Camden Harbor Cruises prepares for the Summer season

CAMDEN, Maine (WABI) - With Memorial Day on the horizon, harbor towns are gearing up for the Summer season, including local boats tours.

Camden Harbor Cruises has been a harbor staple for years.

Cruise Co- Owners, Liz and Dominic Gioia, embark for their tour of the season this Friday.

Dominic said, “This is a wooden boat, so we had to do a lot of painting this year. But the library lady here was built right on Mount Desert Island in Bremen Bass Harbor Boat Works in 1971.”

“And we have a nice long to-do list of loading up the t-shirts and getting the baseball caps ready to be sold and lots of scheduling and booking things,” added Liz.

Dominic has always loved nature, and originally set his sights on being a park ranger one day.

“I grew up in Maine and I grew up kind of in central northern Maine. Pretty much living in the woods, and I loved it hunting, fishing. I actually went to school, University of Maine Presque Isle and then when I graduated from college, it was during 2004. When that was during one of the big recessions, they laid off all the park rangers. So, I ended up moving to Portland, and I jumped on a tour boat down there just as a resume builder. Once I jumped on, on board, I was just kind of, I really enjoyed it, kind of fascinated and I really never stepped off a boat after that,” said Dominic.

In addition to their Lighthouse and Lobster Cruise, they offer different tour and charter services on their vessels, “Lively Lady” and “Periwinkle”.

From hosting celebrities such as Ray Lamontagne and Alfonso Ribeiro, to chartering record breaking birdwatchers, to engagements and school groups, the cruises have seen all sorts of folks onboard.

The Gioias enjoy sharing their experience with their family and having the opportunity to share the Maine water, wildlife, and beauty with guests.

“For our daughter, she was on a backpack while you were driving the boat our son was in a carrier. well, we were you’d be the captain and I would be the mate and it’s just kind of made it so we can connect with other families and I mean it just sticks out when you have like a group who never go out in the water and then all like their kids are baiting lobster traps and it’s really just kind of amazed by being out on the water,” said Liz.

Dominic added, “Yeah, it’s a lot of fun just because people really admire how beautiful the area is. But yeah, it’s nice being nice having a job where everyone is excited to go out, excited to see you. You get to share this beautiful area with them.”

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