Marina: Nantucket's Only Woman Commercial Bay Scalloper

There are a few women who crew on bay scallop boats but Marina Finch is the only one who owns and operates her own scallop boat. Marina went with Neil Cocker as a culler on his boat for several years before she bought a little Grady White boat that Gibby Nickerson owned. She is now enjoying her second year as a commercial scalloper. This winter, Marina bought Karsten Reinemo's 23' Sea Ox boat which she will rig up and use next season.

Here are a couple pictures of Marina and her scallop boat-

Aerial Shots

While I was scalloping on the Madaket flats yesterday, my buddy, George Riethof flew over at 500' in a Cessna 402 and grabbed a few shots of me.

In the second picture, you can see the cloud of silt the starboard dredge was stirring up as it was being towed along the bottom. Interesting perspective.

Bucky

I watched Toscana Corporation's tug, Bucky, leave late this afternoon. She had a full barge of construction containers in tow.

Side to after leaving the dock-


Untying from the barge and coming around to tow-


Fetching up with the barge cable-


Bucky rounding Brant Point-


Bucky steaming down the main channel-


Bucky towing her barge bound for America-

Stern Trawlers

Three stern trawlers came in overnight last night and tied up to the east face of Straight Wharf. They were all western rigs homeported in New Beige. As soon as the wind laid down this afternoon, they all took off. No hanging around for those guys!

Bow-


Rigging-


Paravane Birds-



Life Ring-




Docking Permits-


Nets-



Deck with spare net-

A Request From David Glidden

I was waiting for the temperature to make it to 28 degrees this morning so I could go out scalloping. The temp never made it to 28. while I was waiting down at the dock, David Glidden of Glidden's Seafood approached me with a letter. I asked his permission to post the letter here on my blog. He allowed me to post it.

Below is the letter. Click on the letter to enlarge.

What do you think? If we lose a day due to the cold, should we be allowed to fish on Saturday to make up that lost day? I think this is a good idea. Years ago we were allowed to fish on Saturdays. There are still a lot of scallops in the harbor waiting to be harvested. There is only one month left of the commercial bay scallop season left. If we don't catch the scallops now, they will die. Please leave a comment in the comment section of the blog or take the poll to the right in the sidebar. Thanks.

'Nother Nice Morning

Another beautiful morning out scalloping today. Flat calm and warm. I
had the pleasure of witnessing a spectacular sunrise while I was headed
to the scallop grounds-






Here's a video clip I shot this morning steaming out to the scallop grounds in my boat-

Nice Morning

Nice morning out on the water today.

This morning's sunrise-


The waning moon over town-


The Miss China-


Chuck-


Ken-


Karsten & Tim-

Scalloping In The Snow

Nice day today on the water scalloping in the snow. I grabbed a few shots.

Heading out-


Coming up on Brant Point Lighthouse-


Rounding the light-


Look Out!! Hy-Line fast ferry dead ahead!!


Bernie-


Bernie and Mac-


Cold dredges-


Smitty-


Captain Blount-


There's still tons of scallops out there this late in the season. I got my five bushel limit in record time today. The guys fishing up harbor and down harbor did very well also getting their limits. The price paid to the scallopers is $13 per pound. We are averaging 45 pounds for a five bushel limit.

Bird Watching At Jetties Beach

A great place to go bird watching is at Jetties Beach There are always several different species of birds to see there. I try to go there every afternoon to have a look. Here are a few shots I grabbed while I was there over the weekend.

A flock of adult and immature gulls-


A Herring Gull-


A Brant-


And a Mallard-

Esther's Island/Strange Fish

Looks as though Esther's Island will be connected to Nantucket very soon, possibly before spring.
I was out at Smith's Point a few week ago and shot these pictures of the cut-



The renovation and additions to the house on Esther's is coming along well. Here's what it looks like from my scallop boat-


As I was scalloping at Esther's, I caught a strange looking sea creature in one of my dredges. It looked like an eel but it was smaller (about 10 inches) and a lot fatter than any eel I have ever caught. It was orangish tan colored and had black spots as well. Does anyone know what this creature from the deep is?