Acadia in the spring can be beautiful… provided you don’t mind a bit of chilly weather. One thing is for sure — you won’t face the same kind of crowds you might experience in the summer months.

But, here’s another great incentive to visit in May this year… you can save 50% on your lodging at participating area inns and motels… just by making a $35 donation to Habitat for Humanity. The program is called Hospitality for Habitat. It’s a great cause, and you can help yourself while helping others.

Here are some of the participating local Acadia lodging places:

•  Black Friar Inn, Graycote Inn and Mira Monte Inn in Bar Harbor
• Bass Harbor Country Cottages and Country Inn in Bass Harbor
• Blue Hill Inn in Blue Hill
• Pilgrim’s Inn in Deer Isle
• Twilite Motel in Ellsworth
• Orland House B&B in Orland

For more information, you can see this article at the Ellsworth American newspaper site.

I remember the day on our vacation in Acadia in June/July 1998 when we first spotted the CAT steaming across Frenchman’s Bay. It was thrilling to see this jet black ship speeding across the bay. I remember the girls and I spotting it from one of the lookouts high above the bay along the Park Loop Road and going, “Wow! What’s that?”

We were well used to the familiar site of the aging Bluenose Ferry and had thought about taking it sometime to visit Nova Scotia while we were there. But, since the Bluenose took a good 6 hours one way to get there, it necessitated an overnight stay in Nova Scotia, if you were going to have time to do anything once you got there. We could never conceive of giving up that much time in our magical Acadia, but it was still something that intrigued us.

So, when we spotted the CAT, we had to find out about it. Turns out, it could make the same trip in less than half the time! The CAT travels at 55 MPH and is what’s known as a catamaran ferry, meaning it kind of skims the surface of the water, which I think is what makes it so fast.

We’ve still never taken the ferry… what can I say? We love Acadia! But I was amazed to read a story in the Ellsworth American this morning that the CAT is celebrating its 10th anniversary of doing the Bar Harbor to Yarmouth route. I couldn’t believe it had been that long since we first saw it. Time flies.

Anyway, the article is pretty interesting… I also didn’t realize the CAT had such a rich history. Check it out…