spider

Had good luck launching from there last time for a nice paddle up Plum Island Sound. This time thinking of putting in about 10:30 ish and heading out along Cranes Beach then over to Hog Island (Ipswich/Essex) if conditions are good. Ice and keeping an eye on the tide will decide how much poking around in the bay conditions will allow. Hoping for a nice warm day before Friday's rain. Can be somewhat flexible if anyone might be interested in joining.

Yes, We did have an excellent view of an adult Snowy Owl. Nice and close, without disturbing it we were able to view it to our hearts content. So the telling of the tale goes somewhat along these lines... I met up with Sid and we were soon pleasantly surprised to meet Jeff who also joined us. As it turned out he had been to the refuge the previous day and was fresh with info of some sightings of things that walked, trotted or flew so to speak We pushed off and crossed over to the other shore of Sandy Point area heading along to Grape Island where we scouted the banks for the burrows where King Fishers make their homes. (it is not often mentioned that they nest underground much like a cliff swallow does). Having good luck we continued up the Sound, Geese, Eiders and Loon were seen and heard as we went along... when... we saw our 1st large avian predator of the day, with some indecision whether it was a Bald Eagle or not A short time later, no doubt about it, a imm. Bald Eagle flew across, somehow they always seem to be taking their time so it was an excellent view. The open water seemed to be fading out as we went further up so we set our sights for Parker River area where we met the fellow that Nancy mentioned. After following the Parker River till it iced over near the Newbury Town Landing. It was then that we started down the west side of the Sound towards Nelson Island and Hog Island. Our only mammal of the day turned out to be a Harbor Seal sunning itself on a block of ice. We gave him plenty of room so as not to disturb him and she obliged by staying put for a nice viewing. Jeff was the 1st to notice that one of the telephone poles leading out to one of the points seemed "taller" than it should be. The sun gave us only a silhouette view but it sure looked promising. We paddled a bit further beyond it and with the glare of the sun no longer in our eyes it was unmistakenly a Snowy Owl, with the whitest head It was a beautiful Bird to see and the Best view I think any of us have ever seen of such a bird. We needed to land and stretch our legs so we opted for a partialy concealed point not overly far from it and took our break and a bit to eat. Owls are awesome and far more tolerant of any activity around it. It will be long remembered by us I am sure. Once we moved on we paddled back with the outgoing tide. This time going more directly to Sandy Point. After "shooting the breeze" for a couple of minutes, we picked a compass bearing so as to ferry across the increasing current and as much for practice as as well. Excellent day and excellent paddling companions...The day certainly ended with a smile.!

It was indeed a beautiful day to be out and about on the water. Nice fellow we met up by Rowley and would have been nice to meet you as well. We came off the water about 3:25. Such a "picture perfect" day. I'll try to write a bit more for a trip report,or if you don't mind I'll add a little more under your report. Either way I won't tell about the Owl...opps... well maybe a little...

Good yes, Pavillon Beach sits in the low spot between Great Neck and Little Neck, Ipswich

Yes 11 oclock works out fine. I'll see you then, should be a nice day to be on the water.

Tide and weather looking promising for Wed. Plan to put in around 10ish and head up the backside of Plum Island to see what it's like back there in the winter. I can firm up my times if anyone is interested in joining.

That's Thursday jan 22, 09...realized I hadn't put the date...

The put in looked excellent just before this past snow storm so I optimistic that it is still good. I'm going to put in about 7:30 -8:00 am. Hoping for a nice sunny day, fairly warm temps. I'm planing to go up the "back side" of Plum Island refuge with the morning sun. High tide is about 8:30 so will want to catch some of the tide and see how far you can go before it is iced in. Don't know what there is for wild life but would consider very fortunate to spot a Snowy Owl or something along those lines. I can firm up my time a bit more if anyone might be interesred in joining. spider

Thanks, that suit sure is nice and a great Christmas present from my wife. For the Adams Point paddle I wore my wet suit and a few more layers...kinda felt like something from the March of the Penguins..

