A week � or weekend � at the lake or on the linksMaine's Point Sebago Resort offers a great vacationby Jack P. Terce�oThe water is calm as we glide into the secluded beach, all hands watching for pirates. Other pirates, to be precise�we are pirates ourselves, sailing with the legendary Captain Hook, searching for the perfect beach on which to bury our treasure chest. It seems we�ve been searching forever, the waves lapping at our ship as fear laps at our hearts, fear that we will be ambushed by black-hearted swashbucklers before we can safely bury our loot. Then this beach was spotted: secluded, a gentle surf lapping at its white sands, the sands giving way to a pine stand with little undergrowth, easy enough to carry the heavy treasure chest inland, bury it up on the bluff away from the water�s eroding fingers. We're coasting into shore when we spot them, two small, fast pirate boats, each flying the Jolly Roger�s menacing skull and crossbones, each pulled up to the shore in a small cove to our starboard. We are in close now, nearly at the shore, too late to turn around and head back to open water. Besides, the two vessels look abandoned, perhaps beached months ago, their pirate crews long gone, or long dead. Our captain decides to take her in, and as the Sebago Princess drifts toward the shore, we all watch for an ambush. When it comes, we still feel taken by surprise. Several of our men�along with the beautiful and tough Samantha, who helped hand out the weapons when our journey began�jump ashore as soon as the ship�s prow slides up to the water�s edge. Three of them carry the treasure chest, while the others hold their swords at the ready, watching the trees and scant underbrush for any sign of the varmints we fear lie in wait. They do not lie in wait long. Almost as soon as our landing party is ashore, a bestial roar breaks the morning�s silence, and a dozen pirates come charging from their hiding places behind trees and boulders, swarming over our men. From the Princess� top deck, I see the battle engaged, swords clashing and fists flying as our landing party tries to fight off the pirate ambush and save our treasure. I fly down the spiral steps to the lower deck and rush to the ship�s prow, pushing through the crowd of sailors to get a better view of the fighting. Our men are outnumbered and outfought, and in short order they are scrambling back to the ship and hurling themselves over the rails. The pirates follow, trying to board us in their bloodlust. But we are ready for that. Sailors fire their muskets in the pirates� faces, driving them back into the water, back to the beach as the Princess flees the shore and seeks open water. As we pull away, a single cannon fires from the beach, its roar terrifying but its shot wide of the mark. Our escape comes at a cost, however. Even as the Princess turns and aims toward open water, the cry goes up among the crew: �Samantha! They�ve got Samantha!� All heads turn toward the beach, where the scoundrels indeed have Samantha, hauling her through the sand to their small shark-like boats. Captain Hook continues to head for open water, knowing it will do us no good going back for Samantha now. Besides, it is obvious the pirates are perfectly willing to bring her to us. As a handful of the rogues climb aboard one of their boats, forcing Samantha with them, we ready our weapons. One thing the Princess has is good armament. On the high deck, almost every sailor has a musket, while below decks powerful cannons are mounted on the gunwales. Let the pirates come, we think. We�re ready for them. But when they do come, they come fast, flying by on the starboard side, firing rounds that find our slow-moving ship with greater ease than our shots find theirs. We are firing heavily, every man and woman among us letting loose a volley as the pirate boat cuts through the water no more than ten feet off our rails. Samantha is on their deck, hands tied behind her back, and we have to be careful not to hit her as we try to fight off their hit-and-run attack. They circle around in front of us, then come cruising by again, this time to the port side, firing on the sailors who run to the rails to return fire. Our defense of the Princess is valiant, but we know it is hopeless. If we are going to save Samantha, we are going to have to give them the treasure.
Yes, I said 10-year-olds. And did I mention that the �cannons� were actually water hoses attached to water guns? They were indeed mounted on the ship�s gunwales, or whatever passes for a gunwale on the double-decked ferry known as the Sebago Princess. The other �sailors��mostly children, though a few of the parents joined in�were armed with heavy-duty water guns and were doing their best to not shoot into the wind when the pirates� motor boats cruised past, firing their own water guns at us. Most of the �injuries� on the Princess during the 50-minute excursion cruise came from friendly fire, as enthusiastic kids fired into the air without realizing their spray was being blown back at their companions. But no one minded getting a little wet on this beautiful Saturday morning in June on Sebago Lake, just west of Portland, Maine (less than 2-and-a-half hours north of Boston).
