Monomoy trip, Thursday 25th June 2015
Posted: Thu Jun 25, 2015 9:18 pm
There was a good response after posting the trip and it was a nice surprise to have 11 of us meeting at the Morris Island launch. The weather forecast was perfect, just enough breeze to keep cool. I had planned the trip around low tide occurring at lunchtime when we would be at the lighthouse at the far end of Monomoy Island, therefore passing through the tricky sandbars at mid tide, allowing for some margin of error.
We set off at 9.15 and quickly made our way down to the break where we spotted our first seals (of many). The Atlantic was calm and flat with just a few small waves breaking over some offshore sandbars, but we were soon heading back into the maze of channels between the two islands. We kept up a steady pace and other than one small mistake managed to follow the channels south to eventually emerge into Nantucket Sound. From there it is a straight 3 mile paddle to the marked "Lighthouse Landing" where we arrived at 11.45. Everyone must've been hungry as most of us started on lunch. Josko was keen to paddle around the tip of Monomoy but fearing a Sharknado I chose to return on the Nantucket Sound side. Josko recruited Melissa, Mark, Mike and Rick for the mission, while Ken, Norm, Bea, Steve and Ron opted to join me. Our group hiked over to the lighthouse and it was nice to see they had cleaned up and got rid of the trash from the renovations. It looked like someone was living there as there was a solar shower bag outside. Probably Dept. Fish & Wildlife as Monomoy is a reserve. We tried to hike over to the Atlantic side and eventually found a trail we could use. There were plenty of seals and a huge pod about a quarter mile down the beach. Norm and Bea hiked down to them while the rest of us watched for the classic Great White jumping out of the water with a seal carcass in its mouth, but no luck, just a cute seal pup watching us and splashing about. We kept a watch for Team Josko rounding the corner but we left before they came past.
Back at the kayaks, we got ready and launched at 2pm for the trip back. We decided to stay on the Nantucket Sound side all the way up to Stage Harbor just for a change, I hadn't paddled that part for a few years so it was good to refresh the memory. We had the wind at our backs most of the way and had more entertaining seal encounters. When we arrived back at Morris Island around 4.30 we saw Team Josko carrying their gear up the beach so they had just beat us back.
Everyone except Steve and Rick headed back to my house for PPR.
My GPS showed 16.1 nautical miles.
It was an excellent day paddling with fab weather and a great crowd. Thanks everyone for travelling so far to do the trip.
Here is the actual GPS track of the Team Briggsy group.
Hopefully one of the better photographers will post some pics.
Briggsy
We set off at 9.15 and quickly made our way down to the break where we spotted our first seals (of many). The Atlantic was calm and flat with just a few small waves breaking over some offshore sandbars, but we were soon heading back into the maze of channels between the two islands. We kept up a steady pace and other than one small mistake managed to follow the channels south to eventually emerge into Nantucket Sound. From there it is a straight 3 mile paddle to the marked "Lighthouse Landing" where we arrived at 11.45. Everyone must've been hungry as most of us started on lunch. Josko was keen to paddle around the tip of Monomoy but fearing a Sharknado I chose to return on the Nantucket Sound side. Josko recruited Melissa, Mark, Mike and Rick for the mission, while Ken, Norm, Bea, Steve and Ron opted to join me. Our group hiked over to the lighthouse and it was nice to see they had cleaned up and got rid of the trash from the renovations. It looked like someone was living there as there was a solar shower bag outside. Probably Dept. Fish & Wildlife as Monomoy is a reserve. We tried to hike over to the Atlantic side and eventually found a trail we could use. There were plenty of seals and a huge pod about a quarter mile down the beach. Norm and Bea hiked down to them while the rest of us watched for the classic Great White jumping out of the water with a seal carcass in its mouth, but no luck, just a cute seal pup watching us and splashing about. We kept a watch for Team Josko rounding the corner but we left before they came past.
Back at the kayaks, we got ready and launched at 2pm for the trip back. We decided to stay on the Nantucket Sound side all the way up to Stage Harbor just for a change, I hadn't paddled that part for a few years so it was good to refresh the memory. We had the wind at our backs most of the way and had more entertaining seal encounters. When we arrived back at Morris Island around 4.30 we saw Team Josko carrying their gear up the beach so they had just beat us back.
Everyone except Steve and Rick headed back to my house for PPR.
My GPS showed 16.1 nautical miles.
It was an excellent day paddling with fab weather and a great crowd. Thanks everyone for travelling so far to do the trip.
Here is the actual GPS track of the Team Briggsy group.
Hopefully one of the better photographers will post some pics.
Briggsy