Greeted with Ginger Brew, maps, and goodwill . . . Paddling Maine's Deer Isle Archipelago with PenobscotPaddles

BaffinPaddler meets up with PenobscotPaddles team in Stongington, Maine, U.S.A.

 Thanks first, stories later

Baffinpaddler paddle partner and PenobscotPaddles in Deer Isle Archipelago. Hey, why is there still one non-convert to the "stick" (Greenland Paddle) amongst us? When will we convert her? She is surrounded by GPs.

I've come home with so many photos, memories, ideas, inspiration, and stories from my paddling and camping trip to the Deer Isle Archipelago, Stonington, Maine to meet up with fellow paddle blogger PenobscotPaddles, that my head is spinning and I don't know where to start.

Or at least I didn't until now.

First things first.

A big thanks to awesome new Maine paddle buddies, the PenobscotPaddles team for spoiling us rotten while we were there with all things good and fun: Maps, Maine Root Ginger Brew, good company, an awesome new red cedar Greenland Paddle, guided tours, and unforgettable memories.

Greeted at the Webb Cove basecamp and kayak launch site by PenobscotPaddles team with Maine Root Ginger Brew, custom maps of the Deer Isle/Stonington Archipelago, and perfect ocean paddling weather!

Paddling to Yoga in the Deer Isle Archipelago from Stonington, Maine with PenobscotPaddles and an awesome new red cedar GP made by Mark

Hey! Whatcha lookin' at!

Across from the noisy and busy Crotch Island granite quarry

I'm so glad you know the way!

PenobscotPaddles awesome bright yellow and blue Maelstrom Vaag 174 always steals the show both on and off the water!

PenobscotPaddles knew I was working on a Paddle to Yoga project in the 1000 Islands Gananoque, in Ontario, Canada, and took me to some great Paddle to Yoga spots ocean front in the Deer Isle Archipelago, from Stonington, Maine that I will never forget, and hope to return to one day.

Gooseberry Island

Russ Island rock

The tree pose is not easy on uneven rock, and you can get a bit dizzy doing this up high. I'm not recommending this and this is not what Paddle to Yoga is about. It's just something I do once in a while . .  . climb up on trees, stumps, and rocks, and strike a yoga pose - or try to. Mostly I do yoga on flat, safe ground in the outdoors, or in a yoga studio like most people! The BaffinPaddler is a bit unconventional though. Both as a paddler, and as a yoga student.

Doing yoga in the great outdoors is awesome.

Gooseberry, Sand, and Russ Islands quickly won my heart as favorites and stole many shots.

In only a couple of days, I had hundreds of shots to happily wade through, share with you later, and revisit this winter to warm my heart!

I really needed PenobscotPaddles to remind me when it was time to leave an island.

I paddle lake and river more than ocean. I kept getting lost in the beauty of the islands and ocean views and forgot about the tides. Especially the low tide. My lingering did make us take a bit of a mucky walk back out to sea at least once.

It is definitely better to wear tall paddle booties here! I kept getting the hard shell beach particles and muck into my only ankle high booties!

An hour later, these boats on Sand Island were fully beached and we had to walk out in a bit of muddy muck.

There are many more Stonington stories to tell. But I'll have to let them trickle out slowly.

Every time I create a big, long, loaded post of text, links, and images, Blogger rewards me by going "Bloop" and all my work suddenly disappears and is lost - and so is my motivation to blog!

Next Paddle to Yoga Trip - Adirondacks, New York, U.S.A.

Now it's off to Paddle to Yoga again next week. This time with a group in the Adirondacks in New York State, U.S.A., only a week after Hurricane Irene chased us off the Maine coast a few days early. I hated to leave. I wanted to stay and paddle more!

And the "new" New York paddle buddies I'll be meeting up with, have no idea I'm Paddling to Yoga.

But they'll soon find out when they see a bright green yoga mat strapped onto the back of my white and blue Maelstrom Vital 166 - a mat in which I never need anyway when striking a pose on uneven ground or rock in the great outdoors. But bringing it along somehow brings me comfort, and I think, makes some kind of statement. Or at least makes people pretty curious . . . "What is that?!"

