spider

Also in the Exeter area, with a flexible schedule.... Mostly a solo paddler, though I like paddling around this area with other folks. Paddle Great Bay often when I'm home. Also been doing some of the big lakes up in western Maine along the Northern Forest Canoe trail. Just came back from a a few days on Flagstaff Lake feeding the mosquitos and a few days of paddling The Moose River up by Jackman Maine... looking for Moose of course! Nice eagles and what not up through there as well. If the weather ever breaks I'll try and catch up with you et al

This will probably get me in big trouble with the powers that be, but since I live in NH, which is the "Live Free or Die" state, I don't see it much different than seeing people not wearing helmets when riding motorcycles. Not the brightest idea, but I have also heard it refered to as ... natural selection in progress...

a paddling resume..? and I thought my days of resumes were long behind me...

I know my most expensive paddles sit as "spares" at home or on deck... Lot's of good advice, though I may give a little different perspective when we made our purchases... it was pretty straight forward... How much money am I willing to spend... How old am I... How much weight am I willing to lift at this age...how much 5 years from now...? ..am I going to beat the boat in WW, rocks etc. We picked 50 lbs as our maxium weight, then shopped according I have seen beautiful boats that weigh 35 lbs making mine at 50lbs look heavy...but I love the boat I do have.

Blue Chart....Right now I'm lovin it like a kid in a candy store. First thing I did was load Canada St Lawrence, over to the Mingans , Isle de Madeline, Gaspe, Anticosti ...etc,etc For me that is great. Last year I spent 100 on 5 paper charts, that just barley covered some of the areas of interest . It's pretty hard to find the info resources when your up there, in either language. Here I was able to load about 70 maps for much the same price. I also like how you can scroll almost seamlesly. Definitly like the charted depths which helps you see where various whales might be, how much room they have to move around (ie Gaspe, Bay), and of course, are you going to run out of water at low tide. Things like that. Curious to see what it has for shipwrecks around Anticosti Island, there is reputed to be 300 or more.. I'm glad this isn't my 1st GPS a lot of the concepts are the same, so it's not as hard as learning from scratch like the 1st time around. ...Also took lots and lots of advice on what might be useful for us, Figured no sense asking for advice if I wasn't going to use it...

..kinda like trying to pin down the Appalachian Trail....some say Maine some say New Foundland...and beyound. I was thinking the Island Trail started down by Kittery by now...? ..just as an aside.... I did just join, this past fall, the St Lawrence FQCK (Federaton du Quebecoise du Canoe et Kayak). They have modeled the Quebec Blue Route or "Route Bleue," on the Maine Island Trail, a true compliment indeed!! The Maine Island Trail is a great inspiration for lots of groups and organizations.

Nice report and nice navigation !!

Thought I would update this after doing a little more home work. Reading the MITA Guidebook (2006) for Stage Island it states that "the northeast side of the islands is a seal rookery in the spring, so please give this side a wide berth" I would say in the fog it was the inhabitants of the rookery that we met. as a rule of thumb we try to give seals a lot of "elbow room" (if only they had elbows...) On a clear day we might have figured it out, but just thought I would mention it.... I don't know how late their season runs.... other than that Apparently Cape Porpoise used to be the beggining of the Maine Island Trail. Reading an account of the start of his journey Reinhard Zollitsch he mentioned starting his trip at the Boat Landing at Tattle Corner on the Saco River instead, so I went for a drive looking for that. I did find a nice public Boat Ramp not to far up rte 9. When I talked to some local folks they refered to it as the Marblehead Boat Ramp, and mentioned that the ebb was pretty strong, looked promising though. I'd be curious if others are using it or if there is a launch right near Biddeford Pool that people use? I ddn't see one but it's shown on the Maine Atlas

