[Journal entry for July 7 and 8, 2015; Haskell Island, Casco Bay, Maine]

Tuesday, July 7, 2015. In the afternoon, we launch Duck from the Colony Beach and paddle a loop around Haskell Island. A huge pile of yellow lobster traps are piled on the dock at Dick’s Lobster and Crab. A workman there says that they are poised to be deployed in the bay. We wait for the tour boat Wabanaki to pass and then cross over to Haskell Island. We pass the gazebo on the northeastern point and then follow the eastern shore southward. This shore is open to the sea and has tall cliffs with stands of spruce trees above. The sea is calm today and the waves small, though they still make impressive foam when the break over rocks. We paddle through the straight between Haskell and Great Mark Islands. The latter is a small island with a single house built among trees, with a largish dock on a beach that faces Haskell Island. We then pass by Little Mark Island, which hosts tall stone monument, shaped somewhat like an obelisk. Only bushes and grass grow on south end of Haskell Island and only grass grows on Little Mark. I guess that the trees cannot tolerate the salt spray. We round the southern point, passing Red Buoy Number 2. Surf is breaking on Whale Rocks, a little beyond Little Mark. We then head back north through the channel between Haskell and Upper Flag Islands. We detour into a pretty little cove in Haskell, past two houses built on low-lowing land by a beach. They look rather too exposed to the sea! As we paddled back, we saw a Tern diving into the water near the Town Dock. 2:00.

Wednesday, July 8, 0215. In the afternoon, Dallas and I again launch Duck from the Colony Beach and paddled the same a loop around Haskell Island as we did yesterday. Another couple from the Colony is launching their kayaks at the same time, and we pause to chat with them. The day is sunny and the air somewhat clearer than it was yesterday, so the distant islands are more distinct. We paddled a little slower than yesterday, so that we could take photos of the sights. The swells on the east side of Haskell Island are larger than yesterday but the chop is less. We passed several flotillas of Eider Ducks with ducklings. We noticed a basaltic dike cutting across the phyllite exposed on a sea cliff on the west side. We admired white flowers growing from cracks in the cliff face. We battle a bit of a head wind as paddle back through Potts Harbor. 2:00.