When you live in Maine, who thinks about taking boat tours? That's for tourists!! (Lol!!)…read more Seriously, though, we had guests in town, so we thought it'd be fun to charter a boat for the four of us to go up the Penobscot River to Bangor. (At least that was the initial itin.)
Me matey, Jay (after some due diligence on boat companies in the Bucksport area) , chose Penobscot Boat Tours as our charter. Jay said the communication(s) with Capt. Jeff Sennett (Owner/Operator) was excellent; his boat was faster/stronger to get us to Bangor and back in the least amount of time; and, the price for a 4-hr charter was less than other quotes. Splendid!!
It was a dreary start to Tuesday when we arrived at 11 am with weather not looking promising for a jaunt up to Bangor; windy, rainy and choppy waters on the menu. This daunted us not, though! So, "Gilligan" and the gang (that'd be Mr. and Mrs. Howell, and the Professor), arrived at the Bucksport Marina in good spirits for our "3-hr tour"... er, 4-hr tour at Penobscot Boat Tours! ;)
The boat was very cool (as all boats are!), and the Capt. Jeff (our imposing "Skipper" for this tour) made us all feel very welcomed, in good hands, and rarin' to-go!! After some discussion about the weather and tour route, we all agreed to a downriver jaunt for lunch in Belfast, and return to home base. Prior to Belfast, though, we made a special request of our intrepid Capt. (despite the hairy weather that we could see going on upriver) to take us a few miles upriver to where the Marsh River confluences into the Penobscot River. The rough-n-tumble ride was, of course, E-Ticket! (In all honesty, though, the confluence was a bit anticlimactic, but the ride was awesome!)
Anyway, we turned around and headed for what was to be drier climes. The weather improved immensely and made for some pretty alluring scenery! Normally, we just drive to Belfast (20 mins) mainly not seeing the water much, behind trees/forests and such. So, seeing the coastline from the water -- seeing all those privileged homes tucked and nestled in splendid nooks and crannies! -- was a totally new POV, that's for sure! Capt. Jeff would slowdown now-and-then to point spots of interest out to us, to see seals basking on rocky shoals, and numerous heads bobbing up-and-down in the middle of the bay was pretty darn awesome!!! When we got to Belfast, Capt. Jeff gave us a suggestion for lunch (which we took and enjoyed), while he waited.
The trip back to Bucksport was leisurely and beautiful as the summer sun shone upon our last leg back. The whole experience of seeing the land from the water was just wonderful! We never felt rushed; Capt. Jeff was very generous with his time. It was SO worth the cost and, more so, the experience! We will definitely be chartering another trip in the near future with Penobscot Boat Tours...!!! We all had such a great time...!!! :D