Sips - Southwest Harbor, MDI

Recently we had dinner at Sips in Southwest Harbor and it was a fantastic experience although it seemed like we were the only one's there who didn't have a full head of silver hair. Maybe all the young people were across the street at the terrible Moose place? Maybe its just the difference between the more mature wine drinking crowd and younger the beer guzzling crowd across the street?

Whatever, inside the cozy Sips they serve up a great selection of wines available as 2 oz "sips", 5 oz glasses or full bottles. They even have a three wine sampler available. The beers available are all exotic German or Belgium specialty beers. The dinners range from 12 - 21 bucks, from steak to pasta, to excellent risottos. Local seafood is featured on the menu and on the specials board.

All in all Sips offers great food in a cozy atmosphere with decent prices. A children's menu is available but its a romantic place for just the two of you if you can get a sitter.

We've also tried Sips for breakfast. They have great coffees and the prices are very reasonable.

Address: 4 Clark Point Rd, Southwest Harbor, ME 04679
Phone: (207) 244-4550

Bass Harbor Light

Mama Dimatteo's Bar Harbor - Open for the season

Three course early bird (5-6)and late dinner (9-10) specials are only $16.99. Plus they have great martinis! -- BHI

APPETIZERS
(7.99–9.95)

Shrimp and Prosciutto
Gulf shrimp wrapped with prosciutto, grilled and served on a bed of greens with a drizzle of warm balsamic vinaigrette

Beef Skewers
Spicy marinated sirloin tips, grilled and served on a bed of greens with a blue cheese dipping sauce

Mama’s Wings
Baked crispy and tossed with Mama’s hot sauce, served with a blue cheese dipping sauce and celery sticks. Caution, these babies are hot!

Baked Artichokes
Artichoke hearts wrapped in prosciutto and baked with a spiced cream cheese



INSALATA
(6.99–17.99)

Steak and Caesar
Our house sirloin and a Caesar make a great combination

Tuscan White Bean and Spinach Salad
Tender white beans, sun-dried tomatoes and basil, with a touch of balsamic vinaigrette and olive oil, tossed with spinach



ENTRÉES
(17.99–Market Price)

Tuscan Tenderloin
A hand-cut filet rubbed with garlic, rosemary, sage, black pepper and olive oil, grilled and served with gorgonzola butter

Chicken Crustini
Naturally raised chicken breast topped with mozzarella cheese, wrapped with flaky puff pastry and baked, served on a bed of marinara

Steamed Lobster
A 1-1/4 hard shell lobster, served with drawn butter

Roasted Salmon
Wild organic salmon filet and asparagus wrapped with prosciutto, roasted and served on a bed of baby greens with warm balsamic vinaigrette

Fresh Catch of the Day
Grilled, baked, broiled or sauteed—check our daily special sheet



PASTA
(10.99-Market Price)

Salmon Puttanesca
Bronzed organic or wild salmon, finished in a vibrant olive, caper garlic wine, basil and tomato sauce, served over fettucine

Lobster Alfredo
Freshly picked lobster, sauteed with Mama's scampi butter, finished with alfredo and served over fettucine

Crab and Spinach Stuffed Shells
Jumbo shells stuffed with a crab, spinach and ricotta filling, baked with alfredo sauce

Two Sauce Shrimp and Prosciutto
Grilled prosciutto wrapped shrimp, served over linguine with half alfredo and half marinara

Veal Ravioli Saltimbocca
Veal ravioli topped with mushrooms, prosciutto, marsala wine sauce and cheese

Lobster Ravioli
Chunks of lobster in a saffron pasta, served with our roasted red pepper cream sauce



CHILDREN'S SELECTIONS
Your choice of spaghetti marinara, macaroni and cheese
or grilled chicken breast

Website

122 Cruise Ship Visits for Bar Harbor in 2008

The following ships are scheduled to visit Bar Harbor this year:

Maasdam: Owned by Holland America, built in 1995. Her gross tonnage is 55,441.She carries 1,627 passengers and has a crew of 560.

Bremen: The former name of this ship was Frontier Spirit, built in 1990. She is German, registered in the Bahamas. Her gross tonnage is 6,752. She carries 164 passengers and has a crew of 94.

Grandeur of the Seas: Built in 1996 and marketed by Royal Caribbean, she, too, flies the flag of the Bahamas. She has a gross tonnage of 73,817 carries 2,950 passengers and has a crew of 760.

Queen Mary 2: A British ship and currently the flagship of Cunard Lines. She is large, with a gross tonnage of 148,528. She carries 2,620 passengers and has a crew of 1,253.

Explorer of the Seas: This ship, marketed by Royal Caribbean, was built in the year 2000 and is registered in the Bahamas. She has a gross tonnage of 137,308 and carries 3,224 passengers with a crew of 1,285.

