It's been a while since my last adventure... working on a Wyoming dude ranch in 2016, and cycling 420 miles across Iowa in 7 days in RAGBRAI 2017. I was ready for another one and started looking for seasonal jobs on Coolworks.com. I had an interview lined up for a hospitality job in remote McCarthy, Alaska but heard about a reality show filmed there, Edge of Alaska, watched the first season, and decided it was too small and remote for a summer job. Not to mention only 30 year round residents, most living off the grid and some with no teeth.
Then a Sea Kayak Guide job popped up in Bar Harbor Maine, and I applied immediately with a long cover letter and a nice reference from my ranch job. Two weeks later I had an offer, with my 2 week training beginning June 3rd, 2021. I'm elated.
Training consists of 2 weeks, split between mornings in a classroom setting and afternoons on the water. We'll learn about Bar Harbor and Mount Desert (pronounced like dessert) Island's history, topography, tides, glacial origins, flora and fauna, sea creatures, lobstering, navigating with a compass and coastline map, water rescues, and most of all, safety on the water. I had to pass a background check and get fingerprinted, pass an online Red Cross First Aid class, and send an application with $100 to the Maine department of Wildlife and Fisheries.
After our June training and a week or 2 of "shadowing" on actual tours with trained guides, we will have to pass written and oral exams with a team of fish and wildlife wardens. I hear the orals are brutal with a high fail rate. They give you scenarios such as...your tour group kayaks get swamped by a large boat's wake in the fog, leading to a missing guest situation. You have to determine next steps and where to look based on map, tides, wind and other factors. Seems easy enough right? Apparently not... we shall see. My boss and the owner of the tour company told me that our training, only paid if you pass the licensing exam, is some of the best in Maine.
The 2021 10-person guide class was announced via email, with 3 locals, 6 from out of state and 1 from Britain. 2-3 are experienced with guiding already, and some like me... just avid lovers of outdoor water activities like sailing, stand up paddle boarding, fishing and kayaking. Once again, as with my ranch job, I'll be one of the older hires, but my boss told me the best guide they ever hired was a retiree named Bill who is legendary ;)
Bar Harbor is a pricey summer resort community where housing is expensive and pretty much non-existent for a 3 month employee rental. It's much more lucrative during the brief tourist season for property owners to do nightly/weekly rentals. Because of this, most employers provide subsidized or free housing, and my prospective employer is providing some primitive bunking options for some of us for $450 a month plus utilities. They run a bike rental shop in addition to doing kayak tours, and have a 4 person bunk room/ 1 bath apartment above the bike shop and a 4 bedroom/2 bath house a mile from town. Living quarters (bedrooms/bathrooms/kitchen) will be shared, but it's just for 12 weeks. I'll survive ;)
I'll beef up my blog with history and trivia about Bar Harbor and Mt Desert Island, abbreviated "MDI" by locals. At the turn of the century (1900), Bar Harbor was a playground for the uber wealthy, similar to Newport, RI, and had over 200 huge "cottages", many of which burned in a 1947 fire and sadly, many more were demolished in the 50s and 60s too. More on that later...
Well, that's all for now. Stay tuned and subscribe in the box to the right and/or peruse my other travel blogs, also in a link on the right. See you soon... ;)
