Fly-Along With George

I took the above video clip of Muskeget from George Riethof's airplane this afternoon. George invited me to go along with him and two people who were conducting a seal count. We left the airport, flew along the north shore , over Madaket Harbour, then over the south part of Tuckernuck Island and finally over to Muskeget Island. We made a couple of passes around the island as the girls counted the seals. We were able to fly low and get a great view of everything. I was surprised at how far inland on Muskeget the seals actually go. I always thought they hauled up a few feet on the beach. A lot of the seals were several yards into the terrain of the island. We left Muskeget and headed back towards town, along the harbor, over to Coatue, then up to Great Point and down along towards Sankaty. I saw the 'Sconset erosion control project that I mentioned yesterday. The project looks much bigger from the air. I spotted two Bobcat machines busy moving sand around. I could also see the fiber mat material they are putting up against the bank. They are using a huge amount of it. Much more than you can see from land. We then flew along the south shore and finally back to the airport. I had a great time seeing parts of Nantucket from the air that I have never seen before. Thank you very much, George, for having me along!

Here's a shot of some seals hauled up on the beach at Muskeget-

And another-

Here's a shot of East Pond, Tuckernuck Island-

And finally, a shot of the main channel with Brant Point on the right and Coatue Point on the left-


As always, click on any picture I post to the blog and it will enlarge.

Getting back down to earth now. Nobody was able to go bay scalloping today. The temperature never made it to 28 degrees. I'm sure the guys welcomed a day off as most of them have been going hard at it every day. Looks like they will able to get back out on the water tomorrow as it's forecasted to be in the thirties. They will probably get a late start, though.

As for the big boys, A western rigged sea scalloper named the Luzitano came in late last night due to the wind. She's a big boat. 84' As soon as the wind laid down this afternoon, I spotted her headed right back out. The Madi J was in as well. And the Ruthie B. is at the Town Pier still. I'm thinking she'll be able to make a trip starting tonite. The wind isn't going to be a factor for a few days. We'll see.

Today's High & Low Temps
High 31.6
Low 14.7