Subject: [baidarka] Naushon Island tour
From: kirk olsen (kolsen@imaginelan.com)
Date: Wed Jun 13 2001 - 16:38:57 EDT
A couple of weeks ago as the second day of the Northeast (USA) skinboat gathering we did
a small group paddle.
Off the coast of Woods Hole is Naushon Island. Naushon Island is a privately held island
that is managed by a family trust. Naushon island is 7.5 miles long and 1.5 miles wide. It's about a half mile from Woods Hole. The property is mostly posted no trespassing, with
the exception of a few beaches.
We were lucky in that one of the regular attendees of the gathering is a member of the trust
that owns the island. With him as our guide we were able to stop on the island and enter the posted areas.
We were scheduled to meet at the boat ramp near the aquarium at about 9am. Slack tide
was 9:13. As usual I was later than I expected. I was about to carry my boat down to the
ramp when Alec appeared. Alec rushed to launch and we hit the water at about 9:30. We knew 3 of us were definitely attending, with a possible fourth. I found out the following day that the possible fourth paddler had driven to woods hole, listened to the weather report and
decided fog, rain, wind and possibly challenging tide conditions were more than he was up for with his "new" boat (a clear skinned Disco Bay kayak, that he built last fall).
The tide was just starting to move and there were a couple of entertaining swirls on the
way across the harbor. Entertaining enough to want to go back in a boat I'm more comfortable in (I was in my Dyson designed 5.7 baidarka).
Alec led the way along Nonamesett then Bull Neck Island (open to picnicers) and up into the inner harbor. UNH has old online topos of the area http://docs.unh.edu/MA/wdsh41sw.jpg) We then went around Goat island crossed under one of the bridges between islands. Alec said there was up to an 18" drop going through the bridge when the tide was running. We were there early and the drop increased from about 4 inches to 8 inches in about 15 minutes.
Out the other side of the bridge we paddled past a few houses in the fog along Monohansett Island. We cruised along the southeast side of Naushon and stopped for lunch in Taurpaulin
Cove. Before lunch our guide took us over to the old farm/Inn. He said it was a 1890's vintage Inn and the rooms still had numbers on them. We hung out on the porch as the fog
started to lift greatly enjoying the serenity of the old front porch surrounded by empty fields,
with a lighthouse barely visible over the rise.
While on the porch we were told some of the island history. In the 1930s or 1940s the 5 landowners got together and put the property into a trust. Current members of the trust apply to use a residence during the summer. There are currently 40 houses on the island, 37 on the northeast end 3 elsewhere. The houses all belong to the trust not the individuals. If someone puts up the money to add a house that person has first rights to the house for several years (5?) and then the house is just another part of the trust.
We ate lunch in the dunes and when we returned to our boats the fog had lifted. We had
a great view of Martha's Vineyard across the sound. It's about 4 miles from Taurpaulin cove
to the Vineyard.
After lunch we headed back around Nonamesett Island, taking a break (making full use
of our guide) on a private dock in Nomsod Bay. Then around Mink Point and back into the
harbor. Coming back across Woods Hole passage we had a bit of current but nothing to challenging, since it was almost slack tide again.
Back in Woods Hole we loaded up, stopped for an ice cream, and headed home.
I'll definitely be back to the area, next time with a boat that has a coaming that a sprayskirt will stay on if I play around...
kirk
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