Eastern Point Lighthouse: Part 2

So here we are, back at the lighthouse one more time.

Looking out into the Atlantic and directly towards the sun, bringing into focus the silhouette of a lobster boat. A favorite view of mine.

Elise was a little freaked out by the sound of the waves lashing against the rocks under the breaker. She was looking down to see if she could see the water, but couldn't.

Bean town

~Photo by Elise~

There I am, freezing. At least the Jackie O sunglasses helped to keep the wind out of my eyes!

I do believe they are being stalked, which can only mean one thing ... bait on board.

The following photos were taken by Elise. Remember she had a fingerprint on her lens, but with a little texture added, overall they came out pretty good. Kind of like a postcard.

Facebook photo: The girl with the longest eyelashes I've ever seen!

This is as far as we went on Dogbar breakwater, just far enough for Elise to find a rock to put her camera on. The wind was whipping and it was cold. I photoshopped out my hair that was standing up straight. Who really needs to see that anyway?

Looking back towards the city of Gloucester. Thanks for coming along! We'll be headed up to Rockport soon for a little lunch.

Eastern Point Lighthouse: Part 1

And so we go back to Gloucester. I have so many photos from the afternoon my daughter and I spent there, I hope you won't mind me showing you a whole lot more!

Some of the photos in this post are mine and some are from my daughters camera, like the one below.

Elise thought it would be funny to take a photo of the map. I'm glad she did! Eastern Point is at the very bottom of the photo by Niles Pond and Brace Rock.

Off to the side of the parking lot the Crows were looking for food amongst the rocks. Seemed a bit unusual to me but food is food, and it was cold!

Looking back towards the parking lot from the base of the lighthouse: I was amazed and saddened by how much trash was on the beach. It was everywhere. What are people thinking? Jay, from Cape Ann Images, tells me there is a big clean up in the Spring. Thank goodness!

Elise kept turning around and photographing me the whole way up the path. LOL! Unfortunately she had somehow put a big fingerprint smudge on her lens causing all her photos from Eastern Point to be blurry. To compensate I added a texture to kind of make it look like it's supposed to be blurry ; )

And yeah, my hair was sticking straight up most of the time from the wind!

Gotcha Elise!

So nice to be able to get up close to this beautiful lighthouse.

1905

And then some kid obviously carved his initials and the year above.

Turn around and this is the view . . .

1/2 mile long Dogbar Breakwater

Do you feel like you were there right along with us? Was your hair blowing in the wind too?

More to come!

Niles Beach, Gloucester

I like this little beach. As you can see the view is beautiful.

The clouds were awesome too

Not to mention you can see Boston in the distance! And over there on the left is Dogbar Breakwater. We'll see that in another post.

Jay from Cape Ann Images has a really nice photo of Boston's silhouette from Niles beach on his latest post. Jay is a true-blue, dyed in the wool Gloucester native so he knows everyone, and where everything is. If I have questions about Cape Ann he's usually my go-to guy. Thanks Jay!

Ten Pound Island lighthouse sits off to the right

And here's my girl, Elise. Cute as a bug.

She's a silly, life-loving, fun kid who was thrilled to have a mommy and me day. Yes, she still calls me mommy.

'Did you get me doing a cartwheel???!!' Hee hee . . . ' I got ya!'

When you have kids, life gets in the way, and often there doesn't seem time enough to enjoy the simple things. This particular day was a day was a lot of fun.

Following in a Gull's footsteps

Yesterday my daughter Elise and I enjoyed a mother/daughter day down in Gloucester and Rockport, MA.

We stopped here, at Niles beach in Gloucester, to walk around and so Elise could be a little silly. More of that to come.

**Note to self: need to take more macro photos like this one

Gloucester Gulls!

I apologize for taking so long to post about the Gloucester Gulls. It's been a long week and I'm so glad it finally over.

Lined up are the three herring trawlers; Endeavor, Challenger, and Voyager, along with a schooner on the end

When we arrived at the fishing pier overlooking Gloucester harbor I jumped out of the car and went straight for the birds. Judging by the commotion something big had to be going on!

I don't know that is was 'big' but in a birds eyes it's about survival. My gosh, what an awful job this guy has.



You can see where the Gulls steal the fish from as they roll out of the conveyor belt into the shoot. I only saw one actually get a fish and he swallowed it whole as the other birds attacked him!



Here comes an immature gull now hoping to get lucky

This isn't the best video, but you get the idea of what it's like. Mayhem!!!

After watching the Gulls for a few minutes my husband and I walked over to the other side of the pier and had a look at the Princess Laura

I'd seen her before but she's still a beauty


Looking out into the harbor (with the sun directly overhead) you can see the old paint factory on the left and the schooner, Peacemaker (formally known as Avany), turning around then going back to port.




The Erin E. Miller coming in.

And that's just a brief moment in time in Gloucester harbor. You might want to cover your head when you visit.

Milk Island and the Twin Lighthouses

Milk Island is a very small island located just off shore from the Twin Lighthouses in Gloucester, MA. It is completely owned by birds!


So much so that I have to snicker every time I see the pictures. You see, I didn't know the name of this small island so I called upon my friend Jay from Cape Ann Images. Jay was raised in Gloucester so he really knows his stuff! Anyway, when I asked him the name of the island this is what he told me (and I hope he doesn't mind me repeating it):

Hi Sharon,
Milk Island! But I have not seen one cow on it!
I landed there years ago and was attacked by gulls. I mean viciously attacked! It’s a prime nesting spot and they defend their nests like you wouldn’t believe!
Jay

LOLOL! I can just imagine what that must have been like! Oh I tell you it makes me laugh even now. He went on to say:

I used to tell anyone interested in visiting Milk Island to expect Iwo Jima! When I went there I happened to have a Red Sox batting helmet in my boat that saved my skull! The gulls would dive and hit you in the head with their beaks! Now that you brought it up I can still hear the ringing!
Jay

Consider yourself warned!


Obviously we are keeping our distance ; )

The ship you see in the background is the fishing vessel Challenger coming in to port.



Peeking up over the rocks is just one of the twin lighthouses



That's a LOT of Gulls and Cormorants!



And then there were two


After doing a little research I learned the keepers dwellings were built around 1861, the same time as the twin lighthouses were re-built. The buildings were originally white with red roofs, traditional keeper-house colors, but when they were renovated in 2002 the colors were changed over to a mostly grey exterior.

Hope you enjoyed a trip back to Gloucester, MA. We'll be headed back real soon!

(Actually I was just there today!)

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.