Day 3 would take us back on the road as we have to drive to Portland with enough time to make our lobster boat catching trip. But first we needed breakfast. This day we headed to the 2 Cats Restaurant for a quick bite before the road. They come with a pretty healthy recommendation from the internet so we thought we were safe there. We were seated right away (probably because we were okay with eating inside) but the wait time for the our food was long. We ended up getting our checks at the same time our food arrived so we wouldn’t be held up any longer.

We did learn that the owners teenage daughter had recently gone missing so it’s possible the service wasn’t on their A game.

Due to some traffic we ended up being just in the nick of time for the Lucky Catch lobster tour. They don’t have a bathroom on the boat so it was recommended that we find one before we shipped out. There was a Starbucks across the street that we were able to use. However, the bathrooms required a code. I purchased a coffee I didn’t want to get the code but apparently that wasn’t needed as the other customers were nice enough to share it.

Then we were back to the boat where we were given a quick understanding of what the tour would encompass as well as a safety briefing on the boat. Once we were off it became apparent there weren’t many clouds in the sky so we had to apply sunscreen to our sunburn. The boat was full of mostly couples and there was family with some children that were running around the boat.

As we went to collect the traps we were given a tour of the coastline and a history of Portland. Before we got the traps we had to set up the new bait bags that would be placed in the traps after we brought them up. These were filled with tiny fish. When the traps were pulled up the lobsters were collected and any old bait was thrown to the seagulls that showed up seemingly from nowhere.

This process repeated itself a couple of times. The crew did an amazing job and let us participate by measuring the lobsters to see if they were allowed to be kept. We also rubber banded the claws of the keepers before they went in the tank. Once the bait was set we were also allowed to help shove the cage back into the water.

At one point a fish was brought up with the trap and we were told it was good luck to kiss it so I did.

We opted not to purchase one of the fresh lobsters as we weren’t ready to eat just yet. You have the option to take it home with you or the restaurant across the pier with cook it for you.

After we re-upped our parking, we walked down to the Liquid Riot brewery and Distillery. From the website and descriptions it seemed like it would be our kind of place. It turns out neither of were really into it. There was a wait time for a seat (even at the bar) and the music was really loud. To be fair, there music was from a live jazz band. Maybe we were just there at the wrong day/time.

At that point we were getting hungry. It had been several hours since we last had some seafood. We decided to go to Js Oyster Bar which came recommended.

There was a long wait time since they are right on the pier. We sat at the bar for a bit and had a drink from their limited tap list. We were finally seated and our orders were taken right away. The food was good and we left satisfied and headed back to our Air BnB to rest up for the full day of Portland tomorrow.