There’s something special about gathering a group of friends for an outing. In these busy times, it’s rare that you can find a time when six friends all have the same day free. (Me? I’m lucky to find five friends!)

So it was a treat for me last Saturday when five friends were able to converge on Milbridge where my folks have a seasonal house overlooking Trafton Island in Narraguagus Bay. Any time I spend there is mental rest and relaxation. This summer I’ve been tied up elsewhere, so just getting to visit was a treat for me, made even more so by the inclusion of friends who love to paddle.

My intention was to pack the kayaks and head out for a day of fun and exploration on the bay. I’ve had only a few opportunities to paddle the area, but each time has proved to be a joy. There are many islands and inlets as well as open ocean to see. Exploring it with a group of friends hadn’t been in the cards up until now.

It took a couple of weeks of back and forth telephone calls and discussion, but I was able to get commitments for last Saturday. The gang consisted of fellow guides Scott Anchors, Karen Francoeur, and John Rice, John’s wife Mindy, and our mutual friend, Robert Causey. Francoeur, who teaches at Washington County Technical College on Thursdays and Fridays, drove in Friday night from Eastport, and Causey flew in from his Glenburn estate.

Saturday morning, Anchors made the commute from Orono, while the Rices drove from Bangor. We all agreed that a day on the water followed by cocktails and a lobster feed was just what the doctor ordered. We had a plan.

Well, most of a plan. I wasn’t sure where we’d be able to launch six boats on the lower half of the tide. It’s tough around the Wyman area of town when you have a choice of rock-bound or muddy coast. Add to this the fact that there’s only one public access point, the town landing in Wyman. We opted to try it since the rocks in front of our place were inhospitable. There’s a small, partly sandy beach on the south side of the town dock that worked out perfectly. We could park our vehicles in the parking area as well.

After the usual confusion of getting six people, their gear, and their boats unloaded, portaged, and assembled on the beach, we launched and were under way. It was a little after 10 a.m. The weather was partly cloudy, temperatures were in the 70s, the wind had shifted around to the south, and we had an outgoing tide. We headed south toward Tom Leighton Point.

On the way we paddled past Smith and Stover coves, then past Baldwin Head to wave to my folks, who were sitting out front of their place waiting for our flotilla. We continued southward to Monhonon Cove, the first protected resting place on our tour. It provided a respite from the 15-plus mph headwinds and waves. After a brief stop and stretch, we re-launched and set course for Current Island, just a mile to the south. There’s a beach on the northern end of the island that is protected from southerly winds.

As we sat on ledges and lunched, we took in the panorama of Pigeon Hill and Pigeon Hill Bay to the west and Trafton Island to the northeast. The tide had changed by the time we finished lunch, and the wind had died down a bit. We decided to head about two miles south along the exposed eastern shore of Bois Bubert Island to check out the Seal Cove campsite that is on the Maine Island Trail. Much of this shore is a National Wildlife Refuge.

At Seal Cove the view eastward is toward Jordan’s Delight, a rocky island that rises straight up from the ocean some 90 feet. Cliffs guard the east, south, and west shores.

Jordan’s Delight was purchased last year by Maine Coast Heritage Trust. The nonprofit group’s mission is to preserve what David MacDonald, the organization’s director of land protection, calls the state’s “favorite places.”

Last fall, the organization tore down a 3,000 square-foot cottage on the island. The 27-acre island was once believed to be home to the largest nesting colony of black guillemots on the entire East Coast. It is also among the state’s top nesting spots for storm petrels and eiders, according to an article the NEWS published last year. We saw dozens of guillemots in their white and gray winter plumage and several small flocks of eiders. And there was the usual array of gulls (mostly black backed and herring), an osprey or two, half a dozen loons, and a few fat seals.

Seal Cove provides a safe haven from the prevailing southerly winds and waves, and we lingered ashore to make a sculpture out of flotsam and fishing gear that had washed up on the rocky beach. The air was so clear we could see the communications towers at Cutler some 35 miles away through our binoculars.

We contemplated making the mile-plus crossing to Jordan’s Delight, but decided against it since there’s so much open sea around the island. Instead we headed north to the shelter of the Douglas Islands then to the northern tip of Pond Island. From there it was pretty much a beeline back to Baldwin Head and up to Wyman.

By late afternoon the incoming tide had covered up our launch site, so we had to land on the small beach on the north side of the dock. It proved to be a challenge getting from the beach up the bank to the parking area, and I took my share of verbal grief from the gang for having to be a mountain goat to get ashore. The promise of cocktails and hors d’oeuvres kept the abuse short-lived, however. And the fact that we’d put 13 miles under our keels helped suppress energy levels that otherwise might have been spent assailing me.

Back at the ranch, not long after the first round, there wasn’t a peep of kidding as all talk turned to a great day on the water and the many possibilities for future exploration in the area.

If you’re looking for an unspoiled area to explore, this part of the coast is your ticket. Keep in mind, though, there are very few beaches and takeouts, and the ocean south of Bois Bubert is wide open all the way to Bermuda.

Jeff Strout can be reached at 990-8202 or by e-mail at jstrout@bangordailynews.net.