On Tuesday, we took our time getting out of the hotel. I think it was mostly my doing, but always sounds better to use the "we" in storytelling. We took the same route we had taken Saturday to get down to "Bah-Hah-bah." (a.k.a. bar harbor). Tuesday was our day for whale-watching, so we were returning to the main street area to park so we could walk to the docks.

We had a few hours to kill, so we had lunch on the docks. I ate lightly, not knowing how rough the Bay would be on my stomach. The lobster bisque was delicious. After lunch, we went to find the line for the whale-watching tour. Dad stayed back due to a premonition of sea-sickness, so Mom and I forged ahead and stood in line. Pretty soon, the Friendship V was pulling in from the 8:30am whale tour. We boarded the ship and got ready for the excitement.

When we left the port, our boat started picking up speed. Wearing shorts, I knew the trip on the water would be a bit chilly from the wind. It was a beautiful day out, with a hot sun. Even that (I knew) would make me cold. I just didn't know HOW cold.

I was FREEZING. The wind was whipping so fast, people's glasses were falling off their heads. Men and women had jackets that flapped like a flag would at 700 feet. We hopped over the choppy waves as Mom and I tried to stay warm. We could have gone inside, but didn't know when we'd see whales. I would have been pissed if I missed a sighting because I was inside trying to stay warm. hindsight is a bitch, isn't it? I also didn't know that we weren't even going to slow down until 45 minutes of cruising was done. I froze for a steady 45.

Of course, my body and mood began to thaw a bit when we slowed down to our first finback whale, directly in front of the ship. It shot out a huge spout of water just as it began its terminal dive. When whales come to the surface, they hang out for a bit, taking in some breaths, letting a few out, etc. When they're ready to go back under for some food, they take their final breath, a bigger gulp, before going under for as many as 10 minutes. This last jaunt before going under is called the terminal dive.

With finback whales, their bodies are a bit more flexible than others. Taking dives, even the terminal dive, doesn't require sticking much of their bodies out of water. This tour, therefore, didn't show me any whale tails. That would have been neat to see. It was really neat though, to see bursts of air and water coming from the ocean as they shot out their air and gasped for more through their blow holes. We saw three in all before heading back to Bah-Hahbah.

We stayed inside the cabin on the hour-long trip back.

Dad met us at the dock and we got some dinner at another lobster place in Ellsworth. I had another lobster roll, which was just as yummy as the last one I'd eaten. I read about LLC's on the way home and had a two-hour education on limited liability companies. My paper was due at midnight, and we had a lot of work to do. So, I was once again confined to my desk to finish the work.

I got word the next morning that my work had paid off. I got an A in my Project Management in the Technological Environment class. Boo yah. Three more classes to go!