Ogunquit River in Maine

Trip Overview

We decided to spend the weekend in Maine and took our Kayak (Loon 111) to paddle up the Ogunquit River, which is a tidal river, and as the tides change direction the flow also changes. We set in behind the hotel and first paddled up stream as low tide was going out, we continue up stream for about an hour before deciding to paddle with the tide.

When we reached the mouth, the waves were only a foot high, and that was the good part as I didn't have a skirt and if anyone paddles a Loon 111 they know it has a large cockpit and is not made to take waves. I pushed the seat back trying to keep the nose up. I made the first 3 waves with no problem but as luck would have it on the forth wave it came over the bow and into the boat. I was amazed that the Loon handled well, we paddled out past the breaking waves and turned east towards the hotel.

Once in front of the hotel it was getting rather cold sitting in 65deg water so we came in. With water in the boat, I took all the waves on and made a successful beaching. The next morning the waves were around 3 feet so I decided not to venture out as we were leaving soon and did not want to take another swim. We had such a good time that next summer we are going again to explore more of the Maine coast, this time however I will have a Kayak that is better designed for the ocean, but I will also take the Loon if nothing more than to be able to fish out of it.

Accommodations:

We stayed at the Norseman Motor Inn on the beach. The rooms were spacious and launching was good on the river behind the motel or in front on the ocean.

Directions:

Ogunquit Maine is located in southern Maine and one can get there by taking I-95 to exit 3 then going north on Rt. 1.