Gray Day in Castine

It was an iffy day, and the splatters of rain on our car windshield didn't make it any more appealing.  But it had been a long hard winter.  We'd started with an ice storm in early November which left us without power for a week and downed trees which still fill our property.  It had then become a record setting winter for snow and cold.  And though we'd been out on our kayaks for a few short trips, they'd all been local.  We were looking forward to a day on the water.  So, arriving at the Castine dock to see this was disappointing.

With the dock blocked off, we headed to Wadsworth Cove to try a launch.  Wadsworth Cove is named for General Peleg Wadsworth (grandfather of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow), who, during the Revolutionary War escaped from the British at Fort George by wading across the cove.

We thought we might start out easy by exploring Bog Brook Stream to the north of the beach.  No such luck, access to Bog Brook had be reduced from a twenty foot wide entrance to three feet, which meant being restricted to the highest part of the tide for access.

But even in that short trip we could see what a delightful and calm day it was.  So we headed back to the car for some extra clothes and a deck compass, then took off for Holbrook  Island.

You can see how still the water was as we passed by Trask Rock.  A popular local legend says in the attack on Fort George during the Penobscot Expedition, the piper hid by Trask Rock to signal where to charge the hill

The glory of calm days is you can spot every seal or porpoise that surfaces.  The frustration is they just don't stay up long enough to be captured on film.  The closest we came to a great wildlife shot, was capturing this flock of 50 or more cormorants heading into the harbor.

 Frustrated with wild life remaining untamed, we turned our cameras to other, more stationary subjects:

The colorful rocks of Holbrook Island

A golden aspe on Dyce's Head

The Harbor Buoy with Dyce's Head Lighthouse in the distance.

  All in all, a good start to touring season.

Summary:  High about 10AM.  Launch 9AM, stop on Holbrook, finish about 11, about 7 miles.
Launch Wadsworth Cove, Town Beach, no restriction on launching kayaks that I am aware of. Generally plenty of parking.  In (swimming) season there is port-a-pottie - not yet.