I write feature stories for the Laconia Sun newspaper in New Hampshire, and was assigned to write about this resident of the lovely, secluded Bear Island on Lake Winnipesaukee. Listening to Michael Taranto talk as I interviewed him nearly made me weepy at times, as I also grew up on a lake in New Hampshire and discovered independence there as well. The story was published in the Sun in October.

Michael Taranto discovered independence here.  

He grew up in New Jersey, where his father worked as an orthopedic surgeon, and his family vacationed on the Jersey Shore in the summer months. Then, a neighbor and colleague of Taranto’s father told the family about Lake Winnipesaukee. 

For two summers, the Tarantos visited the Lakes Region, finding it so peaceful they bought property on Bear Island in 1954 and built a house. That first summer, Taranto and his friends learned to drive an aluminum boat with an outboard motor. They explored coves. They went hiking, hunted squirrels, and practiced marksmanship. 

“It was an idyllic lifestyle. To this day, I’m still a teen when I’m on that island,” said Taranto, who will turn 78 in November. “Bear Island is the allegorical Neverland. It’s emotional. When I want to get plugged in and rejuvenate my life, all I have to do is look at Bear Island. Just to stare at it.”

About the island

Taranto lives in Plymouth with his wife, Elizabeth or “Teddy,” from fall to spring and on Bear Island in the summer. He’s a second-generation islander. He and Teddy’s home is a rustic camp with a fireplace, three small bedrooms, a living room, and a screened-in porch. 

The Taranto’s place is one of about 190 summer homes on Bear Island, where there are also two summer camps—one for boys and one for girls—and a chapel, according to John Hopper, the island’s historian. 

Hopper said in the summer, about 1,500 residents and campers inhabit the land. Virtually all of them are summer residents, there from Labor Day through Columbus Day. “Occasionally, one or two individuals live out here during the winter,” Hopper added.

One of roughly 250 islands on Winnipesaukee, Bear Island, at 780 acres, is second largest to Long Island, which is connected to the mainland by a bridge. People can access Bear Island by boat only.

An island history 

Hopper has spent summers on Bear Island since the 1940s, at first with his parents and now with his wife, Linda; the two live in Center Harbor in the winter months. 

Bear Island was first settled in 1801. “One of the very first dozen Meredith colonists, Robert Bryant, bought it,” Hopper said. “He had come to Meredith in 1764. He settled on South Bear in 1801, not too far from Mike Taranto’s place.”

Bryant and two other families divided the southern part of the island into farms. By the early- to mid-1800s, there were a half dozen year-round farms on the island as well as areas used by mainlanders for seasonal grazing. “The era encompassed the ‘sheep craze,’ during which most of the stone walls in New England were built. Bear Island was no exception. There are stone walls all over the island.”

Vacationers discovered the gem as early as the 1850s, shortly after the railroad reached the Weirs. By 1883, new landowners were subdividing the shorefront and selling lots. Hopper said development was slow but steady over the years, with big boons in the 1950s, ’60s, and ’70s. 

“The island population more than doubled over those three decades,” he said. “It increased modestly thereafter, largely due to the lack of available land.

“Once people found Winnipesaukee, they had to come back,” he added. 

Island discovery

Taranto’s family came in one of those early, post-war waves. He, his mother, and two younger sisters visited every year from the time school let out through Labor Day. His father flew in on the weekends on Northeast Airlines’ nonstops from LaGuardia to Laconia. 

Said Taranto with a laugh, “Mom would have a martini for him in the back of the station wagon at the airport.”

In 1978, the Tarantos became the owners of the Bear Island house. Teddy and their three children spent summers on the island, and Taranto arrived when he was able while he was still working in sales and management in the industrial minerals industry; he travelled all over the world. 

Later, he started a consulting and trading company, and he worked on the island, answering the phone in his “hammock office” in his bathing suit. “I had business going all summer long for 20 years from the island,” Taranto said. 

