Nantucket Essays

Steamship Authority ferry approaching Nantucket with Brant Point in view
Nantucket Essays

Steamship Therapy

There is a specific moment, somewhere out past Brant Point, when the island finally lets go of you.

It doesn’t happen at the dock. It doesn’t happen pulling away from Straight Wharf while tourists wave cocktails around on the upper deck and kids throw popcorn at gulls. For a while, Nantucket still hangs onto you. You can still see the church steeples over the rooftops. The masts in the harbor still stand upright against the sky. The shoreline remains detailed enough that you can pick out individual houses, and, for a few minutes, your mind keeps trying to convince itself that you’re still there.

nantucket's oldest house with white mulberry tree
Nantucket Essays

The Perfect Gray of Nantucket Island

People come to Nantucket looking for color.

They expect blue hydrangeas, white sailboats, red sunsets bleeding across the harbor, and the sharp green of beach grass moving in the wind. The postcards sell the island in bright tones. Summer magazines photograph it under impossible June sunlight with women in linen dresses carrying wicker bags down shell paths toward champagne dinners.

Nantucket quahogging adventure in Madaket harbor by Steve Tuna Tornovish
An Island Point of View, Nantucket Essays, Nantucket Voices

Scratch Up the Quahogs

Well would you look at that: Memorial Day weekend was a few days ago and Nantucket is insta-busy. Not surprising, of course, but it does feel often sudden this year. Perhaps it’s due to the lack of any real warm weather. Or maybe it’s that this national holiday was celebrated a week earlier than usual this year. Whatever it may be, it’s busy! Joggers, bikers, e-bikers, rental cars, Ubers, summer neighbors, people riding scooters or those crazy big wheel skateboard thingies – the island is very people-y all at once.

Nantucket tautog fishing 2025
An Island Point of View, Nantucket Essays

Going Out after Togs

Not to divulge big secrets, but when I’m not taking people out beach fishing, I spend some time working with my buddy Mike Ramos. Mike is a master plumber. He often needs a hand while turning on / closing down houses for the seasons. I have a blast working with Mike, playing the role of “plumber’s monkey.” And a real fine monkey I am, if I do say so myself!

Matt Yarborough bass fishing Nantucket
An Island Point of View, Nantucket Essays

Fishing with the Coach

It started with an email that I received on my fishing account last summer: “My son Matt and his family arrive (next week). They live in Louisville Kentucky where Matt is the bass fishing coach (varsity sport) at Saint Xavier High School. He has been fishing every chance he gets ever since he could stand up!”

Nantucket fishing legacy
Nantucket Essays, Nantucket History & People

It’s a Family Tradition

“It’s in his blood.”

“He comes by it naturally.”

How many times do we hear someone say things like this? I’m guessing that these are common refrains if you’re hanging out around the University of Texas football field, watching young Arch Manning warming up. Arch, projected to be one of college football’s better quarterbacks this season, is the son of Cooper Manning. Cooper was a football player at one time as well, destined to play for Ole Miss, but a diagnosis of spinal stenosis caused Cooper to leave the game. Cooper went on to have a successful career as an entrepreneur, a slight variation of the quarterback business.

Nantucket Essays

The Art of Making Do

It’s ironic to me that when the clocks move forward in March, people say, “spring ahead.” As if longer days mean we’re suddenly moving forward, making progress, gaining time. But in my world, more daylight only means more to do: more grass to cut, more beds to prep, more pruning, more planting, more catching up before the season overtakes me. Dethatch the lawn before the bulbs push through. Prune the red-stem dogwoods before they leaf out. Rake the beds before the daffodils get too tall. I make lists, I make plans, but the days have their own rhythm. The hours slip past, the sun lingers longer, and still, I fall behind.