Diver Ed

Grammy and Lily enjoying the brisk, windy day on the ocean

Diver Ed

Starfish!

Eli and the sea cucumbers

One of my favorite things that we did while my parents were here was taking the Diver Ed boat cruise in Bar Harbor. If you have children and are spending a little time in Bar Harbor I would highly recommend Diver Ed! The cruise is about two hours long, and while it totally caters to the young crowd, it is incredibly clever and fun even for adults! The cruise itself (and a little seal watching) was fun, but the best part of it was taking part in Diver Ed's underwater adventures. Ed and his wife (Captain Evil) run the cruise and the whole program and they do a fantastic job. Once we cruised out to their diving location Diver Ed got all geared up, let the kids push him overboard, and then dove down under the boat for a while collecting all sorts of treasures while he went. He was hooked up to a microphone the whole time so that we could hear about all the things he was finding (lobsters, starfish, etc...)! After diving for a bit and coming up to deliver all of his sea treasures he then dove back down again, but this time with a special under water camera and his diving companion Mini Ed (a little Lego diving guy). We watched from a big screen on the boat and could hear and see everything going on under the water. Not only was this educational, but also rather comical (Mini Ed getting stung by a sea creature and receiving CPR, etc...)! Once all the diving was over Ed came back up to the boat and went through a great, educational, and fun explanation of all the live creatures he brought back with him. And of course all of the children (and adults) were able to touch, handle, and get up close with all of the sea creatures too! Lily was a little squeamish of some of them (like the crabs and lobsters), but absolutely loved the star fish. And Eli was totally fascinated with the squishy, slimy sea cucumbers (he could have played with them all day)! I would say that all of us had a great time and are already planning to go back when the kids get a little older. And just about every night Lily now plays "Diver Ed" in the bathtub!:)