Downeast Maine (sailors here sail downwind on the prevailing southwesterlies, to go east), the site of our maiden voyage, is the crucible for sea-cliff climbing. This wild, deeply incised stretch of New England coast has the world’s biggest tides (up to 50 feet near Eastport), strong currents, rock ledges, storms, fog, and even a whirlpool in the Bay of Fundy:“Old Sow,” so named for the bizarre sounds that emanate from its depths. It’s the largest whirlpool in the Western Hemisphere, forming as the massive tides of Paasamaquoddy Bay collide with an underwater seamount. In 1835, a two-masted schooner skippered by two brothers from nearby Deer Isle got sucked into the vortex as their mother watched from shore. They were never seen again. At times, the gyre spouts geysers 20 feet into the air.

Native Americans first settled near these fertile fishing grounds more than 6,000 years ago, but it wasn’t until the 1500s that French explorers began poking around. They called the region from Quebec to Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, and as far south as Maine, L’Acadie. The most famous of these early explorers was the sailor, cartographer, and founder of “New France” Samuel Champlain. The Frenchman ran his boat aground just off Otter Point, on Mount Desert Island (MDI) on September 5, 1604, in the heart of present-day Acadia National Park; here, he met the Wabanaki Indians, whose name for the area was Pemetic — sloping land. Dense forests of birch, spruce, balsam, oak, and maple spill off the rocky isle’s sides, with small ponds and lakes sprinkled around the fringe, as well as half a dozen villages. In the 19th century, MDI’s beauty made it a summer getaway for the Rockefellers, Morgans, and Vanderbilts. Later, thanks to efforts by two Bostonians — Harvard University President George Elliot and the textile magnate George Dorr — Acadia National Park, the first national park east of the Mississippi, came to be.

To climbers, MDI is most known for its sea cliffs, some of which rise 100-plus overhanging feet from the pumping Atlantic. All told, MDI has more than 350 routes at six different areas. Add in outlying crags on surrounding islands, and you’re talking rock enough to keep the most avid climber busy for years.