HAVERHILL — Rachel Carson made her first voyage to Harbor Hill on Thursday, stopping at the William “Captain Red” Slavbitt Municipal Dock behind Tap Restaurant on Washington Street.
Paul Aziz, who runs Yankee Clipper Harbor Tours in Newburyport, plans to launch a tour boat operation on Harbor Hill as soon as the 33-passenger Rachel Carson undergoes final inspection by the US Coast Guard. sometime next week.
“We will post the schedule online as soon as we have permission,” he said.
It was a dream come true for Mayor James Fiorentini, who had been eagerly awaiting the boat’s arrival.
“It has always been a dream of mine to open up access to the river and have tour boats in the city,” says Fiorentini. If I got a boardwalk, my goal was to get a dock, and if I got a dock, my goal was to get a tour boat.”
Last summer, former assistant harbormaster Tim Slavitt brought a 105-foot-long, 400-passenger tour boat to Harbor Hill to promote his own tour boat business, but city officials’ concerns about the boat’s size As a result, the plan did not materialize. So are environmental concerns and permitting process issues.
Fiorentini said the introduction of a tour boat business in the city was made possible through the efforts of the city’s Port Commission, chaired by Dr. Sam Amari, and Harbor Master Michael Vetz.
The veterinarian said they will soon be installing a new floating wooden dock for use by Rachel Carson. The fund charges motorized boat owners an annual fee to moor or dock their boats at Harbor Hill.
“We also have a 35-foot walkway on our new dock for our tour boats,” says Vets. “If someone is in a wheelchair, we can use the ramp leading to the main dock. We’ll move Rachel Carson there to board.”
Amari called the introduction of a pleasure boat business, in addition to the kayak rentals offered by Plum Island Kayak, a “huge development.”
“This is a big start and more is coming,” said Amari.
Aziz now has two tour boats, a 45-passenger Yankee Clipper, which offers harbor tours of Newburyport and an increasing number of tours of the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge. He said business this summer was very good.
Aziz said he noticed the mayor’s intention to bring a cruise business to Harbor Hill.
“We knew Harbor Hill had wanted a boat here for a long time, so it was a natural fit,” he said.
Built in 1988 and recently renovated, the Rachel Carson is new to Aziz’s business. It anchors at Harbor Hill and takes passengers on her 1-hour tour, traveling down the river to the Rocks Village Bridge before returning. Aziz said he is also planning a 90-minute sunset tour of his.
Tickets for $20 for the one-hour tour can be ordered on the Yankee Clipper Harbor Tours website once Aziz has Rachel Carson’s Coast Guard approval.
According to a Daily News article, Aziz named his new boat the Rachel Carson to mark the memory of early environmentalists.
Carson wrote a book called “Silent Spring”. The book is considered one of the first to warn that environmental destruction is taking place without government oversight. Published in 1962.
In 1947, she spent the fall of 1947 studying black ducks at the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge. Duck numbers were declining due in part to pressure from duck hunters.
Carson, then a staff researcher at the Federal Fish and Wildlife Service, is credited with helping develop a compromise that caters to bird hunters and bird watchers.
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