Pics of my swim: Somes Sound

Triathlon Forum
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Somes Sound is the only fjord on the East Coast. (Wiki argues with that and apparently it’s technically a “fjard,” but in any case, it is a narrow, glacially-caved body of water that nearly cuts our island in two (google for a map of Mount Desert Island if you’ve never been here :slight_smile:

It is about five miles from the start to the mouth. I don’t have a camera to get a good panorama, but here are some views from the top of Acadia Mountain, which sits at the edge of the sound. Pretend these make a panorama…

http://i47.tinypic.com/k0n4i1.jpg http://i49.tinypic.com/21cgvw8.jpghttp://i48.tinypic.com/34rydtg.jpghttp://i48.tinypic.com/lfm8w.jpg

I have been enamored with the Sound for the seven summers I’ve lived here. Sargent Drive, the road you can sort of see across the way, is easily two of the prettiest miles of road and I’ve run and ridden that stretch many times in afternoon sunlight. There are a number of mountains whose underwater cliffs form the fjord, and so I have hiked and drooled from above. I have kayaked it. And I have spent many, many mornings in the lake getting ready to swim it.

Ocean swimming requires a bit more logistics than lake swimming. There are lobster boats, sailboats, and of course, tides. There are a limited number of Sunday summer mornings that have an early high tide (lobster boats can’t go out on Sundays). This was one of them. I have never done a long ocean swim, and so the plan this morning was to swim 4 of the 5 mile Sound. The problem with the last mile is once you get out of the narrow mouth, you are in the open ocean, and it’s another 2.2 miles to a harbor - or you can turn around and swim back to a cove. In any case, I did not know how I would handle a 6+ mile swim, so I did part of it. I met my kayaker; we dropped my car at the Flying Mountain parking lot, and drove back to Somes Harbor.

Pictures of getting ready:
Loading the kayak with gels and warm clothes
http://i46.tinypic.com/dorv3r.jpg

Earplugs and the first swim cap
http://i49.tinypic.com/4lfz43.jpg

In the water
http://i47.tinypic.com/2a6qt6c.jpg

Swimming past the pier
http://i48.tinypic.com/fcu0ee.jpg

http://i48.tinypic.com/2i27bpl.jpg

Somewhere in the middle
http://i49.tinypic.com/10msl7m.jpg

A good warmup swim and I am excited to do the whole thing :slight_smile:

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Those are some great pictures. It looks like your having a good summer up there. Good luck in your upcoming event. It’s an open water swim, right?

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Did I ever mention I hate to - the funny thing, that looks very similar to Oregon.

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The event is the whole Sound :wink:
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Notice that it’s not raining here :wink:
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tigerchik, excellent pics. Water looks very refreshing and cool. Hot as you know what here in Texas. Thanks for sharing.

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Wow! love the panorama. :slight_smile: You might enjoy Rob’s blog (if you don’t already know about it). He takes great photos too. I’ve been toying with the idea of a 4.5km swim to the next town along our coast but the currents are super iffy here and I don’t want to end up in Cuba. :slight_smile: Gorgeous area you’re in but the wetsuit would kill it for me. Was it cool seeing photos of your swim? I’d love one of my kids to be able to take a decent picture of my stroke. :slight_smile: Did you see any marine life? I get really squirrely if the water isn’t crystal clear. Did you get bored? Were you able to sight well enough not to be bored?

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Gorgeous area you’re in but the wetsuit would kill it for me.
The water is 62 degrees - I would swim a mile without a wetsuit, but not that far.
It is kind of fun seeing photos of yourself swimming.

I didn’t see any marine life today, though when I kayaked the Sound on Thursday I saw a seal. My kayaker today saw a school of mackeral that I missed.
A seal would be cool to see. I would not want to see a jellyfish :slight_smile: and whales and sharks don’t make it this far in, so I don’t have to worry about them.

I don’t really get bored swimming. I just zone out. It’s so calming for me.

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utterly glorious.
peggy

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Very cool - thanks for posting this!

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Beautiful! I watched a sunrise atop Acadia several years ago. Great swim! It’s fun to go long every now and then.

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I heart Acadia.

That almost makes me wanna swim.
Almost.

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Gorgeous and awesome! Keep crankin’ girl :wink:

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Bravo Alyie!

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Very nice pics and description. Best of luck in your race.

My family has a home in Deer Isle, just to your SW, so although not familiar w/ your area, can relate to how pretty and tranquil it is up there.

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Very nice pics and description. Best of luck in your race.

Thanks. It’s not a race - I’m just swimming it for kicks (pun intended). It’s a cool swim to do.

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ML : Cadillac :: TC : the Sound
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Great pics and thanks for sharing. I had no idea where you were so I google mapped Somes Sound. If you zoom out far enough, it looks like Somes Sound is farther east than China and Belfast LOL (assume those are names of towns in Maine).

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Great pics and thanks for sharing. I had no idea where you were so I google mapped Somes Sound. If you zoom out far enough, it looks like Somes Sound is farther east than China and Belfast LOL (assume those are names of towns in Maine).

Yup, China and Belfast are towns :slight_smile:
The Sound nearly cuts the island in half… I think that is part of the allure for me. It’s such a neat geological feature.

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Over here in West Australia, we only have sharks cutting people (or paddleboards) in half )-: Scary to do any OWS here now. I’ll keep to the black line. Did you eat any solid food during the swim? Or all gels?