It’s 7:30 a.m. and a bunch of Cajun women are singing in the streets of Boothbay Harbor. I’m sipping lukewarm coffee with an Emmy award-winning producer and Sewall Maddocks. How the heck did I get here?

For the past four days I’ve been following the television crew “Getting Away Together” behind-the-scenes as they film the Boothbay region. I’ve seen some strange and glorious things.

I’ve seen lobster rolls bigger than my head. I’ve seen jewelry color coordinated with foul weather gear. I’ve seen Rusty Court cut a rug to Acadian accordion music and I’ve seen a clambake glow under the twinkling lanterns at twilight.

“Getting Away Together” came to the Boothbay region because the community raised $40,000 to cover the initial costs of producing the travel show. The show is produced PineRidge Film & Television Company, based out of Jacksonville, Fla.

PineRidge distributes their product through PBS, the Travel Channel and Home & Garden TV. They have produced such shows as “Passport to Europe” and “Great Hotels,” winner of a Daytime Emmy Award in 2004.

Jerry Smith, the executive producer, said the whole premise of this show is to capture the essence of the Boothbay region. Through the vicarious lens of Reality T.V., the show follows six women during a girls getaway.

The six women call themselves “The Mini 6” because they like to travel by minivan. The women originally planned a trip to Boothbay Harbor in October through Cottage Connection with no intentions of becoming famous, but the group’s itinerary changed when Audrey Miller of Cottage Connection invited the troupe on the show.

“Everyone at work couldn’t believe we’re going to be on TV,” said cast member Sue Duffy. “We couldn’t believe it either. Once we found out y’all were for real, we signed up.”

Joining Duffy on the getaway were: Lenie Leiche (pronounced “Leeny”), an artsy Cajun with a keen eye for matching outfits; Marty Forsyth, a blond financial analyst with the cutest accent y’all ever did hear; Kathy Vallon, the fearless leader of the bunch; Gwen Bedell, who is not shy when it comes to rooting for her New Orleans Saints; and Sharon Zimmerman, the lone Kansas damsel with a cracking good humor.

All the women come from small town America. They discovered Boothbay was not so different from their own hometowns. The women agreed that the people of Boothbay are quite friendly, even when six squawking southern belles show up to town. The six are fun loving, energetic and genuinely curious about the region. They call each other “girlfriend,” and “sister,” which in Cajun sounds a lot like “sooster.”

The television crew is headed by director Jerry Smith, supervising producer Joan McCord, stylist Patty Nussbaum, and Stan Murphy, the director of photography. Murphy has experienced life vividly through his camera lens. He told me wild stories of being harnessed to helicopters hovering over pits of lava, riding a bicycle inside the Large Hadron Particle Accelerator in CERN, and almost losing his equipment (and face) to a man-eating alligator.

Smith arrived in town on October 1. Not an hour had passed and he was already rattling off historical tidbits about the Boothbay region.

“If someone is going to like you, it’s probably best you know the history,” Smith said, as we rode around the peninsula drinking coffee.

Smith is broad shouldered and stands about six feet tall. He’s in his 70s, and has more energy than a schoolboy. His crew said Smith is like a grandfather figure who enjoys teaching as much as he loves producing. Throughout the shoot Smith kept an upbeat attitude accompanied with animated mannerisms.

The women in the cast all adored Smith. They called him “Jerr Bear.” Every morning, they belted out, “We love you Jerr Bear, oh yes we do, when you're not with us, we are blue!...”

Smith worked each scene methodically as if it was a musical composition, and he was the maestro. He didn’t so much create the scene as feel the scene, letting serendipity run its course. A few camera tricks and lighting effects brought depth in which he weaved an authentic flavor of Boothbay into the production.

When the so-called “magic moment” happens, Smith flashes the “OK” sign and sports a warm, boyish grin. His scenes comes off as playful and sincere. It does not reek of the Hollywood razzle-dazzle.

As of October 7, the cast and crew had logged more than 50 hours of footage. At the wrap party everyone was tired but look elated from the experience. Smith flashed a grin and left us with an observation.

“Let me know if this is correct, but the people of Boothbay have a mantra. 'Come as you will, but leave us as we are,'” he said.

As a Boothbay native, living on an insular peninsula has taught me there will always be naysayers quick to criticize things beyond the comfort zone. Not everyone is going to love seeing Boothbay broadcast on the big screen.

But in the past month many people and businesses of the Boothbay region united in support  of the project, led by the belief that in the end “a rising tide lifts all ships.”