Sue and I carpooled to Devereaux Beach Boat Ramp in Marblehead and arrived a little after low tide. It was a pretty long walk out to the water across the mud flat, but by the time we got our gear loaded the boats had started floating.
Marblehead Harbor. Very flat for a couple hundred yards. A hundred back to the ramp and a hundred out to the first boats.
Marblehead Light
Marblehead Rock
Childrens Island
Satan Rock
A seal near the Dry Breakers
North Gooseberry Island
Bakers Island Lighthouse
House Island. We wondered what the dark area was but did not feel like crossing another busy channel to find out. Next time.
Since we had launched at low tide, there was very little boat traffic for the first couple of hours.
Sailboats starting to come out.
Great Misery Island. There must be a taxi service for the poor boatless masses.
I guess there's a fee to visit this island. I told Sue to say she was somebody else who I know is a member.
Lots of ruins from a big fire long ago. This was a pump house.
Looks like a fire pit inside the pump houses ruins.
Sue having lunch. I believe the locals refer to this as Cocktail Cove.
There are remains from a former salt water pool in the cove.
Trails lead around the island and there are maps available. This one leads to the former casino ruins.
Sue seeing if the magnifier on her compass could be used to start a fire in an emergency...yes.
The tide came up a little fast and we had to move the boats before checking out a trail.
Heading up a trail. They mow the grass on the trails. Less worry about picking up ticks.
Found the restrooms. Very nice. No running water, but plenty of hand sanitizer.
A shady spot amongst some birch trees.
We just went to the top of the little island and then turned back. Wish they allowed camping here.
Heading back.
Good to see the boats are still there as we approach the beach.
More stone ruins in the cove.
Lots of moorings in the cove for partying visitors.
A loud cigarette boat heading into the cove after we had just left.
Ruins on the west side of Great Misery.
We circled most of the island to check out the gap between Great Misery and Little Misery. We looked for an old sunken steamer, but it must only be visible at low tide.
A beach on the south side of Great Misery. across from Little Misery.
Heading past the ruin again on the way to cross over to the Beverly Farms shoreline.
Couldn't figure out what these buildings were.
From the front, we decided they must be beach houses for the mansions further back.
A traditional looking house with nice stonework for the sea wall.
A more modern house with large glass walls. Sue wondered if there is a pool on the left.
From a distance, it looked like there was a cave on the shore.
It turned out it was not a cave.
No beach or yard? Just build a deck on the rocks.
Hospital Point Lighthouse.
Looks like they may have some rooms inside the lighthouse.
Lots of sailboats now, out in the Salem Sound area we crossed earlier in the day.
Too much traffic now so we moved to a thinner part of the Salem Harbor channel and crossed inside Fort Pickering Light.
We took advantage of the 5mph speed limit to get across during a gap in the motorboat traffic but the sailboats make their own lane outside the channel.
Had to wait for a second sailboat also.
Sue was impressed with the 3 outboards on the back of this boat.
Cutting through Dolliber Cove on the way back to Marblehead Harbor.
Quite a party area with all sorts of small boats.
They start the kids paddling young on the north shore but the Dad's stay close. Is this kid's paddle feathered?
The harbormasters check for trouble through binoculars from a distance before entering the cove.
Back inside Marblehead Harbor and out of camera memory...
Here is a Google Earth map of the area with our actual track highlighted in blue and our planned path in green.
A few specs from the trip:
Launch time: 8:49am
Stop at Misery Island: 11:09pm 7.73 miles
Left Misery Island at: 11:59pm
Take-out time: 2:54pm
Total Distance Paddled: 17.69 miles
We did a better job navigating on the water than we did on the drive home. I had printed Google map directions to take us to 128 rather than follow the back roads with all the traffic, but somehow I managed to take a wrong turn and had to just follow my GPS. There is way too much traffic at 4:00pm of a nice July day on the north shore.
Norm
