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| Merganser kayak on the Baptiste Creek sand point |
Last year, I joined PEI's land/nature conservation organization (Island Nature Trust) as a member by making a small donation. Afterwards, I was pleasantly surprised to see that they had a property on Percival Bay's west side. This spring (2019), I made inquiries with Island Nature Trust (INT), and I was quickly accepted as the guardian volunteer of the Acadian Marshes property. I already monitor NCC's properties on Percival Bay's east shore (McKie/Bryant & Inverness), so the west side INT property is an excellent fit for me.
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 | MYS15 GPS track (17 km), Percival Bay
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 | Merganser kayak (8 km), Baptiste Creek
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The INT's Acadian Marshes property borders the west side of the Percival Bay and straddles Baptiste Creek's shores. It's a beautiful area but relatively isolated. In the summer, the best way to visit is by boat.
This blog covers my first two trips as the INT guardian to the Acadian Marshes over the summer. My first trip on July 22nd was a 16 km sailing excursion (MYS15) from the Alaska boat ramp (Beaton Creek). The second outing was an 8.5 km kayak paddle (Merganser) from the end of Percival Shore Road.
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 | MYS15 sailing out of Alaska
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 | MYS15 on shore at the NE corner
of the Acadian Marshes
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 | Large field of Poison Ivy, NE corner
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 | Quahog fishermen off Grand Digue sand spit
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Both of those visits to the Acadian Marshes were great and allowed me to inspect the whole shoreline. On the first trip (MYS15), I focused more on the shoreline of Percival Bay. On that same trip, I also sailed further south to the Grand Digue sand spit for a walk, lunch, and exploration. Grand Digue is one of my favourite PEI spots.
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 | Percival Bay looking south - perfect day for paddling!
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 | | Bridge over Baptiste Creek |
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 | Duck hunting blind on Baptiste Creek (just outside INT property)
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 | | Great sand point on SE corner of Baptiste Creek |
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The kayak trip in August allowed me to explore the shorelines of Baptiste Creek, which goes through the middle of the Acadian Marshes property. The fun part was paddling under the low bridge that crosses the creek and wondering if the pigeon were going to scatter in panic. Today, there were no birds – all was quiet.
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 | Bindweed, Hedge
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 | | Bunchberry |
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 | MYS15 on way back with the usual bag of beach trash
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 | Wild roses are all over the shoreline.
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| Nice colours on this one! |
In 2024, I made two kayak outings to the Acadian Marshes INT property from Co-op Road.
ReplyDelete21Jun2024 (Merganser 17ft) - For this trip, I paddled the standard lower Percival loop. Co-op Rd to Baptiste Creek, down to Grand Digue sand spit, then back across to Mossy Point and Co-op Rd.
03Oct2024 (Shearwater 14ft) - On the October trip, the objective was a walk to the Acadian Marshes bog. After a direct paddle to the old bridge on Baptiste Creek, I did a nice hike to the large bog via the Grand Digue looging road.