on the outside chance we might both be writing a trip report I thought I would write a little report of paddling Tue Jan 12, 09 from Adams point. After checking out the Bay the previous day I did post a last minute message that I was going to paddle and see if there might be some luck seeing the Bald Eagles and other wildlife that were reported up there. The tides were right and I rendezvoused with fellow paddler Sid Cohen to check things out. We both brought snowshoes as an alternative activitiy in case we were unable to launch our boats. I was a bit surprized that the launch area had a new coast of skim ice that extended out about 1oo yards or so. Tempting as it was to try to push through it we used our better part of judgement and after some indecision we did find a safer place to launch that I would just as soon keep vauge, as it is quite unoffical. Water was mirror smooth as we paddled out to the Footman Islands to appraise the situation. After scanning the usuall spots over by the refuge we opted to head to the opposite shore (nearer the Bay road side). We quickly spoted an Eagle perched on a dead white pine often favored by the birds, we held off shore to keep our distance and soon spotted another then yet another. All in all we spoted 6 Bald Eagles either perching or in flight. One of the highlights was when one eagle seemed to be pestering the other other while in flight and one rolled over in midflight - presented it's talons to the other whle upside down. This all happens in the blink of an eye. (Bald Eagles will sometimes lock their talons together and free fall tumble through the sky and break it off at the last possible moment). After the observations we needed to paddle to keep warm and headed over to Nannies Island, in the now textured water. Sid was an excellent paddling partner and we made good time, keeping our distance from the ice which helped determine how extensive our wanderings would be. I misjudged one ice flow off of Woodmans Point and found myself awkwardly on top of the ice which I had thought would easily give way. Instead I floated on top off it while the ice sagged beneath me. Though I only had to go several boat lengths through it.. it would be about one the last places one would ever want to go over. So I'll give a big word of caution to give any ice even the slushy stuff a wide berth. (It reaffirmed our decision not to have launched through the skim ice at the begining of the trip). All in all it was an excellent trip, Lots of waterfowl with a Loon and some Mute Swans to help add , to the enjoyment.

Just thought I would mention Chapman's was frozen solid the other day 1-12 09, at high tide there was a thread of water beside the parking lot but it was actually the marsh grass that flooded over in the high tide. A couple of us were able to launch up at Adams Point on the 13th but not at the launch site, we had to get pretty creative to get the boats to water.....

This is pretty unoffical, last minute, but I checked it out today (Mon 12,08) and the bay is about 40% open at high tide. So am heading back up tomorrow Tue the 13th I plan on putting in around 12ish at the Boat launch and will have the choice to go left (toward Oyster River or right thru Furber Straight into the Bay itself. The report is there are about 5 Bald Eagles in the Bay, so while I'm anxious to see them I don't want to crowd them so that will be part of the decison process. Snow shovel would be handy for parking also will bring snowshoes as an alternative activity in case the paddling looks to iffy. if the Bay remains open later this month I will probably try again for the 24th... Let me know if you plan to come and I will pin down my arrival time a bit more...spdr

Is there any informal thread going on about what spots are good places to launch from as the winter wears on?? Right now -Pierce Island NH -seems like a good default place. Adams Point, (Great Bay NH- seemed possible near high tide but might need a snow shovel to dig your own parking place. Is Pavillon Beach, Mass any good now ? Some other spots?

Thanks, sometimes we are wondering if we're trying to "reinvent the wheel' or if other people have tried the same things and to what degree of succes or lack there of. Any info on sleeping in the kayaks ? I can't imagine it being comfortable, but am wondering if it is doable, esp for a solo paddler I read many stories of people pushing on till exhaustion then making rough surf landings against their better judgement. ..and there is one other situation that comes to mind. Travelling in lake country (and I guess even along the coast) so much of the shoreline is privately owned it might be easier just to sleep off shore even if it's just a little way off Then trying to push on unnecessarily.

It's actually a 2 part question but didn't really think I needed two threads for it... So for all the stuff I see about doing paddle float rescues (useless for greenland paddles?) I often wonder why people don't just carry a couple of them, run the spare paddle through the deck bungee's and put one on each end, esp if you're doing a tow with a person who is having trouble staying up right ? ...or for that matter how do people sleep when doing long crossings or can't find a safe or available spot for the night? Surely people must practice these things from time to time ?

Hey Doug Those are excellent photos of the paddlers. I skipped this one as I had done it not such along time ago. Great photos of them !

