If you’ve ever spent time boating on the North Shore, chances are you’ve exchanged a friendly wave with one of the region’s harbormasters. “We wave to everybody, the whole day,” says Newbury Harbormaster Sergeant Jim Velonis. “Your right arm gets pretty sore just because everybody waves to everybody.”
Harbormasters’ most important job is keeping everyone safe on the water. They lend a hand to vessels in distress, educate boaters about safety rules, provide rescue services, and respond to medical emergencies. But many are also recreational boaters themselves. That’s why we asked five North Shore harbormasters to share their favorite spots for spending time on the water. If you see them out there, be sure to wave hello.
Paul Hogg
Newburyport Harbormaster
Paul Hogg has had saltwater in his veins since he was a little kid. “I grew up tuna fishing with my dad at 8 years old,” he says. These days, when he’s not busy overseeing Newburyport’s waterways from the Merrimack River to Plum Island, you can find Hogg fishing off the North Shore, whether it’s for striped bass at Joppa Flats or for tuna at Jeffreys Ledge, an undersea ridge running from Rockport to Maine. He also frequents Stellwagen Bank, as well as spots known as “Outside Flag” and “Pigeon Hill.” “Those are some good tuna fishing areas that I like to go to,” Hogg says, especially after Labor Day when the busy summer boating season subsides.
Bion Pike
Manchester-by-the-Sea Harbormaster
Bion Pike got his seafaring start on the Maine Windjammer Fleet of tall ships, working his way up from cook to deckhand to first mate and eventually captain. Now, his perfect day of North Shore boating might see him sailing out of Salem toward Gloucester, where he’d have a bite to eat and “make a day of it.” From there, he’d go up through the Annisquam River, coming out on the other side of Cape Ann, then sail back around on the outside of Cape Ann. Pike also loves sailing in Maine on Penobscot Bay to the Fox Island Thorofare between North Haven and Vinalhaven Islands and into Pulpit Harbor, as well as to Southwest Harbor and Somes Sound, a fjard—a smaller version of a fjord—on Mount Desert Island. “That’s where my heart is,” Pike says
Jim Velonis
Newbury Harbormaster Sergeant
Newbury might not be a destination port like its neighbors, but it is home to the beautiful Parker River, which meanders through woodlands and coastal marshland before emptying into Plum Island Sound, making it a popular spot for kayakers and bird watchers. “It’s a lot of protected marsh area, and if you travel slowly, especially upriver, there’s all kinds of things to see,” says Velonis. “It’s got to be 20 miles’ worth of waterway as it kind of undulates through the marsh area.” As for Velonis, you might find him pulling up on a summer day at what’s known locally as “The Sandbar.” “It’s on the way to Ipswich Bay, and you’ll see this huge sandbar that pops up at low tide,” he says. “It’s no rocks and just sand. Everybody will just beach the boat.”
Willem Van de Stadt
Salisbury Harbormaster
The Merrimack River is as beautiful as it is tricky to navigate. “When you come into the Merrimack River, you always need to do your homework and make sure that you understand what the tides are doing when you enter the mouth of the river. You need to be very cautious, and you need to be very careful,” says Willem Van de Stadt, who not only oversees those waters but also counts the river as one of his favorite boating spots, along with area around Wingaersheek Beach, the Annisquam River, and Gloucester Harbor. “The Merrimack River is a diamond in the rough,” he says, with a fantastic boating community and great places to visit for the day as it empties in the ocean, from downtown Newburyport on one side to The Deck in Salisbury on the other. There’s also fantastic access to nature, like bald eagles, seals, and sturgeon jumping out of the water. “There’s all kinds of wildlife that you see if you pay attention.”
Peter Dickman
Beverly Harbormaster
From teaching sailing in Beverly to working as a whitewater rafting guide in the western U.S., Peter Dickman’s life and career has always been centered around boating. “I grew up in Beverly. I spent a lot of time on the water,” he says. Even with a busy job as Beverly’s harbormaster, Dickman still boats for recreation, racing sailboats out of Beverly’s Jubilee Yacht Club during their Thursday race nights. He’s also done a handful of bigger races, including one from Rhode Island to Bermuda. Another of Dickman’s favorite North Shore spots is Salem Sound, home to Baker’s Island and Misery Island, where the city of Beverly maintains several free-to-use transient moorings, as well as Beverly’s famed “Gold Coast,” where titans of industry once built lavish summer getaways.
