PeterB Posted July 17, 2011 Share Posted July 17, 2011 Five of us set off from the Bath town boat launch, for a fast ride on the ebb down the Kennebec River, about seven miles to our campsite near Fort Popham. We set up our tents and headed off again down the river, past Fort Popham to the mouth of the Kennebec to look for late afternoon fun. We found some glassy swells, and played a bit in the last of the ebb near the day marker and then Pond Island. Along the way, a giant fish, maybe 12-15 feet long, leapt from the water nearby; it was later identified as an Atlantic sturgeon. Ospreys were everywhere; we gave a wide berth to the pair nesting atop the day marker.We then had a bouncy ride around Wood Island towards Popham Beach and quickly found some nice glassy waves wrapping around Wood Island . After some surf play, we landed for an impromptu beach party , while giving the tides a chance to catch up to our agenda. Once flood was underway, we launched and penetrated a wall of surf along the bar between Wood Island and the mainland , and caught the Kennebec Evening Express back to our campsite, which , on this sweltering still night, was a mosquito’s paradise as predicted. We tried having dinner out on a little rocky spit but the rising tide was turning it into an island so we splashed back to the campsite and swatted mosquitos till bedtime. We launched at 10am next morning, for a circumnavigation of Georgetown Island, about 20 miles . We rode the last of the flood about halfway up the Back River, then paddled against the beginnings of the ebb the last two miles into Hockomock Bay , the river flanked by splendid lime green marshlands. We dawdled for a while to let the tides catch up, then crossed Hockomock Bay and slithered down to Lower Hells Gate, arriving close to max ebb; the current there was fast but there was little wind, so not much in the way of standing waves . We found a nice little play spot right on the extreme west end of the Gate , where everybody took a few turns nudging into the front trough and three tidy green standing waves: An orgy of edging and draw strokes! No capsizes! Two powerboats zoomed through Hell’s Gate, and for @ 90 seconds their wake magically turned the spot into a full-on tide race with raging 3-4 foot standing waves: a great illustration of the effect of waves on tidal currents . We flew down through Knubble Bay past MacMahan Island, and, as if it were all part of Gods plan, arrived at Five Islands, one of our bailouts, just as big dark clouds were overtaking us, so we docked at the Lobster Pound for shelter, lobster rolls, and ice cream cones during a nice pounding rainstorm, and set off an hour and a half later during a break in the rain clouds, paddled in sunshine down along the coast to Reid State Park, our next bailout, where (again part of God’s plan) the next batch of dark clouds caught up to us just as we made a semi-dramatic dumping surf landing at the far end of the long beach. We scurried up to the State Park pavilion , waited out the next downpour , then set off again for the mouth of the Kennebec, once again in fair weather. By now the sun was setting and we were roaming in the gloaming . We filtered back through some islands into the mouth of the Kennebec and again hopped on the Kennebec Express back up to our campsite, arriving in the otherworldly red light of sunset. The next morning we saddled up at 9:30 am to catch the flood back up to the cars, and had a nice zig- zagging, current- seeking, eddy- dodging ride up the Kennebec . We still had lots of drinking water and food, and the weather was just grand, so I was sorry the trip was to end. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Katherine Posted July 17, 2011 Share Posted July 17, 2011 Beautiful trip report, sounds like a wonderful trip. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brambor Posted July 18, 2011 Share Posted July 18, 2011 awesome. It looks like you squeezed every inch out of the day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbjorn Posted July 19, 2011 Share Posted July 19, 2011 This was an exceptionally beautiful trip. Here are more photos:https://picasaweb.google.com/116681396281387802896/GeorgetownIslandTrip02?authkey=Gv1sRgCOiGzt2KuMzpAgBlaine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Hazard Posted July 19, 2011 Share Posted July 19, 2011 Wow! What a trip! Thanks for the report and the wonderful photos! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EEL Posted July 20, 2011 Share Posted July 20, 2011 Great narrative, shows value of good trip planning, great photos, must have been an excellent time and what a neat variety of paddling. 