Sticking to a plan, or not...

   Today's post was supposed to be pictures of the Porcupine Islands, probably my favorite place to paddle.  We haven't been there all summer, for many reasons.  One is that, to get there we need to go to Bar Harbor, which is a zoo all summer long.  Another is a longer story.

   Mark's tendinitis, which bothered him most of last year, has been more pronounced this year, so most longer kayak trips have been impractical.  We've done more short paddle board trips, which seem to bother his elbow less, and I've done lots of trips on the river. 

  And not much has happened on the river.  For a few weeks there was a seal pup hanging out, but no good could come from sharing that sighting, and other than that it's been the usual eagles, seagulls, ducks and crows.

Could you give away his location?

  Meanwhile, Mark, looking for exercise, has found pickleball.  Pickleball, played with whiffleballs, over-sized ping-pong paddles and a badminton-sized hard surface court seems like an odd choice for someone with "tennis elbow"  but he swears it's different muscles. 

  He started playing one day a week, but quickly ramped up to a five day a week program.  Then he began encouraging me to come along.  "Anyone can play!"  he claimed, "You can play at any level."

Ledges near Ram Island

  And so, one day I found myself on the court.  "Just lob the ball over the net,"  he coached.  So I did.  In short order, my opponent (not Mark) slammed the ball back.  It crashed into my knee at 40 mph. 

  "Anyone can play"  but not anyone can play well.  Mark has an advantage, having played ping pong for many years. Other pickleball players come from tennis, racketball or squash backgrounds.   I hadn't done any of those, though I had played badminton as a kid. (in our neighborhood we used a volleyball net to play, I was utterly shocked when my kids started playing to discover the net was only supposed to be 5 feet high - none of my skills seemed to translate to this new net.)  

   There are generally four players to each game.  In the non-competitive practice I went to,  a game lasted about 15 minutes, and the players got switched around after.  For a beginner, that's good news, because the people playing with you aren't stuck losing all night.

  Pickleball is known as a social sport, after each game we get to chat.  And the court is small enough that that we can talk during the game.  There's a lot of support at the game, from hints on playing better, to congratulations on a good shot.  I think I got my first congratulations when using the paddle to block my face, resulting in the ball actually going back over the net.  Then there are "Good games" all around at the end.

  Mark, as it turns out, is pretty good at pickleball.   They call him "The Wall", as in "No one gets past The Wall."  They call me "The Sieve."

  There are many good things about pickleball.  It is social, if you don't want to play the same game all the time, you have to find new people.  One day a group of woman came down from Grand Manan Island seeking new opponents (victims).  It helps us exercise, and lose weight.  We lose weight primarily because we can't eat before we play, if we have any hope of moving fast enough to get the ball.  And, once we're done, what we crave more than food is water, more water, and icy water.

  So, in addition to working around work schedules, and planning shorter kayaks trips, we've also been working around pickleball.  Today, Labor Day was supposed to be reserved for a trip to the Porcupines.  Then a few weeks ago, a pickleball tournament was announced for Saturday.  Mark was quickly snapped up for a men's double team.  And eventually, someone convinced me to be their partner.  Mark's team came in second.  Ours didn't place quite that high.  But even with the tournament, we were going to save today for the Porcupine trip.

  Sunday, Mark and I found ourselves paddling on the Penobscot.   Mark had pulled a few muscles in his games, but he felt sure he could do a Porcupine run.  "I'll just stay away from rock gardening and bracing." 

   It can be hard to resist the lure of popping into keyholes, but it's certainly possible.  But, I'm not sure I could guarantee that Mark wouldn't have to brace.  I can't control the weather, or the wind.  I can't promise there wouldn't be confusing waves.  Especially not if we were going by the cliffs, and if we weren't going by the cliffs was it really worth it to face the Bar Harbor mobs?
 

   So instead we went to Castine, where the harbor and islands interact to protect the water and assure there's probably a calm route back to the launch.  Because making sure the water is within your capabilities is something you need to determine before you find yourself 3 or 4 miles offshore.

   And to tell the truth, it was a wonderful time in Castine, with some amazing scenery; it is hard to imagine a better day!

   The seal pup picture was taken on the Penobscot River in the spring, the rest were from Castine, today.

  Details for trip planning can be found in earlier posts
     Some prior Castine Trips:  Halloween Tour, Best Laid Plans, We do have a plan (Castine is apparently our top choice for plan related blog posts)
     Some Porcupine Trips:  Porcupines Again,  Porcupines Islands in Late September, Seven Reasons to visit the Porcupines.

  

Welcoming the Hermione to Castine

Crowds fill Fort Madison, and all other access points along the harbor

"Vive la France!"  the cry came up behind me from the crowd at Fort Madison.

 When was the last time Castine harbor heard that cry?  Maybe in the mid 1600's when Baron Castin was still in residence.  Then the cry might have come from Fort Pentogoet, located near where Our Lady of Holy Hope is currently located, as soldiers saw ships coming in with new supplies.

