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Maine Schooner Mary Day Offers Six-Day Sail for Beer Lovers

Aboard an historic schooner sailing the Penobscot Bay islands of Maine’s mid-coast, modernity slows to a more languid pace. Cruising amidst the anonymous pine-topped islands, stopping at the occasional seaside village, you can’t help but relax aboard these yachts of yesteryear. Dolphins, seals, bald eagles, lighthouses and lobstermen at work are all part of the scenery. Help hoist the sails, read a good thick book, or partake in your hobby of choice. Last summer, I wrote about the popular knitting cruises aboard the circa-1927 J. & E. Riggin for The Boston Globe Sunday Magazine. Now I’d like to tell you about the Camden schooner Mary Day and its inaugural six-day Maine Craft Beers and Home Brewing Cruise set for June 16-22. Passengers will have complimentary samples of Maine beers, and local brews will be paired with each evening meal (baked haddock, ham dinner, chili, chowder, roast turkey etc.). The Mary Day will make a stop at Marshall Wharf Brewing Co. in Belfast for a tour and tasting. Captain Barry King will brew and bottle a batch of his own nut brown ale during the trip, and passengers will go home with a few bottles. 

 
This will be the first craft beer themed cruise in the 76-year history of windjammer vacations on the Maine coast. The all-inclusive trip includes three galley-cooked meals from the wood-fired stove and snacks daily, an island lobster bake, and cozy accommodations with a skylight, window, heat and running water. The 90-foot Mary Day is a wooden two-masted schooner with berths for 28 passengers. She was launched in 1962 as the first coasting schooner ever designed specifically for windjammer vacations. Cost is $955 per person. 
 

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September is the Best Month to Paddle the Allagash or Penobscot Rivers in Maine

Mid-September is my favorite time of year to paddle the legendary Allagash or Penobscot Rivers in Maine’s North Woods. Mosquitoes and congestion on the rivers are gone, replaced by early foliage colors and moose standing in the shallow waters. The first week of the Maine moose hunt takes place September 23-30 in 2012. So it’s best to get here before that time, unless you like to see your moose dead, on the back of a trailer bed. Go with a reputable registered Maine guide like Mahoosuc Guide Service, who know these waterways like the back of their hand. My story on canoeing the West Branch of the Penobscot River with Mashoosuc co-owner, Kevin Slater, can be seen in the pages of Sierra Magazine. 
 
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Backroads Launches New 20s & Beyond Trips for Families with Older Kids in 20s and 30s

Having taken a memorable Older Teens & 20s (17-23) trip with Backroads to Switzerland, I know firsthand what a pleasure it is to have your children travel with kids in their specific age group. Not to mention, it was also a joy to meet other active families who love being outdoors as much as we do. That’s why I’m delighted to see that Backroads has now expanded these trips to families with children in their 20s and 30s. God willing, I plan to be hiking and biking well into my 80s and there’s no better way to get my weary body up that mountain than with my children. Backroads options span the globe, but the ones that look most tantalizing to me are New Zealand Multi-Adventure, Greece Multi-Adventure, and Spain’s Mallorca and Menorca Bike Tour. Please have a look and, if interested, contact ActiveTravels to check if ages match up on a specific trip, and to help with flights and pre- and post-lodging. 

 
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Abercrombie and Kent Week—The Cherished Memories on Safari

Those close-up shots of leopards, lions, hippos, rhinos, elephants, and giraffes might have impressed my Facebook friends these past two weeks, but 5 years from now I won’t remember any of those animals. Okay, maybe that one rhino in the Okavango Delta we surprised who ran off in a blur. What I’ll remember is that marimba band playing solely for our group as we arrived for lunch at the Victoria Falls Hotel; my guide, Kebby, clearly enunciating the name of that colorful bird, the lilac-breasted roller; waking up to French-pressed coffee at Stanley’s; all those glorious sunsets, especially the one overlooking the Zambezi on the deck of Sussi and Chuma; heading back to our room at Chobe Chilwero after a long day of game drives and boat rides to find that a bubble bath had been prepared; jumping with young children in hand at the Zambian village of Nakatindi; and all those wonderful stories we shared at dinner with our new friends. These are the special moments I’ll remember and inevitably the driving force behind another trip to Africa some 2 years from now when thoughts about taking that long international flight have faded. I yearn to return to that continent and its people more than any other destination. It’s my spiritual retreat where I feel most alive. I want to thank Abercrombie and Kent for the opportunity this time. 