Grand Caribe: This ship is an American, Canadian, Carribean Line ship, classified as a mini cruise ship. She is an American ship. Her gross tonnage is 94 and she carries 96 passengers with a crew of 17.

Norwegian Dawn: A Norwegian Cruise Line ship registered in the Bahamas. Originally she was ordered as Superstar Scorpio. Built in 2002. She has a gross tonnage of 91,740 She can accommodate 2,224 passengers and has a crew of 1,300.

Caribbean Princess: This Princess Line ship is registered in Bermuda. She was built in 2004 and has a gross tonnage of 112,894. She carries 3,592 passengers and has a crew of 1,142. She will make her maiden voyage to Bar Harbor in 2008.

Norwegian Dream: Another Norwegian Cruise Line ship registered in the Bahamas, she was built in 1992. Her gross tonnage is 50, she carries 1,948 passengers with a crew of 750.

Aidaaura: This is an Italian ship run by Aida Cruises. She was built in 2003 and makes her maiden voyage to Bar Harbor in 2008. Her gross tonnage is 42,289 and she carries 1,300 passengers and 418.

Sea Princess: This ship, built in 1998, is a Princess Cruise Line ship and flies the British flag. Her former name was Adonia. Her gross tonnage is 77,499 and she carries 1,950 passengers and has a crew of 900.

Eurodam: This is Holland America Lines newest ship and 2008 marks her first visit to Bar Harbor. She has a gross tonnage of 86,000 and carries 2,044 passengers with a crew of about 800.

American Star: Built in 2007, this American Cruise Line ship is known as a mini cruise line ship. She has a gross tonnage of 100 and carries 100 passengers.

American Glory: Built in 2003, this American Cruise Line ship has a tonnage of 100. She carries 49 passengers.

Queen Elizabeth 2: A Cunard ship that will retire at the end of 2008 and become a convention center in Dubai. She was built in 1969. Her tonnage is 70,327 and she carries 1,815 passengers.

Crystal Symphony: Operated by Crystal Cruises and registered in the Bahamas, she was built in 1995 and has a gross tonnage of 50,202. She carries 960 passengers and has a crew of 545.

Jewel of the Seas: A Royal Caribbean ship built in 2004, she is registered in the Bahamas. Her gross tonnage is 90,000 and she carries 2,100 passengers with a crew of 1,050.

Royal Princess: Her former names were R Eight and Minnerva II. She was built in 2001 and is a Princess Line ship registered in the Marshall Islands. Her gross tonnage is 30,277 and she carries 698 passengers and has a crew of 373.

Constellation: This is a Celebrity Cruise Ship, an offshoot of Chandris Shipping. She was built in 2002 and is registered in Liberia. Her gross tonnage is 90,280 and she carries 2,038 passengers with a crew of 999.

Saga Ruby: Her former names were Vistajord and Caronia. As the Caronia, she often traveled to Bar Harbor. She is now operated by Saga Cruises of Europe and is registered in the Bahamas. Cruise passengers are senior citizens, the ship accepts passengers who are 50 years of age or older. The ship was built in 1973, with a gross tonnage of 29,292 and she carries 677 passengers with a crew of 376.

Norwegian Majesty: A Norwegian Cruise Line ship, her former name was Royal Majesty. She was built in 1992 and is registered in the Bahamas. Her gross tonnage is 40,876 and she carries 1,462 passengers and has a crew of 660.

Artemis: This is a Royal Princess ship registered in Great Britain. Her former name was Royal Princess. She was built in 1984 and her gross tonnage is 44,588. She carries 1,200 passengers and has a crew of 520.

Meal Deals at Jack Russels Steakhouse

Now through the end of January, use these coupons as many times as needed.


Valentine's Dinner Scheduled for mid-February

Book your reservations soon!

Rest easy guys, we will have CHOCOLATES and FLOWERS for all ladies with reservations, as well as great fish, beef and wine specials.

Free kid's meal with any adult entrée

Jack Russell's has a great kid's menu, and between Sunday and Thursday in January, we are running this offer.

Jon Moore and the Spray

Just don't ask him anything about the Internet:

Talk to Jon Moore about his boat, the Spray, and you’ll get the story of a lifestyle that is as rare as the vessel he sails.

In 1892, the aging Chesapeake Bay oyster sloop named Spray was given to, and rebuilt by, native Nova Scotian Captain Joshua Slocum in preparation for the first solo circumnavigation of the world. A replica of the Spray, with the same name, is moored in Northeast Harbor and is being refurbished by Jon Moore, a man much like Captain Slocum.

