The outside beach at the Chappy end of Norton Point has washed out due to severe erosion and OSV travel is impassible along that section of ocean beach. The Trustees have conditionally opened OSV travel along the bay side in this area to allow vehicles to reach Chappy via Norton Point. They are warning drivers that they will need to have a Chappy OSV permit to reach Chappy.

Be advised that the bay side trail floods at high tide and passage is impossible unless you drive through the water, which is certainly not recommended. Vehicles cannot drive onto the beach grass to avoid flood waters. If you plan on “going by the beach” you are strongly advised to carefully check local tide charts for Edgartown harbor and plan your passage to avoid the bayside trail near the time of high tide.

The Edgartown selectmen will hold a public hearing on Monday, Sept. 30 at 4 p.m. to consider my suggestion that we suspend the use of the “cut line” at the Chappy ferry from Oct. 20 until Thanksgiving weekend. That is the five-week period when only one ferry is in service while the other one is out of the water for annual repairs and maintenance. This year the shorter of the two ferryboats will remain in service to handle all of the traffic alone.

I suggest that only the school buses and, of course, emergency vehicles would still be able to cut. The hearing will be held in the Fred B. Morgan Jr. meeting room of town hall. The public is encouraged to attend or to send comments to P. O. Box 5158, Edgartown, MA 02539 or selectmen@edgartown-ma.us.

The 2020 Chappy Community Center calendar will be available for purchase or pickup at the center soon. You can preorder on line at the CCC website. Don’t worry that the calendar shown is the 2019 version. They will know that you want the next one.

There have been several squirrel sightings on Chappy. I saw the photo that has been circulated of a rather seedy looking squirrel. Hopefully it is just a single creature. Their presence is bad news as they are very skilled at home invasion and are very messy tenants.

This is the 27th year for Larry’s OctoberFish tournament! OctoberFish runs throughout the entire month of October with an award celebration in early November. The tournament extends the fishing season here on Martha’s Vineyard into the days of cooler water when the whoppers come by.

On day one of the Martha’s Vineyard Striped Bass and Bluefish Derby, Chappaquiddicker Colin Floyd weighed in a 15.25-pound striped bass in the all tackle shore category, taking third place in the daily. He called it a “wee fish.”

I say anything more than 34 inches long is plenty of fish.