Deep Freeze

No text today, just a few pictures I took around the frozen waterfront today. Enjoy.

Icy Waterfront

The waterfront was icy, cold and windy today. Last night the temperature dropped to 6.4 degrees. Ice formed on the west jetty as seen in the above picture.

Here's a shot taken late in the afternoon-


Even the seagulls looked miserable and cold as they hunkered way down low in the water-


This one had ice hanging off of him making it difficult to walk-


And these two swans sitting on the ice in the lagoon at Sesachacha Pond weren't going anywhere with their heads tucked under their wings-


Here's a shot of the wind whipped channel with Brant Point Light off to the right-


With the temp only 6 degrees early this morning, obviously nobody was able to go bay scalloping. The temperature never came close to 28 degrees all day today. The guys got a well deserved day off from the daily grind of fishing.

The Ruthie B and the Paul and Michelle are still in.

Looked like little if any work was done by the Robert B. Our Company today down at Children's Beach. I'm getting a little concerned that they will not make their deadline at the rate they are going. I read in one of our local newspapers that they expect to complete the project in 6 to 8 weeks. They've already been working for almost 3 weeks now. AGM Marine over at the White Elephant and Lawrence Lynch over at GHYC put a full day in working on their projects.

With the temperature being so cold today, I thought I'd see some sea smoke. I did not see any. Did anyone reading the blog see any today?

Straight Wharf Pigeon Update:
I spoke with one of the girls down at the Hy-Line office this afternoon about the pigeon. She told me that he was seen courting another pigeon a few weeks ago. He has not been seen since. I guess he's in love.

Housekeeping:
I Have enlarged the pictures I post to the blog as of today. To get an even larger view, (800X600), simply mouse over the picture and click. This method works for any picture except for the pictures in the sidebar. ------------>

Today's High & Low Temps.
High (missing)
Low 6.4

Children's Beach Panorama

Above is a panorama shot of Children's Beach that I assembled today. It shows all the heavy equipment and machinery used for the new boat ramp project. Click on the picture to enlarge. Today they were busy building the cofferdam. It is a very slow process of lifting the steel sheathing up off the beach, swinging them in position and driving them into the harbor floor. They installed around 15 or so sections of steel today. They have a long way to go to complete the dam. At one point this afternoon, there were three cranes working in the area of The White Elephant and Children's Beach!

Click here for the website of the Children's Beach boat ramp contractor


I have never seen so many cranes here working all at once. I cannot remember a winter where there has been this much work going on around the waterfront. There are at least 6 different projects going on at once. Here's a picture of the big sections of steel they are using at Children's Beach to build the dam-


One western rigged sea scalloper "Paul & Michelle" came in and tied up on the east face of Straight Wharf today. She had two of the biggest dredges I've ever seen on a sea scalloper. They are at least 15' wide. You need a lot of horsepower to tow those things around. Most of the big New Bedford boats have huge diesel engines and have no problem towing big dredges. The Ruthie B was in today. I thought she was gone on a scalloping trip yesterday but I think she was in New Beige getting fuel.

7 or 8 bay scallopers went out today. Looks like the guys will have a day off tomorrow as the temperature is forecasted to go well below 28 degrees tonite. And it's not going to get out of the teens or low twenties tomorrow.

Today's High & Low Temps.
High 35.2
Low 25.0

Tranquil Waterfront

The waterfront was tranquil early this morning as evidence of the above picture I took while I was making my rounds. Not many people are down around the docks early in the morning making it the best time of the day for a visit.

The tug "Thuban" came into the Boat Basin at some point during the night with a small barge loaded with fuel. Not sure if it was #2 fuel or aviation fuel for the airport. #2 fuel usually comes in a much bigger barge or tanker. Here's a picture of the Thuban and the barge berthed at the fuel dock-


I spotted the R/V "Shanna Rose" about 4 miles to the east of Sankaty Head this morning. I wonder what they are researching out there. Do you suppose it has something to do with the 'Sconset erosion control project?

Two big western rigged sea scallopers came in for a short stay today. The Luso American 1 and the Casa Blanca. The Ruthie B came in during the overnight. Not sure if they caught their limit of scallops this trip. She left late this afternoon along with the other two sea scallopers.

Around 12 guys went bay scalloping today. Most never left Hussey Shoal. Word doesn't take long to get around that an area has opened up. I know two guys who were able to get their five bushel limit today. I talked to one scalloper this afternoon and he said that there's a lot of seed scallops up harbor where he fished most of the day today.

