FEW people are lucky enough to explore the rugged Maine coast from the perspective of a sea kayak, and few places are as special. Here, you can slip through the thin water, riding the margin between land and sea, tucking in and out of creeks and rivers, discovering secluded pocket beaches, or venturing out to offshore islands. COPYRIGHT 2002 DIAMOND PASS PUBLISHING The Maine coast is ideal for exploration by kayak. It offers an unlimited variety of coastline, from ancient salt-marshes and sandy beaches to craggy rockbound shores. Its thousands of islands beg to be discovered, and they calm the waters in their lees. Rivers minute and majestic scrawl through the mainland to the sea, branching and bending around granite outcrops as benign trickles or as exhilarating tidal rapids or reversing falls. Scenic lighthouses pepper the coast, and wildlife is abundant.
The Maine coast, however, is challenging. Whether you are a veteran paddler or a rank beginner, your explorations should be planned prudently. Maine's water is cold. Its temperature can conjure thick fog, and its tides can create substantial currents and waves and hide or reveal jagged ledges. It is shared by other boaters, and they may not be able to see you. The shore is rocky, or sandy, or muddy, or cobble. In some places it is too rugged to land, or, if the tide is low, too far to carry gear if you did. Add to this the inherent dangers of the remoteness of many sections of the coast, where an ankle twisted on the slippery rocks could mean a long, painful journey home, or worse. Maine, probably more than any other coast, deserves the respect and care of mariners, particularly those in small boats. COPYRIGHT 2002 DIAMOND PASS PUBLISHING In the low light of a clear dawn, the Maine coast is bedazzling. The water sparkles. Spruce-clad islands stand at stark attention, silouetted against the glare. The clear water laps the shore, and the kayak at the waters edge rocks restlessly. Few places on earth are as magnificent. All it takes to discover it is a fair sky and a small boat. IF YOU ARE READING THIS, YOU HAVE VIOLATED