Norhtheast Casco Bay from Orrs/Bailey Island , Saturday June 8th: "'Round and 'Round the Rugged Rocks of Ragged Island"

[PeterB]

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

[prudenceb]

As I said to you when you first posted the trip, I'd love to do it sometime!