I’m off to Bloomington, Indiana, for Parents Weekend at IU. I’ll be back on Tuesday with blogs about our trip to Cape Town. Have a great fall weekend and keep active! 
 
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Introducing Abercrombie & Kent Destination Management

Just the name, Abercrombie & Kent, evokes images of a mysterious Africa, a hidden continent where one goes searching deep into the bush to find gorillas and lions, only to be pampered at night in the most luxurious tents you’ve ever seen. Having been with A&K on two trips, Kenya and Botswana, I can easily say that the experience exceeds all expectations, creating some of the highlights of my travel career. That’s the reason we at ActiveTravels have no qualms about booking clients with A&K around the globe, including cruises to Antarctica and visiting majestic Machu Picchu. A&K now has 52 offices in 26 countries and can offer the traveler far more than what you might find on their website. For travel advisors, they offer the largest network of luxury destination management companies (DMCs). Translation: we can go to A&K for custom-made trips around the globe, whether it’s a family headed to Rwanda to see the gorillas or 4 couples who want to dine their away around Japan. And you don’t have to mortgage the house to pay for these trips. Unlike some of their guided safaris, which can higher priced, they can work with moderate budgets. That’s why we rely on A&K more and more as our business grows. 

 
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Riu Palace Peninsula Week—The Activities

Follow my cue and wake up with a morning snorkel to the reef just beyond the beach of the Riu Palace Peninsula. Simply grab a mask, snorkel, and fins from the watersports hut and off you go to see the neon-colored fish. This being Cancun, the ocean beckons and the Riu takes full advantage of its waterfront location with a slew of activity. Certified scuba divers can head via boat 20 minutes to the east to find a live coral reef and two shipwrecks from World War II. Those who want to sail or paddle can easily grab a Hobie catamaran and open kayak from the beach. Yet, this being Cancun, the gateway to the ocean and the Yucatan peninsula, there’s so much more. The Riu can arrange daytrips to snorkel the natural aquarium, Xel-Ha, or the marine park of nearby Isla Mujeros. There’s the opportunity to deep-sea fish on private charters to hook marlin, sailfish, and tuna. You can even rent a small speedboat and cruise the mangroves in the Cancun lagoon. 
 
Then, of course, there are the Mayan ruins on the beach of Tulum, which will be particularly enticing this week as thousands gather to commemorate the Mayan Day of Destruction on December 21st. The well-preserved Tulum ruins, 60 gray-black buildings in all, are perched on a cliff directly above a palm-fringed beach. Archaeologists place the beginnings of Tulum somewhere between 700-1000 A.D., a period when the Mayan civilization had already passed its peak. Don’t miss Tulum’s tallest building, a watchtower fortress overlooking the Caribbean that the Spanish called El Castillo. The staircase to the summit’s temple offers good views of the seas. Then take a refreshing dip in the ocean before the drive back to the Riu Palace Peninsula. 
 
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On the Road to Djibouti

This is the time of year when everyone in the travel publishing world comes out with their top choices for travel in 2018. I usually like the Lonely Planet country picks the best. This year, they’ve included Chile, Portugal, New Zealand, and South Africa, all increasingly popular destinations for our clientele right now. I also like the republic of Georgia, which I blogged about earlier this year, and Mauritius, which seems to be the first choice for relaxation after safari in East or South Africa. Lonely Planet always throws in something way off the radar and 2018 is no exception with their choice of Djibouti. Really? If this destination excites you, stay tuned for tomorrow’s blog when guest writer Claudia Danford describes her trip to the Micronesian island of Kosrae. 
 

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