TheBigYaker

My wife and I paddled Pretty Marsh on an absolutely gorgeous day. Paddled from the boat ramp to a picnic area, had lunch, and then paddled around a few miles. I was absolutely salivating at all the great areas that there were to be had, both in an around Acadia NP. We are already planning to go back. TheBigYaker

I am heading up to Bar Harbor/Acadia this weekend and looking for somewhere to paddle with my wife. My wife is a novice and been in canoes and row boats, but never a kayak. She will be paddling a WS Tsunani 145. I am a pretty good paddler with no roll, but very good other self-rescue techniques and have paddled 15 miles in strong ocean currents several times. We have all the warm clothing and safety gear including drysuits and drytops and farmer johns. I am looking for a area that is pretty calm and an easy paddle area for her. An area that we can go out and back in roughly 2 to 3 h that isn't "in" the ocean. Any ideas? Jordan Pond? Thanks. TheBigYaker

New Icom Radio. Saw one at the NE Boatshow a few days ago. Icom rep was hobnobbing with a other attendee so I didn't get a chance to ask about it. The display had the M32, M1V, and M72 all underwater and on. The M72 looked a little thinner (depth) than the M1V. Very sleek. TheBigYaker

On July 3rd, I launched from the just outside the swimmer's beach area at Hingham Harbor Park. I wanted to launch over near the boat ramp (channel), but couldn't find temp. parking to drop the boat off, so I parked way over near the swimmers area and walked the boat down the beach to the water. High tide was around 10 AM and I launched at 2 PM. Based on my experience, I wouldn't recommend anything more than 3 h after high tide unless you launch at the boat ramp. Most of the beach was okay, but the last 40 ft was ankle deep sucking mud that really stuck to you. Once afloat, the non-channel area was maybe 1.5 ft deep. I am sure that at low tide you would be less than 1 ft. Once past Button Island though or in the channel, water depth was not an issue. Have fun. TheBigYaker

The landing has a concrete boat ramp that allows you to launch pretty much any time. Off to the left (looking towards the river) of the boat ramp is a small area that can be used to launch at about 2 h after high or low tide. It is too small to launch at extreme high tide and too muddy to launch at extreme low tide. Within 2 hours on either side of low tide, the current is pretty strong just after (downstream) of the boat ramp, so you need to do some quick paddling and maneuvering to avoid being swept into some rocks and a private boat/dock. I have launched there before and seen many other yaker's do the same. TheBigYaker