Hit the water with Kevin for what turned out to be one of the most relaxing paddling I have had in ages. Excellent time to practice navigating in the fog (though some could say I've been in a fog for years) Basically we set out and and went clockwise visiting the various islands nearby. Couldn't much see beyond 50 yards give or take. So it was with much pleasure to see lot's of seals almost instantly as soon as we started. I think the fog brought the seals closer for a better look at us. The whole scene looked very ethereal, with various waterfowl (Buffleheads Loons, Eiderducks, etc) floating in and out of view. But the show stopper of all was the...Snowy Owl...sitting on the roof of the roof of what would have been the lightkeeper house on Goat Island. Excellent view, I would have missed the whole thing as I blah blahed about who knows what. Kevin spotted it, not overly far from us, seemingly completely uninterested in anything to do with us. Owls are always a big treat and a snowy Owl on an Island in late March was a treat indeed.!! Moving on, we poked our heads out onto the more exposed side of the islands once or twice, and though we could have cranked it up a notch dodging the various breakers. We thought it wiser not to "push the envolope". While it was probably doable, the thinking was pretty much this way...exposed, in the fog, with no clear view of where the waves were building, it would be more prudent to scout about on more protected water. Not so much what we could do, but more of what would be the wise thing to do for us at that time, and save the play for another day. I know others were going to paddle down around York so ,of course, I'm wondering how they made out. We never got the sunny day, but a fine day to be on the water none the less....and of course did I mention the Owl again and again...?

I'm up for it. Haven't been up that way, I see Bickford Island town wharf on the chart.. is that the put in ? high tide 1:13 weather wise I think Sat is looking good.

ahh...Thurs finds me working.... Went out today, up the Squamscot from Chapmans Landing to Exeter and back. Tides worked out nicely so we were able to "go with the flow." for a nice easy paddle. (didn't see any Osprey yet. plenty of Mergansers,though.) Hope you have a great time!

Thanks I was wondering that. I'll be loading the Blue Chart Americas CD tommorow. And of course there are separate fees to unlock the different regions... I was told the chips are expensive.... do they also have added "unlock" fees? I've been wondering that. It would help determine which is the best way to go.

Hi there I'd interested for Manchester. Either myself in the single, or with my wife in the tandem, depending what we have for transportation (Rav needs muffler)) ....Im thinking the Dry Breakers is the area aprox 2 1/2 miles off shore with about 1 mile being the largest crossing.... (Flexible to other plans, but will pass on going into the city)

I read alot about Blue Chart and have met some folks who use it. Is MapTech offering much the same for Gps or is there some basic difference of what they are offering? I did just buy the Blue Chart CD but I'm reluctant to open it if I can get all the Altanic Coast for one price and not piece by piece etc. thanks spider (I did just get the Garmin 76Csx)

I'm looking good for Sat. I haven't been down that way in quite some time. Is parking easy enough ?

Thanks that was good news as I did just order the 76csx the other day. but A friend from another site is saying how dissapointed he was in the 60csx and wants me to hold out for the Earthmate PN40. Glad you mentioned ploting a course on the computer and then send it over to the GPS. There has been confusion on that subject, some saying it can't be done. (...then again perhaps it was just me who was confused) True, I don't expect to much from electronic compasses but thought it might be a good back up in a pinch. I do want to load or purchase cards for NOAA charts or Blue Charts once I figure out the difference between the two. Neil Thanks for the offer of help. I might take you up on that once I get mine delivered (I also bought mine on Amazon.com. It should be pre loaded with maps of North and South America, but some say the maps leave something to be desired and best to load others on to it. I'm certainly open for advice so as to get the most out of it.

