We thought we'd try to save some time and money so we caught the high speed CAT Ferry service from Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada to Bar Harbor, Maine, USA. Although it wasn't exactly cheap, this high speed catamaran ferry service gets across the Gulf of Maine in less than 3 hours, saving around 600 miles on the road. If we had driven, the extra costs in fuel, an extra night's accomodation, plus and extra day's meals, etc, would have probably cost more, so in the long run it was a good idea.

Besides, the trip is a very cool one to do. The CAT is a large boat, carrying up to 250 cars, busses and motor homes. The inside of the craft is very luxurious, with 4 onboard movie mini-cinemas, restaurants, bar areas, mini-casino, giftshop, yadda yadda... It cruises along at around 90km/h, throwing two huge rooster tail sprays behind as it travels. It was a good experience. And we were very pleased to find that the CAT is built in Australia! And the prerecorded safety message explaining lifejackets, etc, was done with an Aussie accent!

We waved farewell to Canada for a little while, and before we knew it we arrived in Bar Harbor, Maine. Welcome to America!

I'm pleased to say the US Customs officials were almost pleasant. Almost.