What did I do this weekend...well, I'm glad you asked, let me tell you about it! My wife and I and a couple of friends drove an hour and a quarter Downeast to Deer Isle and launched our kayaks out of Old Quarry Adventures in Webb Cove (440 10.296'N 680 38.279'W). Captain Bill was happy to take our launch/parking fees and give us the lowdown on the local conditions. We loaded up our boats in a light sprinkle which vanished by the time we were ready to hit the water. Conditions were good with light SW winds and small seas. Since it was a Sunday, there were very few lobster boats to avoid as well. There was just enough fog to give the awaiting islands of the Deer Isle Archipelago an air of mystery. We paddled leisurely out of the cove up to Grog Island and then to Bold Island on our way over towards Hell's Half Acre, spotting birds as we went along. The guillemots were out in great abundance and, unusually, many were perched on the low-tide ledges. We paddled over to Devil's Island and poked around in the nearby ledges trying to identify the various shorebirds. A light fog was drifting over Millet Island to our east and it looked very inviting. Since boat traffic was unusually light and the crossing was short, we decided to paddle over there via Spruce Island for a lunch break. Millet ( 440 8.740'N 680 35.919'W) is on the Maine Island Trail and open to trail members for day use. After lunch on Millet we continued island hopping around the archipelago playing tag with the fog banks and getting a chance to practice our map and compass skills. The scenery was fantastic (the rock cliffs on Eastern Mark Island - amazing!) and the lack of boat traffic was truly remarkable for that area. We enjoyed it immensely. After a couple of hours of paddling, we stopped again on Little Sheep ( 440 10.602'N 680 36.647'W) - another Maine Island Trail property - for a stretch break. Little Sheep is a jewel of an island, very small but open for camping for small groups of trail members. We wandered around the circumference of the island in about 10 minutes, observing some very interesting granite formations as we passed. After that, it was a couple of miles of paddling against a light current and wind through ranks of cormorants and gulls among the rocks of Buckmaster Ledges and back to the put-in. A perfect day of paddling that we will long remember! Mark Goff Hampden, Maine *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Mon Sep 14 2009 - 17:50:07 PDT
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