   Certainly that cry had not  been heard from Fort Madison, a U.S. fort built in 1809 to defend against another English capture of Castine.  When Castine was again attacked in 1814 by the English the poorly staffed fort made one token shot, spiked their cannons and disbanded.

Arriving out of the mist

  But on July 14, 2015, the cry was to honor a visit from the Hermoine, a replica of the ship on which Lafayette sailed to America in 1780, bringing with him crucial military strategies used during the Revolutionary War, and more importantly,  support for an independent United States from an established European country.

  It was the perfect day for a ship to visit.  There was light fog on the water, making it easier to transport back in time to when sailing ships ruled the seas.

The side of the canoe reads:  "Water is a blessing for all life."

  We'd arrived at Wadsworth Cove at 1PM, and launched from there to the harbor, it was about three when the ships began to enter the harbor.  We'd passed our time paddling up and down, and chatting with other folks in small boats, including Reinhard Zollitsch, who along with making several long canoe journeys has also helped race sailing schooners.

  It wasn't only the Hermione that arrived, but a whole flotilla of boats, everything from schooners and yachts to dories and kayaks.

The second boat appears to be a sailing diesel yacht

   Some ships announced their arrival with cannon fire, others with honks or fog horns.   A very festive event; though it might be fair to state it was also a bit zoo-ey and many kayaks seemed to disregard any guidance about taking care near large boats.

  But to see such a grand ship sailing - what can you say but "C'est magnifique!"


More about the Hermione
More about the Hermione visit in Castine   Several streets in Castine have been set up as temporary one way streets to allow for more parking.  Even so, it seemed like every spot was filled when we left....
 

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.

Castine: Smith Cove with a side visit to a regatta

Here are four highlights of a late July sea kayaking trip at Castine harbor, Maine.

Not much of Middle Ground was showing

The first highlight was arriving at low tide, which put us ten feet closer to the bottom.  Sea stars, crabs and other under water life was clearly visibly, as was Middle Ground, a high spot in the center of a deep channel.

   Our second highlight was visiting the wreck of the Gardiner G Deering on a foggy morning.  A sister ship, the Carroll A Deering was found off Cape Hadaras in 1921 with its sails set and crew missing. The Ghost Ship of the Outer Banks  tells its tale.

Paddling through the inside, seeing more beams below water

   But the Gardiner G Deering met a more prosaic ending.  Built in 1903 and used in the timber trade, it was simply abandoned in the 1930's when shipping via sailing ships was no longer competitive.  After being abandoned, the double hulled vessel was sometimes as a dwelling until the upper levels were burned on July Fourth in the 1940's. 

Nice detail of the iron bars

   Seventy years later, pieces of the Gardiner Deerings double hull's strong timbers remain, intriguing visitors. 

Mill Pond Island (At some tides), taken from the top of the dam

Our third highlight was the charming tide mill pond at the end of Smith Cove, complete with its own island.

Coming up on it at low tide, I could see the dam exterior was just small rocks.  It looked like a simple do it yourself project: build a dam from nearby rock and have free power provided by tides.  But from the top, seeing the 10-15 foot width, made it apparent that this was no simple task, but represented hundreds of hours stacking rocks, not to mention designing the actual mill mechanisms.  This dam once hosted  a saw mill and a grist mill capable of grinding one hundred bushels a day;  it could operate 16 of 24 hours in the day. However, by the time an of  1868 Hydrographic Survey, it was idle.

The current dam, falls to the right

  "Free power" has long intrigued Mainers.  Winnegance, on the Bath river was site of the most tide mills in Maine.  In this issue of the Tide Mill Times, John Goff talks of growing up along the Kennebec River and discovering its history in tide mills. 

And our fourth highlight:    As we came back to the main channel we noticed many sailboats heading out the Bagaduce River to Penobscot Bay.  I wondered for a moment if they might be reenacting great paintings of the Penobscot Expedition Naval disaster (with a retreating cloud bank filling in for flames) which took place July 24-August 12 1779. 

Penobscot Expedition by Dominic Serres

Our view heading out

  But it turns out it was a more festive event, for which many boats and even the sun appeared - the fifteenth Castine Classic Yacht Race, a 19.6 mile race and the first of three day races.  The other two races are the Camden Classic Yacht Race and the Eggemoggin Reach Regatta. Shortly before noon cannon shots began to be fired in the vicinity of the harbor buoy, signalling the start of the event. 

Milling about by the Harbor Buoy (to the left)  Dyces Head is in the background.

Taking off

Several boats in action

Summary:  Launch 9AM from the Castine Town Dock.  Town Facility flush toilets nearby, three hour parking only. (Parking available on lots and side streets in town.)  Low about 9:20 AM, finish about 12:30 PM, down Smith Cove and back, out to Holbrook Island for lunch.
 Castine Kayak operates tours in Castine Harbor.  When we arrived we met a woman who was excited to be heading out on a morning tour.  And when we got back, she was even happier, as she just signed up for a second afternoon tour.   A pretty neat review...

