Diver Ed

Captain Evil, Diver Ed, Rescue Newf Jacques, and Park Ranger Eleanor were the highlight of our family vacation in Bar Harbor/Acadia. Don't let the enormous amount of fun fool you - this is a well organized, professional outfit that brings the undersea world of Frenchman Bay to life in a unique and educational way. Our four year-old twin girls were captivated throughout, and we were as well.

Diver Ed was great! We took our 4 kids and it was SO much fun for them. Diver Ed is hilarious and really taught the kids a lot about the animals. It was so neat to see the ocean floor from the big camera he dives with and he brought up tons of animals for the kids to hold and learn about! I would do this again in a heart beat! The owners were super nice too!!

Enjoyed it thoroughly, even though it was educational. Saw and learned a lot, and it was great fun. Not to be missed!

highly recommended for all ages, laugh but also learn about the species who live in Frenchmans Bay and why they are important to the enviroment and to us.

Highly informative and entertaining. Exellent for kids- will definately bring mine if we are ever in the area. Most definately worth the time and money!

We are a couple in our 50's and we absolutely enjoyed this. At first I thought it was geared for children but when I read some of the reviews I decided to purchase the tickets and we did not regret it! It was a great mix of seeing animals above the water (seals, different kinds of birds, porpoises) and seeing the underwater creatures which were spectacular! Both the park rangers and Diver Ed and 'Captain Evil' did an excellent job of entertaining and teaching us about the ocean life. Diver Ed is hilarious and keeps you interested the entire time.

We've been before and will go again. Diver ed and Crew are wonderful and provide a educational and interesting experience. We had so much fun!

This was the highlight of our trip! We had gone on other boat tours but this one was facinating! Filled with facts and you get to actually hold the sea creatures that Diver Ed brings back aboard the boat. It was entertaining and never a dull moment!

We had more fun on this trip than anything we've done on MDIsland. We loved the dogs, mini Ed,Diver Ed and his wife. We have been coming to MDI for 50 plus years and other than ocean kayaking which we did in younger years, this was the greatest fun. Thank you for the breadth and depth of this program.

Diver Ed & group are a fantastic & information filled bunch. Lots of laughter, ooohs & aaahhhs & interaction with live sea animals. A definite must when in Acadia!!!

My husband and I went on one of Diver Ed's long, ranger-accompanied tours and it was the highlight of our time in Bar Harbor. Wildlife is never predictable, but Ed and his crew were great about spotting the critters that were around above the surface (in our case, harbor seals, gray seals, guillemots, a bald eagle, cormorants, and even a harbor porpoise or two) and spinning the boat so everyone could see. The ranger, Eleanor, was great about answering questions when they came up. The main attraction, though, is under the surface. I'm a wildlife nerd, and I really go for the underdog critters that don't normally get a lot of attention. Diver Ed acts as the public relations agent for everything from hermit crabs to barnacles. He moves from slapstick battles between mini-Ed and lobsters one moment to tight, well-lit close-ups of barnacles and sea cucumbers the next. You might see and handle these creatures in a touch-tank somewhere (and Ed brings up a few of the hardier ones to say howdy at the end of his dive), but seeing them on the ocean floor is a whole different ballgame. The lobsters are feisty, the crabs... crabby, and the sea cucumbers do their hypnotic feeding semaphore-dance in living color. With Captain Evil narrating and, when needed, translating Ed's sub-surface exclamations, it was a fascinating three hours. My face hurt from smiling and laughing so much. I could've stayed out for three more. Parents: your kids will love this, though the shorter tour might be best if they're little. It's real-life Sponge Bob, with the class clown as your guide. Long live undersea invertebrates, and long live the League of Undersea Superheroes! Next time we're in Bar Harbor, the Starfish Enterprise definitely will be on our itinerary.

No one is ever going to believe that I'm not a relative of someone that runs this operation, but here it goes... We had a phenomenal time with Diver Ed, Mini-Ed, Captain Evil and Ranger Eleanor! Each one of them were entertaining, knowledgable, professional, well spoken and downright hilarious. The boat was immaculate (even wipes in the bathroom!), their equipment was modern/sophisticated (like watching Discovery HD!) and somehow they even managed to stack the bay with wildlife ;-) We saw harbor porpoises, gray seals, harbor seals, bald eagles, common loons, giant ducks and a ton more water fowl I can't recall. Diver Ed (and Mini Ed to my four year old's delight) also retrieved lobster, sea cucumbers, sea stars, sand dollars, toad crabs, hermit crabs, big mean crabs, etc. We have been to MDI four times and this trip made this visit our favorite. We are all still raving about it a week later... Our group had two grandparents, two thirty somethings and one child. The whole thing took EXACTLY three hours. The experience could not have possibly been better. PS Our kid was the only child on the boat (week after school started). The adults that went out were glued to the monitor, lining up to touch sea creatures, unloading their cameras, and forking over dollars at the end for Mini Ed souvenirs (and all walked back to their cars with permagrins on their faces).

Informative and humorous. Fun time

If you are visiting Mount Desert Island with children, I highly recommend Diver Ed's boat cruise. He's very entertaining and funny, and of course knowledgeable about all the creatures to be found on the bottom of the ocean. He and his wife, "Dr. Evil," have their schtick down. My girls LOVED it. They were a bit shy about touching the animals, and I really appreciated that both Diver Ed and his wife made an effort to bring some over for them to see up close. We'd definitely do it again.

We all had an excellent time aboard the Starfish Enterprise. Diver Ed is amicable, professional, hilarious, and truly enthusiastic about maine, ecology, and life!!! Our kids are in love with him and his family, his crew, and hairy mascots. We will go again and have told everyone else they need to go as well. My face literally hurt from smiling and laughing.