So a few days ago some of my friends and I were down Hills Beach rd a bit, visiting a friend at his house for the evening. After hanging out there for awhile we get the wonderful idea to take his small outboard boat (it was essentially a dingy almost) out into the river. So we go out to the beach behind his house and settle the boat in, after bailing out several inches of water from the previous rain storms lately. After bailing out the boat, we all get into it, all five of us, ensuring an interesting time was about to follow. We got the motor howling and we cruised down river a bit. However once we got a ways down river we realized we didn't have enough gas in the tank to keep going all the way down river, so we rowed a bit back upstream. Seeing a great place to dock, all of us rowed along with the engine, to the opposite side of the river to a docking station. The dock area belonged to a marina that resided on the Saco side of the river, kind of by Ferry Beach State Park, which I haven't been to yet, but I will eventually because I just now set it as a goal. On the Saco side of the river (for clarification, UNE is on the Biddeford side), there is a fishing wharf where all the small fishing and lobstering boats are kept to bring them to their larger more sea worthy vessels. The wharf is a great place to go fishing also, especially in the morning and evening hours. Sometimes when I'm walking with people along the coast, even late at night, I see people casting their lines and hoping for a good catch. Ok now back to my story...So after we docked on the opposite side of the river we walked around a bit, checking out the area. The location was nice, and there were some closed down cottages that are most likely rented out in the summer time, I'd say they looked rather quaint. Would be a great location for a getaway, but then again, so are most locations that are on the coast (who likes landlocked areas anyways? Just kidding). After scouting around, we made our way back to our boat and began the return trip down river. The return was a lot easier, for we were cruising with the current, didn't even need to row! Avoiding any mishaps, such as NOT hitting any buoys or floating objects...resulted in a great trip and a fun time. Although it would have been cooler if we were all dressed up in costume as we pulled our boat ashore, the journey was excellent and I'm looking forward to many more boat traveling adventures in the future. And lets hope they stay mostly dry travels. Falling into the river this time of year (or in coming months) would be a very chilly feeling I believe. |