06/22/99 Paddling Whitting Bay:
After breaking camp on Monday morning, I grabbed a shower and a shave, did some laundry, got back on Route 1 and aimed the truck north again with Beals Island off of Jonesport, ME the destination. When I got there, however, the wind was really kicking up on shore and Beals didn't appear to be a super trip so I continued on up to Machais. When I got there, it appeared to be pretty much a drive through town so I… drove through and got to the South Bay Campgrounds in Lubec around 3pm.
There seemed to be some nice paddling in the area so I signed up for 2 nights. I told the nice lady I'd want one night with electric to charge laptop batteries, etc. She didn't want to charge me for that so she gave me a campsite next to the Ladies Room which had an outlet behind it. So everything's charged and ready to go.
Mark, one of the guys working on the place came by later in the evening for a chat. He's the local (part time) Harbor Master and gave me a run down on the area. The first thing of note is Lubec is right next to the Bay of Fundy which has the world's highest tides. Lubec has 15-30 foot tides depending on the moon, storms, etc. He also said the water temperatures were in the low 40's.
Eagles and osprey are abundant in the area. Since he's working on a campground, when he sees an eagle carrying branches to build a nest, he tries to shoo them across the river because they're endangered and there's all kinds of federal regulations on the area in which they nest.
I described the large mussels I had seen at Acadia and he indicated they were a different species called horse mussels. The ones we eat are blue mussels. They're abundant in the area and don't require a license. Jobbers come in every couple of years and take thousands of bushels out. There's not much the local guys can do because the jobbers are the ones with the distribution channels. It takes a few years for the mussels to replenish themselves and then the jobbers come back.
Tuesday the 22nd I went up to Cobscook State Park and got the around 9am. There appears to be some nice camping there with showers, etc. I saw a few canoes out at that hour and everyone was wearing PFDs.
The great dry suit debate began on the way over. The water is in the low 40's but the forecast is for air temperatures to be in the 80's. Which do you dress for? I finally elected for the dry suit with synthetic long john's underneath. Fortunately, at least when I set out, there was a nice cool breeze blowing in my face.
While talking to a guy from New Brunswick, (yup, right across the bay), he said there was a reversing fall (goes one way when the tide's going out and the other, when it's coming in) with an 8 foot drop that is really bad during mid tide. I had put in at South Bay and wanted to cross over to Cobscook Bay. The falls stood in between an hour or so into the ebb tide.
I decided to at least take a peek at these falls so I pointed the kayak in that direction. When I got up near the tip of an island, an eagle flew by. It was moving pretty fast and it was only in sight a few seconds.
The current was picking up and was anywhere from 1-4 knots, particularly around the points. I could hear the falls but couldn't tell where the noise was coming from. Two fair sized bays empty into Cobscook Bay and there is an island right in the middle of the channel leaving very narrow passages on either side.
Each time I approached a point, I'd get in amongst the sea weed to slow my progress down and then peek around the corner to see if anything was there that might bite me. After a while, I couldn't hear the falls anymore so I guess they were in the other channel.
I got the GPS out to mark another waypoint but it didn't seem to be working. I was in an area with many little coves and dead end inlets and wanted to mark exactly where I was. Since I couldn't, I elected not to go on to Cobscook Bay, but rather to simply hug the shore I was on. I noted a lone house, the only sign of construction I'd seen in the entire area so far, as I turned into Straight Bay.
As I started up the bay, a seal popped up and began following me, groaning all the time. They like to come up behind you and follow and if you turn around, they dive or simply duck back under the water. After a half mile or so, I saw many more heads on either side of me and also heard a great deal of splashing from behind. Then I heard a growling and couldn't figure where it was coming from. It sounded like a large cat, not the roar of a lion or the meow of a family cat. More like something a cougar might emit when not screaming. Low pitched and somewhat throaty.
With the growling and the splashing behind me, my thoughts naturally turned to thoughts of being eaten. So it was with some relief I traced it to a large seal slightly behind me to the right. Then I saw the splashing was apparently being done by the pups. They would imitate the adults exactly as they dove but their bodies were to short and their tails would come out of the water in a big splash.
