Great Cove in the winter is transformed from a busy summer recreational boating anchorage to a quiet haven for winter ducks, loons, and our resident seagulls. One of the most noticeable changes occurs when the piers get “winterized.”
The piers are built to be tall and sturdy to withstand our significant tides and winter storms, including occasional sea ice. They have long gangways down to docking floats where small boats can tie-up and larger ones can pick up and discharge passengers.
In the winter, the docking floats are detached and stored ashore and the disengaged gangways to those floats are stored atop the piers. The high piers probe into the Cove like abandoned bridges to nowhere and seagulls take adverse possession of them to sun themselves.
Here you see the WoodenBoat School pier yesterday in its winterized state as the tide is rising and soon will cover most of its stolid granite pilings. Its docking float was hauled up nearby:
(Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on November 12, 2024.)