The other outfit that approaches touring in much the same way as Coastal is National Park Sea Kayak Tours.

The urls for the two:

Coastal: http://acadiafun.com

National: http://acadiakayak.com

Our family has done Coastal Kayaking twice now. Both times nice trips. They go around Frenchman's Bay usually and there can be a lot of other "boat traffic". They were very knowledgeable and patient.

This year we are trying the other company that was mentioned above. Their difference is that they travel on the "quiet side of MDI"- the west side; and closer to nature. I called the owner and the other thing that was appealing is that there put in and take out spots aren't necessarily the same. if the wind is rough they only have you go one way. Both times with Coastal we fought wind coming home. Affter 4 hrs of kayaking, that can be hard.

That is surprising, MichiganMainejunkie. I wonder if they have changed their mode of operation. On our half-day trip (admittedly several years ago) we put in at Oak Point on the mainland and took out at Seal Cove on the western side of the island, with a lunch stop on Bartlett Island.

At any rate, you will enjoy seeing the other side of the island from the water. My impression is that there is more aquatic wildlife over there---seals, loons, etc.---probably because there is less power boat traffic.

Hi,

Yeah, both times we went in by the sand bar, looped around back of islands, went alongside the big sailboat with red sails, and then cut across front of islands all the way back to sandbar. The first year we stopped for a quick break on an island and the next year nothing.

We did enjoy it overall, but are looking forward to the different trip this time:)

I've kayaked on both "the quiet side" and in Frenchman's Bay (as well as Great Long Pond) -- and I highly recommend Maine State Kayak's trips from Southwest Harbor. The link below describes trips from both Maine State and Aquaterra (Bar Harbor) and give a sense of the options, corrobating some of the viewpoints here:

www.ouracadia.com/outfitters.php?pg_id=3

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