When the mercury rises, Bostonians tend to rediscover their urge to be beside the seaside. Luckily, life in this coastal jewel of a city presents ample opportunity for landlubbers to discover their sea legs and get out on the open water, or just venture down to Boston Harbor or the banks of the Charles River to soak up the sights and sounds you can only find along the deep blue.
LET’S GO
CRUISING NOW
Numerous cruise companies offer
boating tours in and around Boston’s
waterways. Patrons of the
Charles Riverboat Company (refer to
cruise
listing) can enjoy 60-minute sightseeing
cruises along the mighty Charles River and
75-minute tours of the Charles River Locks
and Boston Harbor, while those who hop
aboard Boston Harbor Cruises’
(refer to
cruise listing) high-speed Codzilla
vessel can take in Boston at a
less-leisurely pace by enjoying an exciting
40 m.p.h. rip-roaring jaunt around Boston
Harbor.
Bay State Cruise Company (refer to cruise listing) offers getaways to nearby Provincetown, as well as summer music cruises, aboard its traditional ferry and catamaran ships. Meanwhile, Odyssey Cruises (refer to cruise listing) offers glamorous days and nights at sea, with brunch, dinner and midnight cruises taking place daily aboard its sleek and elegant three-decker. And luxury dining on the open sea has a new home in Boston with the recent arrival of Yacht Starship, a AAA Three Diamond-rated dining yacht that sails daily from the Seaport District all summer long (visit www.yachtstarship.com for more information and cruise schedule).
Liberty
Fleet of Tall Ships (refer to
cruise
listing) has been a key figure on the
Boston sail scene since 1992, ferrying
guests along the coastline aboard the
125-foot schooner the Liberty Clipper. A
typical two-hour jaunt aboard the Liberty
Clipper—a replica of a mid-1800s Baltimore
schooner that was originally built in
Mystic, Conn.—takes visitors out to explore
the Boston Harbor Islands, or on a swing by
the North End and the Charlestown Navy Yard.
Standard sails depart three times daily, at noon, 3 and 6 p.m., from Long Wharf. Liberty Fleet also offers specialty cruises like Friday night steak and lobster sails, Sunday brunches and occasional wine tasting sails. And on weekends, the Clipper kicks it up a notch by inviting the Freedom Trail Players aboard to take visitors through a reservation-only re-enactment of the Boston Tea Party.
And from June 17–22, ship enthusiasts can step aboard a throwback to France’s nautical past when the three-masted barque the Belem (built in 1896) makes its first visit to the U.S. in more than 20 years, as well as the Uruguayan staysail schooner Capitan Miranda (built in 1930). Both ships are open to the public for free tours during their berths in the Hub as part of Sail Boston. Visit www.sailboston.com for more information and a schedule of events.
STROLL BY THE SEA
The
Harborwalk—a planned 47-mile series
of connected walkways tracing the Boston
Harbor shoreline from Winthrop and East
Boston in the north to Dorchester in the
south—is close to completion, and has opened
up beautiful seaside views to strollers from
historic Charlestown down toward the North
End and onto the South Boston waterfront. A
walk along the Harborwalk offers great views
of boats on Boston Harbor, picturesque
offshore locales like Deer Island, gorgeous
parks like Christopher Columbus Waterfront
Park and cultural attractions like the
Institute for Contemporary Art. Visit
www.bostonharborwalk.com for maps of the
Harborwalk and a full calendar of events.
QUACK BY LAND and
BY SEA
When you can’t decide
whether you’d rather take in the Boston
sights from terra firma or by rolling on the
river, nothing offers a better compromise
than a Boston Duck Tour
(refer to
tours listing). Every day, hundreds of
happily-quacking sightseers are ferried up
and down the streets of Boston and Cambridge
aboard restored World War II-era amphibious
vehicles whose drivers point out notable
sights on land before slipping into the
Charles River for a water view.
Or, you can take a Super Duck Excursion (refer to tours listing), Boston’s newest amphibious tour service, which explores locales like Faneuil Hall, the North End and the Fort Point Channel area, before popping into Boston Harbor for close-up looks at the USS Constitution and the Leonard Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge from a view unlike any in the city.
A
CHARTERED COURSE
Sometimes the call of the
sea is so strong that a seasoned sailor
simply needs to hop aboard a boat and strike
out on the water away from the cares and
worries of life on land—which is all well
and good, but not always practical unless
you have access to a boat. Thankfully, that
isn’t a problem on the Boston waterfront, as
a bevy of charter options exist for sailing
aficionados.
The
Boston Harbor Sailing Club
(Rowes Wharf, 617-720-0049) is primarily a
member club that specializes in teaching
novices how to sail and organizing outings
for its members. However, the club also
offers charters and rentals of its numerous
sailing vessels (to appropriately
credentialed sailors) when members aren’t
using them. Fully outfitted daysailers,
ocean racers and cruisers are available
starting from as little as $90 per day.
Others offering charter services include the Boston Sailing Center (starting at $130 per hour, 2 hour minimum, 6 person maximum per boat, Lewis Wharf, 617-227-4198) and Boston Yacht Charters (Seaport World Trade Center, Seaport Boulevard, 617-723-8810), which provides sailboats, schooners and larger yachts capable of carrying anywhere from 12 to 1,100 passengers.
VICTORY AT SEA
If nautical warfare gets your
heart pumping, you won’t want to miss your
chance to hop aboard the tall
ship Formidable, a brigantine
vessel that sails from Waterboat Marina at
Long Wharf. This tall ship raises its deep
red, square-rigged sails and takes
passengers on excursions around Boston
Harbor every Tuesday–Sunday (weekday
sails are at 11 a.m., 1, 3 and 5 p.m.).
It’s Saturday’s sails, though, that take the excitement to another level, as those trips (at 11 a.m. and 2 and 5 p.m.) see the Formidable become the victim of an “ambush” by the privateer Poincare. Become a part of the action as cannons blaze, flags fly and your ship becomes part of a fantastic harbor battle re-enactment worthy of Pirates of the Caribbean. Call 508-954-1282 or visit www.tallshipformidable.com for information and reservations.
ISLAND LIFE
They may not be tropical
hideaways littered with palm trees, coconuts
and white sand, but the
Boston Harbor Islands are a
collection of more than 30 small islands off
the Massachusetts coast that contain both
natural and historical resources and can act
as idyllic getaways from the hustle and
bustle of city life. Island hoppers can take
the ferry to Georges Island and tour
historic former Civil War prison Fort
Warren, journey to Little Brewster Island
and climb to the top of the oldest
lighthouse in the U.S. or go swimming,
hiking or picnicking on picturesque
Spectacle Island. For more information,
visit
www.bostonislands.org.
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