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Nature Discoveries with Don Kleiner - Itinerary

Day 1: Depending on when you can extricate yourself, spend your first day slowly wending your way up the coast. You may want to drop by at "Beans" for a bargain on outdoor gear or, if you have the time, dip into nature. Popham Beach State Park and Reid State Park are both just a slight detour, less than an hour from Le Vatout, and well worth the trip. We're happy to recommend some good restaurants along the way, but try to get here before 8pm for your check-in. Or check in any time after 4pm, feel free to hang out in our garden and enjoy the breeze from the river or take a stroll to the village and the boat dock, just five minutes away. The Narrows Tavern, which features live music most nights during the summer, is a fun place to have a beer and get to know the locals and not a bad dinner spot either.

Day 2: Breakfast is served on the early side to make sure you're ready when Don arrives around 8:30 to fetch you for your first day of nature discoveries. Today, he'll take you out into the bay in his 20 foot open fishing boat - the perfect way to try your hand at fishing and to get up close to sealife whether it's ospreys and terns or porpoises and seals. Leave it to him to find the perfect spot for your picnic lunch, an island maybe, or a secluded little beach. If time allows, a short hike will complete your first excursion with Don and you can expect to be delivered back to Le Vatout in the early afternoon.

The remains of the day are yours. Rest up and relax or for a change of pace, explore the shops and galleries lining the harbor in neighboring Damariscotta. Or venture out into nature again: drive up the Pemaquid peninsula - which starts right here at Le Vatout - with its breathtaking views. The Rachel Carson Salt Pond Preserve in New Harbor, about 18 miles south of Waldoboro, beckons with 40 beautiful acres of hiking trails and a tide pool just waiting to be discovered. Just a few minutes further is Shaw's Fish & Lobster Wharf where you could treat yourselves to a relaxed dinner while watching the lobster boats come home. Or, if you want to stay more local, check out the Osborn Finch Wildlife Sanctuary. It's a couple of minutes up the road from Le Vatout and offers 11 picturesque acres teaming with birds and a half mile long trail through a grassy field and a mossy forest. Afterwards, 995 Main invites; located in a beautifully restored Victorian on Waldoboro's Main Street it specializes in fresh local ingredients and American cuisine.

Day 3 : As on the previous day, breakfast will be served early-ish and is followed by another great day of nature discoveries. This time Don will treat you to a canoe trip on freshwater for a chance to spot those bald eagles, loons and wild turkeys, a myriad of songbirds and maybe even a moose. This time, lunch will be served on that spot with the perfect vista with a view to the world.

If by now you've been bitten by the birding bug, we suggest you spend the afternoon exploring Weskeag Marsh. It's a birder's paradise, an estuary of brackish tidal marsh, saltmarsh, tidal flats, and eelgrass beds tucked between nearby Thomaston and Rockland, about 20 minutes from Le Vatout. Rockland also invites with more civilized pleasures: the Farnsworth Museum and its famed Wyeth and Louise Nevelson collections, plus shops and galleries and restaurants galore. For a real dinner treat, we suggest you take the short drive to South Rockland to eat at Primo’s. It’s not inexpensive and during the season you might need a reservation, but the food’s sublime and the desserts out of this world. Or, for a completely different experience, come back to Waldoboro and visit Moody’s Diner, a Midcoast landmark; a hefty slice of pie at Moody's will bring back memories you didn't know you had!

Day 4: Breakfast is served at a more leisurely pace between 8 and 9am. After breakfast take a last stroll through the garden and say good-bye to the birds. Check-out is by 11am, but if you can at all manage take in one more discovery on your way home: Salt Bay Farm in Damariscotta is one of the most beautiful spots on Midcoast Maine. Over a mile of shorefront, extensive wetlands and rolling fields are home to a huge variety of plants and wildlife and offer spectacular views across the bay. If not, don’t be sad: you will take home new skills, plenty of memories and the peace of mind nature bestows upon those who know how.

What to bring

We suggest you pack comfortable, sturdy shoes, a hat and a jacket, and wear light, but muted colors so as not to attract insects and not to alert birds. Plus, binoculars and maybe a digital camera and a fanny pack.

If you want to come prepared to get hooked on birding, Don Kleiner recommends you bring along Birds of North America: A Guide To Field Identification (Golden Field Guide from St. Martin's Press).

Critters of Maine is a handy pocket guide to Maine's wildlife with large color photos of each animal. It's informative, concise, and easy to use - if it's in this book, it's in Maine.

Don will include one FREE copy with your Le Vatout discovery package. For extras, please follow the link above.

critter guide

 

If you need more information or if you would like to make a reservation for a particular time, please email us or call Le Vatout at (207) 832-5150


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Le Vatout | 218 Kaler's Corner | Waldoboro, ME 04572 | (207) 832-5150 | info@levatout.com


Member of the Waldoboro Business Association, the Penobscot Bay Chamber of Commerce, the Maine Tourism Association,
the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association and proud recipient of Maine's Environmental Leader Certificate

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