From the Oyster Dock - Part 1

I love when things work out and you get to experience something different. One of our NYC Urban Sketching friends who also lives on Long Island invited a few of us on an adventure. Her husband is an oyster farmer and has oyster beds in the Great South Bay near the Robert Moses Causeway. He said that we could come and sketch either from the oyster dock where he and his men work or on one of the other small islands that have small cottages on them. This past Thursday was our day.

It turned out that the weather wasn't good and a few people cancelled, but a few of us were still willing to go out knowing it might rain. As Chuck said, the oyster dock is only about a 5 minute ride out into the bay and he could bring us back to the Captree boat dock at any time if the weather turned nasty. He drove 4 of us around the area so we could see what our painting/sketching options were. He also explained a bit about how oysters are farmed, which I knew nothing about. We all ended up staying on the oyster dock to work. It turned out to be a mostly overcast day at times, but the sun did come out once in a while. This was my view across to a small island that had a few cottages that were in use and a few that were abandoned and fairly derelict. In the background is the western end of Fire Island where I paint the lighthouse all the time.

Here are a few photos from our ride around the islands. You get a much different view when you are out on the water.