Maine's Casco Bay Line Ferries | Maine Ferry to Islands near Portland, ME

Ferries: Maine's Casco Bay Line
By Lill Hawkins

Casco Bay's (Maine) rocky shorelines and forested islands are a beautiful
sight in summer. However, you can't see them by car. You have to take a ferry
on the oldest ferry service in the country.

Just a few miles from downtown Portland, you can see secluded coves,
lobster boats, lighthouses and wildflowers in front of summer cottages and
fishing piers.

To the islanders, the ferries are a lifeline, carrying kids to school on the
mainland and residents to doctor's appointments, cars, groceries, building
supplies and mail. Almost without fail, the ferries of the Casco Bay Line
make their regular daily runs through all kinds of weather.

Peaks Island, Little Diamond, Great Diamond and Cliff Island are all part of
the City of Portland. Although there are only 1,000 year round residents on
Peaks Island, there are several times that many in the summer months. Peaks
Island is only 20 minutes from Portland by ferry and there are several ferry
runs a day depending on the season. You can explore the whole island on
foot or bike in less than an hour, because it's only a mile wide and about two
miles long!

Great Diamond Island has seen many famous visitors, including Harriet
Beecher Stowe, Henry Longfellow and early 19th century landscape painters
attracted by the beautiful scenery and stately mansions. However, Diamond
Cove was also the site of Fort McKinley, which was built during the Spanish
American War to protect Portland Harbor. The Fort was in active service until
1945, but is now on the Register of Historic Places in the United States. There
is currently a museum and gift shop there, operating on a volunteer basis.

Special cruises feature lobster bakes in a rustic "summerhouse" on Peaks
Island for groups of up to 400. Or you can take a music cruise and listen to
everything from jazz to blues to rock to country.

There's something for everyone on the Casco Bay Ferry Line, even if you just
go along on the Mail Run and never set foot on land. The beautiful islands
and rocky coastline are at their best when viewed from the ocean. You might
even see a porpoise or harbor seal! At any rate, you'll return from your ferry
trip refreshed and relaxed from the salt air and good company aboard the
Casco Bay Line ferry.

About the author:

Lill Hawkins lives in Maine and writes News From Hawkhill Acres: A mostly
humorous look at home schooling, writing and being a WAHM, whose
mantra is "I'm a willow; I can bend."

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