Today was our last full day in Castine and we had booked a day's kayaking with Karen who runs Castine Kayak Adventures. The weather was dull as we turned up at the wharf with plenty of warm layers to meet Karen. She was very reassuring and quizzed us about our health and experience so we were immediately confident we were in safe and experienced hands. We even practiced getting in and out of the kayak on dry land before getting onto the water at all. Well not quite dry land, we were on a floating jetty and the gentle rocking started to make Jill feel queasy - not a good omen for a day of sea kayaking!

Karen had us in a double kayak, the kind with skirts to keep water out of the hull and double paddles. Jill was up front and Dave to the rear so in theory Dave needed to keep in line with Jill's stroke and call the shots on any steering strokes. However, we soon found out the reality was that there was enough space between us so that paddling in synch was not critical. We also found Dave could put in most of the steering strokes whilst Jill did most of the forward motion paddling.

Before we were beyond the jetties we faced our first challenge, there was a deep hooter sounded that meant something big was coming our way and we'd be well advised to keep out of its way. Karen had us paddle up to a jetty whilst a large yacht passed by. Very soon were were out in the bay of Bagaduce River and paddling into the wind with the objective of making the far side, a daunting half mile away. Surprisingly we crossed relatively easily with Karen coaching alongside and we worked well as a kayak team, paddling together with the occasional steering adjustment.

We were soon skirting the shoreline of Smith Cove in a brief spell of sunshine and blue sky. Holbrook Island Sanctuary Park provided a gentle pebble beach landing point which had picnic tables and loos nearby. Karen then produced a delicious lunch of carrot sticks, cheesy dip, and flat bread with a tasty filler of chicken, cranberries and pecans. And we were hungry!

We then headed off to explore the ins and outs of Smith Cove which Karen clearly knew very well. We paddled around small islands and Karen showed us where the owners from 100 years and more back had carved their names into a rocky shore outcrop. She took us through a shallow, narrow inlet into Mill Pond where we virtually limboed under a bridge to view a waterfall. This was hilarious - Karen has some video evidence but probably we won't be able to share that here. We saw an eagle's nesting site on Sarah's Island and a rock with resting seals before our final challenge.

Getting back across the bay to Castine Harbour was not to be straightforward as the tide had turned, the wind had changed and parts of the bay looked decidedly choppy. It was now that we were very glad we'd not set out on our own. Karen's knowledge of tidal flow and current was vital in making our return journey a challenge without becoming exhausting and dangerous. Essentially we were paddling against the brisk outflowing tide but with the strengthening wind roughly behind us. Karen set us a course first across the wind which provided a bumpy ride but as we headed out of the relative shelter of the Cove we turned up river and were able to paddle with the wind and waves behind us, effectively pushing us along against the current - good plan! This dog-leg route also thankfully allowed us to avoid a very choppy section of the bay. We'd paddled a little distance upstream from the harbour but here we had a relatively narrow crossing of the river mouth back to Castine Harbour and then a gentle paddle down through the moored yachts and under the wharf back to base.

We'd spend five hours out in the bay and had learnt a lot of basic kayak techniques thanks to Karen's excellent coaching. Not surprisingly we both ached in all kinds of places but we were not over-tired at all and felt we'd had a day with a good balance of challenge, learning and gentle exploration of Castine's near coast.

The couple we'd swapped with, Shelley and Don, had arrived back and were staying at Shelley's family home so they had kindly invited us round for a surf and turf (i.e. lobster and steak) dinner. We were looking forward to meeting them and swapping stories but sadly this did not all go according to plan. Shelley's dog Harley, a twelve year-old retriever, collapsed just before we arrived and she had to drive him to the 24 hour vets, an hour away. Don held the fort and we did spend an engaging evening with him sharing recent and life experiences but throughout the evening we were all concerned for Shelley and Harley.