The off-season may be quiet on the Cape and Islands, but it is a busy time for the area’s gray seals.
By Sara Brown
(Vaccinium corymbosum,Vaccinium angustifolium) Blueberries won’t ripen until June (at least), but spring is the perfect time to scout locations. The plants have small white or pink bell-shaped flowers that make them easy to identify. If you find a good stash, take note, and then keep quiet. Wild blueberries are in high demand.
Pickleball is a kind of scaled-down tennis, except easier. (No overhead serve! No long racquet!)
By Jim Kaplan
Name: Savannah Hooe Occupation: Seaman apprentice, Coast Guard Station Menemsha A day on the Job: Boat checks and inspections, standing watch (manning theradios), training. “You see some pretty cool things literally every time you go out.You learn something new every time. You never know.” Favorite part of the job? “Knowing people can depend on you to help themin need.”
Early in the morning on Katama Bay, a rosy sunrise lights the sky above Chappaquiddick as cormorants and seagulls loiter on docks and anchored boats bob on lapping waves. The Island is still mostly quiet, but at the town landing parking lot, truck after truck pulls in and gear is unloaded, waders pulled on, boats pulled in from their anchorage. Farmers rise early, after all, and despite appearances, the bay is home to one of the Island’s most thriving agricultural industries.
By Sara Brown
Our photographer Elizabeth Cecil turns her lens on a memorable season.
It’s a strange twist of fate that oysters, often described as nature’s aphrodisiacs, are such funny-looking things.
The schooner Charlotte delivers a cargo of supplies and hope.
By Nat Benjamin
Lying at the southern end of Chappaquiddick’s inland waterway, Poucha was historically a freshwater pond, sealed by a dike that included sluiceways and a herring run.
By Kib Bramhall
Seaweed could be the Island’s next big thing in aquaculture, depending on the results of an experiment growing the plant in Vineyard waters.
By Sara Brown
Forget hunting or fishing – starting in October, gathering sweet bay scallops is where it’s at.
If all goes well, local biologists will soon be growing gold in local waters. Scientists with the Martha’s Vineyard Shellfish Group and the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) have been breeding golden mussels, a unique-hued version of the common mussel that they hope will boost the Island’s nascent farmed mussel industry.
By Sara Brown