WILD ISLES

MAINE

This is a private look at Maine's island-dotted coast, shaped entirely by tide and weather rather than a fixed schedule. Travel by boat between remote outposts, eat food pulled straight from sea and forest, settle into places where lighthouses, spruce, and granite set the actual pace. This is coastal New England at its most stripped down, unhurried and considered without ever feeling overdone.

Note that everything you see here is an example of what your trip could look like. Your adventure will be tailored specifically to you.

WHEN TO GO

DURATION

JUN - SEP

7 NIGHTS

LANGUAGE

ENGLISH

CURRENCY

USD

ESTIMATED COST

$10,900

per person, excl. int'l flights

(based on two adults sharing)

Why this adventure

Maine's coast rewards anyone willing to slow down and move at the water's pace instead of their own. This trip is built for travelers who value atmosphere over excess, fog-wrapped mornings, afternoons dictated by tide charts, evenings that run on firelight and salt air. Private boats get you to islands most people never see, and foraged meals along with considered lodging keep the whole thing grounded in actual place rather than performance. Nothing here feels staged. The wildness of the coast stays exactly where it belongs, front and center.

Journey flow

This trip follows the coast's own rhythm, moving by boat rather than road. Days drift between granite-rimmed islands, working harbors, and coves where seals surface and eagles circle without much notice of you being there. Time on the water balances against long meals, coastal walks, and quiet stretches just watching light move across the sea. Evenings settle into real stillness, waves, lantern-lit docks, a lighthouse beam sweeping somewhere in the distance. This feels less like a fixed route and more like a slow immersion into whatever Maine's maritime side actually is underneath the postcard version.

Take it farther

For travelers who want more, a private naturalist-led wildlife cruise focused on seabirds and seals adds real depth to what you're already seeing from the boat. A hands-on foraging and cooking session with a coastal chef turns dinner into something you helped build yourself. A private day aboard a classic wooden schooner is worth it for the boat alone, an entirely different rhythm than a motor launch. Extending with a photography-focused stretch timed to fog and dawn light rewards anyone willing to get up early for it.

Customize this itinerary

Every trip we design is built around you: your pace, your curiosity, your definition of a good day. No set departures, no group tours, no one-size-fits-all anything. If this itinerary sparks something in you, let's talk about what that could look like for you specifically.

START YOUR JOURNEY

Adventure highlights

SECLUDED COASTAL LIVING

Lodgings that stay comfortable without ever feeling fussy, salt air and woodsmoke doing as much for the atmosphere as anything on the design mood board.

LIGHTHOUSE & HEADLAND WALKS

Dramatic headlands and working lighthouses where wind, stone, and sea collide. Views here do a lot of the emotional work without needing any help from the itinerary.

FORAGED SEA-TO-TABLE DINING

Lobster, seaweed, wild berries, garden produce, all handled by chefs with real regional roots rather than a borrowed coastal theme. Meals here taste specifically like this stretch of coast and nowhere else.

PRIVATE ISLAND HOPPING

Privately chartered boats reaching coves, beaches, and anchorages that no ferry or road can touch. This is the whole premise of the trip made physical, access most visitors simply don't get.

How it unfolds

DAYS 1-2

COASTAL ORIENTATION

Granite headlands, working harbors, and lighthouse walks set an immediate tone from the first morning. Days ease into the trip's real rhythm with shorter boat excursions and coastal hikes, getting a feel for tide, weather, and pace before the private charters take over more fully.

DAYS 3-5

ISLAND HOPPING

The heart of the trip. Days run almost entirely by water, private boats reaching coves, beaches, and anchorages no ferry or road touches. Long lunches, wildlife-rich crossings, and quiet beach landings fill the days, seals surfacing, eagles circling, granite and spruce replacing any sense of a fixed schedule.

DAYS 6-7

CLOSING ON THE COAST

The final days settle back into land, a last foraging or sailing experience, coastal walks, and real time to just sit with the water before the trip winds down. The pace slows even further here, evenings running long with firelight and the sound of waves carrying the trip to its close.

Where you could stay

BALANCE ROCK INN

An oceanfront Gilded Age mansion in Bar Harbor, built in 1903 for a Scottish railroad tycoon and still carrying the shingle-style architecture and old-money restraint of that era. Just twenty-seven rooms look out over Frenchman's Bay, with a heated pool and gardens framed by stately trees leading down to the historic Shore Path along the water. It runs quiet and private despite sitting only steps from downtown Bar Harbor's shops and galleries.

INN BY THE SEA

A beachfront property on a full mile of sand in Cape Elizabeth, built around suites with fireplaces and private balconies rather than standard hotel rooms. The kitchen leans hard into sustainable, regionally sourced seafood and produce, and the property backs that up with real conservation work, invasive species removal and biodiversity education among it. A boardwalk leads straight from the property to open beach, and the whole place runs on a quieter, more residential register than a typical resort.

THE CLAREMONT HOTEL

An 1883 shingle-style hotel on Somes Sound, the only fjord on the East Coast, recently rebuilt with a considerable investment that added a heated infinity pool overlooking the water without losing the property's nineteenth-century bones. Accommodations range from historic rooms in the main hotel to private cottages scattered across the grounds, and the location on Mount Desert Island's quieter western side trades Bar Harbor's crowds for real stillness. Bikes, boat charters, and a spa round out a property built for slowing down rather than sightseeing.

Ready to start planning?

All Peregrine trips include:

Every trip we design starts from scratch, built around how you travel and what you're actually after. No fixed routes, no shared departures, no compromises. If something on this page resonated, that's a good place to start a conversation.