Hi Folks....... There is no parking at the bridge on 1-A at Ordione Point. I went there today to see how conditions were. ....The bridge is out.... under constuction from both sides. (I talked with one of the heavy equipment guys they've been at it for about a month) The detour brought me over by Wallis Sands State park so I checked that out...that would make a long long put in but the Parking lot is all ice might as well bring your skates...but no good for most vehicles. There is a parking lot possible put in (N43.04160, W070.71539) right at the edge of the Science Center but not on their property. It has possibilities but you would need to put in and head straight out there are a lot of rock shoals that will cover with the tide so the margin of running a ground or a gash is quite real. Others propably have better ideas but Ordione parking is out

Since one of titles I gave got kind of dissed... I figured I would offer up another one "Farthest North" by Dr Fridtjof Nansen (this is cica 1893 adventure ) This is a book of the classic era of Scott, Shackelton, Amundsen. Great explorers pushing the limits of survial & discovery . Kind of the days of discovery or death in the trying. It fits the Sea Kayaking Books category because Nansen does indeed live because of the skin on frame kayaks he had built. One of their biggest fears....walruses.... like the one that attacked them. Two of Norways great explores of their time Amundsen (1st to the South Pole) and Nansen (who later won the Noble peace price among other things). Both men had separate careers and adventures but their ability to survive off the land in the middle of nowwhere and live to see another day is amazing. the book was written near the turn of the century...not this one... the other century. It was reprinted in 1999 as part of Modern library Exploration series with an intro by Jon Krakauer

I love to read, here's a couple or three books you might like: Kabloona in the Yellow Kayak by Victoria Jason ....aside from being the 1st person, woman, grandmother,to paddle through the Northwest Passage...it as deals with what to do when your paddling partner (male) turns out to be.... well basicaly nuts. Artic Crossing by Jonathan Waterman one man's 2,200 mile Odyssey among the Inuit nice read, gives an idea of both good and bad of what has befallen the northern Inuit and the effect on the people and culture as best he can and now for figuring out naviagation for those dreamed of trips next year... Fundamentals of Kayak Navigation by David Burch for those times you really want to hit the books and figure stuff out.... good luck..bon chance

Thanks for the "heads up" we have one of the non recalled ones. Very popular among the hiking community

Google Earth...Excellent ! Worked on it in the wee hrs this morning to no avail but finally... "Dawn broke over Marblehead" (is that still an expression? haven't heard it in years) As it was all I needed to do wastoseparate the numbers correctly. so no more confusion. now for the "Dawn broke over" such an such a place is a feature of google Earth....cool... should have some fun with that. ( and in real life it might come handy....something I learned the hard way when trying to return to a campsite at sunset once upon a time not so long ago...)

I'm not quite getting it...? I also downloaded Google Earth (free version), but when I type in the numbers (waypoint) I get nothing just a message saying ..."your search returned no results".... I did go to the GPS section for typing in waypoints and it said that Google Earth Plus, Google Earth Pro ($400), Google Earth EC, would do it but not the freee version. So I'm pretty confused. I recently purchased a SPOT device which uses Google Maps to show all it's way points, no problem super easy. So I was surprised that Google Maps was not the place to go to to enter waypoints. Pretty feisty stuff dodging ice floes in the mouth of the Merrimac, haven't worked up to that yet, but was scoping out landing options by the breakwater the other day. There were gale warning in effect and I wanted to compare the river with the open water, check wind direction, etc. etc (Mostly working up to doing the Plum Island circumnavagation but not this winter, probably in the spring)

We were very fortunate last week with the put in and beautiful weather. Here it is barely a week later and it was all iced in (1-4-09) even at high tide. Made me apppreciate last weeks good fortune all the more....

Yes, nice to be out and about with friendly folks. Water was indeed a bit "bouncy" on the return. "...if not for the courage of the fearless crew(s)...the Minnow would be lost...." Interestingly after I left The boat ramp I went over to the main parking area where you can watch one of the Green Cans there in the channel. The current was swift when we took out, then I noticed it wasn't till about 4:30 that the ebb tide was burying the can underwater. That made the strongest current aprrox some 5 hrs after the tide turned, give ot take a little here and there. That might come in handy at a later date. Even at full ebb the river was running out to flat seas that day... kind of the opposite to what I first expected. Happy New Year! !...spdr

I'm interested and should be flexible for either day. Hoping for good weather of course...