I was paddling around the Muscle Ridge islands in Maine today and a lobster fisherman called over and said hi, asked me how I was doing, and even asked if I needed any drinking water. Wow! What a nice guy.
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Glad you got out to Muscle Ridge! Next year for me, but at least l made it last year. Introduced two new folks to the western side of this bay, w luck they will be back and more paddling company.
Cool place to paddle! Not far offshore, and lots to see. Lobstermen are usually pretty cool when they see that you’re paying attention to buoy color, and keeping your distance from theirs while they’re working.
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Reminds me of one time when paddling on the first run of the Yukon 1000 mile canoe race in a large 34’ black carbon voyageur canoe. We were in the broad braided Yukon Flats, approaching a First Nation tended fish wheel that a power jon boat had just landed at. One man in the boat suddenly started heading toward us and I worried that we had may have violated some cultural rule that he was going to correct us on. We slowed our pace and as he approached I could see that he was smiling. He held out his hands spread by about a yard and offered us two large fresh king salmon for free. Unfortunately, during the race we had no way to accept or process the fish, and reluctantly had to decline the offer. Later we heard that word had spread about the “big long canoe” coming through in this first area canoe race. we had other village FN boats visit and accompany us a few miles before and up to the finish line.
At the finish, a self-proclaimed “bushman”, complete with a .44 mag on his hip and bandolier slung over his shoulder, who had followed us the last mile, helped us carry the boat to our waiting transport. His wife, “Dorothy”, had a tent with native made items for sale under a tent in the parking lot. We skipped a year and when we repeated the race two years later, Dorothy said that he had watched in disappointment for us the previous year with photos he had taken of us the first year. Unfortunately he had sadly passed away before our return and Dorothy gave us the photos.
Such nice people. so unlike the cautions we were given to avoid some of the FN river villages that were reported to us to be trouble for breaking the “dry” no alcohol allowed rule.
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