Cliffside Sunset

Nothing new to report on the waterfront today so I thought I would post a photo of a sunset I captured today. I took the photo from Jetties Beach looking towards Cliffside Beach. I particularly like this picture because of the one big cloud outlined in the setting sun.

Click on the picture to enlarge.

Brant Pt. After Sunset

It's been very very quiet around the waterfront as of late. Almost too quiet. We need a good storm and some boats in here to shake things up. In the meantime, the fuel tanker, Great Gull, arrived here late this afternoon and tied up at the fuel dock in the Boat Basin. Last night a tug and barge landed at Steamboat Wharf with a pre-fabricated house. I received a call from someone on the Cliff this morning telling me that the tug and barge were having a VERY hard time going back home across the sound. He told me that he was very surprised that the captain of the tug attempted to cross the sound under the conditions we had this morning. I guess he made it back to wherever he came from. I would not want to be on a little tug in the middle of Nantucket Sound on a day like today!

Good news to report on the Children's Beach boat ramp. The cofferdam was completed yesterday. I spoke to someone from the Marine Department today and he told me that they are ready to pump out the water in the dam. After that they are going to pour the concrete slabs for the ramp up on the beach in sections and then transfer them from the beach to the dam. Should be interesting to see that operation.

AGM Marine is finished installing the sheathing in front of the White Elephant. They moved their cranes and barges over to the east face of Straight Wharf today.

No Bay scalloping today. The temp did not make it to 28 degrees. Even if it had risen to the legal temperature, the guys would not have much open water to fish in. The harbor is slowly becoming iced over. If we ever lose this wind, it will freeze over completely overnight.

The Hy-Line has cancelled all of the Grey Lady's trips through next Monday. Apparently the ice in Hyannis Harbor is too much for her. Her engine water intakes get clogged with ice causing an overheating issue.
[EDIT] I just spoke with an old salt and he told me that the Hy-Line is still running . They are only canceling the night trips. Sorry if this caused anyone any confusion.

Today's High & Low Temps.
High 29.3
Low 19.9

Midwinter At The Waterfront

The harbor is in the process of freezing over. The past few nights the temperature has been in the low teens. During the day, it hardly makes it to 25 degrees or so. The south side of the harbor is frozen almost half way to Coatue. The ice field on the north shore around the Cliffside Beach area has extended further north the last day or so. I think that in another day or two, the harbor will freeze over completely.

There was a scalloper in the Boat Basin where he docks his boat this afternoon breaking ice so he will be able to get out and resume fishing whenever the temp makes it to the legal temperature of 28 degrees. Here's a picture of him using his boat to clear a channel-

And here's another picture of the ice on the harbor-


If you have an interest in bird watching as I do, a good place to go is the Jetties Beach area. I go down there every morning to see what birds are there. I always see at least 10 different species of birds when I'm there. When I was there today, I spotted the usual gulls-

And there is always a flock of Brant-

Here's a group of Plovers hunkered down-

Is this a Ruddy Turnstone? I'm still learning to ID birds.


That is just a small sample of birds I saw at the Jetties today.

Today's High & Low Temps.
High 23.7
Low 17.4

Waterfront Slideshow

VERY quiet around the waterfront today. Here's a slideshow I assembled of pictures I took around the waterfront on this very cold day. Enjoy.

Deer At The Waterfront

While I was making my rounds of the waterfront this afternoon, I spotted the above deer in the area of Hulbert Ave. at the Craig property. They were not bothered as I took their picture only a few yards away from them. You can see that one of the deer was very thin and sickly looking while the other one looked fat and healthy. Here's another shot of the deer on Hulbert Ave.-


I see deer all the time when I'm down around the Brant Point/Hulbert Ave./Jetties/Cliffside area especially early in the morning. I have even seen a deer in the back yard of the Middle Brick on Main Street!!

This week is going to be very cold. I suspect the harbor will partially freeze later in the week. Here's a shot of the Cliffside Beach area I took this morning-

You can see that slushy ice was already forming there close to shore. The ice field will no doubt extend much further north tonight with the temperatures forecasted to be in the low teens.

Only one fishing boat came in this weekend. It was the steel, western rigged, sea scalloper, Vila Nova do Corvo 1. Apparently she had broken down over the weekend and had to be towed out of here by the eastern rigged, sea scalloper, Vila Nova do Corvo. Not sure what the problem was that required her to be towed.

No bay scallopers went out today. They probably won't be able to go out again until next week.

AGM Marine, Robert B. Our and Lawrence Lynch were all busy working on their projects at the waterfront today. The cofferdam at Children's beach is not complete.

Today's High & Low Temps.
High 23.4
Low 12.4