PeterB Posted June 11, 2019 Share Posted June 11, 2019 (edited) I had wanted to explore the extreme northeastern bit of Casco Bay, between the Bailey-Orr’s peninsula and Cape Small , so I posted a trip at fairly short notice and , happily, got some enthusiastic takers, so; after a few additions and cancellations and a bit of communication on the PM forum, we ended up a group of three and fixed on a trip that would focus on Ragged Island (one of the areas largest islands that sits at the head of the bay) and then a roughly counterclockwise tour of the bay tailored to conditions and time constraints. Conditions looked perfect for such a venture: seas 2-3 feet (as they played out, I would say 1.5-2.5 foot seas ) S. winds to 10 knots, mostly sunny ,with air temperatures around 70 degrees F. Our trio ended up paddling in: one drysuit, one Gore Tex bib with drytop, and one wetsuit with splash top, and all of us were fairly comfy for the day, never too cold and never too hot although close to it at times. So, at around 9:45, three of us did a low tide launch from the gravel beach next to H20 outfitters and the Salt Cod Café where we had converged ($5 launch and parking fee for this favorite spot ) and headed out of Wills Gut underneath the Bailey Island Bridge, or Cribstone Bridge, admiring and discussing its uniqueness, its beauty, and its historic structure as we paddled. "The Cribstone bridge was built in 1927-28 to connect Orrs and Bailey Islands, “using granite slabs as cribstones, acquired from local quarries in nearby Yarmouth, Maine. The slabs were laid horizontally, first lengthwise, and then crosswise, in several layers. No mortar or cement was used. Granite slabs were considered sufficiently heavy to withstand wind and wave, while the open cribbing allowed the tide to ebb and flow freely without increasing tidal current to any great degree. The Bailey Island Bridge is listed on the National Register of Historic Placesand is reported to be the only granite cribstone bridge in the world.” Emerging from Wills Gut , we could see all the way to Cape Small on this lovely clear day, and passed the first chain of ledges, punctuated by Pond Island, then set our sights for Ragged Island, about a nautical mile away. On our crossing we passed by the Middle Ground Ledges where waves were crashing in a number of directions over nearly exposed rocks ,so we did a tight skirt around their north side, then reached Ragged Island , where we did a full circumnav. of the island , in and out of a number of hump -like ledges on its seaward facing side, looking for a landing spot, and admiring the island's beauty the entire way , but with one eye on the incoming crash of waves. There were no idyllic landing spots on Ragged Island at this the lower half of the tide, but we found a cove suitable for a lunch stop, made up mostly of with volleyball- sized rocks , where our parked kayaks served as hourglasses, of sorts: We timed our lunch stop by returning to our boats just when the rising tide began to tickle their sterns. We decided to continue our planned counterclockwise route for the rest of the day, starting with a crossing of a little over 2 NM to Flag Island ,close to the Cape Small side of the bay , passing by the Sisters ledges on the way. Stopping briefly in a cove at the end of Flag, we set on a return plan, hopping from island to island . ledge to ledge in an arc that would return us to the Cribstone bride. As we paddled, the wind and tide began to turn our outing into a bit of slog , and by the time we reached Ram Island, the last of our ledges efore returning , we were paddling in a bit of bump, and a wind of maybe 11-12 knots, a wind speed Joe had confirmed on his weather app. during a brief stop at the Sisters ledges. Funneling back into Wills Gut, we had a happy high -tide take out at our H20 gravel beach this tim e with a kayak carry of something like 5 feet, considerably less than for our put in. We had a fast debrief chat , looked over Joe's GPS track of our journey (13.7 NM, 15.3 statute miles.) , which showed that our crossings were generally straight but on that last crossing to Ram Island we had not used any ranges or vectors , and we were pushed north a bit by the wind and tide, so the the GPS track showed a little hump at that end of our return route, a classic "pursuit curve”. In all , It was a fun to spend a day on the ocean with duo of redoubtable paddling buddies. I would return to that area in a heartbeat, and would not be surprised to find myself back there in the not- too -distant future. I'm thin king that a version of this trip , catching Ragged Island but perhaps even including a Sebascodegan Island circumnav., would be just grand. Edited June 11, 2019 by PeterB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prudenceb Posted June 11, 2019 Share Posted June 11, 2019 As I said to you when you first posted the trip, I'd love to do it sometime! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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