Providence River - November 12, 2012

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norm
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Providence River - November 12, 2012

Post by norm »

This trip was planned during PPR of a trip two days earlier in Chatham. I had a desire for trying a launch spot in Naragansett Bay that looked easy to reach and provided access to fairly protected waters. The spot was Sabin Point Park. As I described where it was, Jay and Bea got out their iPhones, brought up maps and found the spot I was talking about. Jay mentioned another park, Bold Point Park that he had been considering for a trip and he showed us where it was, further up the Providence River. With the times of the tide for our target day and a little knowledge of the strength of the current in a few spots, we decided to use Jay's put-in spot to ride the tide down and then ride the tide and the wind back up the river.

The weather forecast was for air temps in the 60's, but the water temp is in the 50's, so dry suits were the uniform of the day.

The put-in spot had a double boat ramp. The tide was going out and was probably at about max ebb. We watched a double rowing shell make their way up-river as we prepared our boats for the day. I didn't have my camera nearby at the time.

Briggsy had some free time on Sunday, so he had worked out some distances and made up a couple custom, laminated charts of the area we'd be paddling. He went over the plan he had worked out with all of us and we agreed it was a good one. We'd head down river on the east side, cross at Conimicut Point and decide from there whether there was time to proceed further south or not.

Briggsy and Jim discussing the day's plan.

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Three Cetus's packed and ready to go. Looking up-river.

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The double boat ramp with a pier down the middle.

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Bea got a new marine radio and Briggsy gave her a quick intro on its features and how to use it. We agreed on a channel to use if needed.

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Bea showing off her new radio. Briggsy showed her where it could clip on her life jacket, but we all chose to store our radios in hatches for the day.

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There are a lot of pier remnants near the Bold Point Park. This big old clump had a great blue heron posing on the edge. As we got near, it took off along with 5 others that we couldn't see till they flew away.

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We traveled just outside the channels all day. Looking north toward Providence.

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The east side of the river seemed to have quite a few shipping terminals, active, inactive and under development.

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The east side of the river also has a long bike trail, the East Bay Bicycle Path, along the water that Jim has roller-bladed along. He found it interesting to see the area from the water side for a change.

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The Squantum Association where weddings and events are held. http://www.squantumassociation.com

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Pomham Rocks Lighthouse. http://www.lighthouse.cc/pomham/index.html

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An odd channel marker.

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Looking back up-river at an industrial park. Bea's got a windmill growing out of her hat.

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Looking south, the top of Naragansett Bay looked a bit overcast and foggy.

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Nice bright sunshine where we are.

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We reached Nyatt Point where we stopped to plan our crossing of the channel.

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Nyatt Point Lighthouse. http://lighthouse.cc/nayattpoint

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Bea gets ready to take a picture of Nyatt Point Light with our next destination in the background.

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The crossing plan was to stay together and head for the red channel marker and wait for any traffic to pass. The water was rougher than anything we had so far but nothing very big.

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We had to sit at the red channel marker for a few minutes.

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There was a single sloop under sail making just the right amount of headway for us to be in its way if we tried to cross so we waited.

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When the sailboat finally passed, a power boat had caught up and passed at the same time.

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We finally got our break and headed to the green buoy and then to Conimicut Light where we paused for a few moments to get a picture.

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It was just about lunch time so we discussed the options of heading further south or stopping now at Conimicut Point Park. We decided to stop at the park to have lunch. When we landed at the beach, we found that there is a ring of sea shells all along the shore just below the high tide line.

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The park seems very popular for people driving through and taking a quick look at the water and then driving back out.

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We didn't find any picnic tables to use but there was a nice bench to sit on.

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The wind from the south would push us all the way back up river, but our launch from the north facing beach would be nice and calm.

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Heading back up-river was a nice relaxing ride with a very nice wave frequency that was pushing us along at a comfortable clip.

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Not much boat traffic all afternoon. Just one very large tug boat that put out a good size wake and gave us a few good waves to ride.

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Some of the rivers edge was quite residential.

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But other parts were very industrial.

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Look at the size of the boat fenders along this sea wall.

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This crane was not on land, it was on a very big barge.

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This big barge seemed to have steering rudders in the back. I don't think I've seen that before.

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Of course the barges seemed big compared to our kayaks, but they even seemed big compared to large tug boats.

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This barge seemed to be anchored exactly where the sign says not to anchor!

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There seemed to be a boatyard specifically for servicing large fishing boats.

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The route 195 Providence River Bridge with the hurricane barrier behind it.

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The Fox Point Hurricane Barrier built in the 1960s to protect the low lying downtown area of Providence.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fox_Point_Hurricane_Barrier

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The hurricane barrier was built to protect a very important structure on the Providence River. We thought about going there for PPR, but it was probably still too early in the day for the Hot Club to be open for business.

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The inside of the hurricane barrier.

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Looking up-river to downtown Providence. It might be interesting to return here for more exploring to see how far we could go into the city.

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Deciding what to do next. Is it time to go home?

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Yup, let's head back.

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The McAllister tug boat docks.

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It looked like this old tug was getting converted to a house boat. Bea said it would make the perfect Wild Turkey Paddler clubhouse.

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Bold Point Park looked a little nicer in the afternoon sun and with a higher water level.

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Relaxing and saying goodbyes after getting out of our dry suits.

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The boat ramp area was much busier in the afternoon than it had been in the morning. The parking lot is not paved and the ground was very uneven with lots of ruts and big puddles. The park area was nothing special, but I would guess that it may get some renovations in the near future with a huge nearby assisted living facility nearing completion. http://tockwotton.org/images/upload/Rendering%20April%202011.pdf


Here is a Google Earth picture of our actual GPS track.

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A few specs from the trip:

Launch time: 9:32am
Lunch stop at Conimicut Point: 12:19pm Distance: 8.9 miles
Depart Conimicut Point Park: 1:26pm
Take out: 3:56pm Distance: 17.2 miles

Thanks for telling us about a trip on your "bucket list" Jay. I wouldn't mind doing it again some time when you can join us.

Thanks Bea, Briggsy and Jim for a nice relaxing November day on the water. I hope we can get a few more in before the end of the year.

Norm
Ken R
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Re: Providence River - November 12, 2012

Post by Ken R »

Greatr report Norm.
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kayakerjnj
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Re: Providence River - November 12, 2012

Post by kayakerjnj »

Great trip, lots to see on the way.

Looks like you all had a great day.

Enjoyed all the pictures!!
Paddle with a big smile, its contagious 8)


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cgr
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Re: Providence River - November 12, 2012

Post by cgr »

There's Something About Mary had at least one scene filmed at the Hot Club.

Now that's a trip idea Norm - you can kayak to all of the local movie locations: Just the Farrelly brothers would have a bunch of locations in RI & Ma.
NorwayLady
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Re: Providence River - November 12, 2012

Post by NorwayLady »

Great report from a really interesting day, Norm.

Here is the public Facebook link to my photos. They are similar to yours except you are in the pictures.....

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set= ... e5ffac3fb4

Thank you for posting the trip. You ARE the Wild Turkey of the year (second year in a row!).

Bea
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Re: Providence River - November 12, 2012

Post by Birdseye »

Nice job Norm. You got some great shots.
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jimc
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Re: Providence River - November 12, 2012

Post by jimc »

Norm, Great report covering that trip (I'm not sure why I'm just seeing this now). I especially like the shot of the shells, very artistic. This was the trip where I delevoped medial epicondylitis in my elbow which is still bothering me to this day. We'll have to do this one again - Thanks!
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