Brant Point Beach Destruction

Early this morning I went down to Brant Point as I do every morning and could not believe what I saw. It looked like a bomb went off. The once pristine beach has been filled in with 10 feet of sand.

New Nantucket Dragger

While on my daily lurk of the waterfront early this morning I spied a little dragger in the Boat Basin tied up to the fuel dock. Her name is Abby & Holly. I have never seen her before and do not know who owns her. She looks to be wooden but I could be wrong. She could be glass over wood. I'll ask my waterfront informants and get the story. Stay tuned.

  Please be sure to visit my new Nantucket Deer Blog!

CLICK HERE FOR MY NEW DEER BLOG

Barge And Crane

Every winter for as long as I can remember, AGM Marine comes to the waterfront and does some work repairing or replacing piers. I always go down to the docks and have a look at their rig. I noticed they bought a new and much bigger outboard used to power their tender which pushes the barge from pier to pier in the Boat Basin.

  Please be sure to visit my new Nantucket Deer Blog!

CLICK HERE FOR MY NEW DEER BLOG

Dennis Metcalf and crew getting ready to set moorings in the general anchorage.

New Madaket Boat Ramp/Old North Wharf Repairs

Work has begun replacing the Madaket boat ramp. I'm not sure why this is being done as the former ramp was fine. I'm hoping they are going to get the angle of the ramp correct this time and not make it like the Children's Beach boat ramp. That one is not steep enough. We'll have to wait and see how it turns out. Work on repairing the section of Old North Wharf has been progressing nicely. During the last storm the finger piers and the area around the end of the gravel road were heavily damaged. Pennel Ames is doing the work using his scallop boat at times to work on the finger piers.

  Please be sure to visit my new Nantucket Deer Blog

CLICK HERE FOR MY NEW DEER BLOG

Highliner Carl Sjolund

Carl Sjolund has been commercial scalloping for a long time. Well over 50 years. There is nothing he doesn't know about the industry. He has forgotten more about scalloping than I will ever know about it. I have only been commercial scalloping for 30 years. I'm a rookie.. Carl is one of the very few highliners in the fleet. He gets his limit before anyone else. He's fast. I remember back in the early 80's I was scalloping in my boat alongside Nelson Joyce. Nelson used to fish out of a big old grey Novi boat. He eventually bought a 24' Chesapeake Classic. In any event,  we were scalloping one day late in the season in the middle of First Bend. We spotted Carl going home early with his limit of scallops. Nelson looked over at me and said "I couldn't get my limit that fast if someone put them in my boat for me." I'll always remember that day. Carl has seen it all through the years. Good years, not so good years and years where there were hardly any scallops around. He never complains. He goes out every day, gets his limit, opens them and has a good year every year.  He knows that every year is different and that if you work hard, you will get your limit. A true highliner.

Here are a few pictures of Carl out scalloping in the harbor back in January-

Please be sure to visit my new Nantucket Deer Blog!

CLICK HERE FOR MY NEW DEER BLOG

February 9th Northeast Storm

We had quite a blow here last night and today. Not very much snow but a lot of wind. Anywhere between 70 and 90 mph. I went down to the waterfront during the storm to check on my scallop boat and take a few pictures-
Please be sure to visit my new Nantucket Deer Blog!

CLICK HERE FOR MY NEW DEER BLOG

Flooding at the waterfront 2 hours before the high tide.

Finger piers under water 2 hours before the high tide at Straight Wharf.

A sinking scallop boat.

Old North Wharf under water two hours before the high tide.

Old North Wharf.

Tree down. East Polpis Harbor.

A very rough East Polpis Harbor.

A frozen salt spray encrusted house on the waterfront.