Bird Watching At The Boat Basin

One of my favorite pastimes is bird watching. There is always something to see in the Boat Basin especially this time of the year when there is no boat activity there. I was there this afternoon and saw several different kinds of ducks.

A very empty Boat Basin-


Mallards feeding. Bottoms up!-


A raft of male and female Buffleheads-


An Oldsquaw -


A Common Goldeneye-


A female Eider-

Bay Scallop Boat Sinks

There was a bit of drama out at the west end this afternoon. Two commercial bay scallopers are very lucky to be alive. I was working on land and noticed two guys in some serious trouble. Their boat had sunk and they were quite a ways from land. Luckily they were able to stay with the boat until a fellow scalloper noticed what was going on and rushed over to rescue them. I saw what was going on and contacted the Marine Department. They were on scene a few moments later to assess the situation. Eventually they were able to drag the boat close to shore and de-water her. She was then towed to the ramp at Madaket by the Marine Department's boat.

Here are a few shots I grabbed.

Moments after the sinking-


A closer look-


The Marine Department on scene along with the scalloper who rescued the two men-

Bay Scallopers

The commercial bay scallop season is still going very very well. The guys are still getting their limits in record time. Next year looks good as there is a lot of seed scallops showing up. I have gone back to work but will still get out on the water a few more times before the season closes at the end of March.

Here are a few scenes I took today.

Ken Wiggin heading in after a day out on the water-





Captain Harvey Lynch with his limit of scallops-


A Black Back Gull and an Eider preening their feathers on the rocks off North Wharf-


An immature Herring Gull-


The shell pile down at the Jetties and the sea gull feeding frenzy-

Western Rigs

Two western rigs were in here riding out the blow. One scalloper and one dragger. The scalloper was the Sassy Girl out of New Bern, North Carolina. The dragger was the Fisherman from New Beige.




The dredge on the Sassy Girl. Note the roller rig on the rail-


The Sassy Girl has an air conditioned cutting house! I have never seen that before-


I have also never seen a memorial on the hull of a fishing boat. this one was on the bow of the Sassy Girl-

A Trip To Great Point

I drove out to Great Point this afternoon. It was a nice day to go up there. Sunny, calm and warm.

Great Point as seen from Coskata-


Up close-


The solar panels used to charge the batteries which power the light. There is no electric service at Great Point-


The red sector-


The door leading into the lighthouse covered in graffiti-


The rip-


There were plenty of seals up at the point-


This one I discovered had expired-


Back to Town. Work is progressing on the rebuilding of the storm damaged Sanford walkway-


Today's sunset-


Blog reader, Dan, asked what was the red sector for on Great Point Light. The red sector is from 085 degrees to 106 degrees on the compass. It covers Cross Rip and Tuckernuck Shoals. 

Whenever I'm on the steamship going across the sound at night, I always make it a point to go up outside on deck and watch for the red sector of Great Point Light.

Seals And Other Stuff

I went for a seal cruise in my boat the other day. I went out the main channel along the rocks at the jetties. I was surprised to see only two seals! Usually when I go out there, I see hundreds of seals lounging all over the rocks and swimming around in the water. I wonder where they all are? Are they breeding?

Click on any picture for a closer look.

Here's a huge Horsehead 

Seal steaming past my boat-


This was the only seal I spotted on the rocks-


Upon closer inspection, I learned the poor little bugger had only one eye-


Several Cormorants roosting on the green light oblivious to the blaring fog horn-


A lot of birds were feeding in amongst the rocks including this Ruddy Turnstone-


Nice day today. It felt like Spring as the temperature made it to above 50 degrees. I'm getting tired of this balmy winter. I wish it would snow a few times. At any rate, these scallopers were enjoying the nice warm day today.

Jan and Lee-


Marina-


The Althea K rounding Brant Point in the fading afternoon daylight-


The end of a beautiful winter day-

What's The Consensus?

I changed the look of the blog today. I wonder what you all think of the change. Take the poll on the right or leave a comment in the comment section. Thanks.

[EDIT 1/6/2007] Is the white background any better or should I just go back to the old look?

Icy Waterfront

It has been a very mild and snowless winter so far. That has changed the past few days, though. Still no snow but it has been very cold the past two days. Yesterday, it never made it out of the teens. With the cold, comes ice. Both Madaket and Town harbors have started to make ice. Here are a few scenes I took today.

A scallop boat coated in ice-


Hither Crick frozen over-


These ducks didn't seem to mind the cold-


Neither did the ever-present Boat Basin Loon-


Only two or three guys are scalloping out at the west end-


The guys fishing in town are still getting their limits in record time-



There are still scallops to be had pushraking-

Landing Craft

There's an interesting boat working out of Hither Creek, Madaket. She's an aluminum landing craft powered by a 225 hp Yamaha outboard motor. She's being used to ferry building supplies and workers out to Esther's Island where there is work being done on a house out there. Here are a few pictures I took of her today-





Nobody likes to break down out there scalloping but it does happen. There is always a fellow scalloper close by ready and willing to tow you in-


Nice day today. It felt more like Spring as the temperature almost made it to fifty degrees! Here's the Shearwater heading out on a seal cruise today-


And Bernie steaming home from the scallop grounds-


The Ruthie B. held fast to the dock. She hasn't made a trip in a long long time-


If you are into bird watching, a good place to check out this time of the year is the Boat Basin. There is always a good variety of sea ducks to look at. When I was there late this afternoon, there was an Eider-


and a Merganser among several other species of birds-