When I took a break for lunch, I decided to see how well my current dress held up in the water. As I paddled, periodically, my hand would go in the water, reinforcing just how cold the water was. So I waded out and bobbed around for a minute or two. The dry suit and long johns, along with a synthetic T-shirt and bathing suit were just on the wrong side of being comfortable. I probably couldn't float around out there for an extended period but could probably effect a self rescue or get myself to shore without much difficulty.
On the way back, I saw a gull chasing an eagle from what I guess was the gulls nesting warea. Then I spotted a 2nd eagle perched on a rock by the water. As I was fumbling around trying to get the binoculars out a 2nd gull flew in and chased that eagle away. A little later an eagle flew by and landed in the top of a tall tree and I was able to get the binoculars out and watch it for a few minutes. Altogether I had 7 sightings.
A fairly heavy thunderstorm just rolled in and I had to move into panic mode to get a tarp up in record time. I had just bought some more rope to experiment with tying to parallel lines to convenient trees and then securing lines from the tarp to those lines. That sucked big time. I've got two ends tied to two trees that are too close together, one end tied to the truck and a bungied folding pole holding up the last corner. A second pole is holding one middle up while my two paddles are on the picnic table bench holding other areas up. And it is pouring. Things don't appear to be too terribly wet. I got the dry suit over the computer stuff right away. The last thing was to find my cockpit cover (in semi-darkness) and get the cockpit covered. And yes I remembered to secure it to deck bungies.
Now where was I? Oh, yeah. There was still a fair current near the end of the tide. As I was coming up the eddies, I'd pick up steam and punch through the eddy lines at the points. The waters past the eddy lines were much tamer and I could get control and swing back into shore pretty quickly.
I paddled the last quarter mile in about 6 inches of water and ran out about 10 feet from the ramp. Two 10 year old girls were playing and waded out in the mud and pulled me in. Then they helped me carry much of the gear up to the truck. I told them they were very gracious ladies and they went away beaming <smile>.
These are very pretty bays with no developement on them. They're not spectacular or dramatic but well worth the visit. There's lots more to paddle and I'll most likely stop in at the State Park next time.
Well, it's still raining but seems to be clearing up off in the distance. Hopefully I'll be able to cross over the bridge to New Brunswick tomorrow morning. I don't like breaking camp and packing wet gear. I bought a drop cloth to lay wet paddling gear on in the truck. We'll see how wet things are in the morning.
06/24/99 Paddling Pennamaquan:
Well, the Newfoundland trip fell through the other day. Needless to say that was a real bummer. Instead, I'm hanging out in the Cobscook Bay area for a while.
Cobscook Bay is in the extreme northeastern area of Maine and stretches from Lubec, directly on the coast to Eastport,20-30 miles away. Both are on the New Brunswick border.
I'm at the Knowlton Campgrounds in Perry right now. Perry was named after Admiral Perry and is mid-way between the equator and the north pole. The campgrounds are $10 a night with showers and electric so I'm staying for 6 days and leave on the 29th.
The owner is a beginning sea kayaker and has a plastic Perception Shadow. He's very inquisitive and interested in everything I know. (that would make for a short conversation, huh?) I was careful to let him know my actual experience but he still feels I'm an expert. Tucked away up in this area, he doesn't get much exposure. You have to go 30 miles to buy a pair of pants. No exaggeration! There's not much in the area except gas station/mini-marts, the occasional campground, motel, restaurant, etc. Of course if there was a lot of other stuff the area wouldn't have the charm it does. Give the developers a chance though. They'll be here shortly, I'm sure.
This guy also likes to take an umbrella along in case he gets a good tail wind. Then he makes like Mary Poppins and claims he gets some very good rides. I told him to try wrapping an old sheet around 2 broom sticks. We used to do that when taking sleds out on the ice when we were kids .
As I was setting up camp, an eagle soared overhead and then another. I'm camped on a small bluff overlooking a nameless cove which in turn leads to several other small coves and inlets.
Yesterday I headed up into that area at high tide and it was really pretty. The water was like glass, no wind, no noise, no development.
After 2 hours of poking around up there I moved out into Sipp Bay which leads into East Bay which leads into Cobscook Bay. The owner had pointed out an eagle's nest across Sipp Bay the night before so I paddled on past it.
