Author: Pat D

You may have noticed some new kiosks around town. They are solar powered digital information access points the City has put up in 4 downtown area locations. They are Soofa smart digital displays which were funded through a grant from the Massachusetts Office of Business Development and the North Shore Alliance for Economic Development and no City funds are needed. You can check them out at 2 Commercial St (the one shown here); 65 Rogers Street, 22 Harbor Loop and 91 Rogers St. PS They are not touch screens…I know because I touched…..

We celebrated Margarita Monday with the Bluefin Blowout at Mile Marker last week. Though the drink menu was especially designed for the Blowout, it was a good reminder of what a nice location it is at Mile Marker on Essex Ave for a relaxing drink and/or meal. And the view is pretty terrific too. Cheers Mile Marker!

Pat D’s Photos has had a quiet summer up to now, but that’s going to take a sharp turn this week as we have 3 opportunities for you to come out and see what’s new with us! There are TWO Cape Ann Makers Markets this week featuring many of your favorite vendors: Tues Aug 1 Moonrise Market 5-9 PM outside on the lawn at the Emerson Inn in Rockport; Thurs Aug 3 at Ocean Alliance 4-8 PM (Culture Splash Thursday so there’s a lot going on that evening!) and Saturday Aug 5 at Festival By The Sea in Manchester 10 AM – 4 PM (a new one for us). Stop by, see what’s new and ask me about my trip to Alaska!

While I was in Alaska, we went to “Eagle Beach”, so named by our tour guide. This was actually at a place near Homer called Anchor Point. There’s a large beach area and the parking lot was filled with vehicles, but I didn’t notice very many people around on the beach. Turns out it’s a popular area for fishing boats to launch from. Anchor Point Boat Launch provides a tow to the water line until the boats are deep enough to launch. I had never seen an operation like this in effect and thought it might interest some of you fishing enthusiasts. Presumably you get towed back up but I didn’t witness that end of the operation. The beach is littered with fish skeletons, which normally attract the eagles (though not while we were there).

Another wonderful Bluefin Blowout is in the books! Many of you followed along on the livestreams (thank you for your patience with the technical glitches we always seem to have when livestreaming on the road) and with the blog posts. Our own GMG contributor Nichole Schrafft has done an amazing job documenting the event but I thought I might be able to offer a couple of different views than perhaps you have seen.

While we won’t know the final totals raised until the dust settles, it’s not too late to make a donation to the Alzheimer’s Association through this link provided by the Bluefin Blowout. Every little bit helps. And it starts with you.

Thank you Lyon Waugh Auto Group, Warren Waugh, Cidalia Schwartz and the representatives from the Alzheimer’s Association for making this event amazing once again. So many helping hands including a big thank you to Mile Marker!

If you haven’t stopped down to Bluefin Blowout 2023, why not? It’s free entertainment, super interesting, plenty of parking PLUS you can say hello to the Good Morning Gloucester castaways! We are at Cape Ann Marina on Essex Ave and would love to have you join us. The end of Alzheimer’s starts with you!

UNOFFICIAL weigh-ins as of end of Day 1 (in order of arrival):

Bella Vita: 270 lbs

Reel Deal : 689 lbs.

Widowmaker: 507 lbs

T-Sea: 197 lbs

Lily: 574 lbs

IRIE: 594 lbs

Four C’s: 392 lbs.

Battle Wagon: 458 lbs

Emme: 216 lbs.

Mary B: 251 lbs.

Break Away: 502 lbs.

F/V Hollywood: 428 lbs

Landescaping: 293 lbs

Tuna Poundah: 614 lbs

This information is from my own notes and is NOT OFFICIAL. Also not official is the total poundage from 14 tunas: 5985!

There’s a lovely little collection of sheds and shacks full of character and history gathered on Lanes Cove. Each seems to want to tell its own story. They also seem to belong together there!

You may have seen the views from the bar area at the Salted Cod Arthouse on Rocky Neck Ave, but have you been upstairs for the view? It’s worth checking out. The food, drinks and artwork are enough but do yourself a favor and check out the upstairs too.

Perhaps you get more visitors in the summer than any other time of the year…..similar to our experience in the backyard of our Magnolia home. These were from one recent early evening. It’s why I keep my camera charged at all times.

While I was in Seward with the Slonina Photography Alaska Tour, we went on two full day boat tours of the Kenai Pennisula and were fortunate to come upon humpback whales each day. These groups of maybe 8 whales were displaying many familiar behaviors such as lunge feeding, pec slapping, tail lobbing, and breaching. The first day, we accidentally found ourselves VERY close to the lunge feeding. You get an idea how close from the video as well as the photos.

