Well now that I've had a few days to relax, here's the details.
We all met in Hull around 9 on Saturday. It was already hot and getting hotter. I backed Jeff's truck down the "ramp", which is really just a beach. After unhooking the strap, I backed up a tad, stomped the brake and watched the boat float free. Jeff was calling to me about something, and I jumped out to see what was up, and noticed the truck rolling back towards the water. I haven't moved that fast in a long time.
My heart was still beating fast as I walked down the dock onto the boat.
We agreed that we could do it in one trip, so we had the boat packed like a sardine can and set out across the channel towards Lovells. In about 10 minutes we were at the dock at Lovells. Matt jumped off to find the ranger. The dock is really set up for ferry's, so it was a bit awkward to tie up on, being higher than most pleasure boats and covered with tire bumpers. Matt returned with two 2-wheeled gear transports, so we unloaded everything there, and Matt and I slogged it to our site while Jeff anchored the boat near the dock.
It was really hot on the island despite the breeze. I wondered how much worse it was on land. We checked out the bunkers adjacent to the group sites, figured we could use them as a lightening shelter if necessary, and proceeded to set up camp and grab a sandwich and a cold drink. Then we all headed to the boat to start the hunt for dinner.
Our first stop was in a cove between Calf and Middle Brewster. We jumped in around 12:15 to find about 2 tickle stick's worth of viz and temps around 54 and a max depth of 39 feet. We found a few scallops here and there and a few lobsters. Matt grabbed a bunch of mussels too. Matt had some equipment issues and headed back, while Jeff and I continued the hunt for about 75 minutes before heading up.
Back on the boat, we threw back all but one of the lobsters, most being barely shy. As we were steaming away from the site, an EP boat was bee-lining toward us. He asked us if we had any lobsters, we told him we only found one keeper, and he asked to see it. He then tells us it's short! Both Jeff and I had looked at it and discussed it and I felt it was just barely a keeper, but a keeper. But you can't argue with the EP, so Jeff took a warning on his license (since he whipped his out before I could get to mine)
, and we were off.
Our second dive was as Matt indicated, just off the wall at The Graves. We could tell from the boat that the viz was much better, and the water turned out to be about 61, so Matt was definitely happy with that in his 3mil. As Matt said, the viz was great unless we churned up the water, and as we rounded the western point, we found lobsters hanging out in the open, barely hidden by the kelp strands. We also picked up a few more scallops. Total dive time was 69 minutes, max depth 28 feet.
We gobbled a few scallops raw, then started to head back to Lovells, and along the way we got hit with a wall of hot air coming off the land like a blast furnace. We ran into Jeff's buddy John back at the dock, and Jeff pulled the boat around back to raft up with John's boat and kick back a bit while Matt and I gathered firewood from the southern tip of beach and assembled a worthy pile near our fire pit on the beach.
Dinner was just as fantastic as it looks. We started with happy hour and stuffed hot cherry peppers, moved on to scallops Yucatan, followed by mussels steamed in beer. The main event included both boiled lobster and lobster tails Yucatan, steak tips, and corn on the cob. We even had Yodels for dessert.
After dinner John headed back to his boat and we hit the beach to spark the bonfire. It was a gorgeous evening with the sun setting over Boston, the moon rising, a cooling breeze, and cold beer by the fire. At one point a ranger came out (probably just to check us out) and told us that he could "smell" pressure treated wood being burned, that it was bad, blah blah blah, and then left. We sat watching the boats pass in the moonlit water, listening to the sounds of a lone bell buoy until the wood was gone (just before midnight) then called it a night. Actually, I stayed up a bit longer until the coals were glowing, then mowed down the last yodels with some cold milk.
Morning began with the heat of the sun warming the tent, accompanied by the sound of jets taking off. We had a nice pancake breakfast with sausage and ham, broke camp, and decided to lug the gear directly to the beach rather than use the dock. We were packed and on the water my about 9am.
Back at the "ramp", I backed the rig down and Jeff pinned the boat on the trailer. As I was cranking the strap tight (after ensuring that the truck was in PARK and the emergency brake set), the handle stripped and was completely useless. I backed the trailer further into the water and Jeff was able to push the boat close enough for me to hook the safety chain on.
I jumped into the truck and proceeded to hear the tires just spin. I switch to 4low and the same thing. Jeff put the boat back over at the dock, and I ended up pulling his truck out with my truck and tow strap. Then we found out why his truck wouldn't pull the empty trailer - the right rear wheel's emergency brake was frozen tight. After some banging with a hammer and screwdriver we had it loose, and decided to use the A street ramp rather than the mess of a beach that we left behind.
A street was a real ramp, although part of the concrete is covered with sand. It also has some parking nearby, so there's no reason to use the other "ramp" again. We were able to get the strap tightened using a borrowed socket set, so we were good to go.
We all agreed while sitting by the fire that we would make this an annual event, so be warned.
It's definitely easier to do by private boat, so hopefully next year we'll have enough takers to use that charter boat that Matt had mentioned. I was trying to reserve the sites yesterday, but they're not available to reserve yet, so we'll post the date as soon as it's available.