Robert B Our Company was very busy today down at the Children's Beach boat ramp. They moved the big crane, "Mantis" into position so they can finally begin building the coffer dam. AGM Marine was there as well but I'm not sure if they were working on the White Elephant property or the Children's Beach boat ramp project. I think they are working mainly in the Boat Basin and over at GHYC. There are so many projects going on at the waterfront now that it's hard to keep track of which company is doing what project.

Today's High & Low Temps
High 38.3
Low 20.8

R/V F/V Shanna Rose

The R/V F/V Shanna Rose arrived in the Boat Basin at some point last night. Notice the massive A-frame on her stern. I have seen her here before. And I have also seen her doing some work off of Sankaty.
Click here for info on the Shanna Rose

Not sure what this boat is being used for here. What are they researching? If anyone knows, please leave a comment in the comment section. Thanks. I found some information on the Lophius, a boat we were talking about a few weeks back.
Click Here


Nobody was able to get out on the harbor and go bay scalloping today. The temperature never made it to 28 degrees by 10 am. I think the guys will be able to go tomorrow but Thursday and Friday look iffy as the temps are forecasted to plummet. The price is still holding at $17 per pound paid to the fishermen.

The Ruthie B is still out on a sea scalloping trip. I'm guessing she'll be back here later tonite.

Very little work was done at the new Children's Beach boat ramp today. Some sort of a huge bag was spread out on the beach today. I'm not sure what that will be used for. Hopefully they will start work again and meet their deadline. Can you imagine not having a boat ramp there this Summer?

AGM Marine is busy replacing pilings on the east face of Straight Wharf.

Today's High & Low Temps.
High 33.1
Low 26.4

Housekeeping

The video hosting site I use for the blog is down for upgrades and maintenance. It should be back up and running soon.

Early Morning Seal Cruise

I had to wait for the temperature to reach 28 degrees (Town Law) this morning before I could go scalloping. As I was waiting, I went to visit the seals at the east jetty. I shot the above clip of them lounging on the rocks and swimming around in the calm water of the early morning. Sorry for the poor quality of the clip. I forgot my monopod again. Note to self: don't forget monopod before going out on a shoot.

The temperature finally made it to 28 degrees by 9:30 am. Nine of us were out fishing today. More than usual. The strong wind we had over the weekend cleared a lot of grass off of the scallop beds making the fishing much better. There was a small fleet of us fishing the north west part of Hussey Shoal this morning. Sometimes when you're on a good spot, there are several boats fishing with you. At times you can get very close to each other as this picture shows-

I had to throttle back as I was towing to let this guy pass. We all know each other out there and know what to do so we won't run into one another and get all tangled up. I remember back in the 80's fishing in a fleet of 80 or 90 scallop boats! You really have to be on your toes in that situation! Some guys are downright nasty and get very angry if you get anywhere near them while they are fishing. I knew one guy who is dead now that used to throw rocks at you if you came within a few yards of him.

I noticed a lot of seed today that I had not seen before. Next season does not look as bad as I thought. Here's a picture of some seed from today. The adults have already been culled into the wire 1/2 bushel baskets from the tow-


As I was out on the harbor today I noticed a camera on Brant Point Lighthouse. As I passed by the camera in my boat, a flash went off. I did not know there was a camera there taking pictures of every boat coming into the harbor and leaving the harbor. I talked to one of the guys at the Marine Department and he told me the camera was part of Homeland Security. I'm hoping that someday the Coast Guard will make the camera images available on-line for anyone to see. What a great place to have a web cam as well! Here's a picture of the camera on Brant Point Lighthouse-


Work started up again down at the new Children's Beach boat ramp today. If you were down there over the weekend, you no doubt noticed the huge white crane that showed up. The crane was so big and wide that it would not fit on the SSA Eagle or it's freight boats. To get the massive rig here, they had to remove the two tracks and load them on a trailer truck. The body of the crane was also put on a trailer truck. After arrival to Nantucket, the tracks were attached to the body of the crane. Here's a picture of the crane-


Work is going along at GHYC. I heard today that while they were driving steel sheathing deep into the ground, they struck a locomotive from the old Nantucket Railroad which used to run through that area.

No fishing boats were at the docks today. The Ruthie B left last night for a sea scalloping trip. Last trip they only caught 90# of sea scallops. Not enough to pay for the fuel! I hope they have better luck this trip and are able to catch their 400# limit.

Today's High & Low Temps
High 37.4
Low 24.1

That is all for today.

Day Off

No blog entry for today. Check back in tomorrow evening. Thanks.

Go Patriots!!!