Memorial Day 2012, Sue, Pam and I paddled from Hingham to Peddocks Island. I knew I was going to have a long day Sunrday, so I chose a late start time for the trip of noon. There were two options for the trip, a longer one out to the Brewsters for about 18 miles and a shorter one just circling Peddocks. Since it was a late start and Pam's first day out on the water, we took it easy on her and just went around Peddocks.
Pam is happy to be on the water.
Sue is always raring to go.
There was a little traffic in the channels on our way out. We tried to pick a quiet route. A nice trimaran sailboat sails through Hull Gut behind Pam.
Peddocks Island is still not fully ready for visitors, but at least the construction fences and most of the equipment on the island is gone. There was still a barge with a crane at the dock, but it was not obvious what it was needed for since the Peddocks pier is in pretty good shape, except that the docks were not in the water yet.
It looked like the visitors center had extensive renovations. Sue looked in the window and noticed the big main room was empty and the floors looked recently re-finished. When I looked in, I noticed there seems to be an elevator now...but the building is only a half story high off the ground...why not build a ramp? I also noticed around back that there were four air conditioning units. It seemed like overkill for a small building on a breezy island, but then maybe they are going to have some refrigeration units in the building also? Notice there are surveillance cameras mounted at the roof-line also.
While Pam and I ate lunch at a beat up picnic table with a seat on one side only, Sue put on her neoprene hood and did some rolling in the protected water near the pier.
We did not venture far from the front of the visitors center except to use the johns and look down the parade grounds toward where the administration building used to be. They have demolished the admin building down to the foundation.
After lunch, we proceeded through Hull Gut and completed the counter-clockwise circling of Peddocks.
Sue and Pam ready to launch after lunch.
On the way back, we watched the Coast Guard pull over a few boats for inspection but it was too far off to get a good picture. We tried to choose a route that would minimize the number of channel crossings. After coming through West Gut, we headed toward the Prince Head drumlin of Peddocks.
The next leg, we headed toward Sheep Island which was covered with birds.
Then we went between Grape and Slate and back into Hingham Harbor. Boat traffic is picking up in the harbor. Even though we avoided channels, we still had to stop and wait for larger boats to pass a few times. Sailboats were the toughest to avoid. They quietly sneak up on you and then it's hard to tell if they can see us when their sails block their view.
In Hingham Harbor, there was a power boat towing two water skiers around.
Here is a topo map of the area with our track highlighted.
A few specs from the trip:
Launch time: 12:09pm
Snack stop: 1:51:pm Distance: 4.53 miles
Back on water: 2:45pm
Take-out time: 5:07pm
Total Distance Paddled: 11.47 miles
The weather was just too nice to not take advantage of it over the Memorial Day weekend. I spoiled myself and enjoyed paddling 3 days in a row with 14 different people.
Thanks for joining me on Monday Sue and Pam.
Norm
Hingham to Peddocks Island, Memorial Day, May 28, 2012
Moderator: Chip