Boston Boating Blog

Air Temperature: 75 Degrees
Water Temperature: 51 Degrees
Wind: 20 Knots
Seas: 2 Feet at 2 Seconds – in other words – choppy!

A few years ago my wife introduced me to hooke day. That is when you take a day off in the middle of the work week and play hooke. Sounds good to me.

I got to the dock around 9 am and decided to give the boat a good cleaning. I took out all the carpets and got my new brush with my new hose and washed’er down. I also got out the Windex and cleaned all the windows and took out the metal polish and hit all the stainless. I hit the motors with some WD-40 and the Donna Julie was ready for another voyage.

My friend Tom came down in the am and we went out for a ride in lovely Boston Harbor.

Pulling out wasn’t nearly as bad as parking was and in no time we were in the channel and, yup you guessed it, looking for gas! Ha Ha!

We found a great place to get gas (1/2 a tank). So great because they have huge fenders on the dock so I can just pull up and bump into them and not worry about hurting the boat or anything else. (As you can see, I still need parking practice.) We fueled up and we were ready for a voyage.

Tom and I headed out of the channel and started to take a look at what was going on on the newly renovated Spectacle Island. We were told that it will be open this Saturday, May 5. On this island you can bring a picnic, bring your bikes or just hike around.

Next Tom and I decided to see how easy or hard it would be to get into Quincy Marina. This wasn’t so bad either. At least now I know, while driving in the harbor what is and isn’t safe.

As we drove around we took a lot of pictures of the Boston coastline as you can see. It really is pretty neat looking at the city from the water.

Tom and I took a ride out of the harbor but it was pretty choppy so we decided to head back in. I decided that I should practice parking for a while so I don’t end up smashing up anything today when I head back in for good. After about an hour, I got a little better, but I still need a lot of practice. Tom was helpful in guiding me and also making sure I didn’t smash into anything and ruin my boat or someone else’s.

Tonight is our 3rd meeting of the Third Continental Congress. One of our friends, Brian (A.K.A. Red) showed up at about 4:30 so we went for a cruise around the harbor, checked out Harborlights where they have concerts in the summer and then went by the Boston Design Center – where my wife works (not the greatest picture but if you look closely, she could be waving to us).

We came back to the “pickup” location and dropped Brian off and picked up Mark (A.K.A. Gekko). Another trip around the bay and then back to Constitution Marina. This time, I was able to guide the Donna Julie into it’s slip pretty easily. I think the fact I did a practice a little and there was no wind when it came time to park was very helpful.

As my dad always says, ” Any day of boating that ends with both feet on dry land is a good day.”

We did it!