Point Sebago Resort: Amenities Abound in These Woods
General Manager Don Toms has worked at Point Sebago Resort for 27 years. Every year, he said, he and his staff are looking for new ways to entertain the families that choose the resort as their summer vacation destination. �We go on cruises to get ideas for activities,� Toms said. �And a lot of the cruise ships get their ideas from us.�
Steve Brickel bought a Resort Cottage on the golf course four years ago, on his very first visit to Point Sebago Resort. A Connecticut native, Brickel makes the four-and-a-half hour drive to the resort many times during the summer, to spend weekends and sometimes full weeks sharing his second home with his family. �We liked the resort so much, we bought a property,� Brickel said of he and his wife�s first visit. �We just fell in love with the place.� An avid golfer, he also fell in love with the vast spread of the golf course, which requires a golf cart to go from hole to hole. �The golf course is terrific,� Brickel said. �It�s probably one of the best golf courses in New England.� Theme Weekends Highlight Off-Peak MonthsPoint Sebago Resort is nearly packed throughout July and August every summer. Sites are rented in seven-day blocks, either Saturday to Saturday or Sunday to Sunday. A family of four can spend the week at Point Sebago Resort from July 1 to August 19 for $294 to $385 for an RV site; $644 to $945 for a Travel Trailer; $896 to $1,190 for a Park Home; or $1,246 to $1,449 for a Resort Cottage. The higher-priced sites are on the lake, while the cheaper ones are in the wooded area. All the sites are within a few minutes' walk of the beach. Between 70 and 80 percent of the resort's guests are return visitors, according to General Manager Toms, many of whom come there every summer and stay at the same site, or upgrade each year. Most of Point Sebago Resort's summer guests make their reservations for the next year before they leave. Toms told me that it was the resort's "off-peak" months�May, April, June, September and October�when they're hoping to increase business. Sites are rented on a nightly basis during these months, with prices starting at $21 a weeknight or $29 a weekend for the RV sites and going up to the high of $145 per night for the lakeside Resort Cottages on a weekend. The resort also offers family value weeks in June and at the end of August, during which a family of six can rent an RV site for as little as $201 for six nights, or a Resort Cottage for $845. The resort also offers special weekend golf packages during the off-peak months, which include accommodations, meals and all the golf you can play. While the restaurant is often closed during the week in the off months, the early- and late-season weekends can be some of the most exciting times at Point Sebago Resort. The resort hosts several "Theme Weekends," from Summerfests during the peak months to a Seventies Disco weekend, a Murder Mystery weekend, a Monte Carlo weekend and Halloween weekends in the so-called off season. My girlfriend and I went to the resort during the first weekend in June, which was the Pirates of Sebago weekend. Staff members were dressed as pirates, and almost every kid in the place had a plastic sword, an eye patch and a bandanna around his or her head. While the resort's regular activities were still ongoing�a kickball tournament, cart races, and paddle boat rentals�the weekend's features were pirate-oriented, from the ill-fated Princess Sebago cruise to the unveiling of the treasure in the Sebago Lounge Saturday night. Throughout it all, children ran and played and seemed to be having the time of their lives. I know the Saturday morning pirate cruise�replete with treasure, ambush, swordplay and ship-to-ship combat�will remain in my memory for a long time to come. I had a blast just watching the event play out before me. I can only imagine what kind of vibrant and fantastic memories the kids on that ferry, the ones who manned the water cannons and ran from side to side shooting the dastardly pirates with their water pistols, the ones who voted with shouts and laughter to trade the treasure for Samantha, took home with them when the weekend was over. I have no children, but throughout the weekend at Point Sebago Resort I could not stop imagining how much I would enjoy bringing my children there one day when I do have them. Perhaps more importantly for someone like me�single with a serious girlfriend�the resort provides plenty of opportunity for adults to escape the rambunctious, boisterous and at times just plain annoying children and enjoy the lakeside for themselves. There is a room off the main dining room that is for adults only and was so quiet I swear it was soundproofed, and there's also an adults only lounge replete with a bar, a television showing the Boston Red Sox game and two pool tables, all overlooking the lake. Then, of course, there is the beautiful and challenging golf course, where you will not hear children. And these adult amenities are not just for couples visiting the resort on their own. Point Sebago Resort's staff runs a nursery program and children's activities throughout the day, so parents can drop their children off at the beach in the morning and have some time to themselves, not seeing the kids again until they want to, meeting for lunch or dinner or a family walk to the lake's edge to watch the sunset.
