Kayaking Maine's Casco Bay

So last weekend I took another adventure to Maine but this time with the intent of actually doing what I had originally planned to do: rent a kayak and paddle out into the Casco bay. I left the apartment in Mass. a little past 6:30am (coffee in hand) for the 2 hour drive. The marine service, Rings, run by the same family for some 40 years, opened at 8am. A few hours later I was on the water with gear in the bulkheads, a compass hanging from my neck, and a map in front of me.



Casco Bay is filled with many small islands, some of which are no bigger than my sister's back yard. Check out this video (20MB).

Keeping oriented wasn't so easy, though, especially considering that the waves would turn the kayak off course. Luckily, though, I had a retractable rudder on the back could be controlled by the feet. That seemed to help a lot, but slowed my pace down some. Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures from the kayak itself for fear I would drop my camera in the drink, but some of the views from the shore were pretty incredible.


After paddling about 3 1/2 nautical miles my shoulders decided it was time to find a place to camp. I ended up on one of the Goslings; little islands south of the larger Goose Island (cute).


The next morning, I decided to sleep in, but after some time my stomach told me it was time to catch some breakfast. Remember last time I was here and caught that striper? Sure you do. But I quickly learned this time I cast off from the boat, not shore. I'll tell you what: it's hard to keep afloat, not drift out into the wind and choppy water while trying to manage a rod and reel. But I did catch a nice sized striper (about 18 inches long, probably weighing 4.5 lbs.) which cooked up very well over an open fire.


Word to the wise: the tide comes in pretty quickly so make sure that you pull your boat up high enough on land so half an hour later when you need to get something out of it you don't have to swim out to sea after it. And I would know this from experience.