Have Both
GPS and compass. I hear you. Have had the GPS lose reference points at times of poor visibility, so the compass has been a great backup. Two things struck me about ME conditions when I stayed on Union River Bay: The fog would roll in every morning and then lift by ten, but the fog banks moved incredibly rapidly at other times as well. The day would start out calm and placid, with water like glass, then the afternoon winds would funnel in, and instant 2’-3’ rollers! Great advice, all. Thank you!
Sea Breezes
Yes, the fog can come in very fast and the nice sounding sea breezes that often occur in the summer also can hit fast and may not be nice.
It often helps to have courses marked before hand just in case as working them out once the fog hits is less enjoyable. Of course that also means knowing where you are all the time which is a good idea.
Might be good to ask at Old quarry about common times/routes for lobster boats too.
lobster boat routes
The SeaKayaker article also talks about some of the busier fishing boat lanes. A few of them are not at all intuitive from looking at a chart, so local knowledge is important on that subject.
lobster boat routes and times
sunday is the best day for avoiding lobster boats–they don’t pull their traps on sundays—places where there is a lot of traffic with boats returning to port with their catch are Webb Cove, Deer Isle thorofare, and the channel between Russ Island and Greene Island–but you can encounter them anywhere in the area pulling their traps–look for the bouy on top of the lobster boats cabin–then avoid those same type bouys in the water.
maybe not
While Sunday is not a lobstering day…its a recreational day and those boats are still out there. Listen for the radios…kaboom pa papa. Most likely they are paying less attention.
One of my scariest days was Sunday in a pea soup fog and I could hear the diesel and the radio and the laughter and I knew not where to turn…
We paddled fast and furious into Stonington Harbor to look up at people on the deck of a windjammer. Their comment? " You look like you are having more fun than we are".
And god forbid you get in the way of someone prepping for a lobster boat race in the fog.
Lobster boats
The only rule we have in Muscongous Bay where we paddle, which is lousy with lobster traps right into the cove where we rent, is that they can show up anywhere, any time and their behavior is usually reliable. They will usually return some basic courtesies, and will usually be aware of shiny 16 foot boats during the season.
Sooo - we have found it is always a good idea to stop when you see a lobster boat working its way towards you. That way you are always going to have time to suss this out. On a sunny day with glare it can really be a bear to figure out what color pot is up on top of the boat. (Especially when that’s the one they didn’t repaint between seasons.)
Also - something that you may have already encountered up in MDI - that red-right-returning thing is not always reliable. I know of at least one spot around MDI where it operates like Friendship, and they have marked both a route into and out of the harbor. I suppose it’s easy enough to see the pattern from the deck of a larger boat, but from a kayak the pattern isn’t nearly so clear. So if you hit the exit side, the channel will be where the red buoy is on your left. (Score one for the student on that spot - as we approached it I could swear the leader was looking at that channel the wrong way.)
paddled in Stonington all days of the
– Last Updated: Feb-23-10 8:54 PM EST –
week and all summer, spring, and fall---and despite your experience Sunday is by far the best day for not having to dodge boat traffic--unless of course its the day of the lobster boat races--lol--I've gone out solo and guiding groups of paddlers---and crossed Deer Isle thoroughfare more times than I can count--its always easier on a sunday than any other day but even then you have to be alert
And if you think going out on sunday in fog is scary--try doing it saturday afternoon when the boys are going back to Stonington and Webb cove with their haul and all of the eastern end of Deer Isle Thoroughfare is alive with unseen lobsterboats--
dont trust the red right returning rule
always best to look at the chart because it can very from harbor to harbor
also if you are a paddler its best to
know red is usually on the right returning to port, but paddle with the reds to your left to avoid large boat traffic.
I remember going back to Stonington from Isle Au Haut in a thick fog. We had only guestimates of our position but knew our heading would bump us into land somewhere. Lo, we found nun 2. Looking at our chart, there were two nun 2’s in the same area. So we were not quite found.