Clambake Cruise

When we were planning our trip to Maine a few months ago, we decided not to make too many day trip plans so that we could just relax and do whatever we felt like doing when the time came. The only excursion we really wanted to do was a lobster bake, so we booked our reservation for early in the week for the Cabbage Island Clambake (side note - not really sure why they call it a clambake when the feature attraction is clearly the lobsters!).

I wanted to get a workout in before cruising off for a food-filled day, so I headed down to the dock bright and early for a quick cardio circuit. We don't get Internet where we're staying so I couldn't access my beloved Pinterest workouts folder, so I scribbled together a quick one while lacing up my sneaks.

My quickie 30-minute circuit got my heart rate pumping and set me off on the right foot for the day. And there really is no better setting for a morning workout than a dock in the middle of a saltwater cove right after sunrise.

After showering up and downing bowls of Kashi for breakfast, we took a drive down to Boothbay Harbor to hop our ferry to Cabbage Island. It was a gorgeous day and the boat ride was so peaceful, and the captain narrated the history of the boats, lighthouses and little islands as we putted along through the bay.

Cabbage Island is a small private island where only the owner of the boat/island and his family live. There are no roads or cars, just a few houses, a covered pavilion, a bunch of picnic tables and a lobster bake area. Can you imagine having your own, boat-access-only private island? Crazy! The place was beautiful, and we could smell the lobsters cooking as soon as we pulled up.

We walked around the island for about a half hour, chatting with the other guests and sipping on drinks, and then the bell tolled and we were served our first course - homemade New England fish chowder. It was delicious, but we were just biding our time before the lobsters arrived...

We were each served 2 whole lobsters, a bowl of steamed clams, corn on the cob, baked potato, a whole steamed onion (which, strangely, was super sweet, tender and delicious - who'd have thought?) and a hard boiled egg. I'm not sure what the deal is with the hard boiled egg - any New Englanders out there know?

To cook the food, they actually pile everything up in between layers of seaweed, then steam the food over a wood fire.

I didn't think I'd be able to eat two whole lobsters, but turns out I didn't have any trouble at all. ;-) They were the most tender lobsters I've ever had - so good! The corn was super sweet, so I also ate that, as well as half my baked potato and half my onion. I gave my clams to Matt (not a fan of whole clams) and my egg to Riker (he loves egg yolks and had a grand time shoving his face with them). Talk about a huge meal! 

For dessert, as if we needed it, we were served an enormous piece of homemade Maine blueberry coffee cake. I could not put one more bite in my mouth, so I wrapped my cake up and took it home for later.

The staff on Cabbage Island was so nice and friendly, and the food was amazing. We had a great time, and would do it again in a heartbeat. I highly recommend this trip if you're ever in the Boothbay area!

As you can imagine, we were pretty stuffed after the clambake so decided to skip dinner and just pack a little dessert picnic for the dock that night after Riker went to bed. In case you're wondering what a dessert picnic on the dock looks like, it's a bag full of bug repellant, red wine, books and a leftover piece of blueberry cake. ;-)

So serene. Now this is what I call vacation. :)