Mark your calendar for the next Chappy Community Center potluck on Wednesday, Oct. 16, 6 to 8 p.m. Bring your favorite dish to serve 8 people. Yoga is ongoing at the center on Sundays at 8:45 a.m.

Several Chappaquiddickers are on the derby leader board. Steph Pond is in first place as the division leader for shore fly rod false albacore and bonito. Team Chappy Double Trouble, which is Julie and Salvatore Tummino, is in sixth place for shore with a bluefish and a bonito weighing a combined 28-1/2 pounds.

Octoberfish, hosted by Larry’s Tackle Shop, runs the whole month of October. Fish caught in the derby can win prizes in the tournament. See Larry’s website and Facebook page for details.

The derby continues through Saturday, Oct. 19. The next day the ferryboat On Time 2 will make the voyage to Vineyard Haven to be hauled out of the water for maintenance and Coast Guard inspection. That leaves just the On Time 3 to carry all of the vehicle traffic. Plan accordingly.

I attended the 50th year reunion of my Maine Maritime Academy class. It is astonishing how quickly we fell into familiar conversations. Even though half a century had gone by for some of us since we last spoke, we were suddenly our young selves again. Except for the gray hair and some bald heads, we recognized the same mannerisms, the same voices, the same accents and phrases, the same twinkle in the eyes, that we came to know over four very impressionable years so long ago.

Everyone had a unique history to share about what we had been up to. Some had pretty harrowing tales to tell. Some spent a good amount of time on ships. Some had gone onto other careers ashore that benefited from a maritime education. Some had gone into the ferry service right out of school as I did. We agreed that the biggest perk of working on ferry boats is that you get to go home every night. We spoke to several freshmen.

I cautioned them that even though the next four years for them may seem an eternity, 50 years later it will be the blink of an eye.