Isle Au Haut Day Trip (7/25/14)

Our second day at Deer Isle. We left Webb Cove a bit after 9 am which was about 1:45 before high tide. Tides were roughly 10 feet, however tidal current was minimal amongst the islands. The winds were calm and the skies clear as we headed south toward Isle au Haut. We caught glimpses of Mt Desert off to the east between the islands. The halfway point for us was about 3.4 miles from Isle au Haut where we were able to spot the church spire. We pulled up on Bills Island and took some photos and marveled at the number of lobster traps. Thousands of the lobster trap buoys within our view.

We encountered several dozen lobster fishing boats over the three days of kayaking. At first they can seem rather unpredictable as they charge around, engines pounding, from buoy to buoy, often only 100' between them. But after three days of encounters I have come to be believe that they are the best kind of powerboat to kayak amongst. 1) they are predictable in that if a fisherman is amongst the traps which are arrayed in bunches covering about 0.1 square miles then they are highly focused on avoiding getting fouled in the traps (or anything else that might be less than 200' or less in front of them. I conclude that they would never hit you. 2) If a lobster fisherman is in the channels that separate the buoys then they are charging straight ahead still paying attention to where they are going. They cannot afford to get fouled in the buoys on either side. 3) Good rule to follow is to always take their stern. They are working to feed their families and deserve to keep going with a right of way, and taking their stern is safer in that you are looking right at their boat-wake and can manage your path safely over it.

Compare that to pleasure power boaters they are concentrated on 1) the beer in their hand, 2) the scantily clad female next to them, 3) the fishing line behind them, 4) the water skier behind them, and Nothing in front of them. The anecdotal newspaper accounts bear it out. The crew of an ocean going ship would never know they hit you.

Isle au Haut is lovely. We stopped for lunch at the general store, where we ncountered another Baidarka kayaker. After lunch we headed further south to Moores Harbor which was very picturesque. On the way back to old Quarry Ocean Adventures we caught site of a very lovely two masted charter schooner headed northwest toward Stonington and got some nice photos.