Revels harbor cruise

[fbhjr]

Every summer the Revels has a couple
of harbor cruises around Boston harbor.  My wife and I enjoy them a lot and
try to get to at least one each year.  But, we are often very busy in the
summer, so don’t always manage it.
This year one of them fell on what I think is the anniversary of our first
date, so I bought the tickets, even though we still are very busy.
I think this is the 4th of these cruises we’ve been on, but I think it was
the best of them.

I was born in Boston.  I grew up only 3 miles outside of the city line.  I
spent a lot of time in there when I was young.
But, that does not mean I like driving into the city.
Mostly because for the last 30 years or so, the entire downtown has been
reorganized and every major road has changed.  Roads are closed,
redirected, or just missing with very little warning and almost no help in
where you should go to get where you want to go now that they’ve taken away
the road you used your whole life.
The good news is that the construction started in Ronald Regan’s first term
is finally coming to an end and things have settled into more or less their
final places.
The bad news is that my brain is still set for the old Boston.

The upshot is, I knew exactly where I wanted to go and how I would have
driven there in 1980.  So, I left 2 hours for a 30 mile highway drive and
spent a lot of time saying “I want to be over there, I think this road goes
there.”  “I have no idea which lane to be in.  The left lane used to get on
the highway, but I think the right lane does now.”
The parking garage I planned to use had a park I don’t remember between the
road I was on and its entrance.  But, for only having to dodge through 2
lanes of traffic, I found a garage in the building next to the pier where
the boat was.

While driving into the underground garage, I did ponder that the entrance
is only 5 feet above sea level, and we went down two floors with three more
under us….

Without traffic, construction or much confusion over locations, we got
there an hour and a half early.
They have set up a very nice “harbor walk” along the fronts of all the
buildings in the old section of the city.


We had a very nice time strolling between the Codzilla Boat ride and South
Station where the public bathrooms are before our boat ride was ready.

It was sort of strange for me walking through some of the places along the
harbor.  Some of them were, and might well still be, the most expensive
condos in the state.  I remember when they were built 40 or so years ago
thinking they would be a great place to live: right on the water, next to
the Aquarium, across from the airport, next to the marketplace.
It used to be you couldn’t get close to them.  So, it was weird for me
walking by their swimming pool.

We walked up as far as the Aquarium.  I’ve always liked the Aquarium,  It
is very expensive to get in, even compared to the other museums in Boston.
As it was only open another 20 minutes when we went by it, we did not go in.

We did see the big speed boat Codzilla docked near the Aquarium.  We saw it
go by in the outer harbor too.  It seems like their point it to do donuts
in the harbor at high speeds until everyone is wet.  The fact they do this
in the shadow of the harbor waste treatment plant only makes it funnier to
me.
We did not go on that ride.

I did walk as far the other way as South Station.  Much as I like trains, I
have to admit it was because that was the only place I could find public
bathrooms.
I did wonder, as I have before, at the placement of the Boston branch of
the Federal Reserve Bank next to the train station, along a highway, by the
docks of the harbor.
It just sounds like some sort of action movie plot to me with three choices
of chase vehicles.

I was also surprised to see the old bridge I used to take across to south
Boston is now pedestrian only and they have a nice new bridge one block
over for cars.  It means I didn’t get a good look at the tea party ship
along the river.

When I got back to the dock, folks were getting in line to board.  Our boat
was leaving from the same pier as the harbor water shuttle.  So, we shared
the line with a bunch of people who seemed unhappy to find they were in
line with a bunch of singing people who planed to float circles around the
harbor and not take a straight path to the airport.  But, it was sorted out
once the fast boat pulled in to the pier and none of us moved.

At 7:00, the commuter boat took off to the airport and we set off across
the harbor.  Our cruise was about 5 miles out to the mouth of the harbor
and then back again.


It wasn’t quite singing all the way, but it was pretty close.  Because we
had to go under the landing path of Logan airport there were a couple of
times we had to stop because all you could hear was jet engines.  And,
there was a 20 or so minute break at the far point so everyone could get up
and look around some.  But, other then that, it was sea music the whole
time.  Headed out, we sang songs about leaving home, going to see, etc.
Coming in we sang songs about coming home and seeing those we left behind
again.

In no way to knock the many other people I know who sing sea songs, I
really like this group.  They’ve been doing these boat trips for 25 years.
They’re led by a person who has been a professional historical song
performer for even longer, specializes in this sort of song and gives the
historical harbor cruise narrations as his day job 5 days a week.

I learned one new historical/legendary story on the cruise: Boston harbor
has an island sunk by a pirate curse.
As the story goes, there was an island in Boston harbor where they hung
captured pirates so that any pirates coming into the harbor would see that
and hopefully think twice.
One of the captured pirates swore he was innocent and if they hung him he
would curse the land where he was hung and it would sink into the sea.
They hung him.  The island sank.

What I have been able to confirm: Boston did have a pirate problem and did
take to hanging them on that island at the harbor entrance.
That island did sink.  It had its sea wall washed away in a storm and the
remains of the island are now only above water at low tide.

What I can’t confirm: the pirate’s curse.  Lots of pirates were hung there.
The curse is attributed to at least three different pirates.  One of whom
died before they started hanging people there, so it is unlikely he cursed
the island.
But, who knows?

The weather on this cruise was the best I’ve ever seen.  The temperature
was perfect.  Cool, but not cold.  A slight breeze, but not windy.
The sunset over the city was fantastic.  Clouds were moving in from the
west and towered over Charlestown, back lit from the sun.
We’ll see how well the pictures come out.  In low light you need to hold
the camera still.  That’s hard to do on a boat in the harbor.  Hopefully a
lot of them will come out.

When we finally docked, we had the great car hunt.  (Not a relative.)
I knew we had gone down two spins of the garage.  We were with a bunch of
people who were convinced the garage made everyone park on the bottom
level.  The bottom level was for residents of the condos only and was
locked up tight.  So, they kept looking for a way to break in, convinced
they had parked their car in a locked area, and then all of them had
forgotten the locked up part.
Our car was not on the middle level.  I decided not to join in the breaking
and entering attempt of other people from our boat.
My wife set off to search level 2 while I went up to 1 and found our car.
Then, driving down to level 2, I couldn’t find my wife.
I tried driving through all three levels calling her name, but that only
encouraged the lower floor brigade to try and recruit me telling me she
might be in there with their car.
Finally I drove up to the entrance where my cellphone worked, told her
where to meet me, then drove back down to where she was.  (I couldn’t do an
outgoing call under two levels of garage and the harbor.  But, I guess her
phone could get one there.  Don’t know how that works.)

It was a very nice time, and I’m glad we did it even knowing we had to get
up early today for car dancing for tonight’s Phoenix show.

Comments

[capt-amos.livejournal.com]

Great story! Sounds like a fantastic time! A boat ride with sea shanties...yeah. :-)

[fbhjr.livejournal.com]

This is one of the things my wife keeps saying we should get you out here to see for yourself. They usually do it once in July and once in August. Sadly it is always midweek...

Tea Party Ship

[silverdragonma.livejournal.com]

That got me curious, so I looked at the site for the ship and found a participant list. I know I have been causing trouble for years, but I must have sleep walked that night. There is a David Decker listed as having been one of the people throwing tea into the harbor. I like it though.