Cape Ice

[Cotuit]

Winter of Ice

January 25-27, 2004

The Steamship Authority's Nantucket stays berthed at the Steamship's dock in Hyannis Sunday, January 25, because of ice in Hyannis Harbor and Nantucket Sound. The ferry canceled its two daily trips to Nantucket, 25 miles away, because of the ice, the worst since the mid-1970s.

Photo by Vincent DeWitt/CAPE COD TIMES

A second fisherman is hoisted off the fishing vessel Nabby by a Coast Guard helicopter crew out of Air Station Cape Cod Monday, January 26. The boat, viewed from Hog Island in Bourne, was stuck in ice in a channel near the east end of the Cape Cod Canal. Rescuers could walk right up to the boat on ice but used the hoist for safety reasons. Ice-breakers worked to clear a channel through the canal, iced enough to allow one-way shipping only.

Photo by Vincent DeWitt/CAPE COD TIMES

A tugboat tied up at Massachusetts Maritime Academy seems afloat in a river of ice with the Railroad Bridge behind it in Buzzards Bay Monday, January 26.

Photo by Vincent DeWitt/CAPE COD TIMES

In the lingering cold, Hyannis Harbor was clogged with ice Tuesday, January 27. Nantucket ferries were canceled Monday after Coast Guard ice-breakers couldn't chip a channel into Nantucket Harbor.

Photo by Kevin Mingora/CAPE COD TIMES

Nantucket Harbor was frozen in a perfect picture for sight-seeing, but not for ferry travel.

Photo by Kevin Mingora/CAPE COD TIMES

The U.S. Coast Guard's Morro Bay ice-breaking tug steams Tuesday morning through thick ice into Nantucket Harbor. The Morro Bay battered its way into the harbor by 11:15 a.m., escorting the first freight ferry to the island since Saturday.

Photo by Kevin Mingora/CAPE COD TIMES

The 140-foot Morro Bay out of New London, Ct. clears a channel for the waiting Steamship Authority's passenger ferry Nantucket near Nantucket Harbor Tuesday. The Nantucket was carrying passengers as well as seven tractor-trailer trucks loaded with food for the island. Stores were starting to run low on some foods such as fresh chicken and eggs.

Photo by Vincent DeWitt/CAPE COD TIMES

Mission accomplished: the Nantucket steams past Brant Point Light in the wake of the Morro Bay. The trip, normally two hours and 15 minutes, took about five hours.

Photo by Vincent DeWitt/CAPE COD TIMES

Ice also impeded passage near the Cape Cod Canal. A tug boat tries to maneuver a barge that got trapped in the ice in Buzzards Bay, Tuesday morning, January 27.

Photo by Kevin Mingora/CAPE COD TIMES

A fishing vessel tries to make its way back to New Bedford through the ice in Buzzards Bay Tuesday morning.

Photo by Kevin Mingora/CAPE COD TIMES

There

[Scott]

BRRR!!!! This is the coldest winter that i have seen for some time! I imagine if you fell out of one of those boats it would be all over pretty quick.

[Allan]

Interesting pics. Our winter has also been colder than normal, although in Michigan there isn't really such a thing as "normal" weather.

[Cotuit]

Well, actually if you fell out you could probably walk.

The ice at the entrance to Nantucket Harbour is 2 feet thick. Residents walked out on it this week to watch the ferry try to get unstuck, only to watch it turn around and head back to Hyannis.

There's a lot of ice here in Narragansett Bay in Rhode Island too. The west passage is shut down and a lot of marinas are suffering some pretty bad damage, pilings being ripped out and such.

There was an ice fishing tounament on the Cape this weekend (on the ponds and lakes). The ice on Wequaquet Lake (the Cape's largest) is a foot thick. Most years for the past decade or so, the ponds haven't frozen solid. There's also been some ice boaters out on the Cape's ponds.

[Guest donaltopablo]

Let me know when some dumb ass tries to walk from Cape Code to Boston across the ice. Now that would be funny.