Jewell Island 5/13-5/16 2021

[Joseph Berkovitz]

This long weekend saw a glorious time on and off the water at Jewell Island. It felt like a reunion of sorts, even with the people I had never met or didn't know well. Perhaps it was a combination of the summer-like weather (finally!) and the partial relaxation of Covid worries. 16 paddlers were in attendance: Dan Foster, John Harkey, Phil Gassin, Beth Sangree, Marcy Leger, Christian Leger, Doug Cooke, Ben Rechel, Ken Warner, Jordan Engel, Joe Berkovitz, Yong Shin, Catherine Kimball, Liz Neumeier, Nancy Hill, Jane Cobb.

Thursday

Like the other days, this one began at a lowish tide—high was at 1:19pm this day. We had bright and windy conditions with a strong S breeze whipping up steep chop by the afternoon. Two pods made their way from Bug Light: an early group with Nancy and Jane set out at 8:30 meeting up with Yong at East End Beach; a later group left around 10:15 with myself, Dan, John, Beth, Doug, Ben, Ken and Liz. From the Baileys/Orr cribstone bridge came a group with Marcy, Cath, Jordan and Phil.

Our pod made its way through the Whitehead Channel to the outside of Peaks Island, then across the flood current in Hussey Sound to the small cobbly Vaill Island off of Long Island, where we enjoyed lunch. (Doug and Ken opted to forego lunch and head straight to Jewell at this point, staying in touch by VHF.) Up to this point things were fairly calm. After lunch though, as we began the outer crossings to Cliff and Jewell, the steady wind picked up and the chop got steeper and bigger; nothing hazardous but it required attention and constant corrections.

Arriving at Jewell we seemed to divide naturally into 3 groups. From north to south: the Cove Group (occupied by the north-arriving Cribstone pod), the Pier Group (Nancy, Jane and Beth), and the Cliff Group (an all-male pirate enclave on the heights to the south of the large beach). I stayed by myself in the Cocktail Cove area which unlike previous trips stayed unoccupied; we were to have the island to ourselves the entire time except for a few hikers on Sunday.

Christian had been slated to come on Friday AM, but his schedule changed and he elected to come this afternoon leaving Cribstone Bridge mid-afternoon. His ride was much wilder since the wind was in full swing by then and he had to cross Broad Sound during max ebb in what sounded like bigger conditions than any of us had run into. We were all glad to see him when he arrived around 6 pm!

Friday

On this day, 14 folks went to Junk of Pork and Outer Green Island for a day trip while Doug and Beth elected to do some beach cleanup. (We had committed to cleaning up beaches and leaving bagged trash for MITA, an activity which continued over the course of the trip. It was nice to pay the island back for all the great times!)

Weather on this day was sunny and calm in the morning, with increasing clouds and spotty showers at the end of the day and wind increasing to 10-12 from the S but not as choppy as Thursday.

The outer islands and ledges were stunning (I had never been there) and we played around in the slots and around the cliffs for a while before returning ahead of the weather picking up. We landed on the southern tip of Jewell for lunch, then some of us peeled off to enjoy the outside slots and ledges at high water which were lots of fun.

The afternoon featured some amazing trail clearing work by Dan and Ben and others — sorry, I don't know exactly who helped! — in which really substantial blowdowns were cut up by a "hand-operated chainsaw" and moved out of the trail. Up to this point the Pier and Cove campsites were not directly connected due to the blocked trails.

Saturday

There were three different trips this day: Junk Of Pork II (or "Junk II Pork" if you prefer) with Doug/Nancy/Jane/Beth, Brown Cow Ledge/Eagle Island/Bates Island with myself/Dan/Ken/John, and Long Island Bakehouse with (I think) everyone else.

Hopefully others will post some description of the Junk and Bakehouse trips. I can say the Eagle trip was really paradise-like. The weather was similar to Friday's but a bit calmer. We played in the Brown Cow ledges a long time in low-consequence pourovers and small swell, then lunched on the deserted lawn of Eagle before heading to the narrow beach-fringed channel between Bates and Ministerial Islands, then a run along the cliffs of Cliff (yes the name makes sense) and back to Jewell.

Sunday

Another calm morning, this one especially summery and culminating in late-afternoon squalls which everyone thankfully avoided. The pods mostly ran in reverse. Mine stopped for a visit to Fort Gorges where we took in a stunning view of the harbor and the ominous clouds building up to the northwest of the city.

Thanks to everyone for making this such a perfect weekend!

[Joseph Berkovitz]

One quick note - Gary had to step away (for entirely positive reasons, don't worry) and asked me to step into his trip-organizing shoes. I hesitated, knowing how large a shoe size that truly is and that there was no way I could fill it.

Jewell was not the same without you, Gary!

[JaneC]

Nice report Joe.  Thanks for keeping us appropriately “ herded" it really was one of the best Jewel weekends

[JanetL]

Sounds like an amazing weekend!

[Joseph Berkovitz]

Here is a link to a rapidly-growing album of photos contributed by paddlers in the group:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/thM4rXGPgiBbKJ2p7

[Marcy Leger]

Hi all.  here's the trip report from the Saturday gang that headed over to Long Island.  Had a fun day!  

Jewell Island Saturday Trip Report- May 15, 2021

An intrepid pod of seven paddlers set out about 9:30 am – a beautiful sunny day, with light winds to start.  We traveled south around the tip of Cliff Island then crossed the Luckse Sound over towards Long Island (pronounced Long-guyland if you’re from NY) we were ferried south to Vail Island at the tip of Long Island, where we took a short pit stop on the beach.  

We made our way to and around Overset Island (at the southwest tip of Long Island) (note: on chart looks like you can go through Overset and Long Island at high tide but there is now a causeway).  We followed the coast up Long Island.  We passed a MITA crew on College Island and stopped to chat.  They were very appreciative of all the work the NSPN crew was doing on Jewell!  

Our primary destination for the day was Long Island Bakehouse-for lunch.  This is a new café and we were anxious to support this new local business!  We beached just south of Ferry Ponce and walked up the stairs of the VFW hall towards the café which was to the left just down the road.  Long Island Bakehouse proved to be a worthy destination. It’s a small café with tables both inside and outside on a front porch and a side deck.  They offer a wide variety (including the much sought-after lobster roll) as well as other sandwiches, salads, and many baked goods.  Phone number (207) 766-2512, www.LObakdhouse.com

After lunch we headed to Little Chebeague to check out their campsite.  Then we began to head back.  We paddled along the north end of Long Island and crossed over to Hope Island.  A charming little island with barns, horses, sheep, etc!  We crossed to Cliff Island and then paddled between the East Side of Cliff Island and Jewell back to our campsite.  All in all a lovely day and about 12 miles of paddling.