I think I have a partial answer to the question but somewhat in reverse of the question. Though I've had good luck referencing waypoints taken from Google Earth there are places that it wouldn't quite work. So for example,When talking to a friend about a nice kayak paddle trip last year, but when we went to look it up on Google Earth, The entire chain of Islands that we paddled were no where to be found ! So the limitation is you can't pull potential waypoints from a place that has yet to be"mapped" by Google Earth. I've found places that are lightly mapped when I reference it with Google Earth it brings me to a view with an elevation of about 4,000 feet. So I can see a town or a bay and could pull the waypoints from them I would be hard pressed to get a more exact fix of paricular rock or outcropping or somethng like that. Hope that somewhat answers the question...

yes , it's true, so I'm tryng to figure how much for a Gps and how much more to get the cards for an area. I'm pretty naive on some (a lot) of this. For example, I was thinking whichever Gps I get here I'll just add Canada to it. ....That seemed fine till I learned, for one of the units, I could add a card for just the section that covers most of the areas I'm apt to go when up there.... But that card was available for an additional $300+. Yikes ! So it's hard to tell, how much your actually paying for a Gps and how much more you pay for the card programs, or different bundle packages things are offered with. Gets the head spinning when one is trying to compare what's available for what price etc. etc.

I seem to be narrowing it down to the Earthmate Pn-40 and the Garmin76 CS. (I like the Large screen of the Garmin 400c, but perhaps not as user friendly) Trying to find one that is mitten friendly or at least usuable with cold hands, large numbers and function buttons fi possible. I need to be sure I can add charts for Canada, or at least the sections I go to...Gaspe, Anticosti, Mingans etc with out over loading the units memory etc

Thanks I'll check it out. I like the fact it's waterproof. I see most the info is geared for the USA so I'm hoping it has some Canadian maps/charts available. Perhaps using GPS is not that common amongst kayakers. Someone had given me one for hiking, esp above treeline, but that was a few years ago and things have upgraded since then. Some of the places I have in mind are lightly charted, so the GPS might come in handy for entering waypoints ahead of time etc.

I'm looking to replace my Gps (Garmin etrex Vista) as it has become "tempermental". I'm wondering what others might be using. Any recommendations? (or ones not to buy). I know a larger screen size would be nice. Garmin and Mangella (sp?) seem to be the ones to consider, so any help would be much appreciated. thanks spider

I was wondering if anyone here might have known him? His name Hamilton "Toby" Wood. It mentions in some of the reports that he had paddled to the Isle of Shoals numerous times, thought perhaps some folks here might have known him.

I might be a bit confused but I don't think I've met Ross yet, though the name does look familar. For this paddle it was just the two of us Glen and myself. (sorry for all the misspellings apparently I didn't use the edit function quick enough) Glen had a good idea of how long different sections might take to get from one place to another so we were able to make good time and stretch our legs for a break or two. I did check up on some of the birds we saw..my vote for the Ducks with the pointed tails and making a fair amount of noise will be a bird called Oldsquaw..also know for being fairly "talkative" so that was one of the big clues as we tried to figure it out....course I could be wrong.....

I was glad to meet up with Glen ( Glenster) right about 10:30 at pavilion Beach and quickly opted to make use of the high water and incoming tide (high tide was 12ish) and head over to Fox Creek and do the Circumnavigation of Castle Neck. Fortunately Glen had scoped things out from land the previous day and knew that things looked pretty ice free back there. So that was a big vote for giving it a try and sure enough there were only 2 small slushy areas we needed to paddle through on Fox Creek. Excellent few of a Red Tail Hawk who let us get uncommonly close. She was standing right beside the Creek where you go under Argilla Road. We werer beside her before it lifted off and flew briefly up onto bridhe then back down again when we passed . Near as we could tell there she was having "breakfast" with something that was to big to carry off. We made good time and with the high water we were able to go most any where we wanted. After a brief stop on Hog Island we headed over towards Conomo Point partly so I could get a better idea how it would look from the water. Wind and the ebbing tide brought us quickly from Conomo out through the entrance of Essex Bay and out along Cranes Beach where we took another short break before making the finall push back to Pavilion Beach against the ebb tide. That was a bit of a huff and a puff...worked up a sweat on that portion no doubt about it. We never did get that sunny day we were hoping for but it was a fine day to be out and about on the water. Saw a fair amount of water fowl...Bufflehead and some other misidentified (by me) ducky things flying about. Nice day and nice company !

Sounds good, I'll be trying to get there a little early so as to get a nice 10:30 start. See you there...spdr