Portsmouth Packraft Paddling

Piscataqua River- New Castle Island to west of Rt 95 Bridge, then back to circumnavigate New Castle, with stops to stretch my legs on Leaches Island, Fort Stark, and the point near the power plant west of Rt 95 bridge.   A little cargo ship was pushed into the pier right in my path. Don't I have the right of way!?    I have fun riding the tugboats backwash as I go around. 11 miles, 8 hours, (about 6 hours paddling). Timed to paddle with the tidal flow in both directions.

Walking on Fish

11/7 to 11/10  4 Days, 3 Islands- Shelter, Block, Fire, with Josh.                 The fish were so thick to the horizon it looked like I could walk across the water on their backs. This was a massive school of Manhaden in Gardiners Bay, Long Island. It was a stunning sight to be boating through these riches of  the sea. Fins protruding through the water for as far as I can see         A closer look at the fish   Sat- We launch both boats from the Conn River and cross to Gardiners Bay on glassy water. We catch some small stripers, reveling in the warm, sunny, Indian Summer weather. Then we anchor in Cedar Cove on Shelter Island for the night.   Bonito Dinner Sun- Block Island on Josh's boat. Josh pulls in 1 nice Bonito, 3 Black Sea Bass, 1 Scup. On the return trip to Shelter Island we encounter a large pod of dolphins that swim and jump all around us. I can almost reach down from the bow to touch two of them as they jump gracefully in tandem. They clearly are a superior species to us clumsy humans.           Sun night dinner is Bonito cooked over a driftwood fire on Cedar Cove Spit. This is a kind of heaven.       Dusky Smooth Hound Shark Mon- Both boats to Shinnecock Locks. When we go through the lock, the keeper says that they're only open from 5 to 11 am. What?!! That's a small time window to get back through on the return trip tomorrow! We head to Fire Island, catch some small sharks just outside of the inlet to the island. Mon Night- We get back to Shinnecock Bay at Sunset and struggle to find a secluded beach for a fire in the dark. We end up on a small tidal beach at the mouth of Middle Pond, not too far from some houses. Just as our fish dinner is almost cooked on our small beach fire a boat pulls up with flashing lights and a Fire Dept stencil on the side. Officials in waders jump out and storm the beach. We're caught! Just like our fish dinner. But these guys aren't here to cook us. They got a report of 2 boats on the beach and wanted to make sure we weren't stranded. We're not stranded! As they leave one of them says, "you two are really living the life." Yes we are.   Tues- We head back to Connecticut River early while the wind is absent. We fish, no luck. I do some exploring and paddling around Griswold Cove. Is this November? I'm warm in just my bathing suit and sandals. What an extraordinarily warm, sunny, glassy, perfect 4 days!  I racked up 145 miles, Josh did a little over 300.