Sea Kayaking for Stewardship and Safety in the Gulf of Maine

For Immediate Release

March 20, 2002, Bar Harbor, Maine -- Traveling only as fast as their arms will let them, the Gulf of Maine Expedition's team of paddlers will document the 1,000 mile long edge of the Gulf of Maine from Cape Cod, Massachusetts, all the way to Cape Sable Island, Nova Scotia, starting on May 4, 2002, to raise awareness about the Gulf of Maine.

Team leader Natalie Springuel of Maine Sea Grant explains, "We want to help people understand what the Gulf of Maine is, its oceanography, its shoreline, its watersheds, its habitats, its natural history, its people and places. This is an ecological and cultural awareness adventure."

Nova Scotian team member Dan Earle adds, "We hope that in traveling slowly, by kayak, expedition members will gain and convey to others a sense of the Gulf that can not be gained by other means of travel - a personal, immediate, and intimate sense of time and place."

The team, made up of two American guides, two retired Canadian educators and up to 4 other paddlers, will take five months to complete the journey, making landfall in a dozen communities along the way.

Maine Sea Grant has supplied the team with an ultra-lightweight laptop computer to access the Internet in order to keep Gulf of Maine communities and organizations abreast of the Expedition's progress. The Expedition's website, including a map, journal entries and Gulf of Maine information, will be updated from the water several times a week and can be viewed at www.gomexpedition.org.

Using digital and video cameras, journals, art, a field microscope, a water quality kit, a GPS unit, and other equipment, the expedition hopes to capture a snapshot of the Gulf of Maine, from West to East, during the summer of 2002.

An important part of the Expedition will be the informal contact with children, families, communities, and tourists along the rim of the Gulf coast, people who live, work, and play throughout this vast watershed.

Learn all about the Gulf of Maine and meet the Expedition at one of their landfalls!

This project is sponsored by Maine Sea Grant, Rippleffect, Canoe Kayak Nova Scotia, the Maine Coastal Program, Necky Kayaks, Kokatat, Otter products, and numerous other organizations and businesses. For more information, or to be added to our email list, contact Natalie Springuel in Maine at springuel@acadia.net or 207-288-4205. In Canada, contact Dan Earle and Sue Hutchins at chebogue@klis.com, or 902-742-6382.

Gulf of Maine Expedition Calendar of Events

May 4th ~ Provincetown, Massachusetts. Gulf of Maine Expedition departs. Be part of the send off, paddle an hour with us, and wish us well.

May 18th ~ Boston, Massachusetts. Join us in our first "Gulf of Maine Day" and help us celebrate National Safe Boating Week with the U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary and U.S. Power Squadron and the season's opening of the Boston Harbor Islands National Park.

May 25th ~ Seacoast Science Center, Rye, New Hampshire. Join us at our second Gulf of Maine Day sponsored by the Seacoast Science Center.

June 7th-9th ~ L.L. Bean Kayak rendezvous, University of New England, Biddeford, Maine.

June 22nd ~ Casco Bay. Joint Rippleffect/Gulf of Maine Expedition kayak rendezvous. Contact Rippleffect at 207-791-7870 if you want to join in a day of paddling in beautiful Casco Bay. This is a benefit event, proceeds going to Rippleffect and the Gulf of Maine Expedition.

June 23rd ~ Portland, Maine. Join us at our third Gulf of Maine Day.

June 25-27th ~ Northern Penobscot Bay. Warren Island campout/flotilla. Join us for fun on the water and a series of events about the Gulf of Maine on beautiful Warren Island or nearby Isleboro.

July 3rd ~ College of the Atlantic, Bar Harbor, Maine. Join us at our fourth Gulf of Maine Day including events on the College's shorefront campus and an evening slide presentation, part of the Natural History Museum's lecture series.

July 20th ~ Eastport, Maine/St. Andrews, New Brunswick. Our fifth community visit, possibly a joint U.S./Canadian event. Details to be announced.

July 31st ~ Saint John, New Brunswick. Home of the famous Reversing Falls and our sixth community visit, our first in Canada.

August 10th ~ Fundy National Park, Alna, New Brunswick. Look for us at a campfire presentation.

August 17th ~ Cape Chignecto National Park, Kentville/Wolfville, Nova Scotia. Another campfire presentation.

August 31st ~ Digby, Nova Scotia. Our seventh community visit.

September 7th ~ Meteghan, Nova Scotia. Our eighth community visit.

September 14th ~ Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. Our ninth community visit.

September 28th ~ Cape Sable Island, Nova Scotia. Our tenth community visit and a big party celebrating the end of our Expedition.