Users leave islands in good shape

As it has been on the coast all summer, the fog last Saturday morning was hanging heavy. The farther south I drove toward Brooklin, the thicker it got.

It looked and felt like dusk even though it was 9:15 a.m. as I drove down the Naskeag Point Road to Naskeag Harbor where I was to meet up with skippers and volunteers for the Maine Island Trail Association gathering to clean up islands in the area. I knew I wasn’t going to miss my connection because somewhere south of North Penobscot on Route 15, stopped in a construction zone, I looked ahead a few vehicles and saw the stern of one of the MITA boats (Wimbrel) on a trailer.

Ted Scharf, one of the MITA skippers, was at the helm of a Toyota Four-Runner towing the boat, so I drafted him for the rest of the trip (including one missed turn and a U-turn through some parking lot at breakneck speed). We proceeded to hurry up and wait once we got to the launch ramp, since only one other skipper, Henry Gignoux of Steuben, had arrived.

Boat number three, Nellie, arrived after a fashion, towed by a Ford pickup truck with a really high idle. At the wheel was MITA Office Manager Drew Wyman. MITA Stewardship Programs Manager Amy Kersteen was riding shotgun.

One by one the rest of the day’s volunteers arrived from points as far away as Nashua, N.H., until our gaggle numbered 10, enough to crew three of the 18-foot Lund boats and head off into the fog. Just before he pushed the starter button on Wimbrel, Scharf shouted back to me, “Jeff, you’ll be the navigator for Amy…” Thanks, Ted, I muttered, wishing that I’d known that a little earlier so I could have done some chart work and entered a few way points into my GPS.

Poor Vic Montiverdi, the New Hampshire volunteer who got stuck in our boat, must have had second thoughts as he waited for me to punch numbers and letters into my little GPS. He didn’t let on to any fears, however, and settled into the bow seat as Kersteen and Wyman shoved us off the beach and we putted off into the fog toward our first way point, a green can near Channel Rock.

We got close to the neighborhood and wound up finding another buoy that we used for a fix, then headed off for the next point between Tinker and Bar islands. We found Bar through the fog and I settled down with the chart to plot our next way point. It turned out that I was really close on this one. I know because the fog lifted as we approached our destination, Folly Island, and I could see the area I’d entered and it was just south of the island as planned! Wow, these things do work!

Folly Island is near the southern end of Bartlett Island and south of Pretty Marsh (on Mount Desert Island). We landed, stripped off rain gear, and split up to pick up trash along the shoreline. On the south side is a gravel beach that yielded for me a trash bag full of line and various plastic items, mostly related to commercial lobstering. A 25-foot length of polypropylene hawser filled most of my trash bag.

Our next stop was tiny Johns Island, just north of Folly. It was a great spot for lunch, and it yielded little to no trash. Aside from Nellie’s motor not restarting immediately, it was a relaxing respite. We headed north against an outgoing tidal current to the tiniest of islands, The Hub, at the northern end of Bartlett. One deposit of human waste and toilet paper provided the island’s only challenge and then it was clean (Montiverdi did the honors). I took a few minutes to explore the tiny ledge and admire the great view of MDI to the east before hopping back into Nellie to begin our return to Naskeag. Again the motor refused to start. (We were about 14 miles from our launch site.) It would turn over, but it wouldn’t fire.

It had to be the kill switch, I advised Kersteen. We pulled up on it and sure enough the engine fired. The little clip that held it up was not doing its job. Thankfully there were other plastic clips to try and we quickly solved our problem. The Honda purred like a kitten for the rest of the trip.

After retrieving the fleet and getting out of wet gear, the crew gathered around the hood of my Cherokee to spread out an impromptu hors d’oeuvres party. Highlights included some delicious crab dip and a bottle of Chardonnay (thanks, Leslie Devoe), Sister’s Salsa and chips (thanks, Jamie McGhee and Ashley), humus, crackers, cheese, ripe olives, homemade oatmeal chocolate chip cookies (thanks, Jim Owen), a bottle or two of water, Gatorade, and a random bottle of beer. We shared some snacks, some camaraderie, and a few jokes. What a perfect way to end a great day on the water.

In one day the three boats had visited 20-some islands in the area bordered by Swans Island, Mount Desert Island, and Stonington. Kersteen told me Monday that in general the islands were in great shape thanks to careful usage by visitors and great stewardship by island adopters.

Speaking of hunky-dory, the Maine Association of Sea Kayak Guides and Instructors got off to a running start at their fall meeting last week in Searsport. President Paul “Task Master” Travis came out swinging with an energetic list of assignments for outreach, ethics, marketing, and membership committees.

On hand for part of the meeting was Sgt. Mark Warren of the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, chairman of the guide advisory board, who brought the group up to date on the revised testing process for Maine Guides. MASKGI has been active in suggesting major changes in the testing process for sea kayak guides, but the revisions are not yet in place. Warren suggested these changes would be in place next April. Revisions to the other license classification tests have been made – hunting, fishing, recreation, and tidewater fishing.

There are some 6,500 Registered Maine Guides, Warren said, and of that number there may be 550 sea kayak guides (not every registered guide is active).

The issue that’s occupying a lion’s share of his time at present involves institutions that take students or members out on trips, be they on the water or on the land. If there is pay involved in any way, the person leading the trip, by law, must be a Registered Maine Guide, and the group must be limited to 12 people per guide. Institutions, Warren said, are claiming they’re not covered by the law and are legal because they have trip leaders. Only camps licensed by the Department of Human Services can have trip leaders, Warren said.

Meanwhile, Travis told MASKGI members, the organization was being nominated for the Governor’s Award for Outstanding Accomplishments in Maine’s Natural Resource-Based Industry. Part of that process involved putting together an application and information packet outlining past accomplishments.

Here are a few:

. Co-sponsor of the informational brochure “A Sea Kayaker’s Guide to Safety and Stewardship in Maine.” Several thousand copies of this free brochure have been distributed in retail locations, information centers, and at events.

. Co-sponsor of the Maine Coast Natural History Seminar since 2001, its first year.

. Key partner in developing island use capacities for Maine’s public islands on the Maine Island Trail and the new 10-year management plan for these islands.

. An eight-member working group was involved with the DIF&W to rewrite the Specialized Sea Kayaking Guide Exam

. Co-sponsored the 1,300-mile sea kayaking Gulf of Maine Expedition 2002 designed to raise awareness about the Gulf of Maine and teach safety and stewardship principles through public education programs in 23 communities in Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and along the Bay of Fundy.

. Staffed informational outreach booths on recreation and paddling safety since the organization’s inception in 1996. In 2003, there were booths at the New England Paddlesports Show in New Hampshire, the Paddlesmart from the Start Safety Seminar in Bangor, the Maine Coast Natural History Seminar in Stonington, and the Northern Association of Boating Administrators conference in Bar Harbor. MASKGI also was a featured participant in the U.S. Coast Guard Search and Rescue Forum held in South Portland in May and the National Association of Boating Administrators conference in Bar Harbor on paddle sports.

. In 2003 initiated and successfully completed the first of a series of Leave No Trace trainer courses in partnership with the Maine Island Trail Association. MASGKI now has more than a dozen LNT Trainers and Master Educators within its membership.

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