trip planning information for Monomoy

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lora925
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Joined: Wed Aug 06, 2008 11:18 am
Location: Lawrence, MA

trip planning information for Monomoy

Post by lora925 »

I'm hoping to explore the Monomoy area on Friday April 23rd and need some help planning the trip. I've been working on this for days and am having a very difficult time of it (especially finding a decent chart). I'm hoping those of you who have been there in the past can help fill in a few gaps for me.

Anyway, here is what I do know:

High tide is at 7:55 am (4.5 ft tide) and low tide is at 2:09 pm (.5 ft tide). I will need to be off the water by 3pm and will need my brain for planned evening activities, which means that I can't leave before day break and that I shouldn't plan a very strenuous route as I will also need to be awake later ;) From information I have gathered from the WT message boards (searching is not working very well for me either), it appears to me that I should plan to stay on the west side of the islands.

What I don't know is:

Where to launch/park and if there are any bio break facilities there or nearby. Is the causeway, referred to in an earlier 2006 trip plan (thanks Jordan), that strip of land on Morris Island road in between Quitnesset and the mainland? Do you launch from one side and return on the other? Does anyone have an address or GPS coordinates to the launch that you can share?

How best to avoid having to take my boat for walk ;)

What the best launch time (if any) will be given my time constraints. Basically I can launch any time after 10:30 am as long as I'm back no later than 3:30 pm.

I'm guessing the planned route to end up looking something like this (although I may stop at Hammond's Bend to take a peek at the other side... ;)

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=3651446

Thanks in advance for any information you can provide.
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Ron
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Re: trip planning information for Monomoy

Post by Ron »

Have you looked at the trip report from that trip in 06 (viewtopic.php?f=3&t=425)? It shows the track for the trip.
Here is the location for the put-in: N41 39.752 W69 57.597
Here is where the seals were : N41 36.478 W69 58.811
Image P&H Cetus HV
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lora925
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Location: Lawrence, MA

Re: trip planning information for Monomoy

Post by lora925 »

Excellent, thanks for the coordinates Ron, and yes I did see that trip report. I've drafted my route based on the information there well as information posted from Kate and Mark. I first learned of the area reading Adam's blog.
Briggsy
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Re: trip planning information for Monomoy

Post by Briggsy »

Hey Lora,
I live in Harwich so know a few places down here. As far as launching goes there is a small ( 5 or 6 cars max) parking area at the end of Battlefield Rd ( no Facilities)On your google map of your route, go directly north of marker #1 till you hit land , go right a smidge and on the satellite image of the map you will see Battlefield Rd and a couple of red cars parked there. No sticker is required there year round, a good one to know. From there, 5 mins and you are out of Stage Harbor and into Nant. Sound. They may have some facilites round by the Chatham harbormaster.
Secondly, Charts are a pain in the #$$ down there. Go to http://ocsdata.ncd.noaa.gov/BookletChar ... HomeEd.pdf
Scrolling down to page 6 is pretty good.. Save this file to your documents in your computer. Then go to Documents,Open the file,click TOOLS,click select and zoom, click snapshot tool. Use the tool to click and drag a blue square/rectangle over selected area, right click on blue square then click on print. On printer page select "print page selected graphic" and on same page select "fit to printable area and rotate if necesary", then click print. I usually laminate then put in map case. Voila !!
As far as tides go not sure, Eldridge pilot book has a good map of tidal currents for that area. Its worth buying once for the maps then use the NOAA current table charts the following years but use the Eldridge maps. I just got home from working a 13hr day so my heads not up for working out that stuff right now. Wish I was coming but have to work. Hope that helps a bit. Dave
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lora925
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Location: Lawrence, MA

Re: trip planning information for Monomoy

Post by lora925 »

Many thanks Briggsy! I went to that chart site originally - must have picked the wrong booklet as I certainly missed that :oops: and thanks for the tips on how to zoom and crop just the parts you want, nice! Also great to know about that parking location. I think for this trip, I'm going to use the one by the causeway so we can return on the east side of Quitnesset. I've got an engagement down that way Friday night so I took Friday day off from work so I could sneak in a paddle first :) Hopefully you can join us next time, or maybe Sat at Wellfleet (see up coming trip board).
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lora925
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Location: Lawrence, MA

Re: trip planning information for Monomoy

Post by lora925 »

Ron, I just zoomed all the way into that put-in location using Google map's satellite feature. Do you know anything about the building there? Is it private property with a little public road behind it? Do you launch from there or do you drop your boats and gear off further south on Morris Island Rd and just park the cars there?

Thanks again,

-Lora
cgr
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Re: trip planning information for Monomoy

Post by cgr »

Lora,
From the NSPN put in page: http://www.nspn.org/put_ins.htm

Morris Island Causeway
From the Sagamore Bridge – take route 6 to exit 11, Route 137 South. Take a left at the end of the ramp – then take an IMMEDIATE left onto Pleasant Bay Road. Follow almost 2 miles (going straight at 1st stop sign) to end and turn right onto Route 28 towards Chatham. Follow 3 _ miles to traffic light:

Straight through lights onto Shore Road. You’ll pass Chatham Bars Inn (last chance bathroom), continue to the lighthouse. Once there, bear slightly left at the end of the parking lot onto Morris Island Road. Watch the right hand side – Morris Island Road takes a right hand turn (and so should you). Take a left at the stop sign at the end. Go to the end of the causeway where you will see a sign for Monomoy refugee on the left and make a u-turn and park along the side of the road.
Adam Bolonsky
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Re: trip planning information for Monomoy

Post by Adam Bolonsky »

Hi Lora,

One good landmark to use is the lighthouse at Chatham, which keeps you oriented as to north/south while paddling the Southway, and serves as a landmark to bring you back to Morris Island if you're running the Southway. Another good landmark for that transit is the silver dome at the Wildlife Refuge headquarters on Morris Island. The dome looks like an astonomers stargazing dome; NOAA uses it twice daily to launch weather balloons.

If you're on the western side of the islands, far off to the western edge of the tidal flats, look northeast for a water tower high on the hill above Chatham. It's checkerboard red. It keep you oriented if you're paddling back to Stage Harbor down the west side of the islands.

If you paddle several miles south, down the west side of the two islands, and push on past the gap between the north and south island, and continue further south towards the abandoned lighthouse, you'll quickly come upon a 1/4 mile-long cedar and net fish weir jutting out of the west side of the island. It has a round fish catch at the end. Very mysterious. Reminds one that Monomoy is as much an economic resource as a wildlife refuge.
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