I cannot speak highly enough about Bayside Cottage. From when I first made our reservation, to our communication after we checked out, a top notch experience.
The home is situated on Union River Bay, a short drive to grocery stores and restaurants in Ellsworth and 20-40 minutes to anywhere in Acadia National Park. The central location is superb. However, the true beauty of the location is being on Union River Bay. Whether you live in the city or suburbs, spend loads of time outdoors, or don’t prefer dirt - it is effortless to enjoy and sync with rhythm of nature at Bayside Cottage. The sunsets over the Bay are gorgeous, and it felt so natural for our days to align with the rhythm of the tides. It is 10+ feet between high and low tide. Every 12 hours when the tide was low, we ventured out to the shore to explore, and see what we see. Bayside Cottage is a great spot to tide pool. We saw many of the regular tidal zone creatures and also lucked out seeing a lion’s mane jelly fish and elvar (young eel). If you like puttering around on the shore like we did, you’re certain to find sea glass.
We rented kayaks for half the week we were there, from a local company that delivers and picks up. We loved being able to paddle right out our back door.
If you intend to tide pool or kayak/canoe, close toed water shoes (crocs, keens, etc) are a must.
This trip was myself, my husband, and our two elementary aged boys. The home is very spacious, we had more than enough room. We all loved exploring all the books in the home, as well as the game room. We cooked many of our meals at the home and the kitchen is very nicely equipped. It was an easy drive to go to different areas of Acadia National Park.