Last week we were hosted at Inn at Diamond Cove for a fun, family-friendly Maine summer getaway trip! The Inn at Diamond Cove is located on Great Diamond Island, one of the many small islands in Casco Bay about 30-minutes by boat from downtown Portland, Maine. We took the ferry over and had a few days of good old fashioned summer fun, from time in the pool to beautiful al fresco dining overlooking the bay.
The inn, and the surrounding buildings on the island, were once part of Fort McKinley – a US military fort built to defend Portland Harbor during the Spanish-American War. You can still see many abandoned and repurposed structures on the island from when it was an active military fort, it’s definitely full of history (and I’m sure a few spooky ghost stories!). To get to the Inn you have to take a ferry or water taxi out of Portland and cross Casco Bay. We opted for the quick ferry ride over, it was inexpensive – about $25 for the three of us – and a gorgeous scenic cruise past the coastal Maine landscape of the many islands in the bay. When you arrive on the island, the Inn at Diamond Cove has transportation waiting at the dock to take you up to the hotel. There are almost no cars on the island, locals use golf carts to get around, and while the Inn offered to drive us to dinner and different amenities on the island, everything was very short walk so we mostly explored on our own.
The hotel is just up the hill from the harbor (there’s a secret path through the woods to get you down to the restaurant and beach quickly) and is nestled into a private wooded area. The rooms were new and spacious, we particularly loved the high ceilings, you’d never know it used to be army barracks! Anyone that’s traveling with little kids will tell you how awesome it is to find a hotel room with a private balcony – we put Jane to bed and enjoyed some cocktails on the Adirondack rocking chairs that were just off our room each night.
The Inn at Diamond Cove has some resort-like amenities, we found ourselves with lots do during the day and enjoyed the warm summer weather! The pool is very accessible right off the front of the main lobby area and they had a small cabana bar as well as a restaurant and bar inside where we ordered food and drinks throughout the day. We also took advantage of the island’s tennis courts, and popped into a very old school “arcade” with some game and an original duckpin bowling game (so old school that you had to have a partner at the end of the lane to re-set the pins by hand, Jane thought that was the coolest!). There were also bikes available to use, and lots of board game in the lobby that we used while enjoying happy hour, and a big fire pit for enjoying at night.
One of the highlights of the trip was the great food we ate! The Inn at Diamond Cove has a restaurant called Diamonds Edge, located right on the edge of the water looking over the beautiful cove and ferry landing. The view was stunning, and the cool Maine summer night made it a perfect spot for al fresco dining. We enjoyed mussels and clam chowder, and some lovely fresh catch dishes for our main course. The only other restaurant on the island happens to be the ever-so-hip Crown Jewel, and it is worth a visit to the island for this meal alone! The restaurant has the cutest decor, with a pink and green retro vibe, tons of flamingo and palm accents, neon signage, and delightfully coordinated branding on their menus. The meal had us ooh-ing and ahh-ing over every plate, from bacon jam topped deviled eggs to seared sea scallops over black rice, to warm poached brown butter lobster and a dark chocolate mousse dessert, everything we had there was top notch! The cocktails were great too, we even got a few from their to-go cooler to bring to our hotel room at the end of the night; and we made our way back there the next morning before the ferry to grab some breakfast sandwiches at their general store that’s attached to the space. A delicious way to end our stay on the island at the Inn at Diamond Cove!
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