When they suddenly see me climb up on something and strike a yoga pose and ask, "Hey, will you get a shot of this? I'm working on a Paddle to Yoga project!" They'll find out soon enough . . . how much I love this combination of paddling to yoga. It beats just paddling to lunch! Although I love both - paddling to lunch and yoga!

A funny thing is happening with the Paddle to Yoga in the 1000 Islands Gananoque project I'm working on.

People want me to do all the work, planning, and organizing for them.

Hey! That's not how Paddle to Yoga works guys! You have to boogie and organize a group of 8 paddlers who want to Paddle to Yoga first. Then you're on your way.

Meanwhile, I'm out there Paddling to Yoga all over the place. In places near and far from my home in the National Capital Region of Canada (Ottawa/Ontario-Gatineau/Quebec).

It rocks! It's awesome. It is something I can easily do. I'm equipped for it. I'm trying to make it available and affordable to others who can discover and enjoy it too!

I'm also noticing that Paddle to Yoga is attracting the soft-adventure tourism crowd more so than the studio bound yoga crowd. It will be interesting to see how Paddle to Yoga progresses and where it goes.

Now back to my last bottle of Maine Root Ginger Brew! My temperature is definitely rising! This non-alcoholic beverage really packs a hearty ginger punch! One sip and YOU KNOW THAT YOU ARE ALIVE!

Maine Root Ginger Brew, wild Stonington apples, Reed's Crystalized Ginger

The BaffinPaddler
Happy paddles and paddling to yoga!

Lots of Maine's awesome fish n' chips, cole slaw, and crab stew are starting to put some extra meat on my ribs!

The Stonington Cat . . . A day off from paddling Maine's awesome waters.

Have you met the Stonington Cat?

I just did.

The Stonington Cat is a real cutie. Very friendly, and roams the upper reaches of Maine's Stonington harbor along Main Street.

You might want to slow down if you're driving along this street and watch out for this little kitty!

Paddling the islands from Stonington, Maine, U.S.A., with PenobscotPaddles has been AWESOME.

I'll blog about that soon when I can get a better view of my computer screen and can do more justice to a blog post. Writing this with outdoor glare from the sun is not easy.   

Maelstrom Vital 166 and Maelstrom Vaag 174 on Gooseberry Island, Maine

Today, the Stonington Cat and his harbor haunts are on my mind, so I'll go with a few pics of that for today:

Fisherman's home on the Stonington harbour

The real working McCoys

Lobster trap debris

Lobster buoy cliches

Beached at low tide. Tides are about 11 to 12 feet here.

A local rooster scratching for worms.

Stonington harbor life

Stonington harbor flower arrangements

Lobster lunch meat

A hardy and serious tie-down view of the Stonington harbor.

Stonington apples. Small, tart, and tasty!

Wednesday night and all day Thursday,  the wind was AWESOME . . . about 25 miles per hour or more!

Some kayak campers out on the islands off Stonington, Maine called in for a ride back home on a motorized boat.

In Webb Cove, at 4:30 a.m. each morning you hear a crew of lobster boats heading out. Not many on Thursday.

The Malestrom Vital 166 and Vaag 174 were beached yesterday too. The crosswind was way too wicked.

The paddle partner was bored, and the new Eureka! Bon Echo Air tent and storm shield is being fully-tested by Maine's ocean winds and evening thunderstorms and is still standing . . . the last time I checked! Although the large vestibule on these tents definitely leak from the ceiling, but the interior of the tent stays dry.

The outdoor Internet cafe at the Webb Cove basecamp at Old Quarry Ocean Adventures and the 350 pics I took in the last two days are my best friends on non-paddle days during this trip.

Basecamp is ocean waterfront.

The long blond hair in my ponytail got shaken loose every couple of hours yesterday, and my eyes feel eternally puffy from the ocean air. Or is it the camping!

One mosquito won't leave me alone and I can't catch it!

I guess I could have headed inland or indoors!

Buy why? This is the ocean!

And today is a totally different story.  Calm and sunny on the ocean front and a much better day to head out and paddle and we will!

Hey kitty, where are you off to now!? . . . The Stonington Cat.

