Vineyard Conservation Society is facilitating monthly beach clean-ups. From 8 to 10 a.m. on the fourth Saturday of every month, a

volunteer will be at a pre-selected location with bags and gloves. VCS will also handle disposal of the trash collected. This Saturday, South Beach is the target. Visit the Vineyard Conservation Society website for further details and contact information.

The Chappy Ferry steering committee will meet by Zoom this coming Tuesday, August 29 at 5 p.m. Among the items on the agenda will be discussion of design/procurement of a third ferryboat and suspension of the so called “cut line” during the upcoming period that only one ferry is in service. See the town of Edgartown’s website for the agenda and Zoom link.

The U.S. Coast Guard will inspect the Chappy Ferry boats on the morning of Tuesday, Sept. 5. These are annual safety inspections performed while the vessels are in the water. The crews will demonstrate a fire drill and an overboard rescue. The exact time of the arrival of the inspectors will be known closer to the date. For approximately two hours, one ferry will be in service while the other is inspected.

Keep in mind that when the Martha’s Vineyard Striped Bass and Bluefish Derby ends, only one Chappy ferry will be in service while the other is hauled out of the water for maintenance and Coast Guard hull inspection.

The On Time III, the longer of the two vessels, will depart for Vineyard Haven on Sunday, Oct. 15. The length of time required for maintenance will be determined after the ferry is out of the water. Likely, the vessel will return by Thanksgiving.

Check the Chappy Community Center website or bulletin board for events and activities continuing into the fall. There is still one more

ice cream social and one more lobster bisque supper on the calendar.

The Chappaquiddick Island Association will host the second “single-issue” forum on Thursday, August 24 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Chappy Community Center. The leadership team of the Chappaquiddick community emergency response team will present an update of their plans to assist Chappaquiddickers during times of emergency. The Zoom link for the meeting is not yet available. In September, the forum subjects will be Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation and parking at the ferry point.

The National Hurricane Center is busy these days, tracking and predicting tropical storms. Daily checking of either the NHC website or Mike’s Weather Page will give you as much notice as possible of impending hurricanes.

Hurricane Hilary tracked up the coast of southern California recently. A ferry service very similar to the Chappy Ferry operates at Balboa Island midway between San Diego and Long Beach. During a visit to that ferry several years ago, I asked the ferry captain if they turned the ferries around in bad weather as we do here. His response was. “Hmm. Bad weather? I’ve been here 15 years and I don’t recall any bad weather.” I believe that they now have an experience of very bad weather to tell about.

— Peter Wells