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A
Week Under the Stars - Paddling/Camping the Islands of
Maine
A
Collaborative Report
*
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE
FRIDAY
 The
fact that we went most of the week with little rain was a joy.
However, you can’t go out for 9 days and not expect
something. We woke Friday
morning to short shower bursts pattering our tent fly’s, and gusts
of wind shaking our shelters. It’s
tough to motivate ones self out of a warm and dry sleeping bag,
knowing that the world outside is anything but.
Even Doug’s usual pre-dawn exodus from a night of hibernation
was delayed this morning.
 For the first time
on
Wheat
Island
we ate under the Circus Fly. The
mood on the surface was still jovial, and Doug’s freshly cooked
scones help maintain the overall disposition.
But, there was also a slight sense of sullenness.
The fog was thick and the forecast was predicting
thundershowers. It was
going to be a day of hunkering down in the tents.
Finally, Doug in his subtle way, slipped in the idea of
paddling back to the mainland a day early instead of lying around camp
and leaving in the morning (which was the current plan).
None opposed the idea, and we each dreamed of the hot shower
and clean clothes we would soon be enjoying.
For the third
time, we packed the boats… still no easier than the first, but with
a little less swearing.
[Nelson]
“Packing
up for our trip back to Old Quarry was somewhat confusing. The tide
was out and we didn't have a great place to load the boats. On top of
that we knew we'd be bringing back less and for some of us I think
that effected the way we did the packing. We should have had plenty of
room now that all the food and most of the water was gone but for some
reason it was a struggle making it all fit. But as Doug has been
telling us even before we left for the trip... "We'll get it all
in." And we did.
After all the gear was stowed we helped each other launch the boats.
Well, most of us did anyway... the five of us already in the water
watched as John, once again demonstrated the durability of the plastic
boat by doing a seal entry with a loaded boat down the barnacle
covered rocks. Very impressive John! Very impressive!”
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ROUTE INFO - 5.76 miles |
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- Start at Wheat Island
- Cross to Pell Island
- East side of Bills Island
- Between Round and McGlathery Islands
- East of Coombs Island
- Between Devil and Camp Islands
- Past Humpkins Ledge
- Cross Webb Cove
- End at Old Ocean Quarry
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 Again, the
crossing between Wheat and McGlathery was in large waves in
loaded-down boats. However,
this time we were dealing with two wave systems at one time.
Chop from the wind out of the west was pushing us across the
bay, while tidal swells from the south hit our beams.
To think that we probably wouldn’t have experienced these
conditions if we had stayed another day at camp…
Chip occasionally
mentioned that he was hoping to see a little more wildlife.
Ironically, with only a few minutes of paddling left on the
trip, in the same vicinity we had our first Bald Eagle sighting, a pod
of feeding Porpoise breached within yards of his boat.
We were all lucky enough to get a glimpse of them.
It is likely that
the worse moment of the entire trip was shortly after landing back on
the mainland on the final day. The
sky opened up with a deluge of rain, we were all soaked to the bone
and chilled, and before us was the task of unpacking the boats.
What made it all the more depressing was having to delay the
hot shower and dry clothes until we could situate ourselves such that
we could stay dry afterwards. The
circus fly needed to be erected gear put away.
However, contrary to what had been predicted, the rain stopped
an hour after our arrival to Old Ocean Quarry, and the sun gradually
made its presence known. It
was another one of those “Ahhhh…” moments.
[Chip]
“Best
shower in a long time.”
[Steven]
“Only
shower in a long time”
[John]
“Ran out of beer, had to go
back to
Stonington
.”
 Post Paddle
Refreshments were had at the Harbor Cafe in
Stonington
. The Downtown Burgers were exceptional and John (who got the
unlimited fried clam plate), actually refused seconds for the first
time all week. We sat
around the table long after our meal, performing a sort of post-mortem
of the trip. All agreed
that it was a great time and that we would love to find a way to do it
again.
The one thing most
of us missed during the week was a fire.
While we probably could have gotten away with it, we didn’t
have a fire permit for the islands.
So, back at camp, we set logs ablaze and sat around for a final
night of joking, music, and rounds of “If you were stranded on a
deserted island….”
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