Happy and safe paddles!
Sometimes it's just best to stay home, wherever that is!
The BaffinPaddler

Back to Maine to paddle Stonington, meet up with PenobscotPaddles, and see if I can learn to navigate water with lots of islands!

These are some of my best Maine memories . . . so far!

Here's a pic paddling Seal Cove, Maine, U.S.A. a few years back. This little "island lunch spot" disappeared 10 minutes later when the tide came in.

It's always better to have more than one guarding the boats and posing for pics before they try to take off with the incoming tide!

I love Maine! Lobster boats and traps and all. These working boats move fast. Look out!

If you see a bay in Maine filled with colorful lobster buoys, there is a lobster trap underneath each one, and a lobster boat that will soon some to fetch!

You have to watch out for them! They don't look out for you.

Since my last trip to Maine years ago, I wake up each morning to a framed picture of colorful lobster buoys hanging on an old wooden shanty wall.

Now it's time to head back to Maine to paddle Stonington, and meet up with fellow paddle blogger PenobscotPaddles - starting tomorrow! Navigation is on my mind.

It's a 10-hour drive from home in the National Capital Region of Canada (Ottawa, Ontario/Gatineau, Quebec) to Stonington, Maine, U.S.A. The Mitsubishi Outlander is packed to the "gunwales" with kayaking gear and camping stuff!

PenobscotPaddles and her paddle partner are awesome navigators of the area, and post beautiful photos and detailed trip reports of their paddles in Maine, and have posted an excellent article on route planning at: PenobscotPaddles - Magnetic North Lines - The Path to Happiness

To be honest, trying to learn navigation at this level makes my head and compass spin!

I'm still trying to get past basic navigation with a kayak compass on the kayak deck and a map. This just isn't enough when the landscape, the water, and lots of islands make figuring things out way more complicated. Then there's the possibility of fog. A GPS is in order soon. Even though they aren't always reliable.

Navigation is important

I just got back from a short kayak-camping trip with my well-packed Boreal Baffin to visit potential spots for a Paddle to Yoga project I'm working on in the 1000 Islands region off Gananoque, Ontario, Canada.

Cruise ships are as big as some islands - but they move! You have to learn to look out for them from a distance.

I quickly learned how easy it is to get mixed up (and a little stressed) when you are a novice to navigating in more complicated areas with bigger water and lots of islands, even with maps, a compass, numbered buoys in boat channels, and a mainland you can find fairly easily.

Lucky for me, experienced navigators were also along on the trip, otherwise I would not have headed out there without a guide. It was a good and safe trip that saw nothing but perfect weather and moderate winds.

When you get churned around and a little confused in spots, you may find your way eventually, but you will need time, energy, and good weather on your side. These things can run out.

I prefer knowing where I am and where I'm going . . . all or most of the time! And to have the energy and equipment to get me there!

In the 1000 Islands, there are cottages on many islands, and often motor boaters docking or sail boats mooring along some islands who know the area well and can help with directions or at least that can tell you where you are - but don't count on it.

The boats out on the water are moving at speed, the cottages may be empty, and you are on your own to find your way. Bring your cell phone. The cell phone connection out there is pretty good!

Stonington, Maine, U.S.A.

Now, it's off to another week of camping and paddling in Stonington, Maine, this time with my Maelstrom Vital 166, and more of my custom made trail mix for lunch: roasted soy nuts, sunflower and pumpkin seeds, raisins, dried papaya, apricots, and apples.

You have to love this stuff. It is the most convenient, compact, and healthy source of energy on the water.

Last minute preps that I didn't think about earlier mean sunscreening the kayaks with 303 Aerospace Protectant out in the grass in the front yard just before you put them up on the car after the sun has gone down and the mosquitoes are out in force.

Bad planning! And a bunch of mosquito bites I didn't plan for. But, hey, sometimes that's the way it goes!

As night falls, the decklines on the white Malestrom Vital 166 and red Maelstrom Vaag 174 begin to glow.

I'll also be hauling a yoga mat on this trip and strapping it onto the white Maelstrom Vital 166 as I continue looking for more awesome Paddle to Yoga spots! I love it. Paddling to yoga rocks!

Happy paddling!
The BaffinPaddler