Muscongus Bay, October 2004
Judith and I spent Columbus Day weekend in Bremen,
Maine, on Muscongus Bay. Her brother lives there and has a rental house on the water that
was available, so we took it for the weekend.
Friday night’s drive there was a nightmare (It took 3 ½ hours to get from
Sturbridge, MA to the New hampshire line), and we go there late. We decided that since the
weather wasn’t optimal on Saturday morning, we’d sleep in, and do a later
paddle.
Saturday, we launched at Broad Cove Marina ($7 fee for kayakers), and paddled around the
northern end of Bremen Long Island, and then southward & to Friendship Harbor. The
tide was running out hard, and it gave us a nice boost. The winds were out of the south at
a sustained 15 knots, and seas were about 2 ½ feet, with the occasional 3 or 4 footer
going by in the current.
We got to Friendship, and stopped on Ram Island for lunch. Then, we paddled into the
harbor, and looked around. Judith spotted the largest red jellyfish either of us had ever
seen. We took in the sights, and then headed back out of the harbor. Seals had been
accompanying us all day off and on. We crossed the bay heading west, and went between
Bremen Long Island and Cow Island, racing against a sailboat. We held our own for the
better part of a mile against it.
Once we turned northward to head back to the launch, we passed a large pile of rocks.
Well, we thought they were rocks…….it was actually about 50 seals hauled out. We
kept our distance, but they jumped into the water anyway, and surrounded us. Very cool
scene – seals at all points of the compass, and all of them checking us out. We
paddled back to the marina, and did a few rolls to cool off, as we were getting toasty in
our drysuits. We ended up paddling just over 12 miles.
Sunday, we did a planned paddle from the rental house. We headed southward to Indian
Island, and then onto Thief Island, where we had lunch. There were two other paddlers
there whe were setting up camp, and we talked with them for a bit. I was a little
uncomfortable this day. I was taking a statin drug for cholesterol, which was slowly
starting to destroy my muscles (Better living through chemistry!), and my left leg was
hurting from the fit of my boat not being quite right. I had just installed a new stock
seat, and it was great without a drysuit on. With the drysuit on was another story. I
think I need to replace the foam seat back with a backband. I also dumped the drug right
after this & felt 10,000% better almost immediately.
From there, we crossed the bay to Black Island, and looped around it and Cranberry Island,
exploring the channels between the rocks and islands there. The water was so clear, you
could see to the bottom in 25 feet of water. And, there were mussels everywhere. It was
making me hungry, as I had some very yummy mussels and lobster for dinner the night
before. We completed our circuit, and headed back across to Cow Island. I got some great
surfing in along the way, as we had small following seas that were just steep enough to
grab a ride. Once again, we came upon a huge pile of seals --- about 100 of them this
time. We went our way, and they kept an eye on us. We paddled back to the house & had
to carry our boats about 25 yards across a mud flat, which wasn’t as bad as we were
led to believe. Total mileage this day was 15.9.
Next time we go there, we’re thinking about paddling out to Monhegan from either Port
Clyde or New Harbor, and also exploring the eastern end of the bay. Always somewhere new
to paddle!