In the morning we headed north around Yarmouth Island, then back south down Ridley Cove. Out to sea, we could see a tandem kayak heading our way. They turned and we followed for a distance, then they disappeared into a bay. We rounded the point to Cundy Harbor and stopped at the wharf, beckoned by the huge sign that proclaimed "BEER". Bro made a phone call and we split. As we were getting back into boats, the tandem pulled in, with the same plan, no doubt. They had stayed on Snow Island, another MITA camping place, though they sure seemed to follow a round-about route, because that was in the opposite direction from where we first saw them.

Cundy Harbor Wharf

As we left the wharf, our journey was documented by a television camera crew. That's right, the intrepid paddlers out on the high seas, jutting their whiskerd chins into the weather... Actually, we just seemed to be background subjects and they panned from us to the high-zoot fishing boat where some old codger was preparing, no doubt, to hold up a prize Striper or something.

We paddled through the islands of New Meadow River against a slight current. Along Long Island, it got real shallow, down to about a foot. Good thing it was nearly high tide. We stopped at Indian Point for lunch, as opposed to the small island adjacent described in the MITA guide.

West into Gurnet Strait, and we experienced a terrific current under the bridge, then real strange boils and holes as the bottom dropped from 19 feet to 90 feet. After that sick feeling like the boat is going to drop out of sight, we enjoyed good current into Long Reach, headed south, then west into Prince Gurnet Strait. Seems all the water of the bay is pouring into Long Reach, and we had to fight the current to continue. We were in Ewin Narrows, and found it to be quite unpopulated. We passed through at high tide. I think the whole area is mud flats at low tide, and the reason it's not developed. Whatever the reason, it was quite peaceful, gliding along. We even saw a couple of bald eagles.

Two Old Scows

The previous day, we had watched the high cirrus develop into cirro-cumulus, then strato-cumulus and alto stratus as the sky lowered on us. It never did rain, and we now watched the remanants of that weak system dissipate into ever-widening gaps of blue sky.

We entered Harpswell Sound and found ourselves among the lobster bouys again. We had just finished going around huge Sebascodegan Island. As the waterway opened up, we found ourselves paddling against the current and the wind. The long drowsy afternoon stretched on and on, until we finally passed under a bridge and came upon Strawberry Creek Island, another MITA campsite. We watched as the thunderheads began to subside in the waning day before we chose the exposed south end campsite. Man, what a view.