A Sheepshead Bay Day

A nice thing I've noticed since I've begun blogging is that I am seeing things in my day-to-day life with new eyes and new appreciation.

This weekend my husband and I visited one of the neighborhoods of Brooklyn, New York, not far from where we live, which has the fanciful name of Sheepshead Bay, after the fish that was once found there in abundance in the early 1800s before the area became developed.

The shore along Sheepshead Bay became a cove for recreational party fishing boats in the 1930s and has been taking sporting fishermen out to the Atlantic Ocean in the early morning hours to fish for the seasonal runs of fluke, porgy, blues, ling, mackerel, cod, striped bass, and blackfish since then.

Some of the returning boats sell fresh fish caught that morning from coolers on their deck. Customers line up on the dock, yell down their order, and the fishermen will fillet and scale the fish if desired, and pass up the bags. I have many fond memories of going along with my father and siblings, when I was a child, to buy fresh fish on weekends this way.

Now there are also some luxury yachts available on the piers that offer tours of the Lower New York Bay, dinner cruises, and excursions to see the famous Macy's firework displays on the Fourth of July.

The Sheepshead bay inlet is located across from another neighborhood of Brooklyn called Manhattan Beach, which faces the Atlantic Ocean on its southeast side. Here is the pedestrian walkway that is a connection between the two neighborhoods.

The waters in this area are full of ducks and swans who are hoping someone will toss a crust or two their way.

Opposite the boat piers, many different restaurants are offering a multitude of different cuisines, such as Turkish, Russian, Japanese, Chinese, Greek, Italian, and American.
No surprise, my husband and I chose a famous Italian establishment to have our lunch: Randazzo's Clam Bar