I examined each tree from top to bottom for 5 minutes and finally gave up and turned away. And there they were in a tree a little farther down the shore. Actually there were two nests, one right above the other. I could make out the silhouettes of two chicks (more the size of turkey buzzards) in the upper nest. I got the binoculars out and watched them for a few minutes. I took a picture with my 90mm zoom but probably only got a couple of little dots.
The coast line was a little more varied in this area. There were stretches of what appeared to be red sandstone bluffs and beaches with the occasional grotto. I took a break there and the rock broke in my hand rather easily.
I headed down (up?) the Pennamaquan River for a ways but it didn't look too inviting as there were several houses along the way and a pretty flat shoreline. On the way back out of the river, I came across a colony of about 20 harbor seals sunning on some newly exposed rocks as the tide was heading out. I spent a good 10 minutes floating around offshore trying to get a reasonable picture of one seal with my 90mm hung around my neck. They like to come up behind you and if you turn to look at them, they dive. I'd casually let the kayak turn towards them keeping my head averted and watch them out of the corner of my eye and then slowly raise the camera. I finally got a shot of one from about 50 feet but don't know if that was close enough.
The rest of the day was just making some 1-2 mile crossings. A couple of areas had some 2-3 knot currents running but there was minimal turbulence and I ferried across with no problems and no excitement.
I came back at dead low tide and had to hike through a quarter mile of ankle deep mud and fell twice because of the suction. There were a lot of clammers out but I settled for a bunch of mussels and made a nice spaghetti sauce with them.
That night I went back up to Eastport to get a look at the Old Sow, a large 50 foot whirlpool that's supposed to be the 2nd largest in the world. Either I was looking in the wrong place, there at the wrong time (2 hours before high tide) or it's just not as impressive as it sounds. I saw some currents that appeared to be moving in a circular motion but nothing I would be afraid to venture into. I had visions of a huge bathtub drain type funnel 10-20 feet deep ready to suck up everything near it.
Eastport is also the birthplace of the sardine industry (hey, inquiring minds want to know). They have some salmon farms there now and an Indian reservation which is mostly mobile homes and various types of houses.
Well the tide is coming in so I have to make breakfast and then go paddling. It's a cool, overcast day so far but so what?
06/25/99 Paddling South Bay:
Yesterday I paddled across the Pennamaquan River and prepared to head up into South Bay. I was just sitting there preparing to make the crossing when I saw an eagle flying towards me. It kept coming and coming and then it landed in the top of a tree directly in front of me with legs outstretched like landing gear on a plane and talons extended. That was the kind of shot some photographers wait a lifetime for. Of course my camera was in a float bag behind me on the deck. By the time I got the camera out of the bag, turned it on and got the zoom extended all I could see was its white tail feathers as it flew away. I said a dirty word but the eagle kept on going.
I paddled the 4-5 miles up into South Bay against the tide and against a consistant 5-10 knot wind. The shoreline was much more dramatic than the other areas I had been in so far. Plenty of granite cliffs and outcroppings all along the shore.
I've lost the battle of the drysuit the last 2 days. Today I'm wearing the wet suit and a Polartec 100 sweater and for the 2nd day in a row, I have the spray skirt on, but not attached to the cockpit coaming. Yes I have the PFD on and fastened.
As I'm paddling along I look down and see a 'Whiter Shade Of Pale' (anyone remember Procul Harum?) I had repaired (or tried to) a nasty gouge in the bottom of the boat a while back and hoped that's what I was looking at. The gouge showed up much thinner than the rest of the boat and I could see the green water underneath the boat.
I got to the end of the bay an hour or so before low tide and didn't dwaddle for fear of getting stranded in the mud. On the way out I passed 2 colonies of about 20 seals each on different rocks sunning themselves along with their pups. I also scared up about 100 black and white ducks that may have been eiders but seemed a little smaller than others I've seen.
About this time the tide had changed and was now coming (south) while the wind continued to blow from the south. The opposing forces created some lumpy water with 1 foot waves with an occasional 2 footer . One caught be abeam and sent a fair amount of water into the cockpit because I didn't have the bleepin' thing fastened. Prudently, I did so then.
As I approached a fish wier (what's the difference between a fish wier and a fish pen?) things got a little ugly with the waves approaching 2.5 feet and coming from multiple directions. I'd have one coming up behind me and another coming just off my beam and they'd both hit together making for a somewhat rocky ride.
