Ferry Beach, Scarborough (Nonesuch River)

Body of Water: Ferry Beach, Scarborough, Nonesuch River Map 3 B3

*** This is NOT the Ferry Beach in Saco!

Directions: From Portland Maine (On Google it is called Ferry Road Beach) 295 south to Exit 2 (US1/Scarborough/Old Orchard)  Once merging with Rt. 1 drive 1.2 miles.  At intersection with Amatos turn LEFT onto Black Point Road.  Drive 4.2 miles on Black Point Road (Passing Fire Dept.) And turn RIGHT onto Ferry Road.  Drive to the end of the road (about 0.3 miles) passing through the golf course to the public beach/boat launch. 

Fees: Between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Fees are collected for parking.  (I say the best time to paddle here would be earlier or later than that anyway!)$10 per car for the day.  If you arrive at 3 or later it is $5. 

Boat Launch/Parking: There is an area specifically for the beach and another area for boat launch.  Truthfully I am not sure if there is a fee for using the boat launch or for parking at the boat launch side of things... but it is easy enough to park and launch from the beach! Very sandy beach and gradual put in. 

 Bathroom: Yes and showers

Amenities: Food is sold during summer, certain hours

*No Lifeguards

Notes: This paddle is beautiful!  It made me wonder why I had not launched from here before the summer solstice!  I think the reason is that I had heard so much more about the Scarborough Marsh and this is in the same general vicinity so I figured it would be the same.  I would say it is not the same.  I have blogged about the Scarborough marsh before, click here for the link.  It is a very nice paddle and explores the marsh more than the wider part of the river that goes out into the ocean.  I would say launching from Ferry Beach is a more gentle place to paddle, though I am sure the tide makes a difference.  On the solstice we were paddling at high tide.  (And it was perfect!)  

(I must note that this paddle event was organized by the one and only, Shannon Bryan from FitMaine.com, as I have said before, if you aren't following her, you should.  That woman does A LOT of really great stuff! Thanks Shannon for putting this together!)

There was a large group of paddlers, upwards of 30 I would say.  Many paddleboards and kayaks.  I don't think anyone had a canoe.  There were experienced paddlers as well as beginners and everyone seemed to enjoy it! 

After launching we headed to the right.  We stayed in the area that this google map shows... we did not go up into the Nonesuch River further.  (There is a blog post about the upper part of that river too!)  It was beautiful!

You can see part of the beach behind these guys.  This would be a great place to swim!

The clouds were beautiful.

There were some familiar faces mixed in with the new ones!  (Hi Melanie!) 

I thought about bringing Gladys, but wasn't sure how she would do and how other people would do with a dog around... but I should have brought her!  This dog did awesome on the paddleboard. 

The water got very calm! 

Our fearless leader! (Shannon Bryan form fitmaine.com!)

As the group paddled something caught my eye... this beautiful bird... so of course I went to take some pics!

 As you paddle here it is very cool to look in the water below you.  At high tide you go over grass which I assume is part of a more marsh like feel with channels etc.  You can see beneath you the deeper and more shallow grassy areas.  It is pretty cool!  I heard people saw some jellyfish, but I did not! 

After meeting back up with the group we paddled across the channel to the Pine Point boat launch.  This is a selfie with two wonderful women I work with!  It was really fun to paddle with them!

This is one of my coworkers... 

This is them together... it's blurry, but I like it a lot! 

Selfie! 

As we paddled back towards Ferry Beach to really enjoy the sunset I took this photo over my shoulder... pretty cool parade of paddlers! 

 

As the sun set we had some fun on the beach.  Shannon even tried paddling in a puddle!

Shannon's friend was one of the last people to get off the water.  It made for some pretty cool pics!

 Blankets, snacks (including CHOCOLATE HUMMUS!)

This was a great place to paddle!  I think this would be a great spot to try salt water paddling for the first time.  Combine it with swimming and great people and you have a summer day you won't forget!