By mid-morning, the sky brightens. We gather up our soggy gear and head downstream. With glimpses of blue and a clearing wind pouring out of the west, we cross Grand Falls Flowage and pull up on the beach in Princeton. By now, the sun is shining and we empty all our gear onto the town beach. The tents go up, sleeping bags are spread out, fences become clothes lines and every piece of soggy dunnage is open to the air.
Local kids come by and gawk.
The place appears as if L.L. Bean has set up an outdoor showroom. Within hours, everything is dry. We head across Lewey and Long lakes and through the narrows at Peter Dana Point, a focal point of the Passamaquoddy community at Indian Township. Past the narrows, on the shores of Big Lake, we see Wayne Newell's 17-foot runabout tied up at his dock. Newell is a tribal councilor, educator and preserver of Passamaquoddy culture.