Another World

[cmfos]

Abinks and I decided to head up to Windmill Pt. at Hull yesterday morning for some explorations of Boston Harbor. We’d been up there once before where we had ventured into the relatively tamer environment of Hingham Harbor but this time, we decided to go out with the big ships in the main channel area. The weather was quite excellent on the water with somewhat hazy skies but virtually no wind and so we set off from the Windmill and hugged the northern shore of the peninsula before setting across the channel. We were both quite nervous about this crossing given the plethora of boat traffic out there even at 9:30 AM. We inched our way out to the main channel and then, after a whale watching boat, the Provincetown Ferry and a large yacht went by, we sprinted across. Fortunately, the wake from these craft was considerable and thus, we caught some big waves along the way that spirited us along.

After making it safely to Boston Light, we checked the map and decided to go along the many islands in this part of the harbor with the final destination being Graves Lighthouse. I have to say that entering the region just north of Boston Light was like entering another world. The sea was utterly calm with the Brewster Island chain, Calf Island and the Boston Lighthouse forming a sort of natural amphitheatre. It was quite impressive actually and, while there were several fishing boats in the area just trolling along, there was really no aggressive boat traffic and thus, it was very quiet and serene. We paddled along Greater Brewster Island, then along Calf Island where I spied some extremely large striped bass in the water and then past Green Island and out to Graves. At the lighthouse, we weren’t alone as there were many folks anchored out there in their powerboats fishing away. I took a look at the rocks and found many small channels and passages between the rocks that were just perfect-sized for a kayak. After some hesitation, we were soon shooting in an out of these little passages and having a marvelous time.

We then charted a course for home by cutting straight across to the Eastern side of Outer Brewster Island. A pair of powerboats passed close by and we were immediately on their wakes in order to get some surfing in. It really gets you moving along and this helped to speed us to Brewster’s and then back towards Boston Lighthouse. After an interesting discussion about novel types of fuel for British mopeds, we decided to try an "all-in" rescue to cool off and work on our skillz. As usual, our "all-in" was executed with a lack of speed, precision, style, or grace but it was still fun!

We then had another harrowing (i.e. exciting) cruise across the channel to Hull and our put-in at Windmill Pt. It was just a great day to be out on the water and to challenge ourselves with some new terrain and new experiences. It’s a shame that we didn’t see any other kayakers out on such a perfect day.