Active Pursuits

Bar Harbor is a base for several ocean endeavors, including whale-watching tours. Operators offer excursions in search of humpbacks, finbacks, minke, and the infrequently seen, endangered right whale. The sleekest is the Bar Harbor Whale Watch Company's Friendship V (tel. 888/942-5374 or 207/288-2386; www.whalesrus.com), which operates from the municipal pier at 1 West St. in downtown Bar Harbor. Tours are on a fast, twin-hulled, three-level excursion boat that can hold 200 passengers in two heated cabins. The tours run 3 hours plus; the cost is $49 per adult, $26 per child age 6 to 14, and $8 per child 5 and under. A puffin- and whale-watching tour is also offered for the same prices, and there are shorter seal-watching tours for about half the price. There's free on-site parking and a money-back guarantee that you'll see whales. The daily tours begin each season in late May and run through fall; call ahead for dates.