Riptide Oysters

Riptide Oysters in Westport, Massachusetts

Now this is one place I instantly felt at home. Anywhere near the ocean just feels right to me.

A young couple (on the upper right), Kerian and Kristin, own Riptide Oysters. They started the business without any competition in the immediate area. It's a tough business, working year round through all sorts of New England weather, but I imagine the independence is worth the trade off. On the bottom left is their little girl. Isn't she the cutest thing ever?!!! I could have photographed her all day long!

Kerian was an excellent speaker, giving us all the details of oyster farming and demonstrating where they live and grow

Above: Riptide's boat
Below: a view of some young oysters

I believe they said it takes 2 years for the oysters to fully mature before they can be harvested and sold. Hopefully I'm right on that. It was one of those moments where I really should have taken notes and didn't.

The whole day was overcast but once we arrived by the water the fog was rolling in.

The Paquachuck Inn

The Harbormaster building

As I said, I really loved this place. It almost pained me to leave because I wanted to walk around and take more pictures, but we had one last place to visit before the long drive home ... a local farm. That will be the last part of the tour. Phew! We packed in a lot of stuff in one day!

A perfect Saturday morning in New England

A perfect weekend morning is dropping my daughter off at work early and heading for the coast in hopes of capturing something beautiful. They don't get much better than this morning ... slightly cool but getting warmer by the minute, low humidity, clear blue skies ....

I knew right where I was headed, Rye Harbor. There's always plenty of activity going on since several cruise boats head out along with a few fishing boats and pleasure boats.

(don't mind the blur) Guess I had already missed the AM low and high tides. And just in case you were wondering as you were headed out on a whale watch or sight seeing tour ... there's only 111 days left until Christmas. LOL!


See the man with the hat? He's the Dockmaster. The one with all the info. I'll bet he enjoys his job talking to all the people from near and far on a daily basis. Is he giving me the eye?

I spoke with the guy in the dingy when he came back in. Turns out this isn't the first time he's been photographed. Once he and his little boat (and one oar since he lost the other one!) ended up on the front page of a local paper!


I love shooting into the sun. It gives photos a black/white/grey/blue look that is really cool. See the 2 islands way off in the distance? Those are the Isles of Shoals located 6 miles off the coast of New Hampshire. When you can see them this well you know it's a clear day!


Bumble enjoying the final wild beach roses of the season. They smell so damn good I don't blame him. I'd roll in them too if I could.

Just over the rise on the left is the ocean

Plenty of Herons and other birds enjoying the glorious morning

I told you it was a perfect morning. If only I could show you ALL the photo's I took! Well, I suppose I could, but that would take a while ; )

*As you may or may not have noticed I've been on a blogging hiatis lately. Life just gets busy and it wears me down. Whether or not I'm back on a regular basis only time will tell.

Gloucester Views

I find it so interesting how in the above photo you can't see any of the town at all. Just a short change of location in the below photo and it all pops up!

Such a beautiful place. I hope you don't mind but I still have many more photo's to share in the future of my warm, July day in Gloucester.

Evening in Newburyport, MA ~ Downtown

With literally only 2 hours to ourselves in between dropping off and picking up kids, my husband and I decided to drive down to Newburyport, MA for a little sight seeing.

The sky pictures you see were taken out the car window as we were driving down the highway. When a sky looks that good you know you're in for a nice evening.





Instead of walking directly through town we went along the waterfront boardwalk to watch the boats and sky

A memorial holding plaques on each side listing the names of local fisherman who lost their lives at sea



Looking out onto the Merrimack River





I had seen this building before and thought it was a business, but no, it's a private home



A beautiful one at that. This is also waterfront property.



We popped up into town through one of the alleys coming up from the waterfront boardwalk. What we didn't know before we arrived in Newburyport was that the Yankee Homecoming was in progress and the streets were loaded with people! You can't see it in the photo above but just to the right of me was a food court, artists exhibits and plenty of entertainment, along a couple thousand more people.

City of Newburyport, MA website



North Row Daisies: I took several shots of the Daisies and still didn't get what I wanted, but since I was standing in the middle of the intersection I took what I could get.



Maritime Museum
(link)

Newburyport has some of the most incredible historic homes dating back to the 1700's. In recent years the downtown area has been completely revitalized making it very inviting and visitor friendly. Cobblestone sidewalks line every street along with lovely New England style lighting and cute shops. There are plenty of restaurants to choose from as well.

To view some excellent Then/Now photos of Newburyport (including the Maritime Museum aka Custom House) before and after the revitilization project click HERE

When Nature Calls

There's nothing like a leisurely afternoon of fly fishing in a beautiful New England setting



That is until Nature calls . . .



'Hello? Can you hold a minute? I think I have a fish on the other line'









'Never mind. When I picked up no one was there. So you were saying . . .'

Now what do you think the other guy was thinking of all this?

Portsmouth Commercial Fishing Pier

There's no way to hide it, Portsmouth Commercial Fishing Pier is small. Very small in comparison to Gloucester, and there isn't much going on these days. Nestled in between Prescott park and Pierce Island it adds to the charm of the area and is photographed frequently by locals and tourists alike.

At one time the pier was operated by a co-op who would house and ship the locally caught fish to either Gloucester or Boston. The co-op closed down in November 2007 so the fisherman must now either unload in Gloucester or store and transport the fish themselves to the market, or hire someone to do it for them, either way costing them lost wages and prep time.

Ice purchases must be scheduled in advance and gas must be paid for with a credit card. Although the co-op has been looking for someone to run the business over for almost 2 years there have been no takers. Many see it as a nonprofitable business venture.

Due to current groundfishing regulations, overfishing, and high permit fees, fisherman are finding it more and more difficult to make a living.

At the time these photos were taken in April there were only 5 fishing boats currently unloading in Portsmouth. Most had moved on to other ports such as Rye or Seabrook, NH, or Gloucester, Mass., or gone out of business altogether. What will happen to the fishing pier in the future is anyone's guess. Considering the pier used to have 60 boats offloading and is now down to 5 may be a sad indication of what's to come.

In the mean time many will enjoy the view.

Article on Portsmouth Commercial Fishing Pier: Too little, too late

Ice Fishing

I won't lie, this isn't one of my favorite posts. I know very little about ice fishing except that they use Sea Worms to catch Sea Smelts which are only about 7"-9" long. Apparently the Smelts (I want to say Schmelts) are running the river right now, heading upstream to spawn. Why anyone wants to go sit in one of these little huts, for hours on end though, is beyond me.

Look at this girl. Isn't she sweet? She and her friend came down to visit the boys. Awww ... that's love.

(looking left)

As you can see some of the photo's were taken on different days. I went to this spot at least 4 times trying to see some freshly caught Sea Smelts. Each time I went, no Smelts.

"If you come back tomorrow morning around 7:30 am when the tide is high the guys should have some Smelts" so I was told by an elderly man the last time I showed up. Eh, I don't think so.

(looking right)

I was also told to be careful where I walked because the ice was a little thin in places and I could go through. Oh great! Why did no one tell me this before I went out walking around on the ice the last time I was here?

The creme da la creme of New England Bob Houses. ha haa!

You can see what the flow of the river does to the walkway after a week or so compared to the top photo. The next time I went down someone had straightened it back out.

This guy even has a little woodstove in his hut! lol! I got there just as the Amtrack Downeaster train was going through headed south towards Boston. My friend Nancy always takes this train when she visits me : )

I thought this gentleman really personified a true New Englander. "Excuse me sir, what's in your bucket?" No smelts? Dang!




Here is a view from the distance. I think there were around 70 Bob Houses altogether when I counted them. I will say one thing, they are all quite unique! And you'll never catch me inside one!