Moore’s Spray was built in Tremont by Ed Davis. Moore came across the boat in 1999 as she sat on shore at John Williams Boat Co. in Hall Quarry. She’s documented with a homeport of Boston, just like the original Spray of 1895.

“There are only 8 or 10 boats in the world that could be considered an authentic replica, which this could be one of,” said Moore. “All of the others are modified versions.”

Moore had wanted a Spray replica ever since reading “Sailing Alone around the World,” an account of Captain Slocum’s voyage, in the early 1980s.

“That boat is a very famous boat. My hull is the exact design of the boat that Josh Slocum sailed around the world,” he said.

“The reason Slocum used this boat was because the vessel is so well balanced that it would steer itself, even downwind,” Moore stated. “At that time they didn’t have a lot of advanced technology and electrical stuff for self-steering. The boat was so well balanced that he would set a course and go weeks without touching the helm. It really sails like that too,” Moore said. “You get her all set up and then you can go and make lunch. She’s got a lot of character.”

Moore has another name for the Spray. Usually he calls it home.

“We live on her most of the time. We’re not right now because we are doing a refit of the interior,” Moore said. “We rebuilt the interior from the original, which wasn’t much to begin with. When you live on a boat for awhile you kind of get a take of exactly how you want things.”

“We” is Moore and his wife, Christine, and son, Lewis.

Changes are happening topside as well.

“I am putting a Chinese junk rig on her right now. Originally, it was rigged as a yawl, but it was a regular Bermudian rig,” said Moore. “Then it was rigged as a sloop for awhile. I am putting a Chinese junk main on her because I am quite familiar with the rig because I have designed and built them before.”

“You get her all set up and then you can go and make lunch. She’s got a lot of character.”

— Jon Moore
The original Spray also was retrofitted with a yawl rig after problems Captain Slocum faced in the Straits of Magellan (at the tip of South America), according to historical accounts.

The mast that’s on Moore’s Spray right now is made of a black spruce tree that Moore carved last year.

“I did a lot of masts up in Newfoundland on work boats,” Moore said. “I’m coming at it from that angle, more of a work boat approach rather than a yachty-type approach. I primarily lean toward sailing vessels that have the ability to do something more than just look pretty.”

Moore is a self-employed marine surveyor and a self-professed “jack-of-all-trades, master of none.” A marine surveyor determines if a vessel is safe to use in conditions for which it was designed and what repairs need to be made to it.

“I do little projects like one with this fellow that bought a Friendship sloop and he is interested in learning to build and restore boats. I am helping him rebuild it as a tutorial to teach him boat work as we rebuild his boat,” he said.

Moore makes it clear where his heart lies.

“I do a lot of sailing, delivering a lot of boats, and expedition or wilderness cruising,” he said. “I lived off the coast of Newfoundland and my wife and I did a lot of wilderness cruising up there. We took old boats and made them seaworthy enough to take trips.

“We weren’t into immaculate reconstructions or anything like that. We were into getting boats seaworthy and doing something with them.

“I appreciate what guys are doing with yachts, but I am not in the furniture business.”

Owning a wooden boat does not mean you need to marry it, according to Moore.

“I survey boats all of the time and I run into people all of the time and they say, ‘Oh, a wooden boat, so much maintenance.’ It’s really nonsense,” Moore said. “It’s only really maintenance to the degree that you want to make it a museum piece. You don’t have to have it like that.

“I’ve taken old boats off a beach and four or five days later will have them operating,” he said. “I used them for the season then at the end of the season I put them back on the beach where I found them. I fished with them, I sailed them, and they worked.”

Harking back to a day when self-sufficiency was key to survival, Moore takes a utilitarian view of boat maintenance.

“In Newfoundland, if we had to do something, we’d put the boat on a beach, we’d pop a plank out and put a new plank in, on the beach, in the middle of a snowstorm. We didn’t have to have special shops and sheds. We did it with hand tools and it might have been a little crude, but it worked and we carried on.

“So, that’s where I come from,” said Moore, chuckling. “I’m not really yachty, per se.

Freakin' Cold and Tons of Snow

We've had record breaking snow recently. Which is great for cross country skiing and snowshoeing on the carriage roads in Acadia National Park. Only down side lately of this winter weather is the freakin' cold temperature. We are hovering in the single digits this week.

Ice fishermen will be loving it because the lakes are really starting to freeze up for the first time this season. Better than last year when we experienced a very strange warm winter that nearly left us without any ice fishing at all. Can you say Global Warming?

Unfortunately this area will feel the effects of global warming in a very direct way with about 60 percent or so of the island disappearing underwater and who knows what will happen to the fishing industry as the water warms. Meanwhile everyone seems to like to leave their trucks running all the time burning up expensive gas and diesel and contributing to the very greenhouse gases that are projected to destroy island life. Think global, act local!