Merrill's Wharf, New Bedford, Massachusetts, USA

I wandered about the wharf in New Bedford on this fine summer day. My eye was particularly drawn to this robins-egg-blue boat. I don't usually see that color in a working fleet.



Some boats sport a fancy fresh paint job......



.....and some don't.



But all are undergoing constant maintenance to keep them sea-worthy. (There is a man working on the boat at right - hard to see him in the jumble of this viewscape).



This Nantucket lightship is one of a fleet of vessels built since the 1850's used to mark the hazardous Nantucket Shoals about 40 miles out at sea from Nantucket - sort of a sea-going lighthouse.



I was visiting at midday so all the boats were in port. They are back from the sea and their early morning work. Merrill's Wharf was completed in 1847 and is the longest wharf in New Bedford's port.



Nice visuals wandering around this mostly public area. New Bedford, MA, was formerly one of the world's most important whaling cities during the 19th century, today a busy fishing port.



And some are far from home.