“At high tide and low tide because the current is the calmest when the current changes direction. The midpoint between low and high tide will have the strongest current.”
“so I should time going inland with high tide and towards the ocean at low tide to always go with the current?”
“yes. You could do that”
“so leave an hour before and return an hour after high or low tide?”
“yes”
“Have you seen the Ovens? I was thinking of checking them out on a canoe trip by our rental house on frenchman’s bay”
“yeah, we did our training there. they’re cool formations that the ancient Indians believed were the entrances to hell. You know they sacrificed people there by staking them down at low tide and to drown them and burn in hell for eternity.”
“really?”
“yes, in the 1700’s the Micmac Indians captured Indian tracker esek winslow and staked him down during low tide. After a long wait, the tide began to come in. His head began to hit rocks. He realized the stake had come loose. The water loosened the ropes around his wrists and set him free. After Esek survived his close encounter with the Devil's Oven, the Indians left him alone for the rest of his time in this world. Since the fires of Hell did not consume this man; the Indians wanted nothing to do with him. When you’re at the ovens, to the east a little bit, you’ll see a vertical fracture in the rock that has been eaten away by the waves, forming a small arch. What we’re left with is a doorway, a 10 foot high passage through the rock ledge known as Via Mala, road to evil. It’s worth checking out, too.”
I asked our kayak guide all these questions because I had rented a canoe and was wondering how best to canoe the ocean without shelling our money for an ocean canoe guide. when I was employed, I was cheap…. now that I’m unemployed I’ve become super cheap. I heard about the Ovens, famous sea caves along the coast by our cottage, but I didn’t want to get pulled out into the ocean paddling on a canoe visiting them. after talking to the guide, l came to the final understanding of the waves: the moon's gravitational pull generates tidal force. The tidal force causes Earth—and its water—to bulge out on the side closest to the Moon and the side farthest from the Moon. These bulges of water are high tides. Since the earth rotates 180 degrees every 12 hours, the high tides are spaced about 12 hours apart. The best time to visit the Oven caves would be low tide so we could enter the caves after landing.
Despite all my irritating questions, our kayak ride in Bar Harbor was serene. We went a couple hours before high tide, so we paddled against the waves as we headed out to sea, and then rode the tide in relaxed on our return. Sitting in kayaks with sea skirts over our seats to keep dry, our center of gravity was very low to the water. Whereas one sits 12 inches above the water on a canoe, one sits level to the sea on a kayak. Although a kayak is much harder to overturn in the ocean than a canoe, it is harder to escape since your legs are tucked into the boat. The Polynesians were smart, they added outriggers to their canoes so they could get ocean stability while having access to easy escape.
As the sun was setting, we passed by the Porcupine islands to our east (rocky islands with pine tree quills), and the cliffs of acadia to our west. Black cormorants took flight close to the water in front of our boats. Waves crashed on the rocks, seaweed swayed in and out. In the morning we hike, in the afternoon we paddle. We see the acadia from different vantage points.
With the ocean kayaking experience in hand, we headed to the Ovens by canoe the following day. The sky was hazy so we never got a glimpse of the sky. Walking through via mala to the oven, we had descended to Micmac hell. It was dark cold, wet, and damp-- much different from the fiery hell described in the bible.
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| via mala |
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| 1941 postcard of the ovens |
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| the ovens |
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| inside the oven |
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