Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Lunch Cruise On The Passy

It was a mid July in the summer of 2012 and it was decided to take advantage of such a beautiful day. 

Our destination was The Head Of Tide / City Point in Belfast. With an incoming tide working in our favor we packed up a lunch and trailered the Lund down to the public boat ramp. All aboard...and we were heading up river.


Passing under two bridges



we found ourselves in the wide expanse of the Passagassawakeag River.  But looks can be deceiving.  At high tide she is an impressive sight with what seems to be plenty of water.



But once the tide starts to fall she is quickly relegated  to her true nature, a shallow mud flat with a narrow and twisting channel.



And even with a GPS one must pay strict attention to your navigating.


Not far up river we came to the narrowest portion where long ago stood an old wooden bridge with only a few pilings remaining.




This is where the old timers had to come in order to get to East Belfast, before the modern convenience of The Veteran's Memorial Bridge which opened up in 1921.

The B&ML Railroad trestle at City Point was the end of our upstream motoring. Past this part of the river in a motorboat? I guess not...



With the tide starting to drop and it, combined with the slow current of the river toward the sea, we cut the motor and unpacked our lunch, lazily drifting down stream.  It is such a joy just to drift, without the sound of an outboard. Past the tranquility that surrounded us,




with just the sights and sounds of nature for us to enjoy. Birds singing and others looking for a meal, a harbor seal poking its head up to check us out or even a small waterfall to serenade us.






We were quietly moving down stream to the ocean which was steadily drawing us, like a powerful unseen, but not unfelt, magnet.

All too soon we were back at the boat landing. But we'll go back again this coming summer to enjoy more quiet times on The Passy..