About this time I started thinking about that gouge in the bottom of the boat. I could just imagine it giving way and a geyser of water coming up and blowing my cockpit cover up and the kayak breaking apart under me. Those are the kind of thoughts I have to make the time pass quickly as I try to extricate myself from the situations I get into.
The little I saw of the fish wier (that's how it's marked on the chart) was interesting. There were several wire enclosures stickng 5-6 feet out of the water and maybe 100 feet or so across. They appeared to be holding 1 foot long salmon who were none to happy and kept jumping. There was netting covering the top so they couldn't go anywhere.
Once I got past the weir, I had a decision to make. Make a mad dash across a mile or so of open water or paddle 3 miles or so around this cove. I started across but the wave action was too steep and confused so I backed off. A couple of minutes later I tried again and things seemed much better and made it across in about 20 minutes.
Now I see an eagle descending about 75 yards away. It swooped down near the water's surface and extended it's legs and talons to grab a fish ot of the water. This would be a once in a lifetime picture if I had my camera out and ready and it had a zoom lense strong enough to capture this spectacle. Unfortunately I didn't and I guess it didn't really matter. The fish must have dived because the eagle came away empty handed.
The owner of the campground's father is close to 90, still very active and pretty sharp. He registers people in the campgrounds and collects the money. He's taken to keeping an eye out for me when I go out and discusses my trip with me when I come back. He's got a million stories and spouts then out one after another. Last night he was telling me how this area was still pretty much like colonial times with everyone being pretty self reliant, raising there own food, building their own homes, etc. He's quite a character, one of those you read about in Reader's Digest Unforgettable Characters.
The wind's kicking up pretty good today so I think I'll take a day off. I ran about 45 minutes this morning and that's enough exercise for today. Don't want to get to healthy.
06/27/99 Paddling Eastport:
Yesterday was an off day. I don't want to paddle everyday since I expect to be doing this for a while and don't want to burn out. There was quite a wind blowing anyway and I'm glad I wasn't paddling into it.
Even so, I saw 3 eagles go by overhead at the same time. I don't know if that was mom and dad teaching junior the rules of the road or what. While I was having supper, I happened to glance up and saw another eagle swoop down and pluck a crab or something out of the low tide area.
The night before last I wanted to backup some of my work but couldn't find my zip drive. Have you ever tried living out of the back of a pickup truck? I looked for a while and then gave up figuring I had either lost it or it would turn up. About mid morning I realized checkbooks for 2 different accounts were in the same bag. That got my attention and I ripped everything out of the back of the truck. Nada!
I didn't think it was stolen but I had only been one other place since I last remembered having them. So I throw everything back in the truck and get ready to go back to a previous campground on the off chance they found the bag. I get behind the wheel and glance down on the passenger side floor and there is the missing bag with everything intact. Whew! My mind seems to be failing. I'm afraid I'm going to find myself camped on a remote island somewhere wondering where the hell I am and how I got there. I think I need a keeper.
Today was a pretty quiet paddle. I launched from Sipp Bay in Perry about 2 hours from high tide and steered for Eastport, 10-12 miles away by road. Nothing much happened along the way and I didn't see too much either.
There were a number of fishing pens containing 6-9 inch salmon along the way. Those little suckers take a running leap and jump 3-4 feet along the water. There were a number of gulls perched on the railings trying to figure how to get past the overhead netting to all that food below.
Shackford Head in Eastport is very scenic with lots of cliffs. The only problem is there are more fish pens right in the cove and they are pretty ugly. There must be a reason they're located there but I dunno what it is. The water did seem much colder in that area.
I had a long leisurely lunch break. Took a nap and just lay there watching the gulls soar around, watched a plane go from one edge of the horizon to the other and listened to the annoying drone of an outboard.
There are no power boaters, no jet skis, just the occasional fishing boat. I haven't seen any other kayaks except for the campground owner's, one sail boat and 2 canoes. Clammers are who I see the most of at low tide.
I got back at dead low tide again. This time I landed on the other side of the campground where the footing was much firmer. Even so, I had to lug the kayak about a hundred yards or so. The tides are pretty dramatic in this area averaging around 20 feet.