downeast Maine. There may be some in western or northwestern Maine; that would be more than a day trip---there are no ';fast'; east-west routes. However, if your husband likes to be on the water, there are several companies on the island that offer sea-kayaking.

Building on what acadiafan provided, %26lt;www.BarHarborMaine.com%26gt; and %26lt;www.acadiamagic.com%26gt; are good resources for lodging and activity information.

If your husband has never seen the coast of Maine, he might be disappointed in the sound of the surf. There are very few sand beachs long enough in Maine to hear that rolling and breaking surf that one can hear on, say, the North Carolina coast. It%26#39;s the sound of waves contacting granite rock that you hear in Maine. Not the same at all.

Thanks for the advice. I%26#39;ve spent countless hours searching the web sites and I really need to narrow my search. Some of the vacation homes we%26#39;re looking at are in Lamoine, Bar Harbor, Town Hill, Blue Hill, Corea, Deer Isle, Gouldboro, Hancock, Harrington, Steuben, Sullivan, Surry, Trento and Prospect Harbor. Does anyone have any pros or cons to any of these? We will be on the water and my husband is wondering if ';there%26#39;s real %26#39;ocean waves%26#39; in the deep in the coves, or is more like being on a lake?'; Any help in narrowing my search would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Cathy

Where to begin? (I suspect that that%26#39;s how you are feeling about now, as well.)

Surry, Blue Hill, and Deer Isle/Stonington form a loose grouping; with the latter two you should be close to, if not on, the water. Not much in the way of surf, but very nice scenery and not too mobbed. Blue Hill has some very good restaurants.

Prospect Harbor and Corea are on Schoodic Peninsula---one of the best places, probably, to see surf out on Schoodic Head. Schoodic also has good scenery and a couple of hiking trails in the Acadia National Park section. In season, there is a passenger and bicycle ferry (no vehicles) from Winter Harbor across Frenchman Bay to Bar Harbor. It hooks up on both ends with the Island Explorer free shuttle bus system. The bus schedule and routes (and I believe, the ferry schedule) will be at %26lt;www.exploreacadia.com%26gt;.

I can%26#39;t say very much about the four mainland spots east of MDI (Hancock, Sullivan, Harrington, Steuben) except that they should be relatively quiet. The down side, as I see it, of these---as well as the Blue Hill group---is the travel time to MDI if you want to get into the park. I%26#39;d count on an hour and half each way, perhaps a little more during the busiest part of the season (4 July to the end of August).

Depending on exactly where in Tranton or LaMoine, you could have very nice views of Acadia; the travel time to the park would be about 30 minutes each way.

With Bar Harbor and Town Hill, obviously you are closer to the park but it will be busier. Generally, Town Hill is ';quieter'; than is Bar Harbor.

Were it me, I%26#39;d narrow the search right now to the Schoodic and MDI locations. then move to more specific forums to get additional information.

As to the ocean waves, the best locales are on the ocean proper, e.g., Schoodic Head, the eastern and southern coast of MDI, rather than deep in the bays or coasts.

I appreciate the help, thanks. We%26#39;re working on firming dates so that we can set our reservation. The sites given have been very helpful. I agree that MDI and Schoodic P are great locations to stay. My husband found a house in Roque Bluffs with crashing surf though... I think that is way too far from Acadia, isn%26#39;t it? Not as much to do around there... But the rentals seem to get cheaper the more east we go... Thanks.

%26lt;Lamoine, Bar Harbor, Town Hill, Blue Hill, Corea, Deer Isle, Gouldboro, Hancock, Harrington, Steuben, Sullivan, Surry, Trento and Prospect Harbor%26gt;

Bar Harbor and Town Hill are all on Mount Desert and other on-island options are Southwest Harbor (Manset, Seawall), Tremont (Bass Harbor, Bernard, Seal Cove, West Tremont) and Mount Desert. These areas tend to be less touristy. You *may* find crashing surf if you rent a cottage on the water at Seawall but it may also be a merry chase. Roques Bluff will be closer to puffin tours but not much else and a long but scenic drive to Acadia. As I recall, puffins are June visitors. You may find that a narrated nature boat tour out of Bass Harbor and sea kayaking will be happy substitutes for the puffins and whitewater rafting. The hiking will be fabulous and biking is available as well. You will see better pricing down east but it is a trade-off in terms of driving time. acadiamagic and vrbo will have cottage options and I would start planning soon - many cottages have a four person maximum. Have a great vacation.

Doing a very cursory scan of the map, my guess is that Roque Bluffs is somewhere between 50 and 60 miles from MDI, a little over half of that to Schoodic . That seems manageable for a day trip or two; the worst traffic you would hit would be in the 10 miles or so from Ellsworth to MDI.

Roque Bluffs may not be the hub of activity that MDI is but you also would be a short drive from the Lubec/Campobello/Quoddy Head region, which is scenic and historic. There also is a very nice wildife management area---Petit Manan---near Steuben that has a couple of hiking trails.

I%26#39;d stick to MDI, as others have suggested. It is one of my favorite vacation places, with little kids, big kids and no kids. There is so much to do to keep you and three older kids active. If you are driving from IL and can bring your own bicycles, you will have ample opportunity to use them. But there are many rental places. If your husband wants to hear the ocean, there are many places where you can spend part of a day sitting/climbing on the rocky shore, enjoying the sights and sounds.

As for staying off island, we have rented a house, the same one twice, in Trenton on Blue Hill Bay. This was on a back road that avoids the Rte 3 Ellsworth crowd. Our house was in a little cove, and we enjoyed the tidal changes, the birds - herons, eagles, and more, and the quiet. And, it was just a 10 minute drive to MDI.

All in all, I%26#39;d encourage you to stay on or close to MDI. If you plan to take advantage of the many recreational opportunities available on the island, it will be aggravating to be sitting in your car every day to go to and from. Also, it is nice to have the option to have several different activities in the day, with time to relax back at the house before the next adventure. This includes evening walks near the water, sunset viewing from Cadillac Mountain, etc.

Neststopls- Thanks for the advice. Actually one of the homes we%26#39;re considering (because it has a hot tub) is in Trenton. Knowing what you know about the area... how important should being on MDI impact our decision?