Scituate Harbor to Green Harbor - June 23, 2012

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norm
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Location: Stoughton, MA

Scituate Harbor to Green Harbor - June 23, 2012

Post by norm »

Jordan planned out a one-way, shuttle trip from Scituate Harbor to Green Harbor in Marshfield. Shuttle arrangements can really be a hassle, but once we knew who was coming, he came up with a good plan. Jordan and Tracey carpooled to the put-in in Jordan's car and I met them there and we unloaded all the boats and gear. Tracey stayed with the boats while Jordan and I drove our vehicles to the take-out in Green Harbor where Sandy met us and drove us back to Scituate. The only catch was that it started to rain as we unloaded the boats and poor Tracey (who's getting over a cold and flu) had to stay with the gear. I gave her my chair and golf umbrella, but it could not have been any fun sitting at the bottom of the boat ramp at low tide for 45 minutes waiting for us to return. You're a great sport Tracey.

The day started off a little rough but the weathermen and doppler radar showed that the showers would move off-shore by 9:00am and the skies would clear for about 8 hours. Amazing that they were right for once. So by the time we launched, the rain was stopping and the sun was starting to come out. Tracey chose to keep the splash jacket on for a while but had warmed up and stopped to take it off before we even got out of Scituate Harbor.

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Heading through Scituate Harbor, the skies are still gray to the east.

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I always like nice sailboats. This shot also shows the clearing skies headed our way.

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Scituate Lighthouse.

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Outside the harbor are some massive houses.

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This house caught our attention for the interesting architecture features.

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Windmills are popping up everywhere. This one is located near the driftway.

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Outside New Inlet there is a little ornamental lighthouse.

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This was an off-shore paddle and we expected some "conditions" and a tail-wind out of the north was in the forecast. Well, even though rain clouds had moved through in the morning, there was no wind after the storm. We had hoped to play in the waves at New Inlet for a while, but nothing much ever developed. We waited around for a while hoping power boat wakes would generate some action but it just wasn't happening. It was pretty flat, even where the current was flowing into the river - notice how far the bouy is leaning over.

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We watched the Harbormaster cruise by.

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The Fourth Cliff Recreation Area looked pretty full. It is a campground for military and ex-military only, owned by Hanscom Air Force Base. There are only 11 RV sites and 21 cottages, so it is pretty small. Their website says there are 40+ tent sites, but I don't recall ever seeing many tents.

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It looks like the Fourth Cliff area is bound to keep shrinking over time with the unprotected sandy cliff.

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It looks like the private property beyond the military reservation has built up a lot more stone wall protection for their section of the cliff.

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Since there was no wind giving us a ride, we had plenty of time to cruise the shoreline and look at houses. They all seem to be have same monotone gray siding or weathered shingles. I found it interesting to see the different methods of protection against storm surges - build up on pilings, stone rip-rap, cement sea walls.

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This house had an odd shape to gain a nice third floor view.

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I think this would be Bea's choice for a WTP clubhouse.

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I wonder if these vinyl fences are removable for winter or storms.

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This house was different, set on pilings, protected by a grassy dune and set at a 45 degree angle to the coastline unlike all the other houses.

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Another couple different types of sea walls, big stones stacked vertically and a wooden retaining wall with pilings.

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We scoped out a spot for lunch that looked safe from private property owners. I don't know how they could complain anyway with all the people walking the length of the beach, but we chose a spot to land where there were no houses, just sand dunes. I walked to the top of the dune to see what was beyond and found a nice view of the South River.

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Our lunch stop lasted about 45 minutes.

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Jordan was the last to surf launch.

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Then he needed to cool off with a roll.

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There were a few other people out paddling. A few paddle boards and kayaks. These girls seemed to have a nervous Dad watching from shore.

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This house seemed excessively large.

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The boat traffic seemed to increase as we got into the afternoon and got closer to Green Harbor. This big speedboat seemed to head right at us for a minute before turning parallel to the shore.

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There was some sort of commotion on this section of beach in front of a tall sea wall. We couldn't figure out exactly what it was about, but there were 3 people in aqua colored t-shirts that carried off some animal in a large cage.

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Some waterfront homes get no beach at all.

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This guy was traveling a long distance on water skis.

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The World War 2 submarine spotting lookout tower in the Brant Rock neighborhood of Marshfield is now a private residence. If you're curious about it, go to this URL for more information: http://mysite.verizon.net/vze3nm2c/brantrockimages/id9.html

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Just before you reach the breakwater for entering Green Harbor, there is a seasonal campground at Blackman's Point. I didn't know about the campground till last year when some friends invited us for a visit to their relatives trailer that they agreed to use for half the summer. I think they were at the Citation trailer in the middle of this picture.

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There is a small neighborhood of homes beyond the campground, before the entrance to Green Harbor.

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Traffic moves pretty slow in and out of the harbor with plenty of room for us to paddle single file along the breakwater.

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I wonder if Lora has switched back to power boating???

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Jordan picked an excellent spot to park in at Green Harbor. We were near the boat ramp but didn't need to use it and the cars were right there. I believe you have to pay to use the boat ramp too, so we saved some money. There apparently is no charge for parking.

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Here is a topo map of the area with our track highlighted.

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A few specs from the trip:

Launch time: 10:00am
Lunch stop: 12:30:pm Distance: 7.81 miles
Back on water: 1:15pm
Take-out time: 2:53pm
Total Distance Paddled: 12.71 miles


Thanks for organizing a fun trip Jordan. Sorry we didn't get some wind and waves that you were hoping for.

Norm
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kayakerjnj
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Re: Scituate Harbor to Green Harbor - June 23, 2012

Post by kayakerjnj »

Thanks to everyone for being good sports and having some faith the weather would cooperate.

It was a nice day to be out.

Thanks Norm for all the great photos!
Paddle with a big smile, its contagious 8)


Jordan
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Mark
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Location: South Weymouth

Re: Scituate Harbor to Green Harbor - June 23, 2012

Post by Mark »

Nice to see the pictures of Humarock. I miss it!

I looked at the surf forecast for Scituate on Saturday and I think it was calling for a half foot. With an incoming tide, I'm not surprised you got skunked for surf. :cry:
NorwayLady
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Re: Scituate Harbor to Green Harbor - June 23, 2012

Post by NorwayLady »

Always enjoy your reports, Norm! Happy to see some blue sky in the photos after a wet start!

Bea
Bea
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