Release Date 8/31/2015

Went for a paddle at Breezy on the last day of August.

The surf was pretty good the day before on the beach, according to one friend who was at the same spot, but there was almost nothing to speak of for us when we got to the sandbar. We did try a bit, and got some small broken waves.

Also paddled around and tried a bit of fishing, then had a long slow lunch on the beach. It was really warm day, and felt so good to be by the water.

Did a bit of rolling and rescue practice.

Truth: Its different in October.

Release Date 8/24/2015

Went for a North Shore paddle.

We launched under the Whitestone bridge and paddled East along the shore to Sands Point. There were huge schools of small bluefish but they did not bite my large diamond lure, maybe it was too big for them??? 

We found a deserted part of beach where a few other boaters were hanging out and we had lunch and soaked-up the sun.

It was a beautiful paddle back into the sunset. 

When we arrived at the park it was FULL of people of all shapes and sizes picnicking fishing and hanging out, really popular park. 

Have been practicing rolling and re-entering and rolling on each trip and got the re-enter and roll down to about 75% success rate. The trick is to get ALL the way into the boat and start on the correct side.

Truth: Things can work backwards as well as forwards.

Release Date 7/26/2015

Brought to double to Coney Island to support the Grimaldo's Mile swim race with the CIBBOWS folks. 

It was a nice easy race to supervise. It was a bit of hassle in the double to do all the quick moves and positioning and we didn't get a chance to tow or rescue anyone, which would have been super easy in the giant boat.

After the race we paddled over to breezy point to bask in the sun. 

We practiced swamping and recovering the double. The fastest thing was to have one person re-enter and roll and then help the 2nd person in.

We did have a real problem with the swamped boat on the beach. The only way to get the water out was to drag it back out into the surf and empty it in waist deep water then bring back in. It is so big that it is really really heavy when full of water.

It actually got pretty rough later in the day as the wind picked-up and we had to paddle back over to Coney Island. It was a bit sketchy in the following sea. We took out on the far far east end of the beach. We got lucky with a good landing no surfing or dumping but had to really work to carry the heavy boat all the way back to the parking lot.

Truth: Some lost things get found.

Release Date 7/20/2015

We went out for some surfing at Breezy Point.

There was no real surf so we just paddled around and did a bit of fishing and had a long relaxing lunch on the beach.

Truth: Its cooler by the water

Release Date 7/9/2015

Went paddling under the Atlantic Highlands Bridge.

The plan was to play in the heavy current under the bridge. We arrived much earlier than the predicted peak flood and parked out on Sandy hook near the campground. We then paddled out to the East to the end of the Hook, then back the other way up to the bridge to catch the current.

There was a decent flood current, maybe 3 knots, and bridge made some nice eddy lines to fool around in, but the lack of bottom structures prevented any standing waves or other play features. 

It was a good day for paddling, cloudy early on which kept the heat at bay.

Truth: Storms go Away.

Release Date 6/9/2015

We went diving for fossils in Venice Florida.

this was a really fun dive trip. We found several hundred sharks teeth that were between one and three million years old.

Its amazing that they are so plentiful after people have been diving for them and collecting them for something like 20 years in a really small area just 4 or 5 miles long and 1 mile wide.

We were really close to the shore on all the dives!

We did two days a diving with a lot of goofing off and bbq eating in between.

At the hotel we came across the baby armidillo. It was about the cutest thing you can imagine.

Truth:
The earth is really old.

Release Date 5/22/2105 5/25/2015

Went paddling in Maine near Bar Harbor.

5/22/2015 Chilly about 50 degrees and windy. We launched from Bar Harbor and went south/west down the coast. There are some amazing cliffs along this section of the coastline. The swell was fairly mellow, but even so there was some dramatic waves slamming into rocks to enjoy.

There was some good hunting for beach trash. Do NOT know how a golfball ended up here!

Kayak with some treasure

We had lunch at the beach in Acadia park, this is usually closed to boats and used for swimming, but we were early in the season and they hadn’t set-up for swimming yet.

Launched @ 11:00 Returned about 16:15.

Low 8:45 High 15:00

Ebbs to the south/west  Floods to the north/east. So we paddled against a mild current in both directions.

5/23/2015 It was very Windy, with wind from the North and West @ up to 20kts, although it let off later in the day,  so we did a very late start around 15:00 from a little bridge at the intersection of 102 and 3 on Mt. Desert Island. There is a very long protected cut in the island which we paddled in to stay in the lee of the wind. We paddled down to Southwest Harbor and took the car back. Arrived in SW Harbor around 17:15 after a bit of exploring the coast on the way down. 

A crab shell a float, must have been picked-up on the beach by the tide.

High 15:47 Low 22:00

We paddled against a light flood to start and current should have turned by the end of the trip, but the wind made it too difficult to tell.

5/24/2015 Still windy, maybe 10-15kts. We started from South West Harbor @ 12:00 and went out around Great Cranberry Island. There was some significant swell up to 3ft, but options for surfing were limited since it was coming straight in from ocean to East and coast was just rocks.

We stopped for lunch around the back side of GC Island around 13:45 where I found some good lobster floats. We then went around Little Cranberry and Sutton Island. Reached the back of Sutton around 16:30. We then had a slow crossing into the wind back to Southwest Harbor around 17:30.

Saw some amazing coastline along the shore side of Somes Island. The picture doesn’t do it justice but this one area with dramatic cuts into the rock was really cool. If it was warmer there were some cool spots for rock jumping.

Low 10:30 High 16:30 it was so windy couldn’t really tell anything about the current.

5/25/2015 We went  from Sorrento Harbor to the South along the islands and the mainland. We stopped on the mainland for lunch and a break. As with the other places we paddled the coastline was just stunning.  Wind was fairly mellow peaked at 10kts. There was a bit of surf, but it just broke on the shore and it wasn’t possible to surf or play in it.

This dude has a nice collection!

 

Usually I am immune to boat names, but other than "Marijuana Hauler" which I saw in Florida this was pretty good!

 

On the way back we had an amazing encounter with a small seal. It kept looking at us and coming closer and closer. Eventually it started to put its head up on our boats and start to look like it was going to climb on the boat. At one point it nuzzled my paddle, and I scratched it under the chin like a dog. Another instance it swam upside down with its belly along my keel and the flippers running along the side of the boat.

Unfortunately my camera battery was dying, but I got a few nice photos.


 

It really did look like he was trying to climb up on the boat!

We launched around 11:30, we arrived at the lunch spot around 14:15, We launched about 

15:15 and returned to Sorrento by 17:45.

Truth: It always takes longer than you think to get ready.