Day 1 on the job....

This morning I walked a mile into town at 8am to walk around before reporting to training. On West St, there are a handful of gilded age "cottages" that weren't leveled after WWII or burned in the huge fire of 1947. The brick one below is La Rochelle. The architect was Andrews, Jaques and Rantoul of Boston and the estate was built for George Sullivan Bowdoin. There was no brick factory in the vicinity, so this home was only the second one to be built of brick on Mount Desert Island. The forty-one room, 13,000 square foot lavish chateaux has twelve bedrooms and nine full bathrooms on two acres of land. It currently houses the Historical Society.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

        The two homes above are private homes with Frenchman's Bay behind them..beautiful!

                               There's a cute art deco theater downtown that plays current films.

                  The Village Green overlooks the bay and there are plenty of shops nearby...

I reported to work at 9AM where we were scheduled for a paddle with our boss and the tour coordinator, a girl. There are 9 of us in the guide class and we were given PFDs (life preserver), dry bag and a spray skirt to keep for the season. The spray skirt fits snugly around the rim of the seat in the kayak and keeps the COLD water off when you're paddling. Photo at the end..... we watched as another guide greeted her group, fitted them for jackets/skirt and gave them the safety talk. After that, we walked 4-5 blocks to the launch site, lugging our gear. 

Tides variations are huge here and can be a 12-14 feet change, so they launch from different sites depending on the tide. We put in at the end of Bridge St, at the land bridge to Bar Island. At high tide, it is covered by water so if you walk over it you'd better turn around before it is covered up! 

 Above is a page from our training schedule. 

Below... the 151′ Schooner Margaret Todd, passing the island we were resting on. 

We used tandem kayaks, and I got my first intro to using a rudder and foot pegs to control it. All while trying to synchronize my paddle strokes with my kayak mate, a guy from Montana who lives here now. I sat in front, just paddling, on the way out (1:15 minutes) and sat in back and steered on the way back (1 hour). Seemed straight forward but I kept getting right/left backwards with the pegs 😕 We had two "crossings" where we paddled across a channel from one of the Porcupine islands to another on our way out of Frenchman's Bay. 

Water was glassy when we launched but it got really windy and choppy about 10 minutes later with some rolling waves. We passed one island and then beached our kayaks (learned how to do this and get out!) and went ashore on the 2nd island for about 30 minutes before heading back. We'll do the same when we have guests on a tour. Along the way from launch to returning, the boss and tour coordinator covered a lot of info and on the water instructions. Sea kayaking in choppy waves is a lot different then sit-down paddle boarding in a FL lagoon or calm NC marsh! Add to that being responsible for a group of 12 possibly inexperienced strangers in 6 tandem kayaks for 2-4 hours, 2 to 3x a day.. and that's going to be my summer. Hmm... and the coastline is a bit more boring than I envisioned. Just pine trees and rocks. A bit of a surprise. After reading all the books on Bar Harbor history, I thought maybe we would be hugging the coastline, pointing out the huge "cottages", talking about early settlers, the 1947 fire, society scandals and the captains of industry that built this town. Instead, we paddle straight out into the Bay and around the pine and rock covered Porcupine Islands... then back again. Maybe we'll see some seals or porpoises soon.

Me in my "spray skirt". It's held on by suspenders, and once seated, I attach it behind me and pull it tightly around to the front.. to fasten it. If you ever tip over, the first thing you do while rolling is grab the front rip cord to release the skirt (and me!) and then push your way out of the kayak so the life preserver will pull you up. Interesting first day. Tomorrow we meet at the YWCA and start our morning classes, followed by lunch and 3-4 hours paddling in the afternoon. We also get our gear... things like a pump, deck compass, sponge, MDI nautical charts, base plate compass, mesh tote bag, air horn etc. Some they provide, and some we have to buy. Despite doing two 90 minute paddles last week in FL, I think I'm going to be sore tomorrow, along with having a swollen knee from working those foot pegs and walking to and from work (2 miles RT) As I write this, I'm back home on my bed with iced knee and heating pad on my back. I feel blisters forming on my thumbs from paddling too. My face also got sunburned despite cloudy skies and a visor. Lesson learned...reflection from the water!
 

Arrival in Maine!

Yesterday, I departed from Arlington VA at 8AM and drove for 9 hours, passing through DC, MD, DE, NJ, NY, CT, MA and finally landed in Portsmouth, NH for the night. I enjoyed a free steak dinner and beer at Texas Roadhouse (mystery shop) and hit the sack.

This morning, the sun came up at 5:30, and I was out the door an hour later. I spent about $50 on tolls in the "blue states" the day before and decided to take the scenic, toll-free route through Maine to Bar Harbor. It took an hour longer but was worth it. I passed through the absolutely charming and quaint coastal town of Ogunquit, where I'm told my aunt and uncle used to vacation. 

