My View of Life on the Dock
September storm photos 9/26/26. “It’s a LOT harder this way!” passing walkers oft repeated, heading from Glouc. to Rockport end of Long Beach. At 7:30 AM ribbons of wind whipped dry sand failed to pick up. Rain began 8:30. Next high tide about 11:30. Forecast estimates 5-8pm as greater impact.
Rick and I took a walk on Long Beach Sunday morning. Even though it was a little dreary, the light was beautiful.
Spring time in Gloucester! Whales are visible from the shore in April and May. This year, multiple reports of sightings occurred on April 19th (morning and night) and May 2nd, 2026 (before 9AM). The whales can be difficult to spot and ID. Some species journey past, fast. Others may criss cross back and forth between Good Harbor Beach and Twin Lights, in a generalized area for hours or even all day. So, if you missed a sighting, keep your eyes open. Meanwhile, Common Eiders are busy spring mating and it’s a great year for forsythia.
Right whales were close in 2018.
Saw this surfer on the back shore the other day. Not sure I would ever, even in my younger days, to try to surf with all the rocks around.
zoom images: digiscoping hack (cell phone camera through binoculars)
Took a nice walk on beautiful Good Harbor Beach before the snow.
August 14, 2024. 6pm.
Images: Exciting sightings! Shoreside views looking in the direction of Milk Island and Twin Lights from Long Beach neighborhood. Feeding and fast maneuvers between Twin Lights and Good Harbor Beach with the extended feeding seen in the images closest in line to Milk.
tonight’s weather Images August 4, 2024.
photos: 2:45-8:45pm
photo caption: 3/10/2024 at about high tide, views from Gloucester and Rockport, Long Beach, Twin Lights. Before the sun came out, the wind was strong enough this morning to move a portapotty off site 100′ down a street. Later, when the sun broke, waves in the surf matched up with a cloud filled blue sky.
porta potty almost put back to construction site. gray sky on left. blue sky hours later
-loading a few-
From the seawall, ricochet wave rolls
From Cape Ann Motor Inn
Photos above: C. Ryan 3/10/2024
March 9, 2024: The gray days are pretty, too. Snow buntings still about.
snow bunting dips- flying down from cottages over rip rap on the beach and back up again
Photo blocks from Long Beach, Rockport & Gloucester, Ma.:
When it’s time it’s time. The lifeguard chairs, most of the stairs, and the footbridge are removed every year, and for this season it was at sunrise Sept 14. Rockport DPW is also on top of the storm prep ahead of this weekend’s Tropical Storm warning forecast. They work fast to beat the tides.
I saw this beach chair and thought perfect chair for Schooner Festival weekend. Imagine chairs on the boulevard printed with custom vessels (iconic racers and current ones). The smoke in the sky again from fires in Canada.
When the sea is black, the photo with the blue sky pockets and the clouds like waves–the last sequentially–was unexpected. Note the scale of the Long Beach cottages vs. clouds.
Gloucester and Rockport views all in one summer day, 8/13/2023: 5 P.M., 5:01 P.M., 5:15, 5:16 (w/Salt Island), 5:16 (turned), 5:58, 6:00 P.M., 6:12, 6;13, 6:25 (sunbeam rainbow shines on Twin Lights), 6:26, 6:27, 6:28, 8:22, 9:30 P.M. Note the ‘big sky’ scale of clouds compared with a car, homes, roofs, Salt Island, etc
photo block 5pm-930pm observed sky: The many weather moods in 4 hours on August 13, 2023. Capped off with red (sprites) and white lightning visible from Long Beach 9-10:00 P.M. The lightning looked a bit like far off fireworks. Red and orange bursts and dashes registered some on cell phone (4 sec video clips below). Bet there were some beautiful night and day photos!
Rainbow and crepuscular rays- Rainbow streaks shine on Thacher Island.
7 seconds (tough to see: look for red in the middle of the frame at about 4 sec mark. May need to enlarge to full size to bypass the ‘play’ button)
10 seconds- look for dashes in the middle of the frame. White flicker on left was a drone
4 seconds- If this frame were split in 3 vertical strips, about 2 seconds in concentrate on the the left 1/3 to see a pinkish red pulse. Earlier in the evening there were sweeping arcs of diffused lightning
August 13, 2023.
Gloucester and Rockport views all in a summer day. Photo block 5pm-930pm observed sky: The many weather moods in just 4 hours. Capped off with red (sprites) and white lightning visible from Long Beach 9-10:00 P.M. The lightning looked a bit like far off fireworks. Red and orange bursts and dashes registered some on cell phone (4 sec video clips below). Bet there were some beautiful photos tonight!
8/13/2023: 5 P.M., 5:01 P.M., 5:15, 5:16, 5:58, 6:00 P.M., 6:12, 6;13, 6:25 (rainbow), 6:26, 6:27, 6:28, 8:22, 9:30 P.M. Note the big sky scale of clouds compared with a car, homes, roofs, Salt Island, etc
Rainbow and crepuscular rays- Rainbow streaks shine on Thacher Island.
7 seconds (tough to see: look for red in the middle of the frame at about 4 sec mark. May need to enlarge to full size to bypass the ‘play’ button)
10 seconds- look for dashes in the middle of the frame. White flicker on left was a drone
4 seconds- If this frame were split in 3 vertical strips, about 2 seconds in concentrate on the the left 1/3 to see a pinkish red pulse. Earlier in the evening there were sweeping arcs of diffused lightning that .
photos: C. Ryan. Sunrise views from Gloucester looking out to Twin Lights and from Long Beach to the festive cottages ready for the 4th of July weekend. Below today’s for comparison: Sun rise Smoke Sky Last month. June 7, 2023.
little more yellow that morning. July 2, 2023 fog was in the mix.
On Wednesday it was windy and chilly. On Tuesday I actually went swimming. Decided to go over to Good Harbor Beach to walk. The wind was blowing really hard. The ocean was so blue. No matter what the weather is in Gloucester the views never disappoint.
Jingle Bell Storm rise sunrise photos Dec. 23, 2022, about 3 hours before the next high tide: Power is on at Long Beach; Creek level at Good Harbor Beach footbridge; Salty Salt Island; Twin Lights, Thacher Island – sunrise spray and waves; Back Shore
8 AM No power outages reported on Cape Ann – 60,000+ in Mass.- http://mema.mapsonline.net/
9AM Update – 1000+ outages in Gloucester
fleeting and atmospheric low tide vistas photos: c. ryan, 7/17/2022
Thinking about 19th and 20th century painters and printmakers including Ben Shahn, Laura Knight, Peter Hurd, George Tooker, Caspar David Friedrich, Eric Ravilious, Hopper, Morandi, others
