Pocasset Area Harbors - 9/21/11

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norm
Posts: 2126
Joined: Thu Aug 02, 2007 12:13 pm
Location: Stoughton, MA

Pocasset Area Harbors - 9/21/11

Post by norm »

I missed out on the best day of the week last week because of a scheduled meeting at work that ended up getting postponed. So this week, I asked for Wednesday off since it was the only day with a good weather forecast.

I figured Bea might be interested in paddling, so I sent her a PM and asked if she had any more spots on her bucket list she'd like to try. She mentioned Pocasset, where the AMC trip would be, but I know she'd prefer to paddle longer than their trips normally cover. So, I posted a plan in the Upcoming Trips forum to see if anyone else was interested. No takers. Sue wanted to go, but had to work.

Bea and I met at the former Ski Market parking lot and drove down to Pocasset together in my truck. We planned to check out the launch spot mentioned by Kate in a reply to a question a little while ago. We found the Kingman Yacht Center, but didn't find the rest rooms she said were there.

The weather was absolutely perfect. Clear skies, no wind, temps starting in the high 60s. The plan I proposed was to head south around Scraggy Neck to check out Squeteague Harbor first and return to the harbors around Bassetts Island before the afternoon winds picked up. It turned out there were no afternoon winds to speak of and Bea had other places around Megansett Harbor to check out. There were plenty of things to see in this area.

Our parking spot at Kingman Yacht Center with a little stairway down to the beach.

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The beach.

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Bea's ready to go.

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The harbor in front of the marina had a breakwater made of old tractor tires.

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Heading around the end of Bassetts Island toward Scraggy Neck.

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The light house on Wings Neck.

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The air was so clear we could see all the way across Buzzards Bay to the light house on Bird Island in Marion.

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Near the point of Scraggy Neck there is a fancy gazebo at a very plain house.

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Looking back at the light house on Wings Neck from Scraggy Neck.

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On the way into Squeteague Harbor is this little boat house that Bea said she could live in.

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This house is just so busy.

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The stone bridge to Amrita Island, that some people will recognize, was hard to capture because the grass was too high.

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I knew Bea would like to see this house and she liked it so much that she did research about it when she got home. Here is what she found out and put in her Facebook album. "This amazing piece of property is located on Amrita Island in Cataumet. It used to belong to Mr. and Mrs. Baxendale, but was willed to Harvard University and later deeded to Animal Rescue League of Boston."

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In Squeteague Harbor, I liked this simple house.

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I'd like to see this boat with the sail up. Look at the length of the boom and the size of the rudder.

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Bea checked out this beach to see if it might be a potential put-in, but it was private and there was no parking nearby.

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The number of crows around all day was very noticable. I don't remember there being this many around on other Cape trips this year.

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This great egret was quite the ham. It followed us all around the harbor and kept landing ahead of us.

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These ducks were very shy. They moved away from us where most birds just stood their ground as we paddled by.

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The design of the transom on this ketch seemed very interesting.

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It seemed to have dual rudders.

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The full picture of the ketch.

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As we worked our way out of Squeteague Harbor, the same great egret kept playing hopscotch with us so I kept taking pictures of it.

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Megansett Harbor.

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Bea wanted to chek out some other little harbors that are off of Megansett Harbor so we headed further south and headed into the first one we saw.

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I couldn't read the name of this spot on the chart, so I looked for a boat with the location on the transom.

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When we reached the end of Rands Canal, a great egret flew over and landed in the top of a tree. I couldn't tell if it was the same one that had followed use earlier.

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The canal was not very long, but it was nice and private and quiet.

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There was another shorter arm of the "V" shaped canal, so we checked that out also. The houses were fairly modest in this area.

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The house at the end of the "V", on the left in this picture is for sale.

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Leaving Rands Canal and heading back out into Megansett Harbor. These birds didn't even flinch as we paddled by.

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Bea recalled that Fiddlers Cove was near here. It was the next harbor.

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As we got inside, there was a marina to the left.

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There were slips of various sizes.

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The houses in Fiddlers Cove were not quite as modest. I liked the vines in the yard of this house.

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This house was a little odd.

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These two were just nice...

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The canal in Fiddlers Cove beyond the marina area was pretty tight with private docks on both sides.

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I noticed that both of these sailboats are registered in Rhode Island.

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The sailboats would have to maneuver around past these big power boats on their way out of the canal.

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Confirmation on the transom of this boat that we're in Fiddlers Cove.

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This yacht just seemed bulky.

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The exit out of Fiddlers Cove. I'd hate to be trying to get out of here on a busy summer weekend.

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After leaving Fiddlers, we headed straight across Megansett and around Scraggy Neck.

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It was still clear and fairly calm but with a little more wind. A sailboat headed past the light house on Wings Neck.

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We made it back to the outer side of Bassetts Island at about 1:20pm and were ready for lunch.

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But Bea wanted to go for a swim before sitting down for lunch.

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She said it wasn't cold. So I put down the camera and went for a swim also.

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We sat down and had lunch after the swim.

