Maine: Kayaking in Rockland

When the alarm went off at 6am, I immediately questioned our decision to go on an early kayaking trip. Still sore from cycling the day before, this was definitely turning into the most active vacation I had ever been on. After silently pulling on our kayaking clothes & tip toeing out of the still quiet inn, we walked out into the cool Maine air & down the still streets of downtown Camden. On the hunt for breakfast before our early morning kayaking trip two towns away, a feeling of bliss washed over us as we slid into the cool plastic booths at Marriner’s Restaurant to gobble down blueberry pancakes & lobster omelets, surrounded by locals & not a single other tourist.

When we pulled up to Breakwater Kayak, we met Mark, the owner & our guide for the morning. He had a surprise for us: the other couple who had signed up for a tour that morning had chosen the longer, more challenging five hour tour, rather than the shorter three hour one we had signed up for – would we be up for a longer paddle which included a picnic lunch on a beach? Absolutely! We shook hands with the outdoorsy couple who had chosen the longer trip as part of their R&R home from the Peace Corps (they had just left Nepal & were getting ready to head to the Middle East). Mark dragged our boats out & soon we were on our way through Rockland Harbor.

Finally clear of the harbor, & headed toward Owls Head Lighthouse, the chop of the crystal clean Maine waters picked up. Seated in the front of our tandem kayak, I navigated as the front of our boat went up & down like a kiddie coaster.

Finally, the seas calmed & we rounded a corner, mouths agape, as we squinted at the lighthouse towering on the cliff above us.

We landed on the small gravel beach in Owls Head State Park & scampered up a muddy hill to explore the lighthouse & park, while Mark assembled our beachfront picnic lunch.

The second part of our trip was arguably the best: the water was calm & the scenery from water level beautiful. We ended our five hour paddle in a small harbor, home to a very busy lobster pound. We dodged working lobster boats as we pulled into Owls Head Harbor. Eventually docking on the gravel beach, we pulled our boats ashore & waited for Mark to grab his van & trailer to take us back to Rockland.

I would recommend Breakwater Kayak to anyone visiting the Camden & Rockport area, regardless of whether this is your first or 100th time kayaking. In hindsight, it was one of our favorite trips for a number of reasons, but mostly because it felt great to support a small local business (rather than a larger company with tons of canned trips every week).