Boston Harbor - Islands to Graves from Deer Island 7/3/10

[chetpk]

I always consider it a good luck omen when my 13 year old, 185,000 mile, rapidly deteriorating 2-wheel drive, stick shift truck starts and today was no exception as it hauled myself and boat to another excellent NSPN paddle adventure. This one was Al Coons posting to go out of Winthrop (Deer Island Neck) and wander the Boston Harbor as the group saw fit. There was eight of us making for a fun and manageable pod of paddlers.

No sooner had we rounded the tip of Deer Island and its' treatment plant when our radios crackled with a May Day - May Day from a boat that had hit a sunken ledge and was taking on water. Turns out not to be any boat but one of the ferry's with a 170+ people on it headed out for a whale watch. We had to wait at the main channel before crossing to the islands because of the proliferation of official and rescue boats that were rapidly heading out to the accident.

Once we crossed the channel it was a short stretch your legs and bathroom break on Lovell Island. Contouring around Lovell we headed towards Boston Light House hoping to stop there for lunch, but were turned away when we arrived due to the fact a private party had booked it. We decided to head out and slightly north towards Outer Brewster. The southern side offered little for landing spots, but Ernie and Larry located a nice pocket cove on the other side to land and have lunch at. Besides having an opportunity to eat and stretch, I think it was Gay's chocolate covered cherries that put the explanation mark to our lunch break.

From there it was off to Graves as the seas were passive plus. Going around Graves, I was treated with a seal swimming just below the surface and doing a U-Turn directly under my boat. A neat experience, but happened to quick for me to capture with the camera. It will have to remain a mind's eye event.

From Graves we did a pretty direct paddle to check out the "Massachusetts " ferry boat as it still was grounded and the Coast Guard had several pumps going to pull the water out of its' hull. The attached tug boat had either not really tried or was unsuccessful at pulling it off.

From the ferry accident it was off to a nice stone beach on Lovell Island for the last siesta of the day. At that point of the day the beach of multiple, piled rounded rocks had taken on the feel of a Lazy Boy as we all indulged. If the incoming tide hadn't made our beached boats restless, some of us might still be there right now. Leaving there we took a a pretty direct line back to our put in, but elected to pull the boats out on the southern side of the neck this time.

I would like to thank Al Coons for his call and posting on this and besides being a pretty stellar day for a paddle, it was a great crowd that also made this a very good paddle. We paddled approximately 17 miles. I'm posting a link to my picture album of this event, but apologize that they didn't load in chronological order. Not sure why Picassa does that and I don't know how to move them with in the album.

Scott Kimball

http://picasaweb.google.com/11132830468888...NKayakTrip7310#

NESCN's reporting on the Ferry Boat accident.

http://www.necn.com/07/03/10/Chaotic-frigh...amp;feedID=4206

[tyson]

Log in to the web page for your album so that you are looking at the thumbnails. Above the thumbnails there is an "Edit" pull down. Select "Organize & Reorder". At the top of the page that comes up is a "sort photos by..." menu. Select filename from that menu. Your photos appear to by named by photo number and it should put them in order.

[chetpk]

Log in to the web page for your album so that you are looking at the thumbnails. Above the thumbnails there is an "Edit" pull down. Select "Organize & Reorder". At the top of the page that comes up is a "sort photos by..." menu. Select filename from that menu. Your photos appear to by named by photo number and it should put them in order.

Thanks, Ill give it a try.

[chetpk]

Log in to the web page for your album so that you are looking at the thumbnails. Above the thumbnails there is an "Edit" pull down. Select "Organize & Reorder". At the top of the page that comes up is a "sort photos by..." menu. Select filename from that menu. Your photos appear to by named by photo number and it should put them in order.

When I upgraded my Picasa is when this problem started. In this newer version of it, I'm not finding an "Edit" pull down option. A Google search says that others are having the same problem with the newer Picasa and that one needs to put the album in a folder, sort there, then back to an album, but if that is the case, I haven't figured out how to do that.

[chetpk]

Boston Globes write up of the ferry Boat accident.

http://tinyurl.com/25rsdzv

On our radios we had heard someone state it hit the ledge at 18 knots.

[chetpk]

Log in to the web page for your album so that you are looking at the thumbnails. Above the thumbnails there is an "Edit" pull down. Select "Organize & Reorder". At the top of the page that comes up is a "sort photos by..." menu. Select filename from that menu. Your photos appear to by named by photo number and it should put them in order.

Thanks Tyson, I forgot to close everything out then log onto my account to find that edit pull down. That did it and they should now be in order.

[subaruguru]

What a most beautiful trip report and pic portfolio! I imagine you could sell pic 60 and a couple others to news services.

Thanks to Al and all for a fine paddle, and hope to repeat soon.

Ern

[Larry2002]

I would like to thank Al Coons for his call and posting on this and besides being a pretty stellar day for a paddle, it was a great crowd that also made this a very good paddle. We paddled approximately 17 miles. I'm posting a link to my picture album of this event, but apologize that they didn't load in chronological order. Not sure why Picassa does that and I don't know how to move them with in the album.

Scott Kimball

http://picasaweb.google.com/11132830468888...NKayakTrip7310#

NESCN's reporting on the Ferry Boat accident.

http://www.necn.com/07/03/10/Chaotic-frigh...amp;feedID=4206

Scott, nice trip report and great photos. I especially liked the GPS route at the end. I didn’t realize we had gone that far even though it felt like it. And I really want to thank Al for CAMing this trip. Twice now, Al has taken us to the Graves with better than perfect conditions. Not a bad first ocean experience for my friend Joe.

Larry

More photos at

http://picasaweb.google.com/larryg2002/Fro...ViaBostonLight#

[chetpk]

Scott, nice trip report and great photos. I especially liked the GPS route at the end. I didn’t realize we had gone that far even though it felt like it. And I really want to thank Al for CAMing this trip. Twice now, Al has taken us to the Graves with better than perfect conditions. Not a bad first ocean experience for my friend Joe.

Larry

More photos at

http://picasaweb.google.com/larryg2002/Fro...ViaBostonLight#

Nice shots Larry and I really liked the ones you took at Outer Brewster by going up high and giving a completely different perspective to it all with the camera shooting down rather then just out. The one of the six of us paddling into the lunch break cove looks like a flock of geese in our "V" paddling formation.

[alcoons]

What a great group and great trip. Wonderful trip report and two sets of interesting pictures. Throw in the Massachusetts "error" and this mellow trip turned out to be an A+. Thanks everyone.

[glil]

It really was a beautiful day in Boston Harbor! Thanks to Al for posting the trip. We had perfect weather and great group of paddlers. This was my first time paddling in Boston Harbor. Looking forward to paddling there again and exploring more of the islands. I may have been the only one wondering, but it was Peddocks's Island that parts of Shutter Island were filmed on. Thanks to everyone on the trip. It was a great day.

Gay

[rkhederian]

Nice Picture, Nice Trip report, and a great day on Boston Harbor. Looking forward to paddling with you all some more.

Bob