The boat ramp was completely new to me, so I'm going to document it a little here for future reference. It wasn't the easiest place for launching kayaks but it was ok and provided the right spot for the day's tides.
There is a fairly large parking lot with one side reserved for trailers and the other side with shorter spaces.
But the sign says the whole lot is reserved for trailer access only. Good thing it's off-season.
The ramp itself looks like it is good at all tides.
There is a nice big area at the top of the ramp for turning with the trailers.
There is even a waiting lane for the trailers to queue up when the ramp is busy and a paved trail down to the beach.
It looked impossible to use the walkway ramp to the beach to the right of the ramp because of the railing getting in the way of carrying a kayak. So, I looked around and found a rough, steep trail down to the beach to the left of the ramp.
The trail was just to the right of the sign board at the ramp turn around area. Looks like somebody used it for target practice in this isolated area.
Looking down from the lot to the beach we used to launch from.
Looking across to the southern end of Prudence Island with Dyer Island at the right side of the picture.
As you might be able to tell from the above picture, we were heading into the teeth of the wind. So, not many pictures were taken while paddling. We did have a tame, close encounter with a sailboat in the channel when we neared Prudence. We were close enough to say hello to the sailors.
Some of you may recognize the pier near the southern end of Prudence.
There were people walking on the beach that stopped to look at a dead porpoise that had washed up on the southernmost tip of Prudence. So, we all stopped and got out our cameras to try to get a good picture.
The people seemed to get in our way while we sat there bobbing in the surf, loosing ground to the wind. This was the only fairly clear shot I got.
Now that we had rounded the bottom of the island and started heading north, I expected the west wind to hit us broadside but it still seemed to be in our face all the way to the northern end of Prudence. After 7.8 miles, we finally got relief from the wind as we reached the shade of Patience Island. It was amazing to me how well we stayed together in a group during the long slog up the west side of the island.
Calm water finally! Patience Island to the left and Prudence Island on the right.
Jay pulling ashore on Patience.
Our lunch stop was about an hour. Longer than usual for this time of year, but the first half of the trip was a serious workout. We did manage to keep a 3 to 4 mile per hour pace even into the wind.
Behind the beach we stopped on was a campfire ring. I wonder if camping is allowed on this island?
Around the corner, looking up the eastern shore of Patience.
Getting back on the water, there still seemed to be some wind in our face for a few minutes until we finally got around the top of Prudence and started heading south.
Across the bay I spotted this castle looking mansion, but I don't know what it was or even which town it is in.
The push from the wind made paddling much easier on the way south and our speed was 4 to 5mph with much less work. Before crossing the bay, we made another leg stretching stop at the Prudence Island ferry terminal. There is a building at the ferry end of the parking lot and I wondered what it was, so I took a walk to check it out. It's a general store / post office. The store was open but I didn't want to go in with my dirty feet. We hung out on the store's porch for a few minutes and watched about 6 cars and trucks arrive and line up for the ferry. It must be hunting season on the island. I think it was Ken that noticed the tree stands in a pickup truck.
Then as we headed back to our boats, I noticed a deer in the bed of a small pickup.
.
I wonder how many vehicles the ferry carries?
Back on the water we discussed the route to take across the channel. There was practically no boat traffic so we took advantage of the wind direction and just took a diagonal, direct course back to the take-out.
At the boat ramp parking lot there were 3 or 4 guys with remote control cars having a good time racing them around the lot and up onto a grassy hill where they set up a jump ramp. I must have been too tired as I failed to take any pictures of them.
Here is a Google Earth picture of our actual GPS track for the day.
A few specs from the trip:
Launch time: 10:37am
Lunch stop at Patience Island: 12:55pm Distance: 7.9 miles
Depart Patience Island: 1:58pm
Arrive at Prudence Ferry Terminal: 3:16pm Distance: 12.8 miles
Depart Prudence Ferry Terminal: 3:42pm
Take out: 4:33pm Distance: 16.23 miles
Thanks for joining me for the trip Ken, Jim and Jay.
Norm
