Guided Discovery: Hingham Adventures:Hingham from the Water

Fast forward to the last Sunday in June. With Diana in Chicago, Kodi and I decided to take a tour of Hingham Harbor on the tender (AB DLX 13 with a 60HP). OK, I decided to take the tour and Kodi came along for the ride.

Below is an aerial photo and map of Hingham Harbor. Our tour essentially encompassed the territory in the lower two thirds of the photo.

View of Hingham and Hull Harbors

I've included a mak of the Boston Harbor Islands to help you orient. Notice the dotted ferry line originating at Hingham Shipyard. Our afternoon tour started from there and stayed to the east of that line and just north of Bumkin Island (touched by the ferry line just to the left of Hull). Our round trip was about 8 miles.

Boston Harbor Islands - Notice the dotted ferry line coming from Bare Cove

Sunday (June 29) was a lovely day with low winds. Had it not been Sunday when everybody and his uncle was out on the water it would have been flat calm. Instead it was rough from boat made turbulence (except in the in the no wake zones).

Water view of one of the houses on the Tour by the Shore

We are heading eastbound

A very large home just to the west of Hingham Yacht Club on Crow Point

The Hingham Yacht Club (established 1895)

View of the HYC's floating dock

Hingham Yacht Club does not have any slips. Boats are moored off Crow Point (see aerial photo) and reached by the club's launch. The floating docks in the photo above can be used for 30 minutes to load and offload passengers and provisions.

HYC launch - Very yachty

View of the homes east of the HYC

After visiting Hingham's inner harbor we headed west along World's End and then made a sharp right into the Weir River to explore Hingham's version of the "Play Pen."

Boats rafted in the Weir River on the north side of Worlds End
Hingham's "Play Pen"

Chicago's Play Pen

Explanatory Note: Chicago's Play Pen is located just north of Navy Pier and Olive Park (Chicago's water treatment plant) and south of the harbor breakwater. It is Chicago's "official" anchorage. The Play Pen is in many ways the center of Chicago's boating culture. On weekends boater flock here to anchor, swim, eat (and drink I suspect) and ride their snowmobiles (jet skis).

I've never been a fan of the Play Pen. In our 12 years of boating out of Chicago (1999 to 2010) we probably anchored there less than 30 times. It just was not our thing. For starters, Lake Michigan water only gets warm enough to swim for about 45 days (mid July to late August). But the big down fall is the Play Pen's location and it's culture. Boats are allowed to speed along the inside of the breakwater which makes this a VERY rough anchorage. Further, the law that clearly states that you cannot speed through an anchorage is frequently ignored especially by those on snowmobiles (which make a big wake). To add insult to injury, the Coast Guard which harasses boater with needless safety boardings conveniently ignores the scofflaws.

Not so in Hingham's "Play Pen." Harbormaster Ken Corson and his team of officers enforce the Weir River No Wake Zone. Cleverly, Corson stations the Hingham pump-out boat, which is manned by a police officer, to provide pump-outs while at the same time keeping the peace (no wake). Hat's off to Ken and his team.

The result, with World End park, is a lovely place for Boston Harbor boaters to spend time in peace and quiet in a lovely setting.

Another view of the more than 250 boats in Hingham's "Play Pen"

Kodi (and I) watch kids jumping off the rocks

After the Weir River we turned west and crossed the sandbar (visible at low tide) that separates Hingham Bay from Hull Bay and proceeded northwest to the A Street Pier and Sunset Bay Marina. We tied off the tender and walked across the peninsular (separating Hull Bay from the Atlantic Ocean) to visit my Cousin Myrna at her home on C Street.

After a lovely two hour visit, Kodi and I returned to the tender for what I hope would have been an easy 4 mile 15 minute ride back to Hingham Shipyard. I figured that after 6 PM the boat traffic would have died down and we could zip back home at 20-25 MPH. Not so. The wind had freshened and there was still a lot of boat traffic (folks returning home from the "Play Pen). Fortunately, we were able to get behind a 26 footer and ride the calm water behind his wake. He took us the tip of Bumkin island all the way to the marnina (Note: Kodi always sits in my lap when we go fast.)

Which brings to the tide in this neck of the woods, which range in height of about 10 feet between high and low water. Part of the charm of living at Hingham Shipyard is the everchanging tide, which also presents a challenge (i..e., the current) when docking the boat. Below are some views of the marina at high and low tide: