Nantucket 2010, Thursday, July 22nd

Nantucket - Thursday, July 22, 2010
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Here is is already Thursday, the day for The Enquirer Mirror, Nantucket's weekly newspaper. Last week's headline was "Dangers of south shore swimming increase." They have had 33 rescues in the last two weeks, more than the total for last year. The sand bars off the shore of the swimming beaches have moved, causing "massive rips." I know they can be bad at Miacomet Beach - a few years back I got caught in one. As long as you remember to swim parallel to the beach until you are out of the rip it is OK, but lots of swimmers try to fight the current & swim directly in to shore. Doesn't work! All you do is get so tired you need saving.

I did see something interesting in the paper. They list the amount of revenues collected for the Land Bank (derived from a 2% transfer fee on real estate transactions) and the total for the year is $4,073,628.67. Sounds like a lot until you compare it to 2007. I was here a bit later, but the amount collected by August 8th was $8,069,110.21. I guess the housing sales decline even hits Nantucket, although you wouldn't believe it looking at the prices in the real estate section of the paper!

Anyhow, today's headline is "Chamber of Commerce director stepping down" so I guess the surf has calmed a bit. I did get to Miacomet beach for an hour or so & noticed no one in the water. The waves were pretty active & the water pretty cold. I stuck my toe in, but didn't swim.

I decided to reinstall OS X 10.5 on the old MacBookPro since every test I could do didn't point to a hardware or memory problem. So far, cross my fingers, it is running. For some reason, the internal WiFi is also working. We'll see for how long. While waiting I decided to go to the dump to look for books at the "Take it or Leave it" and take some photos:


The Can Collection is Full	Take it or Leave it Looks the Same	Eating Away at the "Old Dump"

After that I drove out to Madaket to take some pictures. On the way to Madaket I stopped at the Hither Creek boat launch. I have tried to get a photo of the posts & grass that looks as good as the actual scene, but, so far I've had no success. Here is the latest attempt:


The Launch	Looking For Crabs

The panorama is the view from the boat launch & dock at Jackson Point in Madaket. I got a great sunset & moon rise photo at the point a couple of years ago. If interested, a larger version of the panorama is available here.

I also decided to get some photos of a couple of beaches. A big advantage of an island is you usually have a choice of the type of surf you want to swim in. On Nantucket, if you want serious surf you head for the South shore. On the other hand, the North shore is usually pretty calm. I took the South shore photos at Madaket Beach. Note the lifeguard busy checking her cell. I know they have been busy over the last couple of weeks and have made a number of rescues, but I would be a bit more confident if they were watching the water!


Parking For Madaket	The Windy Beach	And it Was Rough All Along the Shore	On the Beach

Catching a Wave	He Survived	While the Lifeguard is on Her Cell

On the way to Dionis Beach on the North shore I took a photo of the house my mother told me was the reason the Kennedy's pushed for the very strict building codes on Nantucket:


The "Problem" House	My Choice for Strict Codes!

After the "House Tour" I drove to Dionis beach & shot a panorama of a much quieter ocean. A larger version is available here:

The calmer water has more shellfish on the bottom than the South shore - note the collected welk shells decorating the fence. The fence is used to control both drifting sand and to keep people in the same path between the parking lot & the beach to prevent erosion:


Welk Shells on the Fence	The Path to the Parking Lot

Then it was back to Dave's. The computer is still running, so maybe it is cured!

July 23rd

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Other Trips:

Nantucket Trip August, 2005
Nantucket Trip August, 2007
Nantucket Trip August, 2008