Idle Scallop Boats

Above is a picture I took today of the line of scallop boats at Straight Wharf. They have been sitting there idle and locked in the ice for a long time. The temperature made it well past 28 degrees today but none of the guys ventured out scalloping today. The harbor has a lot of ice in it now. Scalloping in the ice can be extremely dangerous. I have had a few very close calls fishing in the ice years ago. If you are fishing in the ice, you need to pay close attention to which way the tide is going and the direction of the wind. Sometimes when you find an open area of water to fish in, there are usually several large ice floes around you. When the tide shifts, these huge ice floes move around. If you're not paying attention, the ice floe will crawl up your dredge ropes and pull your boat down and sink it. I know a few of the guys who carry a sharp hatchet on their boat. If they are ever caught in an ice floe and are being dragged under, they will quickly chop all their dredge ropes off of their boat and motor away to safety. Dredge ropes float so you can go back later and recover the dredges. I learned my lesson fishing in the ice a long time ago and won't go out now until the harbor is completely clear of ice.

A tug came over today and started towing one of AGM Marine's barges that was laying at Straight Wharf back to the mainland. At 4:30 this afternoon, the tug and barge was located about a mile north of the fairway buoy. They were going very slow, barely making headway against the rough seas and strong wind.

The sunsets at the waterfront have been spectacular the past few days. Here's the sunset from today I took from Monomoy-


Looks like we are in for a little storm on Wednesday. The temperature is forecasted to be in the mid to high forties. That will help melt most of the ice in the harbor.

Today's High & Low Temps.
High 37.8
Low 23.9