Sunday, August 30, 2015

"Coasting" to Neponset

Yesterday I answered the call of saltier and deeper waters by driving to Hingham Harbor and launching my boat into the incoming tide.  Things were a little more mucky than I expected perhaps due to a lower than usual low tide associated with the full moon.

My goal was to explore the Neponset River and its entrance into Dorchester Bay.  To get there I paddled in a northwesterly direction along the coast across Hingham Bay to Nut Island passing Slate Island...
 ...and Grape Island along the way.

Next was Quincy Bay from Nut Island to Moon Island where the Long Island Bridge previously spanned the horizon...

Here's the bridge as it looked last June...


The bridge was dedicated in August of 1951 and provided vehicle access to a shelter on Long Island which served Boston's homeless population.  Last year it was condemned and torn down.  Two cranes were working near the old foundations about mid-way across the channel (Long Island at right)...

Another view also looking towards Long Island...

Wikipedia's Moon Island page provides some great history regarding how the City of Boston has long used Moon Island in addressing its sewage disposal.  Early attempts in the late 1800's used huge tanks installed on the island to store wastewater until it could be later released into the outgoing tides twice each day.

After rounding Moon Island and heading to the west I approached Squantum and what's called Squaw Rock on my chart...
It does look like a person's silhouette facing the Dorchester Gas Tank.  The gas tank with its rainbow paint job is mentioned daily in almost every Boston radio and television traffic report. 

The Squantum peninsula is said to be where the Massachusetts tribe sachem, Chickatawbut, spent many happy summers before European immigration got out of control.

The southern end of Thompson Island lies to the north from this rock, and some claim it can be reached on foot at very low tides.

Approaching Squantum Point...
...where, looking to the northwest, the JFK Presidential Library and UMass Boston campus can be seen with Boston's skyline in the distance...


 Proceeding into and up the Neponset River brought me, first, under a rail line and Route 3A...
...and then, after passing the Pope John Paul II Park, under the always busy Southeast Expressway...

Around another bend in the river was Granite Ave and its Bascule type drawbridge...
...which I got to see open for a boat needing more headroom than mine...
 
 
Upriver from the drawbridge is a large tidal estuary which, if I understand correctly, is considered an Area of Critical Environmental Concern...
 
 
Here I looked at my trip odometer and, seeing 12.7 miles recorded, decided it best to head back to Hingham in hopes of arriving there while the aforementioned muck was still submerged.
 
Probably because of it being such a beautiful day, and the last Saturday in August, plenty of boats were encountered along the return trip...required full attention!  Crossing from Nut Island to Grape Island reminded me a bit of  driving the SE Expressway, with an endless parade of power boats entering or exiting from either Weymouth Fore River or Weymouth Back River. 
 
Trash wasn't too bad with occasional flotsam such as this plastic bottle...
 
 
...which was joined by this assortment of riffraff...
 
 
I consider myself fortunate to so easily and freely access the waters of Boston Harbor. 







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