Rockport in the sun

[bob budd]

Deb, Dee, Adam and I set out from Pebble Beach en-route to the Salvages, immortalized in poem by T.S. Eliot. The forecast for the day was excellent and on the mark. There was a modest swell regardless of which side of what island we were on. We headed outside of Milk Island and Thacher's but chose not to take in the big, tall, pointy thing. From there the guano-white of the Dry Salvages beckoned.

As we approached the Salvages the breakers seen on the the Dry portion led us to believe we would lunch there as originally planned. As Adam and I reached the rockery at the south end of the Dry Salvages I spied a seal and we played a bit of hide and seek while Adam found a way between the rocks and disappeared behind the island. Unbeknownst to me there was a number of seals at the water's edge on the "mainland" who got nervous and headed for the water. Must pay attention in the future. Ultimately we found insufficient dry real estate to land.

We headed for Straitsmouth island, equally blessed with good weather and little traffic. While there were a few stink boats out they were seldom heard or smellt. At one point a boat made us uneasy as its bearing for a time was changing as if to engage us in a game of chicken. Ultimately it went about its own smelly business and we reached the island unscathed. The stink boats were this day outnumbered by sailboats, a grand day for that it was. As we sat on the rocks we watched a small regatta race out of Rockport harbour.

Not to cold for a swim, we covered the short distance to the rock near the "tuck away". Adam took his cold weather conditioning very seriously today while Dee and I remained in our paddling garb. Upon return to the landing site we all spent more than enough time in the sun. Several kayaks landed down the way from us on the rock northern side of the island. There was a tandem kayak with the center cockpit occupied by a golden lab. Now there's a challenging tandem roll.

As all good things must come to an end we ultimately returned to our boats and mustered our way amongst the now-exposed rocks and set off through the gap. Poking our way at times into the rocky coast we made our way past several fishermen, leaving Adam to drift and cast for his elusive prey. The day ended with a healthy dose of fish tacos, albeit with store-bought fish.