Lighthouse on the Lake

[bob budd]

While gathering the last few things for our trip on Sunday morning I heard car doors slam. The familiar voice, barking a greeting to Mary Bennett who was "camping" at the curb, confirmed that Roger and his driver had arrived. None of us having been to the Winthrop town ramp, we had chosen to assemble our erstwhile caravan. We left the house more or less on time and, aside from the traffic jam in Winthrop, had an uneventful ~45 minute drive to the put-in. I was glad that Gerry Smith had found the put-in by the time we got there (15 minutes late) as his boat provided the answer to the question "Is that parking lot the Winthrop Town Ramp?"

Walter was filled with a guarded nostalgia of his stink boating days and the hijinks at the local watering hole. We all set about the business of putting our boats in the water. A small beach to the side of the ramp seemed the best place to make good use of the facility yet remain off the ramp. Our late arrival and other mitigating factors found us leaving roughly 20 minutes behind schedule.

As we reached the tip of Deer Island the striking clarity and flatness of the harbour was joined by a demonstrable lack of boats in what can be a very busy channel. Off of Deer Island multiple channels meet and diverge creating what can be a scary place to cross. My intent had been to proceed directly across to Lovell's if the traffic was heavy or set out directly for Calf Island if not. After some discussion we chose the direct route, en route we also found that the Windmill Point pod was waiting for us at the island with Rason Jason.

By the time we reached Calf Island the other pod had done some exploring in the neighbourhood and returned to the pebbly beach on the northeast end of the island. We took a lunch here while Mark carried with the futility of his fishing endeavours. Having seen several boiling schools of stripers at Crane's Beach yesterday I would have expected he'd have more luck but as I heard neither he nor Adam had any luck.

Once Jason had finished his second fluffer-nutter we headed out to the lighthouse. The modest wind that had started the day by now had faded to nothing and the occassional breaker on the flat water was all that could be seen. A clear picture of the rocky island where the lighthouse stood was seen from afar.

Upon reaching the lighthouse most of us spent a bit of time winding in among the rocks and the gentle swells. A seal pup greeted us and after a bit of curiousity went about its business. Mark dragger "Tony" up on the rocks beneath the tower and climbed up to the top of the ladder to take in the view. Adam and Yvonne joined us, having launched later from Deer Island, and I ventured to the platform for a quick peak about. That being high enough I returned to the rocks and joined the gang as the headed to Outer Brewster.

At Outer Brewster Mark demonstrated his rock climbing prowess and we all ended up on the cliff looking back at the Graves light and about the harbour. There was acclimation that our next stop should be the Boston Light so we exited clockwise. Several of us scooted through narrow passages in the rocks and we eventually made our way, clockwise again, to the landing at the dock. The Winthrop contingent was not eager to remain long, and the line for the tour numbered forty, so we lingered long enough for one of our number to get the water out his once overturned and now upright boat and otherwise set right what had gone amiss.

Seeing the spit from Great Brewster extending well into the water with the still ebbing tide, we chose to pass around the other end of the island and passed over the shallow space between the islands and pointed for the put-in. A haze had begun to emerge at the harbour's edge that never amounted to much. Jason pointed for City Point leaving us without our best option for a tow. Again the channel was lightly travelled and though the larger craft were in greater number at this time we had no incident nor, as I recall, needed to adjust our speed or course to avoid any.

Arriving near low tide at the put-in found a short carry, especially as compared to the mud slog yesterday at Pavilion Beach. I rapidly assembled my boat and sped off to pick up Dee, who had remained with Yvonne and Adam. Reaching Deer Island I had to agree that the mile or so in the water from Winthrop was preferrable to the carry from the parking lot and down the somewhat rocky beach to the water.

Pictures Jason took can be found at http://kates.org/t/8

Pictures Nelson took found at

http://www.wtpaddlers.org/cgi-bin/pro/emAl...os%2010-02-2005

Video Clip at the lighthouse:

http://kayaking.pidgeoncoop.com/clips/graveslight.wmv

P.S. - As I have incited discussion of the timing of tides at the Fox Creek crossing I would mention that on Saturday we crossed past the middle of the ebb. On this day kayakers would have been able to pass four hours after high tide.

[markstephens]

Great trip, Bob. Thanks for organizing it.

[Walter]

Bob, it was a truly great day on the water. The weather could not have been any better and the company was great.Thanks for the tour.

The put-in and paddling in Boston Harbor brought back a lot of good very old memories.

I was humbled by how different things looked from a Kayak vs

the bridge of a 40 ft power boat cruising along at 20+ nm/hr.

Thank you Jason for the pictures. They are great.

Keep a paddle in the water.

Walter

Impex Assateague

Emerald Green/White

[birdseye]

Great report Bob. It was nice meeting all of you. I hope we'll get to do it again sometime. I'll let you know when my pictures are available.

Nelson

[bob budd]

There was some question as to the origin of Cheney's Chimney on Calf Island. Alas, it is not our Vice President's undisclosed location. It would appear that the island belongs to a B.P. Cheney a descendant of a wealthy family that originated when "John Cheny...came into the Land in the yeare 1635...".

Some years later, a talented women of the theatre married into the family. "Julia Arthur started out in life as Ida Lewis...By time she was 11, she was being given roles at an amateur dramatic club...1892...the next year things really started to happen...kept her busy right up until 1921...she shared the stage with the legendary Lionel Barrymore. He as Macbeth and Julia as Lady Macbeth....the movies were born. And like so many stage actors since, the lure of performing for the camera was just too great...appeared in only a handful of films beginning in 1908. Her status allowed her to move in high circles and she met and married B. P. Cheney Jr. His father, Benjamin P, Cheney, was a fabulously wealthy American industrialist, who had owned, among other things, Calf Island in Boston Harbour and was one of the early investors in the railroad expansions into the western United States. He was President of the General Silver Mining Company and had in 1874 acquired a 230 acre estate known as Elm Bank, which was known as one of the most beautiful and exclusive county seats in Massachusetts."

I find little mention of our own Calf Island in discussions of the harbour islands and elsewhere, the ferries don't stop there, etc.

P.S. - We missed the first running of the Boston Harbour Islands Regatta by one day...

[jason]

Bob great trip report (as always).

I found this map of the islands:

http://www.nps.gov/boha/parkmaps/map_boha.pdf

On this website:

http://www.bostonislands.org/isle_profiles.html

It has some good tidbits about the islands.

-Jason