AMC Paddle - Circumnavigation of Newcastle Island

Wow!  Is it hot!  Yes, it's the hottest day of the year.  Temps are supposed to top out around 99 degrees with "real feel" between 105-110.  All this on the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing.

What's a paddler to do to stay cool/  Why, get out on the open water, of course.  Today's adventure is in the harbor of Portsmouth, New Hampshire.  The trip leader, Jerry, sold me my Gulfstream, the boat I am taking out today, 3 years ago.  He said he missed that boat, but unfortunately I told him he's not getting it back.  :)

We meet for our trip at 12:00N, relatively late, but is planned that way so we won't be fighting the tides all day.  The traffic on I-95 through Salisbury and Hampton is horrible.  Why does everybody keep stopping?  On the trip, there are 9 of us and we actually don't get underway until 12:45pm.

It's so hot and the flies are biting, so the best thing to stay cool before we depart is to wade into the water.

We had to cross multiple busy channels today. 
The traffic consists of recreational as well as commercial vessels such as this fishing boat.

We make a stop at Wood Island, home to an historic life saving station.

This quiet little cove was just a "stretch your legs" break.  There were great views in all directions.

To the east, Whaleback Light stands at the entrance to the harbor.

Back under way again, we're careful to stay clear of these rocks, in addition to the ones just below the high tide line.

As we start heading further into the harbor, we pass another lighthouse, Portsmouth Harbor Light. 
Old Fort Atkinson still stands next to the lighthouse..

A little further on, we pass large castle like structure which is actually  the derelict Portsmouth Naval Prison, which still stands on the grounds of the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard. 
Interestingly, the shipyard is actually on the Kittery, ME side of the harbor.

We take a lunch break on Pierce Island (actually Four Tree Island) in Prescott Park.  This was a really nice place for lunch with picnic table pavilions, restrooms, and running water.  The views up river were also terrific.  

After lunch, we snaked our way down the west side of the island, passing under a couple bridges on the way back to the put-in.  For a super-hot day, this was definitely the place to be.  We covered 8.42 miles in 3:49 and we were off the water by about 4:30pm.  The afternoon traffic was much lighter than that in the morning.  Stay cool!