Bass Harbor Head Light

One of the most popular attractions on the quietside is the Bass Harbor Head Lighthouse. It's easy to get to and the views can't be beat. The lighthouse sits on a bluff above Bass Harbor Bar, a shallow spot which can make for tricky navigating during certain tidal and wind conditions. Boats need to stay in a fairly narrow channel to get across the bar safely. To get here, take 102A from Southwest Harbor. You will pass by the Seawall picnic area, Wonderland and Ship Harbor Trails (all worth stopping for!) and then you will take a hard left. The road to the lighthouse is about 1/2 mile from the turn off. RVs can not go down this road because there is no room in the parking lot at the end to turn around.  There is a trail down to the water on the left of the parking lot as you look toward the sea. There is an asphalt trail to an overlook (pictured on the left) from the right side of the lot. The view from there spectacular. The pictures below were taken from that spot.





Looking west toward Swans Island and Blue Hill Bay.



Looking south toward the Gott Islands and Placentia Island

Acadia National Park Quarter Launch

The United States Mint  has recently memorialized one of our most popular Quietside landmarks. On June 11th the newest America the Beautiful Quarter was released. The Bass Harbor Head Lighthouse was chosen to represent Acadia National Park on the "tails" side of the new quarter.

The ceremonial release will be held at the Hulls Cove Visitor Center, located within Acadia National Park in Bar Harbor, Maine, on June 26, 2012, at 9:30 am. Afterward, at approximately 10 a.m. a coin exchange will take place where one can buy from 1 to 10 rolls of these quarters at $10 per roll. Children under the age of 18 will be given 1 free quarter each.

A coin forum will be held the evening of June 25 from 6:30-7:30 pm at the Visitor Center auditorium. For more information please visit: http://www.parkquarters.com/acadia-national-park-quarter.

We have lots of news to report as we change over from spring to summer mode.

The chamber office is now open Mon.-Fri. 9am-4pm Monday-Friday until May25th when we will be open 7 days a week 9am-4pm through Columbus Day weekend.

We just received our 2012 Quietside Trail Maps from the printer. This year they are better than ever featuring hiking, cycling, and X-C ski trails, parking areas, Island Explorer bus stops, public boat launches, tide tables, sunrise and sunset times, and moon phases. The maps are available at the chamber office and from many of our members. For a sneak preview here’s a link http://www.acadiachamber.com/2012_Trail_Map.pdf.  Many thanks to the 38 member advertisers for their support of this wonderful map. We could not produce it without them.

2012-2013 Southwest Harbor & Tremont Port Directory and Chamber of Commerce Guides are also available at the chamber office and area businesses.

2012-2013 Discovery Maps are now available.

We would like to welcome (back) Linda Graham who will be working 2 or 3 days a week at the chamber office, Linda has 12 years of experience dispensing her knowledge and wisdom of our beautiful side of Mount Desert Island.

Spring is here.....really!

The first day of spring is usually pretty much like another day of winter in these parts. No so this year. Wow, it's 75 F in Southwest Harbor as I write this. I've never seen anything like it. Who knows how long it will last, but everyone is enjoying it while they can. I doubt we'll be putting away the snow shovels though.

Tri-County Career Center

Gateway to Employment Workshops

February 16, 1:00-4:00

February 27, 1:00-4:00

Location: EMDC offices at the Mill Mall in Ellsworth

Call: 561-4083 for more information

Another amazing sunset

Another advantage to living, working and playing on the "quietside" is that it is also the west side of Mount Desert Island. I have nothing against sunrises but I really love sunsets and the west side is the best side to see them. I told you in the last blog I would add another sunset picture yesterday, but I didn't have time. I'm so glad, because on my way home last night the sky started to look very interesting. I decided to drive a little bit out of my way (about 100 yards) and go down Barlett Narrows Rd. I stopped on the little causeway there and this is what I saw. This was taken on my iphone and is completely unedited. Pretty amazing isn't it?

Jay

Commuting

Sunset is at 4:30 pm today. That's an increase of more than 35 minutes from mid-December. Consequently I have seen some gorgeous sights on my "commute" home in the afternoon. This one was after a snow squall last week. I captured it from the north end of Long Pond, known locally as "Pond's End". In the summer there would be people swimming and launching canoes, kayaks and small motor boats here. This time of year icefishermen are putting their ice shacks out.

When I'm driving to and from work, I sometimes listen to faraway AM radio stations like WBZ in Boston or WCBS in New York. The traffic reports remind me how lucky I am to be living in this beautiful place. I'll post another one tomorrow.

Jay