The trouble with having a weekend off and great weather to go with it is you try to stuff as much into two days as you would in a week. Come Monday the piper’s standing on your doorstep demanding payment and your employer is next to him demanding you produce.

And the older you get, the deeper you dig into your reserves to pay up.

I was paying that price last Monday with sore muscles, a dragging backside and sunburned neck, but boy oh boy, what a great weekend it was!

I got in some salt water paddling time, some building time, I made a few good contacts for future stories and got in some tourist time island hopping around eastern Penobscot Bay. (And I received a press release on Orland River Day which I’ll tell you about below.)

Gary Brouillard, owner of Dennett’s Wharf Restaurant in Castine was in the market for construction help last weekend. He had undertaken a do-it-yourself project of major proportions. The main float at his dock had died a long, slow death over the years, and last fall was the funeral. That left a big step, particularly at low tide, getting from water level onto his dock. No longer could he use an aluminum gangway because there was nothing for the water end to rest on, and nothing for the rest of his floats to tie onto.

Basically he had a 18 by 30-something foot hole in the water he needed to plug with a big ol’ float.

In barn-raising fashion he rounded up a bunch of us to help out and we followed his directions assembling what turned out to be one big Erector Set skeleton made of pressure treated 4x6s that by Sunday afternoon actually floated on the incoming tide! The frame and floats held together and were awaiting deck planks when I left for home Sunday evening.

Sandwiched around this rigorous construction project was time on the water.

Saturday evening when things settled down a bit, Karen Francoeur, owner of Castine Kayak Adventures, and I hopped into a couple of kayaks and paddled across the bay to the back of Smith Cove and into Mill Pond on the high tide. Ospreys, an eagle and a whole bunch of seals were our company for the tour. At the West Brooksville boat launch we met two couples headed out to their motorboat for a quick trip over to Castine to get ice cream.

After our short exploration of Mill Pond we paddled back out to Smith Cove. Minutes later we spotted flares in the air over Holbrook Island and notified the Coast Guard by VHF radio. What we thought was an emergency turned out to be a flare demonstration. The Coast Guard thanked us for the call, however, and broadcast a notice on Channel 22 to warn others on the water about the flares.

We paddled back to Dennett’s Wharf into the setting sun, watching the osprey and eagle get in their evening snacks and listening to the seals communicate with each other.

Sunday I drove back to Castine from Bangor to meet Tom Perkins of Dedham who graciously had offered the use of his charter boat to take us around Penobscot Bay.

The Jim Dan Dy (soon to be renamed Dorothy Jean in memory of his wife’s grandmother) is a 36-foot Nova Scotia-style hull outfitted for charter cruises. Perkins took several of us, who guide at Castine Kayak Adventures, on a tour of eastern Penobscot Bay. Francoeur, her son Ryan Cota, guides John Rice and Deb Merrill and I got the cooks tour to familiarize ourselves with the places we might guide kayak tours this summer.

Our first stop was Coombs Cove off the northeast side of Islesboro, then it was south past Sabbathday Harbor where John Travolta’s estate overlooks the water. We motored south to the narrows of Islesboro where the western shore is only yards away at high tide. It makes a great place to portage and then put back in to make a circumnavigation of the northern end of Islesboro.

Next we headed southeast for 4.5 miles to the Barred Islands that lie about 3 miles south of Cape Rosier. After making a loop around neighboring Beach Island we headed for an anchorage on the south side of Pond Island. Four of us went ashore while Perkins and Cota stayed with Jim Dan Dy to be sure the anchor held in the stiffening breeze. Pond is a fun island to explore with its sandy shores and salt-water pond. It’s about a mile across Eggemoggin Reach from Bakeman Beach at the southern end of Cape Rosier.

After a quick jaunt and exploration around the northern beach and the central part of the island our landing party of four clambered aboard the dingy and splashed our way back to the mother ship. (It’s not a pretty sight to put oars in kayakers’ hands and watch them try to make any headway!) We managed not to swamp and Capt. Perkins kept us from washing ashore as we hauled anchor and resumed our tour. The bay was white and the waves a bit angry as we motored north past Orr Cove where the Nearing Farm is located. I was glad to be in something larger than a kayak.

Perkins, a sergeant in the State Police at the Orono barracks, is a Blue Hill native who is looking to get into the custom charter business – this while he keeps his day job for at least until next summer. He told me he’d like to get into specialty tours for bed and breakfast businesses, and customize tours for individual needs.

He and Francoeur talked about the possibility of taking kayakers and their boats to islands in Penobscot Bay where paddlers could camp and explore. Depending on the nature of the trip, paddlers could return to Castine under their own power or be picked up. For now, he’ll work out of Castine and see what the future brings. He can be reached at 843-6711 or on his cell phone at 852-5021. “Tell me what you want to do and I’ll try to make it happen,” he said.

There were still a few hours of daylight left when we got back to town, and the tide was rising on Brouillard’s float project so I jumped down onto the beach to help drill holes and drive bolts into the timbers. We worked our way up the dock, retreating from the incoming water and managed to tighten the last nuts before getting wet.

We raised a glass to toast the beast before calling it a day and heading home.

Orland River Day is next Saturday, so mark June 26 on your calendar and come down for some family fun. The organizers want you to know there’ll be events from a paddle to a parade, antique autos to alewives, rafting to rowboats and crafts to cookies.

The Alewife Run, a first for Orland’s River Day celebration, is at 3.5 mile, one-way paddle in kayaks from Alamoosook Lake beach to Orland village. It will begin at 8:30 a.m. at the beach, but participants must be there earlier to leave their boats and gear there and drive to the village where a shuttle bus will take them back to the beach. Bring your life jacket, snacks and water and keep in mind there’s a short portage around a dam. Naturalist Cheri Domina of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will be on hand to spot wildlife and birds, and Francoeur will demonstrate safety techniques and have kayaks on hand to rent. (Did I mention I’ll be part of the rescue show?)

There’s a parade at 10 a.m., a raft race and floating craft regatta and crafts and music from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Don’t overlook the locally made wooden boats, strawberry shortcake or the chance to try out Old Town canoes and kayaks at the waterfront.

For more information call Al and Cindi Kimball at 469-0077 or e-mail them at innkeeper@orlandhousebb.com.

And here’s a helpful hint to all you sea kayakers who use some form of roof rack to transport kayaks on their sides (commonly called J-cradles). If you use bow and stern lines in addition to the straps on the cradles, do not over-tighten them. Francoeur told me she has heard from several people who have warped their plastic kayaks (actually bent the nose and stern to the side) by pulling the bow and stern lines too tight.

A kayak with a bent nose and/or stern will not track straight!

If you use the bow and stern lines, just snug them up. They’re really only safety lines. They do not need to be taught like a banjo string. It’s the straps or lines at the racks that perform the work of holding the boat atop your car, and these are in a place on the boat where it is stronger.

Jeff Strout can be reached at 9900-8202 or by e-mail at jstrout@bangordailynews.net.