Taranto’s children also worked in the Lakes Region, holding their first jobs at area restaurants and attractions. 

Careful planning is involved

While island life is tranquil, it also involves organization and inconvenience. 

In the early days, residents reached their homes in horse-drawn boats and then on steamers, Hopper said. “Gasoline powered boats took hold after 1920,” he added. “Many people relied on taxi boats from Shep Brown’s or the Weirs in the early days. Wealthier vacationers had their own boats. Otherwise people used row boats or canoes.”

In the 1950s, new outboard engines and fiberglass boats became the norm, and people began to access Bear Island on their own—the Tarantos among them.

Because there are still no stores on the island, Taranto said his family must shop and pack everything they will need. They park the car at one of two public docks in Meredith, move their belongings and provisions from the car to the boat and make the 10-minute ride to the island.

“You have to plan ahead,” Taranto said. “If someone takes the cheese you were going to use on the pizza you’re making for dinner, you have to go to town and get it.”

There is also no dump on the island, so all trash gets bagged and loaded into the boat and then into the car; it’s dumped at the transfer station in Meredith. 

A trip to the store—for pizza cheese—or a dump run take about an hour, Taranto said.

In case of emergency

There are no roads on Bear Island, only trails that people use for walks or jogging. 

Likewise, there are no municipal services. In the event of fire or other emergency, help must come via boat.

Meredith has a fire boat—and Taranto said boats are also available from Gilford, Laconia, Moultonborough, and Center Harbor. “In the early 2000s, there was a fire in back of our house,” he said. 

“Wind blew down a power line. It was Memorial Day weekend, so there were many residents here. Together, we beat back fire with brooms and rakes for the 30 minutes it took to get fire crews there. If not for all those people, we might have lost most of the island.” 

Because ambulance service also comes via the water and takes time, many seniors who own property on the island are often forced to sell their homes. “They are concerned that if something happens, there is nobody around to help,” Taranto said.

Gift for the next generation

It’s the young people who thrive on Bear.

Taranto is now teaching his grandchildren to drive his aluminum boat. For the first time this summer, his 13-year-old granddaughter Katherine soloed, operating the 15-horsepower, Suzuki engine on her own.

“She is the first grandchild to do that,” Taranto said. “Next summer, her brother Michael probably will. It’s absolutely cool. It’s exciting.”

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I have started writing feature stories for the Laconia Daily Sun in Laconia, New Hampshire. It was super fun to pen this piece about taking the boater safety course earlier this summer.

I learned to drive a boat only a few years after I learned how to write my name and memorize the multiplication tables. I had an aluminum boat with a 12-horse Evinrude on the back; every day in the summer, I’d push it off the sand at our summer camp on the southern end of Lake Winnisquam and drive to the post office near Mosquito Bridge to pick up the family’s mail. 

I learned everything I know about boating from my father, Harvey Beetle, and my two older brothers, Jeff and Allan. I thought I had a good knowledge foundation. So, when I signed up for the June 1 Boating Education course offered in Concord by the New Hampshire Department of Safety, I packed my laptop, thinking I might do a little multi-tasking.

I learned in the first five minutes that there were significant gaps in my knowledge—through no fault of my dad or brothers—and that, if I wanted to pass the exam at the end of the day, I needed to pay close attention.

The realization came when our instructor, Richard Horner, held a plastic boat in front of him. As he pointed to its parts, my voice was among those—about 25 in all—calling out the names “Bow.” “Stern.” “Starboard.” “Port.”

Horner lost me at “beam”—the area from one gunwale, over the top to the other—and “freeboard”—the part of the craft from the water line up. For the next six hours, I listened intently, took notes and worried that I would not retain all the material for the test at day’s end.

Broad scope of material

Seventeen years ago, the state’s boating education law went into effect. It mandates that everyone 16 years of age and older who operates a motorboat over 25 horsepower on New Hampshire waters must have a boating education certificate.

