I drove the mile to work this AM to rest my knee. Class met at 8:30AM in a room at the YWCA for class with a seasoned guide trainer named Michael. Another guy with a ponytail. After introductions he got into navigation a bit but we hadn't received our gear bags so we used borrowed charts and winged it. I quickly discovered my eyesight has gotten pretty bad because I couldn't read anything on the map. Tomorrow I bring my reading glasses.
We also went over what makes a good guide and once again heard how the state exam has little rhyme or reason as far as failing. He said many people pass that have no business guiding, and others with years of paddling experience mess up the technical stuff or orals and get failed, sort of at the whim of the people administering it. Very disheartening way to start the day. At noon, we took a one hour break and I bought a cute Bar Harbor visor for $5 at a tourist shop. At 1PM, we met at the kayak shop and collected our gear bag and turned in our new hire/payroll paperwork. I also borrowed some gear from my housemate who twice failed the guide exam last year! ha
So Bar Harbor gets its name from the wide sand bar that appears at low tide, (green area on map) allowing people to walk across to Bar Island. Within hours, it becomes totally covered by the rising tide and you'd better swim if you get stuck! No cars allowed on it either. Because it's so far north, Bar Harbor has huge tide variations, a 10-12 ft change every 6 hours.... something we have to account for when deciding where to launch and end kayak tours. It also gets light at 5:00AM right now! Love it...
We launched today from the left side of the photo below and returned on the right side of the sand bar when it was almost covered with water 2 1/2 hours later. 3-4 mile paddle?
Before tours, and after putting on our spray skirts and life jackets, we have to carry a large mesh bag of gear about 6 blocks to the water and stash it all in our kayak. Some of it is "rescue" related in case a guest tips over in the 50 degree water. More on that later. Our "homework" for tonight involved reading a 2016 news story about a seasoned guide and NJ couple who got caught in a storm paddling near Corea ME. All 3 capsized. Guide and husband died. Wife survived, unconscious from the cold...in JUNE! Tomorrow we discuss what went wrong and how to avoid such situations.
Anyway, once we got loaded up, Mike led us on a paddle (see map) from the left side of the sand bar, past the left side of Bar Island and around the top, then past Sheep Porcupine Island and sort of doing a figure 8 around the next island, Burnt Porcupine. We worked on our paddle strokes and learned some new ones. He had us follow him in a line, then pull up side by side 10 kayaks wide, then back our kayaks into narrow rocky areas, paddle around buoys, rocks and other "hazards" and practice using our rudders and the pedals in the kayak that control them and steer the kayak. He had us paddle our kayaks 360 degrees and count the number of strokes it took us, then try to reduce the number. A video from the internet if you want more info ;)
Then it was back to the sand bar. From there, we had to lift the heavy (100 pound?) kayaks overhead, with a partner, and arrange them on racks on the trailer, then bungee them for the ride back. Lucky kayaks... guides have to walk back carrying all our gear, and potentially go right back out on another tour an hour later, once licensed?! I can honestly say that if the job description had said that lifting a 100 pound kayak over my head was required (with another person) I would have skipped on to the next job listed. Photos I saw online showed kayaks at a wooden dock near the pier so maybe I thought they were stored there and just dropped in the water. Ruh roh...
I paddled my butt off for 2 days now and have blisters on both thumbs. Bandaids come right off so they are basically raw. Im a little concerned about infection with ocean bacteria getting in and possibly finding its way to my new artificial knee implant. Heck, Im not even supposed to have dental work done without antibiotics for the rest of my life now! Ugh. Meanwhile, experienced/already trained guides were heading out with their groups on the sunset tours as we returned. I was exhausted just looking at them. Now Im home in bed icing my knee. Tomorrow is another day ;)
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