Category: sea kayaking

Categories
Penobscot Bay sea kayaking

Seals but not on Seal Island. Flat Island Still Flat:


An early season paddling trip to Flat and Seal Islands, off Saturday Cove, Maine.

During the next few weeks, I’ll aim to focus my posts here on some of the critters (winged, on foot, or afloat) that you might expect to encounter if you explore the Maine coast by kayak.

Last week I paddled out to Flat Island and Seal Island from Saturday Cove (Northport, Maine) for this first time this season. The tide was calm and the bay was flat — perfect conditions for sighting seals in the water. Midway on my crossing to Flat Island, I spotted at a distance a cluster of activity. Approaching closer, I found that it was a group of 3 sea gulls as well as several seals that kept resurfacing in that area. Must have been some good fishing in that spot.

As I approached Flat Island and began to circle it, I sighted more seals, both ashore and afloat. I paddled slowly, giving the island a wide berth, so as not to disturb any resting seals. In several instances, seals surfaced near my kayak, popped their heads high out of the water to get a good look at me, and then rather calmly dipped back beneath the surface.

In all, my informal count came to 21 seals on and around Flat Island. (Disclaimer: some seals may have been counted more than once if they followed me as I circled the island). This seems like more than in recent years.

Overall, the Maine harbor seal population is said to be doing very well, having increased from just 4,600 in 1973 to more than 28,000 today. Prior to 1972, harbor seals were hunted due to being a perceived threat to the fishing industry. In the first half of that century, Maine and New England’s harbor and gray seals were nearly hunted to extinction as a result to bounty policies. However, scientific studies have not shown seals to have a negative impact on fish stocks. The Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 protects seals and other marine animals from hunting and various forms of harassment.

Harassment of the inadvertent kind is a big issue for boaters as resting seals are often alarmed by the sight of kayaks and will leave their resting spots to go into the water. If this only happens once or twice a day, it probably isn’t much of a problem, but if it happens repeatedly or occurs during pupping season, it adds a lot stress to the seals and can negatively affect their survival.
I’ve wondered about migration of harbor seals, which seems to be a subject of debate. According to at least one source, “our” harbor seals actually have dual residency. Jim Murtagh, states that Maine harbor seals are not Maine residents exclusively, as many of them winter on Long Island Sound and then migrate back up to Maine early each spring to give birth to pups.

Anyone who sights a stranded or injured seal can report it to Allied Whale at College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor.

Resources:

http://www.marinemammalcenter.org/learning/education/pinnipeds/harborseal.asp

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harbor_Seal

http://www.mita.org/learn/history/seals

Google Map of Flat Island

http://www.touringkayaks.com/blog2/2008/05/paddling-to-islesboro.html

http://www.paddletrips.net/sealisltrip.htm

Categories
Muscle Ridge Penobscot Bay sea kayaking

Taking it Easy on Muscle Ridge: A Kayak Trip out of South Thomaston

When sea kayakers talk about paddling the coast of Maine, they talk about Deer Isle, they talk about Acadia, they talk about Muscongus Bay. Not so often do they talk about the Muscle Ridge Archipelago which, to my mind, offers some of the best paddling on the midcoast.
Advertisement

The Muscle Ridge Archipelago is a wildlife-rich group of islands and ledges on the western end of Penobscot Bay, about 2 miles offshore from South Thomaston. Muscle Ridge was apparently named for the blue mussels which can be found there in great numbers — and not for the pecs of the thousands of workman who quarried granite from those islands in the late 1800’s nor for those of the lobstermen who fish those waters today.

We paddled out of Birch Point Beach State Park (another under-appreciated Maine treasure — link here for map), circled Ash Island, and then headed across the Muscle Ridge Channel toward Otter Island. Early on the 1 mile crossing, we were treated to the site of 4 harbor porpoises surfacing about 50 yards in front of our kayak. This was only the first of several wildlife sightings on the day. We also saw osprey, eagles, eiders, harbor seals, guillemots, cormorants, and three somewhat bemused island sheep.

The wildlife is one thing that keeps bringing me back to Muscle Ridge. An incredible 10 percent of Maine’s seal population is whelped amongst this relatively tiny cluster of islands. Eiders and other ducks can usually be seen by the hundreds, if not thousands.

Once you reach the archipelago, it is possible to paddle in relatively protected waters, but the channel itself often offers challenging conditions including a 1 – 2 knot tidal current, wind, and steep chop, if not swells. Conditions can also change very quickly. For these reasons, paddling out to Muscle Ridge is not recommended for beginners, or for those without adequate safety gear and rescue skills.

Conditions improved as we crossed to the archipelago: the patches of fog moved out and were replaced by blue skies and brilliant sunshine. We paddled alongside High Island with its stacks of squared-off granite as remnants of it’s history as a quarry. Then we continued south around the southern side of Andrews Island, with its high pink granite cliffs and pounding surf.

From there, are route took us west to Yellow Ledge and then back north through the split in Hewitt Island before tracing our way past Flag Island and Bar Island.

We savored the late summer afternoon light and waited as long as we could before turning our kayak north past the Clam Ledges where we sighted dozens more seals. With the sun sinking below the horizon, we recrossed the Muscle Ridge Channel, and then pulled back ashore in the deepening dusk at Birch Point Beach.

Categories
Great Wass kayaking Maine islands sea kayaking

Into a Land of Superlatives: Kayaking Great Wass Archipelago (Maine)

Four miles to the southeast of my place in Addison is Jonesport. Across the high arched bridge over the Moosabec Reach from Jonesport is Beals. And to the south of Beals, extending far out into the Atlantic, is the Great Wass Archipelago.

At the center of the archipelago is Great Wass Island, a wild island of high granite cliffs and subarctic vegetation which has more than 1500 acres land protected by the Nature Conservancy.

