The harbor has been frozen for two weeks, I’ve been invited ice fishing twice, and trying to find a set of new ice skates is impossible. While this winter started slower than any others, setting early January records for warm temperatures, February is colder than usual.
So yesterday afternoon, as the sun was setting, I took a tour of the waterfront with my cousin. It was 23+, but the wind was howling and who knows what the windchill was.
It’s not often you can walk on salt ice, but as my cousin says, people have been doing it for years in the Arctic. I won’t do it — something too flaky about harbor ice to tempt me out there.
I stay on solid ground, like this jetty sticking out into Nantucket Sound. The tide was extraordinarily low, I believe it is called a “neap tide” and a lot of sand bar and spit was exposed and covered with ice cakes.
This is what happens if you decide to leave your boat in the water. Not good. This is the same cove shown in the header image of the blog — Ropes Beach. In four months I’ll be swimming here.
who owns the boat in the third shot? I took some sunrise pictures a long time ago (’86) and I thought it was moored off the Drakes property. I have been looking for the negatives forever.
If I knew the boat was out all seasons I would perhaps try to get down and take some pictures before the harbor gets crowded.
Cotuit is great any time of year, but I like the quite reflective days during the offseason.
I wonder if the boat owner has extender in his fuel tank? Hey a free outboard is always nice. Must be great to live somewhere where the riff raff doesn’t steal your boat when it’s left unattended. My neighbors 20 -something-foot Stryper was last seen roaring down the hill behind a black pickup (not the owners’) playing some awful mexican tuba band music very loudly as it scudded for the I-15 on ramp.
Booful photos dave. how much coal does your house burn in the winter. white cold stuff is unknown to me here in San Diego.
JimF
Brian,
Not sure who owns it. I’m on a “hey, how you doing” basis with the guy who keeps his tender locked up next to mine. It’s a nice looking boat and I can see why he might leave it in the water/ice. The waterline is looking a little chewed from the ice.
Ten years ago there was a big grey wooden motoryacht anchored out in the middle of the harbor. It sank one winter, but I don’t think it was because of the ice. This stuff isn’t going to stove in a boat like Ernest Shackleton’s.
Drakes property? Off of Oceanview, the big grey mansion with the columns? I don’t remember it out there.
These are indeed great days. Deserted beaches, bright sun, bluebird skies and ice.
We saw a seagull drag a mallard off the beach and into the water this afternoon. Killed it before our eyes. Very weird. I thought gulls were pure scavengers, this one was a cold killer.
ok, I still can’t find the negative, but I found a copy of the photo I am referring to and have uploaded it here
( http://mysite.verizon.net/hbmkmurphy/images/cotuitsunrise-150.jpg )
A quick look seems to show it is not the same boat, but a nice subject nonetheless. Yes, I am referring to the property on Ocean View Ave with the large gray pillars. The boat was only there for that particular summer if memory serves me right.
Enjoy the Cotuit peace and quiet for the rest of us.
That looks like a replica of The Spray, the boat Joshua Slocum sailed alone around the world.
My great grandmother would talk about the winters when North Bay would freeze over and the men would have sleigh races on the ice. I remember when ice boats would be constructed and they would scream across the lakes like Wequaket and Mystic. Today they would have to have helmets and protective gear, but back then you didn’t even have brakes.
No, we don’t have to worry about global warming. Nope.