Well I'm back to tell you that Tom & I have completed another segment of our Hull to Falmouth odyssey.  We did a 13 mile segment from Scituate harbor to Duxbury beach.  This part of our journey was taken on September 12.  The day was quite sunny with a light breeze.  The sea that we were traveling had ground swells of 1 to 2 feet in height.  Tom estimated the  height at 1 to 2 feet.  I am more emotional than he and I believe some of those ground swells were a tad higher in height.  Alas, I will concur with his judgment.

   We started the trip from an asphalt boat launch at 10:00 AM and immediately were among the boats in the harbor.  It was nice to start slow and get our kayak cadence in play as we meandered among the boats on our way out to the open waters.  On this trip I brought along a camera, not a waterproof one but it would come out for picture taking when we

LOOKING WEST UP THE NORTH RIVER
 FROM FOURTH CLIFF BEACH

made our stops. The waterproof camera has been in the repair shop for over a MONTH!  That is a story for a different day!

   As we entered the open water we were immediately in the control of the  1 to 2 foot ground swells(ha ha).  We had our cadence at this point so we  turned south and began our trip.  Our first stop would be the mouth of the North River.  At this point Tom decided to inform me that the mouth of the North is considered to be one of the 10 worst areas for current in these waters.  Tom's timing is not always the best when giving troubling news.

   When I am paddling I am usually in an ecstatic mood so I was  jabbering at the mouth a lot.  We talked about life and how events in life are continuously shaping and modeling our character and we talked about the sea and her beauty.  We talked until Tom put an end to conversation when he said "Got to be quiet now; I've got to concentrate".  We were at the mouth of North River.  The mouth of the North River is always busy with boat traffic and it has those interesting currents I told you about.  We paddled to the buoys marking the channel looked every which way for boats.  When it was safe we made a mad dash to Forth Cliff beach to rest and lunch.

   We left Forth Cliff beach and shot out to the mouth where, with breaking  rollers and an agitated sea from a lot of boat traffic, it was exciting! Our next stop was Rexham beach.  This part of the trip was the same as going to the mouth of the North.

   Rexham beach had dumping surf.  We got close to the beach, watched the surf and learned the timing of the surf.  There would always be small surf after 3 to 4 big waves.  We went in on the smaller ones.  Nothing exciting to report while on the beach.

Leaving was quite  interesting.  I left first by sitting in my kayak and walking with my hands to be close to the surf.  The surf came in and took me out.  The surf veered my kayak to port, I corrected its course just as another wave came in and hit me in the chest.  Remember I told you I jabber a lot when paddling. Well I took water in the face, mouth, nose and ears.  I knew I needed to  paddle hard not to get that treatment again so I paddled hard.  The sea is not choosey about who she abuses so she gave Tom the same treatment.  We turned south and headed  for Brant Rock beach. On the trip to Brant Rock we paddled far from shore and turned east to face the oncoming rollers when they were bigger than most.  Far from shore a paddler does not have to deal with the reflecting waves bouncing off the land and we were used to the sea at this point.

LOOKING NORTH TOWARDS THIRD CLIFF AND SCITUATE HARBOR FROM FOURTH CLIFF BEACH

The view was spectacular! Nothing interesting to report at Brant Rock except I got clumsy and dumped when coming to shore.  I have got to work on my kayak surfing technique. We left Brant Rock beach and turned south again; next stop Duxbury beach.  The water enroute to Duxbury beach was clear and I could see lots of sea fauna.  No sightings of Lobster traps on this trip.  We passed the by the entrance to Green harbor and played our usual cat and mouse game with the big boats.  This segment of the trip was the usual peaceful paddling that I enjoy.  We paddled in quiet harmony, (I tired of talking) and perfect paddling cadence.  We arrived at Duxbury beach.  We surfed in on some nice waves, got out, congratulated each other and went home.  I hope to write to you soon.  Next segment is Plymouth to the Cape Cod canal.