Our winner
We’d have to say “the best fish sandwich” gave us the answer to your September Mystery Harbor. We live on Cape Cod, not far from Plymouth Harbor. While we have spent time in the harbor aboard our Wasque 32, Starbuck, we have more frequently dined on the harbor – usually at the Lobster Hut. Sometimes your Points East picture of a Mystery Harbor shows a view one might see while afloat, looking back at the shore; sometimes it is of a harbor from the shore, looking out to sea. Of course, Plymouth Harbor has two iconic views: Plymouth Rock and the Mayflower II. However, these were not shown because it would be too obvious. The picture of the harbor was familiar to us because it was probably taken from our favorite place to get fish sandwiches!
Bruce Buckley
Sandwich, Mass.
Hey, I was that boat owner/groom!
The September Mystery Harbor photo was taken at the Plymouth Yacht Club, where I have been a member for over 30 years. The sloop featured in the photo is a 42-foot Endeavor that I bought up in the Casco Bay region of Maine three years ago. The day of that picture was a special day, as it was my wedding day, Aug. 28. After the ceremony at the Club everyone watched us sail away into the sunset for our honeymoon.
Maurice Campeau
Plymouth, Mass.
View is from the PYC
September’s Mystery Harbor is Plymouth, taken from the Plymouth Yacht Club. I’m the Waterfront Captain at the Club. The sailboat in the picture was brought in for pictures, as the owner of the boat got married on that day. One of our launch drivers brought the boat in. Gary Kaukoranta is the launch driver in the picture. Thank you for putting us on the map!
Gary Myette
Pembroke, Mass.
Always worth the run
This is the beautiful view of Plymouth Harbor from the lawn of Plymouth Yacht Club. You see the club’s dinghy dock in the foreground and in the distance the harbor breakwater. Beyond that is the long, sandy shoreline of the entrance channel to the harbor. It’s a long run in from Massachusetts Bay, but always a great harbor to visit.
John Todd
Gloucester, Mass.
This one’s a no-brainer
We immediately recognized this picture of Plymouth Harbor, since we have visited many times and love the friendly atmosphere and hospitality we are shown at every visit. Love the dock master, Gary Myette, who always has a smile and goes above and beyond his role, in our opinion. Love reading Points East, and picked the September issue up at Gloucester before heading to Rockport.
Jane O’Neil
Hull, Mass.
One of two harbors
My guess is that the September Mystery Harbor is Plymouth, Mass. It appears to be the entrance to the harbor, running down from Gurnet Point and the lighthouse there. I once had a mooring and sailboat in Duxbury Harbor, which runs to the north of Plymouth. Bug Light separates the channel leading to each harbor.
Herb Schneider
Kingston, Mass.
Good times there
That is the mooring field and dinghy dock in Plymouth Harbor. The breakwater ends where the bigger sailboats are. Beyond that is the harborside of Plymouth Beach. Clarks Island is the land rising up in the middle. To the right of Clarks Island is Saquish, and to the right of that is Gurnet Point. You can barely see Gurnet Light to the right. We used to party at the point on Plymouth Beach years ago; this is not allowed now. You had to drive the length of the beach and cross a big dune to get to the point, or you could drive the length of the beach on the bay side and hope you wouldn’t get stuck. Beyond Saquish and Clarks Island is Duxbury Beach and the ocean.
Barry Shangold
Bridgewater Mass
Such great memories!
This is Plymouth Harbor, and the photo was taken from the Plymouth Yacht Club. The location is easily recognized by the two land masses that stick up above the long beach in the background – Clarks Island and Saquish Head. I grew up in Plymouth, and the harbor there was where I spent all my summers from 9th grade until I graduated from high school. I got my first boat, a flat-bottomed, wooden rowboat, the week that the Mayflower II arrived from England in June of 1957. That week I began rowing visiting tourists out from the temporary wooden ramp next to Plymouth Rock and around the moored Mayflower for 25 cents each. With tips I made enough money in a week to buy a used outboard. Of course, my rowboat was in competition with the party boat fleet, and the harbormaster at the time had to shut me down since I had no license to carry passengers. I was not alone in this entrepreneurial adventure, as several others in my age group also did it. In the photo on the following page, which was made into a post card, you can see me in my boat. That was probably the first day after the arrival of the Mayflower and I had no competition. Note the number of people waiting at the end of the ramp. While the resolution is not clear enough to positively identify me, I was the only one at the time using one yellow and one white oar, and besides, when the other kids started, they all had outboards. After the first week I did, too.
I remember that there were about a dozen other guys around my age that lived on the harbor. We worked as deck hands on the fishing party boats and helped clean and bail out moored boats, spent nights on the beach, assisted the U.S. Coast Guard crews on Bug Light (Duxbury Pier Light), water skied, and surfed the breaking waves outside the harbor on Browns Bank. I took sailing lessons at the Plymouth Yacht Club and upgraded my old rowboat to a brand-new Delano Skiff called the Harbor Rat with an 18-hp outboard. Eventually we made excursions to Nantucket, Martha’s Vineyard, Boston and Provincetown. My time on the harbor developed in me a curiosity for the marine environment, sailing and exploring. I went on to college and earned advanced degrees in Marine Biology and taught at Maine Maritime Academy, eventually retiring as Vice President of Academic Affairs and Provost. My wife Diane and I restored a 40’ wooden ketch, but recently graduated to a 34’ Nordic Tug, Endeavour, that we cruise out of Bucksport, Maine.
John Barlow
Orland, Maine
Our girls grew up racing there
It’s Plymouth Harbor from the Yacht Club porch. You can see Plymouth Beach in the background, and if you had more of a view to the left you’d see the Mayflower II. Our twin girls grew up competing on Opti’s and 420s as Duxbury Yacht Club junior members, and often faced nearby Plymouth Yacht Club junior members. We’ve spent many evenings over the years at the restaurant on the harbor with friends at Cruise Committee meetings.
Juliana and Jim Linsdell
Duxbury, Mass.
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