20 miles, current play, surf, and lobster at Five Islands. Hard to beat that. Peter, I recall you looking up river and saying I want to visit that lighthouse and glad to know you have.Ed Lawson Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bazzert Posted July 20, 2011 Share Posted July 20, 2011 This was an exceptionally beautiful trip. Here are more photos: https://picasaweb.google.com/116681396281387802896/GeorgetownIslandTrip02?authkey=Gv1sRgCOiGzt2KuMzpAg Blaine Terrific pictures Blaine! Particularly like #80. Barry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chetpk Posted July 20, 2011 Share Posted July 20, 2011 Terrific pictures Blaine! Particularly like #80. Barry. I agree with Barry, Terrific Pictures. The storm skies I particularly liked. Obviously a fine trip had by all. ~Scott Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spuglisi Posted July 20, 2011 Share Posted July 20, 2011 I agree with Barry, Terrific Pictures. The storm skies I particularly liked. Obviously a fine trip had by all. ~Scott The storm clouds looked more ominous than the weather they produced but WX was warning of potential hail, heavy rain and wind gusts of up to 35 kts . We were paddling hard for cover ( except for our intrepid photographer, Blaine, who stopped to take pictures) Fortunately the only things the clouds produced was the heavy rain...and we did find cover at Reid state park for the worst of it. BTW.....#80 is currently the background of my computer desktop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbjorn Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 Shots 80, 81 and 83 all show what for me was the strangest, most malevolent looking cloud I think I've ever seen. That long twisted pastry at the bottom was not like anything I've seen before, including on long summer trips driving across Iowa, Kansas and Nebraska. I could only guess that it must have been due to some pretty strong winds, a horizontal tornado. After snapping shots to my right (#80), ahead of us (#81, 82), I turned around and looked behind me and saw that this one weird cloud stretched all the way to the horizon behind us (#83). It was at that point I realized we'd better get the hell off the water right away.Blaine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pintail Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 <...the strangest, most malevolent looking cloud I think I've ever seen. That long twisted pastry at the bottom was not like anything I've seen before, including on long summer trips driving across Iowa...>Not so strange at all, Blaine: these roll clouds are quite common along the front edge of a cumulonimbus build-up or along the "chisel" edge of a cold front moving into hot and humid air. I have seen (and photographed) them often enough as they proceed (for example) up the (KwaZulu) Natal coast heralding a "southwester". They can bring huge turbulence if flying in their vicinity! As for storm systems, these roll clouds similarly spell "nasty"!If you were to research tornadoes and really <watch> them, I bet you would see plenty of these. I find storms and all their attributes fascinating! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prudenceb Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 <...the strangest, most malevolent looking cloud I think I've ever seen. That long twisted pastry at the bottom was not like anything I've seen before, including on long summer trips driving across Iowa...> Not so strange at all, Blaine: these roll clouds are quite common along the front edge of a cumulonimbus build-up or along the "chisel" edge of a cold front moving into hot and humid air. I have seen (and photographed) them often enough as they proceed (for example) up the (KwaZulu) Natal coast heralding a "southwester". They can bring huge turbulence if flying in their vicinity! As for storm systems, these roll clouds similarly spell "nasty"! If you were to research tornadoes and really <watch> them, I bet you would see plenty of these. I find storms and all their attributes fascinating! If you go to Google images and put in "roll clouds," there's a lot of cool pictures - but I like yours best, Blaine! pru Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbjorn Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 If you go to Google images and put in "roll clouds," there's a lot of cool pictures - but I like yours best, Blaine! pru Amazing!! And I thought I knew my clouds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
subaruguru Posted July 23, 2011 Share Posted July 23, 2011 Wow. What a great trip!My favorites are 30,32, 92 (something about Sal's gaze) and 111. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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