People, Places: Raison d’être

90 Minute Tour: Boston Harbor Islands

If you follow my twitter updates, then you now I recently signed up for Groupon and find the bargain offers to be addictive. Although, I have actually only made two purchases, so I’m mostly a window shopper.

I have always wanted to tour the Boston Harbor Islands, so I could not resist purchasing a 90 minute tour offered by Flagship Adventures for $20. My friend Kathy and I took the tour this afternoon.  Our Friday afternoon timing was perfect.  There were only 5 of us on the RIBCRAFT which seats about 9 people.  Given the intimate size, it felt more like an outing with friends than a tourist activity.  Upon boarding, I asked the Captain which was the best seat.  While every seat was just fine, he directed me to the front of the boat for the most excitement. Like a roller coaster I suppose.

The craft was essentially an industrial strength rubber dinghy with twin 225 horse power engines.  Top speed on the water is 47 MPH.  I’m pretty sure we came close to that today.  We were air-born a few times as we cut through choppy waves rolling in with high tide and also thanks to Tropical Storm Danny I imagine.

It was so much fun that it occurred to me that if a lawyer takes the tour s/he will probably ruin it for everyone else with restrictions on speed, waivers etc.  Please don’t!

The tour included historical commentary about many of the islands we passed.  It was quite interesting to learn about the historical and present use of the islands.  On one island, people live cottages without running water and electricity. The cottages have been passed down for generations, but once the present owners die, the cottages will be torn down due to an arrangement with the national park service.  Another island housed Italian POWs during WWII.  Some of the islands used to have hotels around the turn of the century.  Spectacle Island used to be a garbage dump and which polluted the harbor. It has since been cleaned up, but I doubt I’m swim at there beaches near it. Another island offers programs for at-risk city youth as well as homeless people.  There are forts and stories about ghosts which I’m sure add to the ambiance for over night camping and fire side stories.

I recommend that you read up on the history of the islands which are part of the national park system.  Many of the islands are accessible by regular ferry trips from Boston. Touring the islands is a perfect, low-cost activity for summer.  I plan to return to explore further by foot.

Oh! I almost forgot to mentioned that we had an unbelieve view of airplanes landing at Logan Airport.  We paused near one of the runways, and the airplanes flew right over our heads.  That was a bonus on the way back to the dock.

August 29, 2009 Posted by aburnis | Beach, Boston, Uncategorized | Boston Harbor Islands, Flagship Adventures, Groupon | Leave a comment