Checking on VolturnUS 1.8

    There are few things more relaxing than a paddle in the shade at the end of a long hot day.  So kayaking up-river to check on the University of Maine's new windmill seemed like a great idea, though I probably could have done without ant flavored water.*

Hey, there's a boat!

   And, to be truthful, we didn't really intend to paddle up as far as the Cianbro facility, we expected we'd meet the windmill heading downstream.  After all the ceremony launching the windmill was held at noon, and reports said it was launched and ready to be towed into position.

    But, as it turns out, the windmill was still undergoing adjustments.

      It would be early Sunday morning before the windmill passed by, towed by the Maine Maritime Academy Tug, the Pentagoet.    Look at how smoothly it flows through the water, nary a ripple!  I thought it would be like pulling a giraffe.

In addition to being the name of a Roman God of the Waters, Volturnus is a one-eighth scale model of an off-shore stationed wind turbine.  It was built by the Advance Structures and Composite Center at UMO.   This department, operating under the creative vision of Dr. Habib Dagher, has developed several other products include Bridge in a Backpack and lightweight bullet proof panels. 

VolturnUS is the first deep sea wind turbine to be deployed in U.S. Waters.  It's scheduled to spend the next month stationed off Dyce's Head in Castine.  Then it will be headed to deeper water beyond Vinalhaven.  Along with VoturnUS, this monitoring buoy will be placed on the water.  It uses lasers to detect wind speed 600 feet above the ocean surface.

   We also made two trips to Castine, one ahead of the windmill to check out it's placement, and the second later in the week.

   For our second trip Castine we went late afternoon so we could see the turbine moving.  It made for some interesting water at the mouth of the Bagaduce, but sadly the turbine was not operating.  I'm hoping for great results from this rig.  Even Governor LePage, normally a windpower critic, offered  support for this project.  Dr. Dagher and the Advance Structures and Composite Center bring great positive energy to the Bangor region.  As Peter Vigue, CEO of Cianbro says, "Why not Maine?"

   I really want to see it in motion and listen for the sound of the turbine spinning.  So we'll probably be headed to Castine again.  After all, there's nothing more invigorating then being out in the kind of water your boat is built to handle.

*to make ant flavored water just grab an empty plastic bottle and fill it half way.  About a mile or two from home check the bottle and discover a large ant floating in.  Worry about what the presence of a carpenter ant inside you house indicates, and try to avoid drinking the insect.   


A few articles on the turbine and its associated buoy.  (Someone there at the Advance Structures and Composite is pretty good with publicity.)

Ecogeek.org  First US Floating Turbine Launched
Forbes   Maine Makes Waves
New York Times  A New Way to Harvest Wind Energy
Bangor Daily News UMaine shows off new buoy

Halloween Tour – Remnants of Maritime Disasters - Castine, Maine

The abandoned remains of Gardiner G. Deering, a five masted schooner, lies in Smith Cove

From the history-drenched community of Castine come two tales. The first, of a spectre lingering on after one of the worst naval defeats in U.S. History. The second, hard evidence of a prophetic dream. Read on if you dare, but be warned: There is almost no kayaking involved!

Castine - Heat Break

Basics:  Launched from Castine Town Dock, parking limited to 3 hours.  Restroom available. High 5:30AM, Launch 8:30AM finish 11:45AM 8.2 miles.

The smokestack on the Maine Maritime training ship "State of Maine"

Last week: hot, hot, hot, humid and hot, hot, hot. Baffinpaddler posted a good guide to staying cool while kayaking, to which I would add only that mornings tend to be cooler than evenings. Even so, one morning we woke early to paddle on the river, and in preparation I soaked the long sleeves of my rash guard before leaving the house. We walked down the hill and paddled a couple of miles, and in the moist morning air the sleeves were just as wet as when I put the shirt on. There’d been no evaporative cooling at all.
So when Sunday was promised to be cooler, we made plans to go to Castine, counting on an early start to increase the odds it would be cool enough to paddle.
It was a mere 73 degrees when we launched at 8:30AM, and not hard to find a parking space.
The waters were fairly busy though, sailboats and other pleasure boats headed out, this windjammer headed in.

Motoring by Dyce's Head lighthouse

The schooner came from the protected harbor behind Nautlius Island. A number of boats take advantage of those quiet waters to anchor overnight.

I like the way this ledge, near Holbrook, echoes the distant Camden mountains

With a fair wind from the north we paddled by Nautilus, along Holbrook Island  and over to Harborside, before turning back into the wind, paddling between Holbrook and Brooksville, then back along the outside of Holbrook to a favorite beach, filled with rounded rocks.

Finally back through the choppy windswept waters to the town dock, just a short paddle, but a joy to be out in cooler weather.

Seal lovers might be happy to note a number of seals lingering on ledges near Ram Island

Meanwhile the Victory Chimes now had its sails aloft and was headed out for the day. Victory Chimes is a three masted schooner out of Rockland, and if it looks somewhat familiar it’s because it graced the reverse of the Maine State quarter .

Congratulations to Mike, the Durhamblogger for helping out in Louisiana during this hot, hot week!