Since then, the Department of Safety has issued roughly 231,000 certificates, Horner told us. 

He said there are 90,000 to 100,000 boats registered in New Hampshire in a given year, and 60,000 boats alone on Winnipesaukee.  

With a goal of safety for these masses on New Hampshire’s waterways, the course offers a broad-stroke, thorough education that ranges from etiquette and technique in launching a boat on a trailer to navigation rules and traffic laws to primers on flotation devices, visual distress signals, and buoys. The exam covers the same ground in 60 questions. Individuals cannot get more than 12 wrong to pass.

Key learnings

The most sobering learning for me—literally—was the information Horner offered around drinking and operating a boat. 

As while driving an automobile on the road, the legal limit for blood alcohol concentration is 0.08 percent or greater. While boating in New Hampshire waters, though, you can be charged with operating under the influence if your blood alcohol concentration is as low as 0.03 percent, if the marine patrol officer also finds that you are impaired in some way, he said.

Persons convicted of boating under the influence (BWI) lose the privilege to operate a vessel for one year, and the BWI conviction becomes part of their motor vehicle driving record. Horner said a fine is levied, and the on-road driver’s license is revoked for a period between nine months and two years.

This all not to mention the fact that Horner told us that alcohol is a factor in a majority of boating accidents and fatalities. Made me nauseous, and cautious.

My other biggest learning was in knowing what to do when encountering a boat at a perpendicular or other odd angle. I know that when approaching one another head on, boats keep to the right, and that a faster boat can pass on either side when taking over another craft from behind. These are really the only scenarios I experience on the narrow Connecticut River in Western Mass, where I boat most often. 

Horner gave us an easy way to determine what to do when coming upon boats at other angles. 

First, he connected in our minds that the green in the bow light is on the starboard side, and green means go. Red is on the port side—think port wine, he told us—and red means go.

So, when approaching a boat on its starboard side, you have the green light and can stand on—or continue on the same course. If you are coming up on port side, you must give way.

About the instructor

Horner offered his information via two booklets he handed out at the start, several videos, and some old-fashioned lecture.

I didn’t learn much about Horner’s background, but he told us he’s been in the field for decades and that he has boated on all kinds of waterways. He looked to be over six-feet tall, was imposing, and commanded respect. He was also friendly, clear, and respectful.

He gave ample hints, offering some answers on the test repeatedly. He told us at least a half dozen times over the course of the day that boaters must run the blower for four minutes before starting the engine, for instance. Sure enough, I knew that answer when I saw the question. Not one. Not five. Four. 

If you attend the course and listen, you will do well.

How I did

I am in the process of buying a home in New Hampshire. This was my motivator for taking the test. 

I passed with a 95, but I sweated it out a bit. I found some of the questions to be ambiguous. And in some cases, I just plain didn’t know the answer. I believe I missed three or four of the 60.

I’m fairly certain if I had attempted to pass via the online exam, I would not have done nearly as well. I relied on Horner’s hints.

I wish I had taken the course when it was first offered. It well-rounded out my knowledge.

I have made a few changes on the boat I keep on the river in Western Mass since taking the course. I’ve tied a line to my Type IV flotation device (which I have called a “cushion” my whole life). I purchased a new fire extinguisher after knowing I needed to check the expiration date on mine, and I added a first-aid kit to the items I keep on board.

Two ways to earn a certificate

I highly recommend taking the Boating Education class as the most efficient and sure way to get a boating certificate in New Hampshire. Visit https://register-ed.com/programs/newhampshire/174 for the schedule of classes, dates, and location.

Complete an online course. If you pass, you must then take a proctored exam to receive a certificate card. Learn more about the online course at https://www.boat-ed.com/newhampshire/.

Please let me know if you have a suggestion for a story I could pen for the Laconia Daily Sun, or recommend a business owner I could feature in my column, Voices of the Valley, which runs on occasional Mondays in the Springfield Republican.

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