For more information:Point Sebago Resort: www.pointsebago.com or call 1-800-530-1555 Contact information: Images by: Jack Terce�o -Updated 8-21-00- |
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The pirates speed back toward the beach to get reinforcements, and we start to accept the fact that our treasure will have to be sacrificed. Even the brilliant and courageous fighting of the 10-year-olds manning the cannons cannot save us now. 
The Sebago Princess is the ferry-in-residence at Point Sebago Resort, a combination camping/luxury resort set on almost 800 acres on the 55-square mile Sebago Lake. Sebago is the deepest lake in New England, at 385 feet, and Point Sebago Resort may be the most diverse family resort in New England, with a depth of activities and accommodations to match the lake from which it takes its name. From pitching tents in a cleared site, to hooking up your luxury RV to a 50-amp outlet, to sleeping under a ceiling fan in a Park Home, to watching a big-screen television and surfing the Internet in the most luxurious lakeside Resort Cottage, Point Sebago Resort can meet the needs, desires and pocketbooks of families on any budget. And no matter what accommodations you choose, the resort�s activities�lake cruises, boat and jet ski rentals, swimming and volleyball and mini-golf, shooting pool in the �adults only� lounge, line dancing in the main hall, cooking over an open fire at your site or enjoying the steak and lobster buffet in the Lakeside Restaurant�ensure you and your family a vacation you�ll never forget. Not to mention the championship golf course that takes up most of the resort�s 775 acres, and has hosted national tournaments since opening five years ago.
Point Sebago Resort was started in 1970 by Larry and Anna Gould, who still live in a lakeside home at the end of Island Road, surrounded by the permanent mobile homes called Travel Trailers that make up one of the resort�s lodgings alternatives. Their home, and all the trailers on �the island,� are surrounded on three-and-a-half sides by the crystal-clear water of Sebago Lake. 
When the Goulds began their summer vacation spot, it was mostly a place for tents and some RVs, like any of hundreds of camping grounds throughout the New England woods. That original concept has blossomed into a camping resort unlike any other, where families can choose between �roughing it� in a trailer home or enjoying the hotel-suite luxuries of a two-bedroom Resort Cottage. In addition to the 18-hole golf course and driving range, Point Sebago Resort has 10 tennis courts, a marina where guests can rent slips for their boats, nearly one mile of white-sanded beach, a lakeside restaurant with a nightclub and a lounge, numerous pavilions for indoor activities, a special nursery on the beach, shuffleboard, mini-golf, horseshoes, volleyball, kickball and almost any other outdoor summer activity you can imagine. During the peak months of July and August, there are between 75 and 100 different activities for children and adults scheduled each day. While most of the activities and events are geared toward kids�which gives parents a lot of free time to relax on their own�the resort also offers adult-oriented fun, from morning sessions of Tai Chi to evening beer tasting contests.
In addition to the wide variety of amenities and activities, Point Sebago resort boasts a fully-stocked General Store where you can buy anything you might need, from bug spray to books, from fine wine to fat-free milk. There is also a �boutique� with clothing and souvenirs, an ice cream counter and concession stand, and private bathrooms and showers for those not housed in one of the many lodgings that have their own. Of the 560 sites at the resort, some are empty for private RVs to use, but most are Travel Trailers, Park Homes (two-bedroom �homes� with a living room, kitchen, bathroom and deck) and the more luxurious Resort Cottages, which are basically Park Homes with a large sun-room added and usually have larger decks. The Resort Cottages are so luxurious they are sold as well as rented, and so many of the ones along the golf course have been bought that more are being built every year.
I overheard one kid at the lagoon beach�the lagoon being a small pond just off the main beach, which is good for swimming and fishing and is warmer than the lake itself�telling his friend he had been there four years in a row. And the kid loved it. You could see it on his face, hear it in his voice. He was bragging about coming to Point Sebago Resort every summer. And that's the kind of vacation spot the resort is: one you're kids will brag to their friends about, one you'll make reservations for again before you leave your first time, and one that can fill childhood�and adulthood�with the kind of exciting, fantastic and just plain fun memories of which great vacations are made.