Joseph Berkovitz Posted October 23, 2021 Share Posted October 23, 2021 [This is a report on the Beginner-Friendly Casco Bay camping trip.] This trip began by not beginning. Two days out, it became clear that we would probably be launching into 15-20 kt headwinds out of the south, coming right up the channels between the islands of Upper Casco Bay against the ebb current with a potentially violent cold front in tow. Not beginner-friendly, and also, not friendly. So Janet and I made the uncomfortable decision to defer the whole trip by one day, knowing it meant that Janet and possibly others would no be able to make the full trip due to work commitments. In the end, the roster had to be pared back to myself, Beth Sangree, Beth's sister Cora, Barb Ryan and Jody Harris. Sunday finally arrived and the weather was much better: sunny skies, and moderate northwest winds running at right angles to the islands. We would take it! We launched from the Brunswick town Merepoint ramp, which is occasionally open to overnight parking with the harbormaster's up front permission. The water was calm in this location on the lee side of Merepoint Neck... but where was Janet? We missed her! Our destination was Little Whaleboat Island, a beautiful island that today is private but will hopefully be purchased by Maine Coast Heritage Trust if they can raise the money - read more about this. The current landowners have always generously allowed visitors on the island, but they now need to sell. Who knows what the future owners will do? Please consider donating to MCHT to make this purchase possible: we all need to help preserve access to the Maine coast we all love. Our route ran like this: With the gusty NW wind, the segments in the lee of the islands were crystalline and calm as we paddled by the rocks of Upper and Lower Goose and stopped by both of The Goslings. But the two crossings were exposed to steep chop and a rear-quartering wind, particularly the second one from West Gosling to Little Whaleboat. Skegs were let down and there was some water splashing onto our boats from our right. But we made it, and unpacking ensued... We first had to do some reconnaissance to determine where the campsites actually were. There are two, one for 4 on a N-facing beach and one for 6 near the NW corner. The larger one seemed more spacious and suitable for the group although on this day it was definitely more windy there. It has a nice beach that functions at all tides and stone steps up to a fairly open bit of woods: From here we settled into the homey business of setting up camp: Before our drysuits were even off, Joe foraged a hen of the woods mushroom which Jody found growing on a beech tree right in the middle of our campsite: There was some puttering around and lazing. There were whitecaps and no one felt like getting back in boats. Later in the afternoon as the wind decreased, we explored the beautiful west-facing shore of the island with many incredible rocks and views: Monday saw us waking to another morning of northwest winds. We were not sure what the day would bring but we decided to explore southeast step by step, reserving the option of turning around at any point. Our route eventually wound up looking like this: Our first stop was along the shore of the large (not Little) Whaleboat Island, where one might never realize there was any wind blowing. This island is high at either end with a low meadowy center. We took a look at the group campsite that lies at the south end of the indented tidal area seen in the map above, where the island gets narrow. It looks nice, though quite grassy. We then crossed over to Harpswell Neck with the intention of checking out Basin Cove, a place I've always been interested in paddling near high water when one is not fighting a strong current at the constriction... After a bio break on the west side of the cove, we played for maybe 45 minutes or so in the rapidly building ebb current at the site of a former tide mill with a near-perfect clean eddy line. Then on to the seasonally closed Dolphin Marina for lunch on a tiny lawn: A few light showers were coming through but the wind seemed lighter now. We hadn't seen much chop for a few hours. We decided to head out to the end of Upper Flag and assess conditions for crossing Broad Sound to reach Eagle Island and the Peary residence. When we got to Broad Sound, it seemed unexpectedly peaceful. The wind had largely wound down. We decided to go for it, and headed over to Eagle where we landed and made a circuit of the island on a beautiful loop trail. When we chose to head back, it became clear that the planet had tricked us. The NW wind promptly sprang back up from near zero to 12 knots at around 4 pm. Well, like it or not, we had to fight our way back via the lee of whatever islands were available. The crossing of Middle Bay to Whaleboat was probably the hardest. But we all maintained good spirits and we knew we would make it back, despite some less than comfortable conditions along the way—I don't think the chop was much over 1 foot, though the headwinds were discouraging. It was good to get back to camp and some hot food. Our dinner spot was in a sheltered mini-beach adjacent to our campsite beach, with some nice ledges at chest height for setting out food which we dubbed The Buffet. Beth broke out the Luci Lights and we dug into some very well deserved food. Sleep came quickly although we could hear the wind gusting all night. There was some ongoing discussion about how far to go in protecting our food supplies given what we'd heard about raccoon activity on Gary's recent trip. I think in the end we all went the vestibule route, and there were no problems. Perhaps this wasn't the wisest. Maybe there are fewer raccoons on the less-visited Little Whaleboat, or perhaps our location meant the wind did not blow food scents inland where the animals could pick up on it. Either way, we luckily did not lose any of our precious goodies. The next morning's sunrise was spectacular: It hurt to leave our island redoubt. But we had to. The wind had decreased a bit overnight, and we had a mostly peaceful journey back including a visit to an oyster farm where Beth and Barb had a nice chat with the folks tending the oysters. The final crossing from Upper Goose to Harpswell was probably some of the rougher water on the trip but we knew what to expect and it was over quickly. Unpacking and returning ensued. Thank you to everyone for making this such a lovely trip! It was truly the highlight of the early fall for me and I believe we all got a lot out of the experience. I know I learned lots from watching what everyone else did, and there was a lot of good information-sharing along with the shared joys of paddling and visiting a beautiful place! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barbara Ryan Posted October 28, 2021 Share Posted October 28, 2021 Great wrote up Joe! My heartfelt thanks to you and our greatly missed Janet for planning this adventure. This was one of the best times ever for me! Loved (almost) every minute!☺️ The beauty of the area, the peace and quiet, the full moon over the ocean and islands was magical!! And the exploring turns out to be one of my favorite things now to do! man’s the challenge was really perfect for me. So grateful for the experienced consensus of the group and the terrific camaraderie! That was a challenging return to our campsite after a wonderful day of discovery and beauty! But I am so happy that we did it! I remember with about a mile to go, and that was the hardest paddle I’d ever done, on our way back to our island home, I felt that I was paddling in desperation for survival and you paddled so easily up beside me and said, “I haven’t seen you lose your sense of humor yet Barb”! ? Just what I needed to keep me going and stop all the swearing that was accompanying the self talk and playing of songs to keep paddling to, that was going on in my head. You are such an excellent coach along w terrific adventuring friend! I’m so delighted and grateful! Also thanks to my new also favorite adventuring buddies, Beth and Cora and my dear longtime friend, Jody, who got me into this fantastic group and also was our chef and “here’s how I do it” coach on how to do this camping with all of the stuff out of a kayak! I’m hooked now and will be working on purchasing all the stuff I need to do this as often as possible- when the winds lessen up thar! Looking forward to more adventures with you all!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barbara Ryan Posted October 28, 2021 Share Posted October 28, 2021 Forgive typos. My thumbs on phone don’t improve. ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.