It’s taken me a few years, and probably it’ll be another few before I’m through, but slowly I’m paddling my way around Frenchman Bay. I never set out with this goal in mind, but as I explore new places, I’ve returned to this area several times in the recent past.

A few weeks ago I ventured out of Flanders Harbor with Dave Morrill. We touched on Stave Island and then circled Hog Island before returning to shore. In years past I’ve paddled out of Sorrento Harbor several times and around Stave Island. Another time I paddled the northern reaches of the bay around Sand Point and The Ovens. Other trips have involved Southwest and Northeast harbors, Somes Sound, and Tremont (out to Great Gott, Little Gott, Placentia, Black, and Swans Islands) on the southern end of Mount Desert Island. I’ve visited the western side by motorboat during a Maine Island Trail Association cleanup. Folly, Johns, and The Hub are on my list to visit by kayak.

Last weekend, fellow paddlers Robert Causey, Karen Francoeur, Morrill and his wife, Deb, and I launched our boats at Frazer Point at the beginning of the Schoodic Point loop and headed across Winter Harbor to Grindstone Neck. From there we paddled north up the western shore to Little Crow Island, one of the public islands on the Maine Island Trail. It’s a tiny one that sits next to Crow Island just off the western shore of Grindstone Neck. From this barren spot you have a great view of the large summer cottages on the neck as well as a great view of the eastern side of Ironbound Island and the mountains of Acadia National Park across the bay.

North of here a couple of miles is Jordan Island and then Stave Island north of that.

After a stop on Little Crow we relaunched and headed south past Flat, Heron, and Spectacle islands to Turtle Island, taking a wide berth of a ledge near Flat Island where a group of six to eight seals were vying for space on an emerging rock.

Turtle Island is a Nature Conservancy island you can land on for day-use activities. We put ashore on a gravel/rock beach on the northern end and had our lunches. Our entertainment was provided by a pair of eagles across the beach. One landed high atop a spruce and perched for a minute or two and soon was joined by its mate who soared in, tapped it briefly on the back, and perched on the other side of the tree just feet away. These were just two of the six eagles we saw in the area.

After lunch we walked the stony beach on the easterly shore for a short distance, then decided the sea conditions were benign enough to paddle around the island.

A word of caution is in order here. The outer end of this island faces open ocean and is guarded by multiple ledges. Seas were running 5-6 feet and the wind was blowing around 10 mph. Even so, the swells crashing over the ledges and against the southern shore were enough to keep us alert. We gave the area a wide berth.

Hundreds of eider ducks were rafted up south of the island. Most had finished their molt and would fly before we got within a couple of hundred yards of them, but there were some still unable to fly. They’d flap and waddle across the surface and eventually dive underwater in their escape. One confused duck swam underwater toward my boat and surfaced less than 25 feet away, looked at me in surprise and immediately dove under again. I’m not sure if the duck or I were more surprised. A few other eagles, surf scoters, gulls, and terns completed the aerial backdrop for the day.

Even after we had rounded the southern tip of Turtle and headed north toward Mark Island, we were on some pretty good rollers. As we made our way past the northern end of Ned Island abutting Mark Island (just across from Grindstone Point), we were treated to the spectacle of a cruise ship departing Bar Harbor to the west. It was partially obscured by Spectacle Island, but nevertheless it looked mighty big.

I was lost in that rubberneck moment when the sudden roar of a wave breaking over a submerged ledge nearby brought me quickly back on task. The chart showed 3 feet of water over the ledge at low tide. But a 6-foot swell quickly exposed it, breaking in a roar that sounded as if a large whale had jumped into the air and had come crashing down. I was happy to have been a few hundred feet away.

It was also a learning moment – stay clear of ledges when the swells are up, even if the chart shows they are under 3 feet under water.

The crossing from Grindstone Point to Frazer Point at Mosquito Harbor is about seven-tenths of a mile. Lobster boats going into and out of Winter Harbor use this channel so keep an eye out for boat traffic.

We wrapped up our 7.5-mile paddle at the picnic area and loaded up our cars as the sun was beginning to set. While most of our party headed for home, Causey and I decided to check out Schoodic Point. As we pulled up to the parking area at the end, the same cruise ship we had seen earlier was passing to the south headed east. The sun was dropping behind Gorham Mountain to the west and the nearly full moon was rising over the ocean to the east. Through my binoculars I could see passengers on the ship lining the fantail watching the sunset – it was a “Kodak moment” one might say, the perfect ending to a great day of exploring.

The other day I heard from Cheri P. Domina, outreach and education coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service office in East Orland. She wanted me to let you know there is an opportunity to help spiff up the public trail system at Craig Book National Fish Hatchery from 10 a.m. to noon on Oct. 9. “We will be clearing a new trail on the hatchery, which will connect the Alamoosook beach trails with the nature trail, allowing hikers to travel from Alamoosook Lake to Craig Pond. Please bring hand tools and gloves; we’ll have a few on hand as well. The work will go on light rain or shine and no pre-registration is required,” she wrote. If you’re interested, or if you want more information, call her at 469-2008 or drop her an e-mail at cdomina@midmaine.com

Domina also sent along a notice on the hatchery’s annual celebration of Atlantic salmon spawning season. If you’d like to see Atlantic salmon “spawned, up close and personal, and meet your U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service staff,” or tour the hatchery buildings, the Visitor Center, or the Atlantic Salmon Museum, the place will be open for tours, and refreshments will be provided from noon to 3 p.m. on Nov. 7.

Groups are welcome. For more information, call Peter Steenstra at 469-7300, ext. 215, or e-mail EdwardSteenstra@fws.gov.

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