AMC Paddle - Barn Island

I haven't had a chance to paddle with Barry and the AMC Connecticut chapter for a couple years, so I welcomed this opportunity to explore another part of the shoreline of the southeast coast.  As it turned out, this was a two-state excursion. 

Betsy and Peggy came along, not to paddle, but to spend the day in nearby Mystic for shopping and  an arts festival.  The map at right shows a macro view of where we were in Connecticut and Rhode Island.  At the end of the day, the plan was to head over for a meal at the gluten-free friendly S&P Oyster Restaurant.

It looks like it's going to be a great day to paddle.  The sky is a brilliant blue with just a few puffy clouds.  The temps are a lot more comfortable than last week, but it's a bit breezier, too.  We'll see if the wind becomes a factor later in the day.

We put in just a little after 10am.  Barn Island is an actual island off the Connecticut coast, but we are just launching from there;  there's no circumnavigation this time.  The water's fairly calm but we're heading right into the wind.

We go right around Stonington Boro, which juts way out into the surrounding harbor.

Around the point in the east side of the boro, we regroup to get a plan for the next couple segments of our voyage. 
Notice the water is getting a bit choppier.

As we take off again, I notice this lone tree sprouting out of what appears to be heavy-duty rock at the end of a nearby peninsula.

What do you think of this property?  Notice the stiffness of the flag flying in front.
Our next objective is short breakwater.

We will paddle on the lee side of this breakwater, as the wind and waves are coming at us pretty strongly from the southwest.  You can see the channel marker at the far end.  When we get there, the water is really choppy, so there's no more time for me to safely take photos.  When we pass by that channel marker, it's a LONG 0.5 miles to the next breakwater.

Just to give a little perspective on where we are,

After we round the corner of the second breakwater, it's about a mile out toward Napatree Point,
which is actually in Rhode Island.   Note, we actually circumnavigate Sandy Point, but never actually stop on it.

We're pretty tired by now, and we take our scheduled lunch break.
After lunch, we head easterly toward Watch Hill, Rhode Island.

We paddle through the marina and catch sight of Ocean House, a 5-star hotel overlooking the harbor.
In the foreground of this picture, you'll notice that we still have quite a bit of chop on the surface of the water.

After that, no more photos.  We've been fighting the wind and waves pretty much all day, and everyone's getting tuckered out.  We still have a ways to go to finish our trip, so we focused on that.
All told, we paddled 10.17 miles miles in 4:29.  The wind was probably close to 15 knots for most of the trip and being in open water didn't make it any easier.   It was definitely one of the toughest paddling trips I've ever embarked on.  But we all made it safe and sound and no one went in the water.  Oh, and dinner in Mystic was delicious.

AMC Paddle - Peddocks Island

When I saw this trip come up, I signed up right away.  The plan was to visit another one islands of Boston Harbor Islands National and State Parks, a place I'd never been before.  The map at right shows more clearly a little more context of the area that we paddled in.  Our destination today is Peddocks Island.

Our put-in is in the town of Hull , which juts out into Boston Harbor in the same way that Cape Code does into Massachusetts Bay.  It actually takes quite a while to to there from central Massachusetts (1:35) because it is NOT located off any  major highway.  Once there, it feels very seaside and far away.

Our put-in is right across from the Paragon Carousel on Nantasket Beach.  We have 9 paddlers today

We paddle up the Weir River a ways up to Sunset Point.  One of the residences at the end has many beautiful floor to ceiling windows overlooking the harbor.

We finally arrive at our lunch stop on Peddocks Island.

There are Adirondack  chairs waiting for us along the beach.  Behind it are some of the old buildings that were once part of Fort Andrews.  The only building open is the one on the right, which was the old administration building.  The island is staffed by Massachusetts State Park rangers, not National Park Service ones, and this building has some small exhibits and activity space.  The other building on the left is used for maintenance.  Most of the other buildings on the island are in disrepair.

However, this church (opposite the administration building) can still be rented out for weddings on the island.  The island actually extends quite far to the southwest behind the church.  There are trails to make your way all the way down there, but we only explored a little area around our landing.

Here's the island dock.  Water shuttles run most of the day between Boston, Hingham, and several of the harbor islands.

Most of our group ate lunch along the beach, but I headed over to the other side of the buildings.

From there I had a great view of the Hull Gut, a narrow waterway between Hull and Peddocks Island with a fast current.  On the Hull side, you can see an active windmill.

We paddled back roughly on the same path we traveled out.  We considered skirting Bumpkin Island to the west, but the wind and seas dictated we take the lee side.  On today's trip we covered 8.97 miles in 4:41.  The weather stayed partly cloudy most of the day and everyone did well.  Finally, just before we got back to the put-in, we passed a residence where the partiers  in the backyard were being serenaded by an Elvis impersonator; well, of course it was an impersonator - they couldn't afford a real Elvis.  Memorable to be sure.