Symposium, MDI and the Great Waas

[EEL]

This spring Gail and I planned on spending the second week of Sept. touring around Stonington. Then the Downeast Sypmposium was announced and we decided to do a few days of it and then go to Stonington. As it turned out, we never got to Stonington. Still we did eight straight days of paddling, two around MDI, three in the Symposium, and three around Great Wass.

First, the Symposium was great and had something for everyone. If you are not a BCU certificate hunter type or looking to be a coach, there were still many classes of interest. Spending a day with a coach who had competed and won at the Greenland championships was,to put it mildly, productive toward use of the GP. All in all, even if you can only go for a day or two, it is definitely worth the trip.

Second, we did two trips on MDI.

Sat. it was a 16 mile loop from Seal Cove, to Moose, to Underwood,to Bartlett and through the narrows back. This was the apparent site of a fatality two days later. Since it was foggy we took off with the idea of only wandering about a little and to take it easy. It is a nice are reasonably well protected stretch of water, but if you do not check the tides and read the charts, you are in for hard work or worse. The first half of the day and all three crossings were done in the fog. It is reassuring to paddle for 30 minutes and have the island you are aiming for loom out of the fog, but then you have to determine if you hit the point on the shore you were aiming for and that can get tricky since we were taking an offshore first, clockwise loop. Somehow we managed to cross paths with the only lobster boat working the area that day, but 25 meters is as good as a mile. Around noon the fog lifted and it was a great, sunny day with beautiful views. Unfortuantely we had @10-15Kt headwind down the narrows, but a strong current was in our favor so I picked where the water was roughest and off we went. Gail gave me a couple of "Why are you doing this?" looks and I'm not sure she approved of my logic, but she understood the advantage of doing 4 Kts into the wind to get home was worth the lumpy ride. Trip turned out to be more than anticpated, but it is a wonderful area for a relaxed paddle and if you are on MDI and the seas are kicking up, it is the place to go if you are not into rougher stuff.

On Tuesday we listened to the continuing small craft advisory for hazardous seas (it lasted from Mon. through Wed.), looked across at the Cranberries from Seal Harbor and thought its only 2.5 miles and sheltered from the swells, and the wind will be at our back so why not. 45 minutes later were were at the Isleford town dock. Isleford is a classic bit of Americana and an absolutely wonderful place to visit. Don't worry about food, just walk up Main St. to the general store/post office which is a living Norman Rockwell painting and pick up some wonderful goodies. The NPS maintains a nice museum of island life as well. Since conditions had been modest we decided to poke our noses out the off shore side and see if going to Baker Island was OK. Seemed to be so we set out to another lovely island to visit. The views back to MDI from Baker are beautiful. A few breaking ledges and some mild tide rips made for an interesting trip. Once on Baker and up the hill a bit, we could start to see and hear the large swells from the East pounding the shore of Baker along our route back. Also, the wind was from the NNE and building modest wind waves of up to 2 feet. It was a lively 3 miles back with swells up to 5 feet on our beam and with wind waves off the bow. It was invigorating to hear and see the swell that had just past under you suddenly stand up into a towering light green wall and just as fast collapse into a cauldron of foam. Later we got to ride the swells down to Seal Harbor. All in all a great day with a mixture of excitement on the water and a time travel back in time on land. I cannot say enough about this route and it is a must do on MDI.

Third, we spent three days around Great Wass. I must preface this part by saying, don't go there. Really, the only responsible thing is to discourage people. It is a different world on shore and off. Even under good conditions it is serious business there. Paddling in Stonington is warm and friendly compared to the Great Waas. Of course it is also so drop dead beautiful that it just takes your breath away and forever changes your perception of what constitutes a beautiful paddle.

The first day had the by-now-routine warning for hazardous seas, the second day that was supposed to be good and wasn't, and the final day that was as good as it gets. The first day was a trip around the Rouque Island area. Its hard to imagine you are looking at a pristine, virtually unused sand beach that is over a mile long in Roque Harbor, but you are. We travelled along the seeward side of the island chain leading to Halifax to watch the swells smash onto the cliffs and bounce off. Dealing with the resulting sea state made landing on Halifax a welcome respite. All I can say is being on the top of the little hill on Halifax is worth the price of admission. Wonderous 360 views with swells crashing below. Scanning about with binoculars revealed that in the surrounding 50 square miles of visable ocean there was only one other vessel, a lobster boat. It was almost too beautiful to leave, but we did. The 2.5 mile crossing to the coast was fast on rear quartering seas and wind. After the day's paddle, the 2'+ beach surge seemed trivial even to these timid folks. The NOAA forecast for the second day was fine, but it was a gray, damp, windy morning as we prepared to launch from the Beal Town dock. Sobering was the CG Pan-Pan announcement of a report of a man in the water and a request that vessels be on the lookout in the area. Then a classic exchange with a lobsterman who had just come in from the bay:

"Going for a ride are you?"

Gail: "Yes, down to Mistake Island area, but how far depends on the weather."

"Well...when you hang off the can at the end of the Gut you may think differently."

We did.

By using every ledge we could find to play hide and seek with the wind, we were able to get into the lee of Head Harbor Island and go down its length to Black Head where we peeked out into the wind to watch the swells in profile hit the cliffs and then see the reflecting waves roll seeward. After another hide and seek game we gained the protection of the Pig's Gut happy to be done early after around ten miles or so. The burgers at Tall Barney's tasted especially fine that afternoon.

The last day's conditions were all one could hope for. Wind 5-10Kts with 2-4 foot seas. Down the east side of Eastern Bay watching hoardes of birds and seals while listening to the grunts of ledged seals, and into the Cow's Yard. A most magical place and if you get to Jonesport, don't leave without visiting it. Then cautiously out Head Harbor and by barren Man Island to go along the headlands of Steele Harbor Island toward the Mistake Island light. Then along the wonderful pink granite walls of the Main Channel Way, around to the back of Mistake Island, where we encountered two bald eagles and more seals, to visit the lighthouse. After a brief repast of wild rasberries and wandering amongst more ledges, we set off across Mud Hole channel, through the Black Ledges and more boomers to Cape Cove on Great Wass. Using the incoming tide we almost flew back to the Gut along wonderous walls and islands, all with contrasting layers of dark vegatation and glowing pink granite topped with stunted softwoods All in all a stunning day of beauty. Three days of paddling an never saw another kayak, but friendly waves from passing lobstermen. Its a special place and next year we hope to explore the "west" side from Split Cape.

Ed Lawson

[jonsprag1]

Sounds like you had a good trip despite the weather---Love the scenery around Roque Island and Roque Bluffs----the only downside of paddling in that area is that the owners of Roque Island routinely kick kayakers off the beach there(that's ok I suppose it is their island)---but if you happen to own a large expensive sailboat or a motor yacht they are fine with you taking your dinghy ashore for a picnic---Sounds like class discrimination to me. BTY, the weather this weekend was perfect---sunny temps in high 70s, low 80s winds 0--10 knots out of the south---took my guided clients on longer than usual trips in the Stonington area--they loved it.

[EEL]

>but if you

>happen to own a large expensive sailboat or a motor yacht

>they are fine with you taking your dinghy ashore for a

>picnic---Sounds like class discrimination to me.

Yes, but they may have had bad experiences with small boat folks. Lack of heads and all that. I find the scientific experiment stuff a bit questionable to say the least. I noticed lobsterman are fishing right up to the shore so to speak. Quite a contrast with Bartlett on MDI where the owners have posted to show you are welcome to land and walk along the shore.

Ed Lawson