July 2009
Downeast Maine is only a 6 hour drive from our home but Mark and I had never sea kayaked there together. We were looking for an inexpensive, easy getaway. I'd paddled the area once some years ago before I lived in New England, and remembered it as beautiful and challenging. We decided to spend 9 days there.
This is the area we chose, ranging from Bois Bubert to the west, to Machias Bay on the east. There were enough islands to please me, and enough rocky splashy cliffs to please Mark. The Maine Island Trail runs through here, with designated camping islands that we could use. We thought we'd start in the middle, at South Addison, and let the weather and our inclination choose the route.
Here was our launch point. It had rained during nearly the whole drive there, and it was cold. We decided to go easy on this first afternoon and just paddle to Stevens Island, about 5 miles away. It always amazes me that sea kayaks can hold everything one needs to survive for a week of ocean travel. They are very well-designed craft.
The view as we left the cove and headed out to the ocean. This island is known as the Ladle. We had some light fog which made for beautiful light. We were no sooner past this point than we watched a pod of harbor porpoises pass just in front of us, fishing and paying us no attention.
The red line shows our route to Stevens Island. We passed a large group of seals on the rocks off Stevens, and bald eagles glided overhead as we entered the cove. The yellow line is a side trip we did later in the evening to explore the Sands. There we found more seals and many pups.
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