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One of my goals for this season was to put my kayak in the ocean. One of my co-workers kayaks pretty frequently in Boston Harbor and we have been trying to schedule a trip all season. Finally this weekend our schedules meshed and we were able to get out there. Our plan was to put in in South Boston and paddle to Thompson Island and then on to Spectacle Island. I have been checking the weather forecast all week as it was supposed to cool off a bit. I was not concerned about the temperatures as much as the wind. Up until Saturday night the forecast was saying 5 - 10 mph winds. When I woke up Sunday morning the forecast changed to 15 - 20 mpg winds. Supposedly my new kayak is built for this kind of weather so I headed out in spite of my better judgement.
We arrived at Pleasure Bay Park at 9am. Pleasure Bay Park is located on the South West corner of Pleasure Bay on William J Day Boulevard. There is a good sized parking lot at the park and a short walk down the beach to the water.
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| Beach at Pleasure Bay Park looking toward Thompson Island |
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| Thompson Island looking toward Boston |
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| North East side of Thompson Island looking toward Spectacle |
After hiking around the island for a half hour or so we headed over to Spectacle Island. We paddled around the northern tip of Thompson Island straight across to Spectacle. The trip across was just under a mile and a half and we were again going into the wind. We also needed to cross a shipping channel. This late in the season the boat traffic was pretty light but we did need to wait for a ferry and a large pleasure boat to pass before we made our way across the channel.
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| Top of North drumlin looking toward Deer Island |
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| North drumlin looking at visitor center and Long Island |
We landed on Spectacle Island just to the left of the pier. Spectacle Island has an interesting history. In the mid 1800s it houses a couple hotels that were closed due to illicit activities. It then became a horse rendering facility and a city dump which was active until almost 1960. In the 1990s the excavated dirt from the Big Dig Central Artery Project was used to cap and resurface the island. The island opened to visitors in 2006 as a recreational park. There is a ferry that runs to the island is Spring, Summer and Fall. The island also has a visitor center with a seasonal restaurant / snack bar. There island consists of two large hills or "drumlins". We hiked to the top of the north drumlin and the 360 degree views were great. The city skyline on one side and the outer harbor islands on the other.
After hiking back down we headed back to South Boston with the wind at out backs which made the paddle much much more enjoyable. I was really able to test my new kayak on this trip in conditions that it was made for. My paddling partner who kayaks in the harbor almost exclusively has a kayak a bit shorter and higher volume than my Avatar and I found myself having to stop and wait for him. This was in no way due to my superior paddling ability but exclusively the speed of my kayak. I am very impressed with how fast it is especially in rough conditions.
Total distance of this paddle was about four and a half miles. We were out in the harbor for about 3 and a half hours. We probably spent less than 2 hours actually paddling the rest of the time was spent exploring the islands. It was great to finally get into the ocean and experience some real waves and rough conditions. There are about a dozen more islands out in the harbor to explore. I just wish the season wasn't coming to an end. Looking forward to getting out there at least once more this year and will have something to look forward to in the spring.
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