Boating rules
We tried fishing for 10 minutes and didn’t catch anything; since time was running out, we decided to move on. Each of us took turns driving the boat – it takes a while to get a feel of steering the boat – because you would have turned the steering wheel, but the impact of that in the direction is only seen after many seconds – turning the steering wheel turns the engine direction (the response lag was more noticeable in slower speeds). We munched on some of the healthy snacks we had brought on board – the musk melons were yummy – a little chill and juicy; the trail nuts created quite a mess on all our hands since they contained chocolate bits that melted instantly in this weather.
As we neared an island, Rob told us about the lane rules – there were green and red cans floating around at periodic distances – not too close to each other but spaced out.
“When going in, stay closer to the red, and when coming out, stay close to the green.”
The red cans were on the right side, and the green cans were on the left.
As we took turns on the wheel, he warned us, “Don’t go too close to those cans. They are solid metal.”
When you see them, you’d think they are harmless inflatable balloons, but when we neared one, I realized it was deceptive from a distance!
The boat had a Garmin navigation system along with something like an intercom that could be used in an emergency. The display showed how many feet above water we were – comes in handy when you want to know whether you are too close to land – because, say, the boat is just a few feet above water, and you stopped at that place; if the seas went into a low tide, then we’d end up with the boat being on land and that would become a problem – you’d end up having to wait for the high tide again to drive it or if you are not caught fully on land, would have to push the boat back to the waters!
Anchoring
When we came close to boat traffic, Rob took to the helm to manoeuvre the boat – he decided on a place near a small island for anchoring and getting to the island. There was another larger boat beside us struggling a bit to get their anchoring right. Our boat’s anchors (two of them) were tucked inside a small enclosure – one in the front and one at the back. Everything on the boat was neatly organized – nothing was out of place.
To anchor the boat, you take out the large heavy metallic anchor and toss it away from the boat (one end of the rope is tied to the anchor while the other end you’d fasten on a hinge provided on the boat) – the danger of using just one anchor is that your boat would still sway a lot.
The problem with anchoring near these small islands is that you need to watch out for other anchored boats – if you get too close, you could have your boat’s propellor cut or get entangled in the other boat’s anchor line.
Because the boat next to us was struggling after we dropped the anchor, we were worried their boat was drifting our way. So Rob, like an action hero, removed his t-shirt and just dove into the water to retrieve our anchor and save the boat so that we could anchor a little further away. I don’t know how Rob plunged in because the water was extremely cold – it is deceiving because judging by the sunlight with the sun blazing, you’d expect the water to be warm.
Ice water plunge!
After securing our boat, we headed to the island. The water level was only about hip deep – sitting on the edge of the boat near the engine, I dipped my feet in the water and felt the biting cold. I would have been happy to just sit there, but when you are in a group, and the others have ventured into the freezing water, you don’t have a choice! I was the last to step in, and my whole leg was stinging. It was a weird sensation – cold, pain, pricking feeling, and some numbness. After 2 or 3 minutes, I reached the shore. Since Rob had already done the plunge, Biju went straight down the water for a few seconds, and then Raghav did the same. Rakesh and I were happy to watch the spectacle from the shore.
There were quite a few people on the little island. We sat briefly and then waded through the waters to hop into our boat. Rob lifted the anchors, and we pulled them in and stowed them inside their little compartments. We motored along at high speed, and for a while, our boat’s bow (the front) seemed way higher than the stern (the rear) – so for the two of us sitting in the back, we were looking up into the sky. Rob later adjusted the height of the motor, and that brought the bow down – still a little inclined, but not a lot. At high speeds, you can feel the boat bouncing up and down the waves – a nice rocking motion taking us forward.
When we were on the last stretch, Rob let me take a shot at parking the boat and guided me to navigate the boat towards his buoy. When I got the boat really close, he tied the boat to the buoy and then switched off the battery inside the boat (the panel was hidden behind a small door at the rear). We then waited for the passenger taxi boat to get us back to land. Rather than buying a boat, there is also the option of renting out boats in these places – that way, you needn’t worry about maintenance. The water taxi parked in a dock, and the parking felt very much like how you park a car in a parking slot.
Rob had timed this trip well by scheduling for us to start in the morning; at 1 pm, when we came to drop off some stuff in the car, we noticed that the whole parking lot was full, and cars were going around in circles hoping that someone will be pulling out their vehicle.
We had lunch at about 1:30 pm in the Mill Wharf restaurant; there were no seats available, but we noticed that outdoors, it was empty – we picked a table, though it was pretty hot outside. Felt a bit like the Chennai heat (humid heat)! 3 folks had a little shade while the other 2 were facing the sun. We ordered tacos, fries, and onion rings.
The next stop was Nona’s homemade ice cream, which Rob said was good. There were already folks inside, and we joined the line. What I liked was that they not only had a small, medium, and large portion size but also a kiddie version. The kiddie version was perfect for me – a single scoop. They were priced lower than Ben and Jerry’s ice cream, which we had tried in Boston.
By the time we were back in Boston, it was a little too late to make it for squash in Rhode Island, so we made a short trip to Merrimack to wind up our fun day.