Maine Island Kayak Co.
Since 1986.
For more than 30 years, Maine Island Kayak Co. has helped people get out on the water and discover the joys of sea kayaking: connecting to ourselves and the amazing ocean environment. From Baja to Alaska, from Antarctica to our base on Peaks Island, Maine, we've explored the world's oceans. Visit our Photo Galleries to share those adventures, then come make one of your own with us!
Who’s Who at Maine Island Kayak Co.
The heart and soul of MIKCo is our core team of great instructors, guides, and staff. We are small boat sea paddlers, passionate about the ocean and enthusiastic about sharing our experiences. As Registered Maine Guides, American Canoe Association (ACA) and British Canoeing (BC) trained instructors, we are committed to giving you personal attention and quality instruction that we know works out on the sea in our small boats. We feel very thankful to have some of the following paddlers, coaches, and guides around each year. We think these folks are simply some of the best around!
Come get a paddle wet with us...
Tom Bergh
Founded MIKCo in 1986
Master Maine Sea Kayak Guide, Founder Maine Association of Sea Kayak Guides & Instructors (MASKGI), Maine Sea Kayak Guide Board Examiner. Along with Nigel Dennis and Stan Chladek, Tom successfully circumnavigated Nelson Island in the South Shetland Islands by sea kayak in 2000: see Paddling Antarctica. It was the first unsupported expedition of its kind.
Joe Dupont
At the helm of Maine Island Kayak Outfitters
Master Maine Sea Kayak Guide, Maine Association of Sea Kayak Guides & Instructors, UK Coaching Certification Level 1. Joe is guiding in Baja, Mexico and British Columbia for the 2023 season.
Liz Johnson
Registered Maine Guide, Wilderness First Aid. ACA, British Canoeing and International Sea Kayak Guides Association certifications. Liz is committed to empowering others through learning and challenging in outdoor environments.
Jim Bowler
Registered Maine Guide, Maine Association of Sea Kayak Guides & Instructors, Wilderness First Aid. From climbing redwoods to guiding customers coast to coast, Jim has a wealth of experience and an enthusiasm for adventure that is infectious.
VISITING COACHES
Nigel Dennis
Owner of Sea Kayaking UK, Nigel completed the first ever sea kayak circumnavigation of Great Britain together with Paul Caffyn. Since then Nigel has carried out expeditions in Antarctica with Tom Bergh and Stan Chladek, Easter Island, and a televised expedition around Cape Horn.
Dale Williams
Dale is an ACA L-5 Instructor Trainer Educator (ITE) and former British Canoe Union (BCU) Coach 5T Sea. He loves teaching and turning others on to open-water sea kayaking. Dale hails from Tybee Island, Georgia, where he owns and operates Sea Kayak USA.
Suzanne Blackburn
Joe Herlihy
Joe Herlihy has been paddling on Casco Bay since 1999. Over the past several years, he has expanded his kayaking experiences to include rock garden play, surfing, and multi-day expeditions along the Maine coast. Recently qualified as a Maine Guide, Joe is a long-time member of the MIKCo family and enjoys working with folks as they begin their kayak journeys in Maine.
Joe Guglielmetti
Joe is a Master Maine Sea Kayak Guide, an open-water sea kayak instructor with the American Canoe Association, and a wilderness first responder. Joe has paddled expeditions in Fiji and Zambia, through-paddled the coast of Maine and section-paddled from New Hampshire to Nova Scotia. Joe enjoys bringing people into the marine environment, and often leads paddlers to his favorite place in the world: the Cushing Island Cliffs, where guillemots nest above the wild open sea.
Cheri Perry
Cheri is widely regarded as one of the best Greenland-style kayak rollers in the world. She competed in the Greenland National Kayaking Championships in both 2004 and 2005, in events ranging from rolling to individual and relay races, winning a dozen gold medals.
Turner Wilson
Turner and Cheri are partners in Kayak Ways LLC, a venture based on the notion that the traditional kayaking skills of the Inuit seal catchers offer valuable lessons for the modern day recreational kayaker. For the past nine years, Cheri and Turner have traveled worldwide teaching these uniquely consistent and practical kayaking skills.
Nick Oyler
Nick began paddling more than 20 years ago, as a teenager in Richmond, VA. Over the years, Nick has developed a passion for the skill and finesse of Greenland rolling. As an ACA instructor, Nick enjoys coaching in a wide variety of settings and he particularly enjoys helping others progress towards their rolling goals.
Greg Stamer
One of sea kayaking's great expeditioners, Greg has circumnavigated Iceland (with a trip partner) and Newfoundland (solo), using a carbon Greenland paddle. Both circumnavigations were done in record time. Greg is the founder and past-president of Qajaq USA. He has won the solo expedition kayak class in the 300 mile Everglades Challenge.
Ginni Callahan
Ginni founded and operates Sea Kayak Baja Mexico. She is certified by the BCU as a 5-Star Advanced Sea Leader, a Sea Leader Course Provider, and a Coach Tutor, and by the ACA as Level 5 Coastal Instructor. Ginni writes regularly for Ocean Paddler Magazine.
Dan Segal
A longtime member of the Walden Qajaq Society and a Board member of Qajaq USA: Dan enjoys helping others get as much pleasure out of Greenland-style paddling as he does.
Vernon Doucette
Vernon is Qajaq USA's archivist and Journal editor and an inveterate collector of arctic books, ephemera and knowledge. He is a Canadian by birth, a former Outward Bound Instructor, and guides in Nova Scotia.
Ben Fuller
A Master Maine Guide and ACA Open Water Instructor, Ben likes to integrate as much of Greenland paddling technique as possible into "straight" sea paddling. When he's not paddling skinny boats, Ben sails, ice-boats, and is a skipper for the Maine Island Trail Association.
Ernie Forgione
Registered Maine Guide, Greenland Qajaq builder.
“We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.” T.S. Eliot