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.