Several miles of trails allow hikers to explore the interior of the island as well as several miles of shoreline along the eastern coast. Kayaking is the best way to explore the entire shoreline — as well as the other 50 or so islands that make up the archipelago.

Quite simply, for the sea kayaking adventurer, no other place in Maine compares to the Great Wass Archipelago.

Kayaking Great Wass is not for novices though, nor for the faint-hearted. Tides are bigger here. Exposure to open ocean means the seas are bigger too. The fog is thicker — and the distances (between islands, and back to civilization) are greater.

I led a guided tour of the eastern side of Great Wass Island earlier this summer. The day started clear, but as we headed south, fog began to move in off the ocean. We traced the islands and ledges east of Great Wass, sighting seals, osprey, eagles, and eiders. As we reached Mink Island, the fog thickened, and we altered our plan, which had been to continue to the southeast toward the lighthouse on Mistake Island. Instead, we headed southwest toward Little Cape Point on Great Wass. After lunch on a beach between Little Cape Point and Mud Hole Point, we paddled into Mud Hole (a pleasant place really) before retracing our route along Great Wass and Beals.

Two more days of paddling are scheduled for August 14-15 — and we still have openings. Please see www.touringkayaks.com for more information.

Categories
Deer Isle sea kayaking Stonington

Island Hopping off Stonington — A Kayak Tour of the Deer Isle Archipelago

“Maine’s premiere kayaking destination,” is a way it’s been described in many places and, although I also have some other favorite places to paddle, I won’t argue with that.

Earlier this week, I guided a family group of 7 on a full day ramble among the the 65 or so islands that fill the six mile stretch of water between Stonington and Isle au Haut.

We launched from the town landing (which is tucked behind the Isle au Haut ferry terminal), weaved through moored lobster boats, and headed south across the Deer Island Thoroughfare. We paddled past Scot Island and then counterclockwise around Green Island.

The islands here are rimmed with gorgeous glacier-scoured pink granite. Green Island offers a granite-lined cove and a quarry that makes for a great freshwater swim spot. In the late 1800’s, Green Island — as well as many other islands in this area — were quarried.

The granite cut from the islands was shipped down the east coast and used in structures such as the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the Smithsonian Institute, several Manhattan bridges, the US Naval Academy and the Kennedy Memorial in Arlington National Cemetery. A map of quarried islands is here.

After a swim we continued south past Potato, St. Helena, and George Head Islands to little Steve’s Island, which is just short of halfway to Isle au Haut.

From Steve’s island, you can look north past spruce covered islands to Stonington. You can also look south to the 500-plus foot high Mount Champlain, the highest point on Isle au Haut. But mostly we looked at Steve’s island itself, with it’s varied rock formations, pocket beaches, clear tide pools, and sparkling emerald green waters.

After exploring Steve’s island and eating lunch there, we paddled northeast past Wreck and Bare Islands, sighting several groups of black guillemots on the crossing, before coming ashore on the gravelly beach on the southern shore of Russ Island. A 5 minute hike up a trail lined with blueberry bushes brought us to a hilltop that provides spectacular panoramic views of the archipelago.

By this time the wind had begun to pick up out of the west. We skirted the shore of Russ and Scot and hopped back to Green for another swim before returning to the town landing in Stonington.

For anyone interested in exploring these islands by kayak, we still have space available on our Deer Isle Sampler Kayak Tour on Sunday, July 6. The tour is suited to both beginning and experienced paddlers. Those who bring their own kayaks receive a discount.

If you are interested in exploring this area on your own, make sure you have adequate equipment, skills, and knowledge to ensure your own safety. Conditions can change rapidly. Fog and the numerous islands can make it easy to get disoriented, so chart and compass — along with the usual safety items such as kayak with bulkheads, bilge pump, paddle float, flares, spare clothing, weather radio, and signal horn — are essential.

Categories
Penobscot Bay sea kayaking

We Make the Times!

Paddling Down East From Inn to Inn

By CLAIRE MARTIN
Published: New York Times, August 24, 2007

THE tides and wind were against us and the sun was in our eyes as we paddled into the harbor at Rockland, Me. My friend Kira and I emerged from the marina in our life jackets and spray skirts, lugging paddles, nautical charts and clothing across the street to the Old Granite Inn, our shoulders sore and heads aching from two hours of paddling in the heat.

–photo by Herb Swanson for The New York Times

We were so tired we thought about going straight to sleep — but then someone told us about a local restaurant, one of the best in Maine. Within the hour, we were seated at its elegant copper bar, drinking strawberry-and-rhubarb cocktails, mixed with ingredients from the garden out back.

We had paddled a quarter of the way up Penobscot Bay, starting about 60 miles northeast of Portland, because I wanted a sea-kayaking journey on the Maine coast. But I also wanted hot showers and a warm bed. I didn’t mind doing some of the hard work (the paddling), but I didn’t want to do all of it (the cooking). The answer: an inn-to-inn kayaking trip . . . [to read the full article, see Paddling Down East From Inn to Inn, The New York Times.

Categories
Penobscot Bay sea kayaking

Hurricane Island Photo Highlights

1. Sunrise over Camden Harbor: 5:22 AM.
2. Young guillemot on Robinson Rock, south of Mark Island. This guilly was surprised as I was to find the two of us in such close proximity. He seemed to take comfort in thinking that if I didn’t look at me, maybe I wasn’t really there.
3. Seals sleeping in the morning sunlight on the bouldered beach between the ledges of Robinson Rock. As soon as I saw them (well-camoflauged as they are), I backed out of the cove as quietly as I could.
4. Navigation marker at Fiddler ledge, off the western tip of North Haven.


Posted by Picasa