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I remembered that there was a geo-cache on this island and thought it might be nearby. I checked on my GPS and found that it was less than 400 feet away. Looking up the beach, my guess was that it was near this lone tree.

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I know Bea likes to lie down and rest on a nice beach after lunch, but I told her about the geo-cache and asked if she'd like to go find it with me and she said yes. We headed toward the tree and I showed Bea how the locator on the GPS works and handed it to her. The GPS gets you within about ten feet and then you have to guess where to look. I noticed these rocks near the base of the tree that looked un-natural and this is where we found the cache.

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It was a mini-cache with just a pen and log book in a tube. I tried to sign the log but the pen was dry. Real geo-cachers would have been better prepared.

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My camera battery died after this last picture across the island into Red Brook Harbor. My next shot would have captured Max Sarazin of the Southeastern Mass AMC group who paddled by in a canoe with a companion.

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The rest of these pictures are by Bea and were swiped off her Facebook album. When we got back to the boats, it was almost 2:00pm, so it seemed we better get going to check out the rest of the area. Sorry Bea, no nap today.

We headed north along the outer coast of Bassetts Island and into Pocasset Harbor. We paused and watched this large sailboat tack out through the channel and gave him plenty of room.

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At the northern end of Pocasset Harbor there is a marsh with a creek that looks on the chart like it might connect through to the water on the other side of Wings Neck. I think Briggsy and I tried to find the other end of this creek in Cape Cod Part 1. Bea led the way all the way up the creek.

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She came to a pair of culverts and check to see if her boat was low enough to make it through.

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Her front deck was a little higher than mine. I was able to make it into the culvert a little further.

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We headed back south and checked out another marsh that was behind some houses that were built high on stilts. The pilings were high enough that some people stored their boats under their houses.

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There were five or six of these houses. We wondered if a storm had wiped out the original homes and this was there solution to keep it from happening again.

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We also checked out Hen's Cove on our way back to the take-out. We saw Max again, loading his canoe on his car at a residents only beach.

On the way back into Red Brook Harbor, I checked the GPS and it looked like we would not reach 20 miles for the day. I asked Bea if she'd like to head over to a house on an island in Hospital Cove that we had not swung by on the way out, but she was satisfied with the 18 miles we had covered. So we headed back to the Kingman Yacht Center. There was a lot more water at the beach now.

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Here is a topo map with our route highlighted.

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A few statistics from the trip:
Launch time: 9:00am
Lunch stop: 1:20pm Distance traveled: 12.8 miles
Take-out time: 3:55pm Distance traveled: 18 miles

Thanks for joining me on this trip Bea. It was an excellent final summer day-time trip.
Surge_on
Posts: 95
Joined: Sun Sep 25, 2005 11:08 am

Re: Pocasset Area Harbors - 9/21/11

Post by Surge_on »

What a beautiful area to paddle. Excellent pictures. If I hadn't been tied up, I definitely would have joined you.
Weekday paddling is preferred, although this time of year it's a little quieter on the weekends.
Just to plant a seed, my wife and I were in Wellfleet for the first time this summer. The harbor there looks like a
beautiful place to paddle with a great put-in (Mayo Beach) and amenities. It is a hike but something to think about for a future paddle.

Mike
NorwayLady
Posts: 1338
Joined: Wed Jun 22, 2005 12:03 pm
Location: Marshfield, MA

Re: Pocasset Area Harbors - 9/21/11

Post by NorwayLady »

Norm, thank you for planning another great paddle. A perfect end to the summer. You even went for a swim that day, but I know you strategically planned it when I was in the water and too far away from my camera.....

Here is the public link to the photos I posted on Facebook. Anyone can view these photos by clicking on the link below. Enjoy.

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set= ... 97b&type=1

Bea
Last edited by NorwayLady on Mon Sep 26, 2011 3:49 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Bea
Proud foster mother of Athena (P&H Cetus LV turquoise-white)
noseykate
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Joined: Thu May 17, 2007 6:50 pm
Location: South Weymouth, MA

Re: Pocasset Area Harbors - 9/21/11

Post by noseykate »

The Kingman Yacht Club restrooms are at the left side of the parking lot from where you were parked, in a separate building from the restaurant. They are definitely there.

Looks like it was a perfect day for you. I don't envy you that much mileage though!

And Mike, the WTP has done several trips to Wellfleet Harbor, launching from here: 41.93016, -70.04873 (as located on google maps). It's one of my favorite paddling venues. Lots of seals!

NK
User avatar
norm
Posts: 2126
Joined: Thu Aug 02, 2007 12:13 pm
Location: Stoughton, MA

Re: Pocasset Area Harbors - 9/21/11

Post by norm »

noseykate wrote:Looks like it was a perfect day for you. I don't envy you that much mileage though!
NK

The mileage was incredibly easy. We took our time, looked at and photographed just about everything.

Maybe it's the boat or something...those people with P&H Cetus kayaks are paddling machines...Bea and Briggsy won't stop for lunch until they've got 12 miles under the boat!!! :D
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