It was amazingly calm weather for paddling in Boston harbor.
At 6 am there was nobody but us on the water.
The Graves light in the distance (with a cargo ship on the horizon)
We landed on Little Brewster to see if there were tours at the lighthouse (one of the people I was with had read that there were tours on Saturday). Turns out that the tower is being repaired, so no. But there were no workmen, just the coastguard auxiliary couple that had spent a week "manning" the station - and they were glad to show us around the island.
The woman had been out during one of the big blizzards. They had been worried that the 22 foot waves were going to smash in the basement door of the house and flood the equipment room (heat, power). The fallback when the house is threatened is to retire to the lighthouse itself. Its 7 foot thick walls have been standing unmoved through some really awesome storms.
We got to peek into the base of the tower. An old brick structure with a long dark cool tunnel to a vertical shaft with an ancient metal spiral stair - and a very modern half-height computer rack with translucent panels and dimly glowing red lights. Homeland Security installed equipment in the tower that watches all the traffic in Boston Harbor - they can zoom in and see exactly what you're up to (assuming lines of sight and reasonable weather and ...).
Then at 11 am a solid wall of boats (everybody who started at 10) came rushing out at us. It was rather intimidating. (of course, we were crossing the channel back to Deer Island at the time).
If we sprint we can cross between the boats.
Finishing up back at scenic Deer Island (sewage treatment plant)
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