By Vladimir Brezina
On each day of our three-day Memorial Day weekend in Maine, while Johna was off pursuing rough waters, I went for a leisurely paddle. Here are a few photos. They are less interesting than usual, because I lacked my kayak model and had to substitute lobster buoys as foreground interest…
My GPS tracks and the locations of the photos:
Click on any photo to start slideshow:
1. Crossing Sheepscot River
2. One of a thousand islands
3. It’s low tide
4. In Townsend Gut
5. Wary seals on Damariscove Island
6. Everywhere, lobster buoys
7. Cuckolds Light
8. Looking out to sea
9. Eiders
10. Seguin Island in the distance
11. Finally, blue skies
12. Flight
13. Dancing cormorants
14. Seal pup 1
15. Seal pup 2
16. Seal pup 3
17. Hendricks Head Light
18. Dawn in Knubble Bay
19. Preparing to launch
20. Only the trailing weeds show the current
21. Approaching Lower Hell Gate—no hellish signs yet
22. Out of the Sasanoa River to Bath
23. Merrymeeting Bay 1
24. Merrymeeting Bay 2
25. Merrymeeting Bay 3
26. Merrymeeting Bay 4
27. Merrymeeting Bay 5
28. Merrymeeting Bay 6
29. Merrymeeting Bay 7
30. Back down the Kennebec River
31. Last glimpse of Bath
32. Lighthouses and tide rips in the lower Kennebec
33. Wood Island, at the mouth of the Kennebec
34. Pond Island, with Seguin Island beyond
35. Landed on Seguin Island
36. Tramway up
37. Seguin Island Light
38. Leaving Seguin Island
39. Another morning in Knubble Bay
40. Eddy lines
41. Hockomock Bay
42. Down the Kennebec again… Perkins Island
43. Osprey with nest
44. Islands at the mouth of the Kennebec
45. Looking south to Seguin Island once more
More photos are here.
Vladimir Brezina (RIP) 
Johna Till Johnson
Wind Against Current 
Sorry about the lack of the usual model, but I’m no-way, no-how as cute as that seal pup :-). Sorry I missed him/her!
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Oh they are all beautiful sceneries. My favorite are #7 and #12.
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Thanks for looking through them!! :-)
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Reblogged this on Locating Frankenstein's Brain.
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Thanks!
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Yup, I’m jealous! Gorgeous : )
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Thank you! :-)
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The seal pup is lovely, not sure more lovely than Johna though :) great reflection shots around the islands. Love the tramway photo too!
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I agree with you about the seal and Johna ;-)
Last working tramway in Maine—although it looked pretty dilapidated…
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Not exactly confidence inspiring but makes a great photo. :)
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It’s for supplies, not people, so not as critical.
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We’ll have to go back and try the finer points of those waters!
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Or move eastward along the coast for the next trip—there’s a lot of Maine still to go… :-)
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Nice collection of photographs, Vlad. One of our moorings is up the Cathance River in Merrymeeting Bay. Welcome to our regular paddling turf. Not as “exciting” as dodging the SIF rounding The Battery.
George
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Thanks, George! I didn’t realize this was your home turf. :-)
And it can get a lot more exciting than the Staten Island Ferry, I know very well. I went through all the fun spots—Upper and Lower Hell Gates, the mouth of the Kennebec—although not at peak times. There’s that special Maine way they sneak up on you. One minute you are paddling along in mirror-still water, the next minute you are in wild water. Fortunately you can usually hear the water roaring for a long time ahead :-)
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Glad you enjoyed it. Our other “home turf” is Mt. Desert Island. We have a mooring and a house there in Seal harbor, too. If you really would like some exciting paddling, Eastport enjoys “The Old Sow”. The noise from that whirlpool is amazing! You can feel it coming up from the depths as Passamaquoddy Bay’s contents exit, making a 270 degree turn around the southern tip of Canada’s Deer Island. The water depth is over 200 feet and the tidal range averages 18′. That would be a great place to paddle from for several amazing and wonderful trips. You could get to Grand Manan from there and Coobscook Bay is spectacular.
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The only time I ever paddled in Maine, before this trip, was actually up there, in Lubec—but only for a couple of hours with friends who live up there, and avoiding the difficult spots. So I know something about it… But maybe Johna and I will work our way up the Maine coast :-)
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Wonderful pics…has summer hit Maine yet?
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We were remarking on that, actually. Summer definitely has not come to Maine yet. (It was also overcast and cold, but I think that’s normal for Maine year round :-) ) It’s still mid-spring there—about a month behind NYC. And northern and eastern Maine must be even more delayed…
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picturesque scenes. i love that seal, too. :-)
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Thanks!! :-)
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Love the seal pup shots……and what lovely soft light and breathless still air :-)
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I thought the seal pup would be a crowd-pleaser—that’s why I put three photos of him/her in :-)
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:-) I thought you would! :-) Great gallery with or without seal pup, though.
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Thanks, Dina!!
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I like the blue dawn, the bridge, and all the island reflections in the 20s. Lovely collection.
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Thank you!! :-)
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calm
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Calm at times, but definitely not calm at other times… although the camera somehow never seems to capture those not-calm times ;-)
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Great way to spend leisure time!
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It sure is! :-)
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beautiful pictures! my favorite is #11 and of course the stunning reflections particularly #25! wonderful post as always! thanks for the ride :)
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And thank you for coming along! :-)
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Maine really is a beautiful place and your photos captured that beauty very well.
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Thank you, Milka! :-)
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really great collage of shots – the great outdoors is celebrated and even the lobster buoys have that nice feel – nice slideshow! have a great week
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Thanks! You too!! :-)
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Gorgeous! Hard to pick a favorite, but #26 is up there. :)
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Unfortunately #26 isn’t perfectly still—there are rings on the water next to the rock. That’s because a big fish jumped out of the water there just a few seconds before, and in fact I managed to capture it in the previous shot:
To think of all those times when I sat on the water, with fish jumping all around, and tried unsuccessfully to catch one in a photo… and here a fish photobombs my still seascape ;-)
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Such a great trip, and what beautiful sights you saw. The seal pups are so cute, and I loved seeing the lighthouses.
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Thanks for coming along!! :-)
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Great trip and photographs. Today’s Bing homepage photo will interest you:http://www.bing.com/search?q=Ashlu+Creek+British+Columbia&form=hpcapt&filters=HpDate%3a%2220140610_0700%22
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Thanks, Mary!
Yes, I’ve seen the Bing photo. Different kind of kayaking, though…
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Lobster buoys, lighthouses, photo bombing fish, they’re all great points of interest! Where do you suggest putting in for a day trip? I’ll be in Maine in July, might need to add this to the itin!
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Maine’s a very big state, and I’ve seen, so far, only a very small sliver of it. Chances are, you will be in a different part of Maine. So I am probably not the right person to ask about day trips. There are, however, some good books that describe kayaking day trips in Maine, for instance this book.
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Thanks for the book tip! I’ll be near Casco Bay, as it happens. Looks like a great gift to give my hosts.
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