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-

Still Harbor

Calm today out on the water. Not even a ripple. I took the above video clip while scalloping this morning and a few pictures-

Christmas Day

Nice morning out scalloping this morning. Only a few guys went scalloping today. I had the whole harbor to myself, just the way I like it.

Christmas sunrise-


My ride-along looking for a free meal-


The Miss China under a waning moon-

12/24/2007

Low Tide

Very low tides lately. This guy was getting his limit of scallops in no time-



Low tide at Monomoy. Notice the eelgrass beds exposed-


The wreck, Sargent, is still there off the beach at Monomoy and is still a severe threat to navigation-


A very peaceful waterfront-


Only a handful of vessels round this lighthouse during this time of the year-