Jed’s Island Adventure

Taking our own advice, the hot & sunny weather yesterday spurred on an afternoon adventure and a great “check” on our Summah Bucket List…island adventure!  Recently learning of the vast amount of nearby islands that Maine Coast Heritage Trust has in conservation and open for recreation, I spied up one named “Jed’s Island”, not far from where we moor our sailboat in Western Bay.  Jed’s Island is in the center of Morgan Bay, between Newbury Neck in Surry and East Blue Hill.  There wasn’t a lot to learn of Jed’s online, but from what MCHT’s site displays for info and from what I could see via online mapping and our nautical charts, it looked to be an easy day trip with perfect gravel beaches to bring Big Ship right up to shore on.

Sun shined strong and the winds were just right for a little sail assist getting us over to Jed’s.  We came across a hefty seaweed patch on the SE side of Jed’s, which was easily navigated.  Coming around the northern tip of the island, we puttered right in to the first gravel cove we came to.  Once ashore, we walked just around the corner of the cove we landed in, across a beautiful high point of flat ledge, to see an incredible stretch of gravel and sand beach facing directly west to Blue Hill and the setting sun.  We had missed the ideal landing, but were only a minute walk from it.  What a beach!  This is the beach you’ll see in the cover pic for MCHT’s page for Jed’s, but only it’s better in person.  And in the sun!  There’s actually a fair bit of sand, real sand, quartz sand, mixed in with the gravel beach.  It was high tide when we were there.  I can only imagine how awesome this beach is at low tide.  After a swim inspection, it looked to be all sand & gravel for a good ways out.  A rare beach, indeed.

Julee & I made our way on a trek around the island, while Pete & Kaitlyn lazed in the sun on the beach.  The hike around the island is easily navigable, going over some truly beautiful schist stone with wavy stripes of gray, white & black.  There is a fair amount of hardwood forest on the island, though it’s pretty thick, so we kept to the shore.  We came across two forest camp sites, all primitive, with not even a fire ring in place, as fires are meant to be had only below high tide line.  There is a camp site on the far north & south ends of the island, granting nice privacy if you happen to come with a group or find someone else already enjoying Jed’s.  You could actually comfortably camp at a few places right on the shore if you knew the tides and it wasn’t too windy.  Being slow, picking through some really sweet driftwood and admiring the late day light and warmth (and taking with us the only 2 pieces of trash on the island!), our circumnavigation hike of Jed’s took about an hour.  Enough for a fun adventure and everyone to be by themselves, but not too big to get wayward.

After another epic sunset over Blue Hill, we loaded on to Big Ship and puttered home knowing that we’d be back to Jed’s soon for an overnight stay.  The sunset colors melded with dusk for an hour or so in a mind bending display.  As we came into our home cove in Western Bay, we were treated to the very first bioluminescence of the season being stirred up by our motor.  Just a trickle of green sparks for now, but surely a sign of the greater display that comes each fall.

Definitely make sure to get out on a Maine island this summer.  Deer Isle & MDI don’t count!  Island adventuring is a must do Summer event in Downeast Maine and just another that makes living here so special.  Mega gratitude goes out to wonderful organizations like Maine Coast Heritage Trust and Maine Island Trail Association that are doing great things to conserve our islands and keep them open for natural habitat and public recreation!