As spectacular as it was, I found I was missing the kind of teaching information provided by our local tours such as Cape Ann Whale Watch. Since I’ve been out several times with the Cape Ann Whale Watch crew, I have learned a great deal about whale behaviors. I am grateful for that because I was able to share that information with my fellow photographers who were less experienced with whale encounters. No fault of the Seward boat operators–our boat tours there were not designed to be research oriented though there was a helpful naturalist on board. I guess I didn’t know how fortunate we are to be able to take advantage of the educational opportunities from our very own Gloucester captains and crews. But I got some pretty wonderful whale photos and I hope you enjoy! Cape Ann Whale Watch is located on Main St in Gloucester.

I will be returning soon to Gloucester, but I have to admit lunching at a glacier is an experience Gloucester cannot provide and I will miss it. We took a boat tour from Seward to Aialik Glacier on the Kenai Fjords National Park. There are only 6 of us on this photography tour so it has been pure pleasure to enjoy the wonders of Alaska with this small group (thanks to Slonina Photography). We got to witness some calving, which is when chunks of ice break away from the glacier and fall into the water. From our distance, some of those ice chunks appeared to be smallish but the thunderous noise from the echo was chilling! Glacier ice kept our drinks chilled. If you ever have the chance, this is highly recommended.

I’ve been wanting to get to one of Castle Manor Inn’s (on Essex Ave) pop up dinners and early July presented itself as my opportunity. It was a WONDERFUL experience both in atmosphere and in menu quality. The staff are friendly and helpful; it was nice to see them pitching in and helping each other at different tables. They stopped by to check on our needs and just to chat a bit, which we enjoyed.

I had the Haddock Oscar and Jim ordered the pasta and meatballs. We were both very happy with our choices and, for each of us, there were additional options we would have happily gone with too. Additionally, Jim got a garden salad which could have been a meal unto itself. The bread basket contained a warmed variety of yummy breads. We were seated outside under the large tent and were very comfortable, though there are heaters awaiting the need to be fired up. Thank you Chef Dan and staff for a lovely evening! We will be back.

Some of our hardworking fishing vessels returning to the harbor on a recent afternoon. They include Amanda & Andy III, Jen & Christi, Dunlin, Meredith Jean, Nicole Jean and My Grace. Thanks to Susan and Leo for the prime viewing spot!

My visit to Alaska has been an amazing experience so far. We have spent about half our time in Homer Alaska on the Spit; a long narrow spit of land jutting out into Kachemak Bay. It’s a fishing town which advertises itself as the Halibut Capital Of The World. There are as many similarities as there are differences between Homer and Gloucester. Here are a few images and a filleting video you might enjoy.

We arrived early to the Blue Collar Lobster on Rogers St. to prepare for the Ladies Putting Championships and caught a few rare quiet moments on that dock. It was a cool, foggy morning that would soon turn sunny and humid. We had a great event thanks to the management and staff there: kudos! AND we had yummy drinks and lunch afterward. Win Win.

We decided to celebrate Margarita Monday by stopping at The Farm Bar and Grill on Western Ave in Essex. They offered the perfect choice: Farmarita! Many establishments are closed on Mondays so it can get tricky to find a new place for our Margarita Mondays, but this was an excellent decision. I had a burger and Jim ordered the steak and cheese egg rolls. It was a relaxing respite with friendly staff and customers. We’ll be back sooner than later!

The concert scheduled for tonight July 16 2023 at Stage Fort Park is postponed to Wednesday July 19 2023 as reported by the band 4EverFab on Facebook:

The sun setting over the marina being chased by the fog created some interesting light.

Although I cannot seem to stop taking the photos of egrets, I am often disappointed in the results. But we came upon this beauty near Goose Cove under “partly cloudy” skies so I think these do better justice to this gorgeous bird.

Once again, we decided to have a weekday dinner at the Azorean on Washington St. where we ALWAYS feel welcomed and enjoy a wonderful meal. Andrea was our server with a friendly smile and kind words. Jim had one of the specials, Fish Cataplana and I had one of my favorites Lemon Chicken. Look at that garlic! And I especially enjoy that you can taste the lemon in that entree. I have recently begun to appreciate the spicy margaritas and this one was called Hot Blooded. Chocolate Mousse and Carrot Cake for dessert adds up to another great meal in a comfortable atmosphere! Win-Win.