A SHORT FERRY RIDE TO PARADISE

Since the weather has warmed up, we decided to take a ferry ride to Peaks Island, the most populated island in Casco Bay. The year round population is less than 900, while the summer population is over 6,000 residents. Peaks Island is part of the city of Portland. The large windjammer sailing boats you can see in the picture below take visitors on whale watching cruises during the summer. 

We boarded the Peaks Island ferry for a 15 minute trip across Casco Bay.  This ferry is an actual working ferry, carrying about a dozen vehicles to Peaks Island. As you can see, most of the vehicles on our trip were commercial vehicles delivering goods to Peaks Island businesses or performing work for island homeowners.

There were a few seals playing near the Portland waterfront as our ferry left the dock. The seal below was playing hide-n-seek, as you can see him diving beneath the water as he was coming close to a dock..

The ferry ride across Casco Bay was very picturesque. Our ferry passed Fort Gorges which we had viewed from the mainland during our bike ride a week ago. Notice how high the water is. Because it was high tide, we got the impression that the fort was flooded.
 

We passed very close to several lobster buoys enroute to Peaks Island. Every lobsterman is issued a color scheme and number by the state to brand into their buoys. The registration number is visible on the buoy below. Also, the water is clear enough that you can see about 2 feet of rope going down to the trap.

We were able to get photos showing artistic reflections of some buoys in the calm water.

Below is a view of the pier just prior to docking at Peaks Island, inviting visitors up the hill to begin exploring the island. The vehicles lined up along the left curb on Welch Street are in line to get on the ferry for the return trip to Portland.

As passengers lined up, the vehicles were first to leave the ferry. The ramp was raised by a crew member who used a remote control after a few vehicles have left the ferry. The ferry then had less weight and therefore rose in the water. If the ramp is not raised, then the incline would be extremely steep for the rest of the debarking vehicles.

We decided to walk around the island rather than take our bikes since the island is only 3 miles long and 1 mile across.The route we took was past many gorgeous vistas.

A lone sailboat cruising between Peaks and another island as the waves gently crashed along the rocky shoreline.

Just like the mainland coast, Peaks Island has a very rocky shore..

Here is one of the shore homes we passed on our walk. Many were much larger and most had great views. Some houses are decorated with lobster buoys.

One thing that was noticeable was that many of the homes have been given names by their families. Here is "Leviathan". Other names seen included "Our Paradise" and "Nokomis", which we in Florida know as a a small community south of Sarasota but which is also an Indian term for grandmother in Longfellow's poem Hiawatha.

We don't know if residents or visitors have constructed stone art that we periodically saw along the coast.  In talking to one of the residents, she said that no one seems to disturb these towers along the shore line. The rocks are very flat and stack easily, but we did not leave our personal artistic mark on the island.

Weather forecasting can sometimes be done in an unusual manner. Here is the Peaks Island weather rock, with an island native telling it like it is in plain terms.

Like other small communities, Peaks Island has its own post office. The window flower boxes add color to the appearance of the building. Does your local post office look this nice?

We concluded our four mile walk around Peaks with a nice lunch at The Inn on Peaks. Paul is sitting on the porch overlooking the ferry dock. Notice the golf carts lined up on the far side of the street. These are in place to be rented to tourists coming off the next ferry. The food was good and reasonably priced and the view was priceless. Does it get any better than this?

All good things must come to an end, so as our ferry approached Peaks Island, it was time to get in line to board.

Another option to get to Peaks Island is to use a water taxi. We passed this taxi on our return trip to Portland.  According the internet, the private water taxi trip costs $100 each way, while our ferry tickets were under $8 round trip.  A no-brainer choice!

We are really beginning to like the Maine summer weather. If all our days off were this perfect, we might think we were in heaven.