I got my first peak at the Atlantic Ocean then drove through Kennebunk, Freeport, Portland, Wells and a few other quaint villages. A sign said there was a photo pull-off ahead, so I stopped and saw the Penobscot Narrows to the right and the Bridge to the left, boasting the tallest bridge observation tower in the world.

 

I crossed the bridge and continued along US1 and Route 3 through through rolling hills and forests. Lumber and granite are still big exports for Maine. I didn't see any agriculture other than plant nurseries and no animal farms at all. I passed lakes with rustic little cottages on them and after 5 hours, finally got to the tiny Trenton Bridge that leads to Mount Desert Island. The bridge is so small it's easy to miss, and there's a popular lobster place right there.

I drove to the bustling downtown to grab my house key from my boss at the kayak shop. I met one of my housemates who will be working in Customer Service at the kayak rental counter. I then drove a mile to the small 4 bedroom house where I'll be living. I unpacked, relaxed and washed my car! ;) Two more housemates arrived from FL in the afternoon, a girl and her fiance, guide trainees like me...very nice! There is also a guy who lives in the house year round, including when we move out and students move in in September. They attend the nearby college.

I have a small bedroom in front with two windows and Wifi. Yippee. Feels like being back in college. ha. There is a well stocked kitchen too ;) I'm super sore and tired from driving etc, so I decided to wait until tomorrow to venture back into Bar Harbor and explore. We will meet the boss at the shop at 9AM for a casual orientation paddle out into Frenchmen's Bay and then get our gear and company policies spiel in the afternoon. Once again, I heard that the Maine Sea Kayak Guide License test has a high fail rate. Yikes! Well, that was day one. Stay tuned... training starts Friday, and my licensing exam is June 22nd!

 

How it came about......

It's been a while since my last adventure... working on a Wyoming dude ranch in 2016, and cycling 420 miles across Iowa in 7 days in RAGBRAI 2017. I was ready for another one and started looking for seasonal jobs on Coolworks.com. I had an interview lined up for a hospitality job in remote McCarthy, Alaska but heard about a reality show filmed there, Edge of Alaska, watched the first season, and decided it was too small and remote for a summer job. Not to mention only 30 year round residents, most living off the grid and some with no teeth.

Then a Sea Kayak Guide job popped up in Bar Harbor Maine, and I applied immediately with a long cover letter and a nice reference from my ranch job. Two weeks later I had an offer, with my 2 week training beginning June 3rd, 2021. I'm elated. 

Training consists of 2 weeks, split between mornings in a classroom setting and afternoons on the water. We'll learn about Bar Harbor and Mount Desert (pronounced like dessert) Island's history, topography, tides, glacial origins, flora and fauna, sea creatures, lobstering, navigating with a compass and coastline map, water rescues, and most of all, safety on the water. I had to pass a background check and get fingerprinted, pass an online Red Cross First Aid class, and send an application with $100 to the Maine department of Wildlife and Fisheries. 

After our June training and a week or 2 of "shadowing" on actual tours with trained guides, we will have to pass written and oral exams with a team of fish and wildlife wardens. I hear the orals are brutal with a high fail rate. They give you scenarios such as...your tour group kayaks get swamped by a large boat's wake in the fog, leading to a missing guest situation. You have to determine next steps and where to look based on map, tides, wind and other factors. Seems easy enough right? Apparently not... we shall see. My boss and the owner of the tour company told me that our training, only paid if you pass the licensing exam, is some of the best in Maine.

The 2021 10-person guide class was announced via email, with 3 locals, 6 from out of state and 1 from Britain. 2-3 are experienced with guiding already, and some like me... just avid lovers of outdoor water activities like sailing, stand up paddle boarding, fishing and kayaking. Once again, as with my ranch job, I'll be one of the older hires, but my boss told me the best guide they ever hired was a retiree named Bill who is legendary ;)

Bar Harbor is a pricey summer resort community where housing is expensive and pretty much non-existent for a 3 month employee rental. It's much more lucrative during the brief tourist season for property owners to do nightly/weekly rentals. Because of this, most employers provide subsidized or free housing, and my prospective employer is providing some primitive bunking options for some of us for $450 a month plus utilities. They run a bike rental shop in addition to doing kayak tours, and have a 4 person bunk room/ 1 bath apartment above the bike shop and a 4 bedroom/2 bath house a mile from town. Living quarters (bedrooms/bathrooms/kitchen) will be shared, but it's just for 12 weeks. I'll survive ;)

I'll beef up my blog with history and trivia about Bar Harbor and Mt Desert Island, abbreviated "MDI" by locals. At the turn of the century (1900), Bar Harbor was a playground for the uber wealthy, similar to Newport, RI, and had over 200 huge "cottages", many of which burned in a 1947 fire and sadly, many more were demolished in the 50s and 60s too. More on that later... 

Well, that's all for now. Stay tuned and subscribe in the box to the right and/or peruse my other travel blogs, also in a link on the right. See you soon... ;)