But for the sailboats on stands you might have had a hard time telling where the beach ended and the parking lot began at Fisherman's Beach last week. A series of winter storms left sand piled over the boat ramp and thoughout the parking lot. DPW crews descended on the mess Friday, pushing and scooping piles and blowing away the loose stuff.  The pre-spring clean-up opened up the lot for traffic and parking, preparing the popular summer destination for boating, swimming, fishing and tanning to come.  

  The way DPW crews clean Fisherman's Beach now is they drag it with a York rake and dump the collected sea vegetation at the waterline for the tide to carry it off. Sometimes it does; sometimes it doesn't, says DPW Director Gino Cresta. Last week town officials watched a surf rake sweep back and forth over the Fisherman's Beach sand. Its conveyor pulled algae, eel grass and rocks from the shore, and bottle caps, cigarette butts and glass from the top of the beach near the wall. The stuff went into a hopper, which lifted and tilted and dumped the collection in piles. Pulled by a tractor, the …

  This information about what to do if you see a seal on the beach comes from Don Pinkerton, a volunteer for the New England Aquarium. This harbor seal pup is about 4 months old and was resting peacefully in the sun near Preston Beach today (Saturday).  This posture, showing head and tail up with flippers tucked in, is a sign of a healthy animal.    I am a volunteer with the New England Aquarium’s stranding response team and live in Swampscott.  We ask that people stay well away from seals on the beach.  Most of the time, they are perfectly healthy and simply resting.  They do not want to be …

  Monday at Fisherman's Beach was a tranquil day, a stark contrast to the bustle at the beach's boat ramp exactly one year ago. On Monday, a few gulls cried at the shore. They lifted their beaks and let go rapid high-pitched cries that slowed to silence. One hundred motor boats and sailboats sat almost still at their harbor moorings. Women sat on beach chairs reading and chatting. A young man tossed a triangular boomerang into the onshore breeze. It stretched to the sea like an elastic before dutifully returning. The temperature was perfect. The sky blue. The air smelled faintly of salt, mud…

The Swampscott harbor is in danger of being taken over by the protected eel grass. "We are in danger of losing the harbor," Selectman Glenn Kessler told his colleagues. He proposed that the board invite members of the Harbor Advisory Board to an upcoming Selectmen's meeting to show the extent of the problem with eel grass, which is part of a recent study. "It is overwhelming," Kessler said. "It is shocking how invasive it is." Unless the state marine authorities agree to allow Swampscott to remove the eel grass, as it has permitted Manchester by the Sea, then all of the dredging monies will …

  A local fisherman reported seeing a couple four-foot sharks off Eisman's Beach Tuesday morning. The fisherman reported the sighting to police at 10:34 am, saying the sharks were chasing bait fish in the vicinity of the beach and off the spindle. The spindle is located about a half-mile out, said Recreation Director Danielle Strauss, who asked local mariner Harris Tibbetts how far the spindle is from shore. Lifeguards at Eisman's and Phillips Beach brought any swimmers venturing a distance from shore closer to the beach, the director said. In addition, the lifeguards surveyed the water …

  This article was submitted by Chris Thomsen As he took the final turn in Swampscott Harbor, Dr. Bill Orenberg believed he had captured victory for his team in the 2012 Swampscott Duct Tape Regatta. With tactical turns and quick switches between teammates at the shoreline, the Swampscott Silver Bullets, who represented the Swampscott Rotary Club, raced in excellent time. Orenberg was paddling at amazing speed towards Fisherman’s Beach, and was only seconds away from collecting the gold for the second year in a row. However, in an amazing turn of events, the Marblehead Rotary Club, consisting…

  The flounder hit at once. Some time before 5 pm Monday, Eric Barcone landed one. In a minute nearby poles bent in the hands of two pier fishermen. They reeled their dinners in swiftly and the flat fish sailed through the air before flapping like small tires on the pier deck. It was chilly and windy. But the fishermen were bundled against the cold in sweats and hoodies and jackets. Brothers Mark and Eric Barcone of Marblehead say they prefer the flounder fishing in Swampscott at Fisherman's Beach. They were going to filet and fry their fish for supper that night. From the pier, the fishermen…

  A harbor porpoise washed up on the rocks at the far end of Fisherman's Beach Thursday morning, the third dead porpoise in the last nine months to beach on local shores. Town Animal Control Officer Diane Treadwell collected measurements from the 3.5-foot female, just as she had last May when two porpoises were discovered at King's Beach. She sends the data to the New England Aquarium. Unlike the other porpoises, this one was relatively fresh and found just inside Lincoln House Point. The officer finished her work by writing the date on the side of the animal with a grease pen and hauling the…

  DPW loader operator Mark Gambale scooped bucket after bucket of tide- and storm-heaved sand from mounds heaped at the Fisherman's Beach seawall on Tuesday. Over time the sand had spilled into the parking lot and was blowing on to Humphrey Street and across the road, said Rich Malagrifa, the selectmen's liaison to the Harbor Advisory Committee. The selectman says hopefully the sand won't build up like that again now that the town plans to install kayak racks at Fisherman's Beach in the spring. DPW crews will have access to the beach right up to the sea wall — with the kayaks off the beach …

Editor's note: This first ran on Swampscott patch last Decemeber. Judy Trujillo, 69, does what a lot of people would like to do. She seeks and finds treasure. Every day on the beach. The smooth weathered sea glass and ceramic pieces she picks among shells, rocks and seaweed wind up in her seashore mosaics and other creations. A number of them are on display at Kennedy Studios, across the street from Fisherman's Beach, where she finds much of her treasure. She came east five years ago after telephoning her boyfriend from 50 years earlier. They met as freshmen at Colorado College. He was a …

For centuries storms have taken a toll on Swampscott boats and claimed lives offshore. A week ago Irene destroyed at least three of about 18 boats that it had ripped from mooring lines in and around Swampscott Harbor. Owners reclaimed most of the boats and most received limited damage. Potent storms, whether tropical, hurricanes or nor'easters, have for centuries beached boats and wreaked havoc with local mariners. Swampscott resident Robert Powell sent us photographs that show what a storm did to local craft less than 10 years ago. The photographs show boats pitched on rocks and crashed …

The day broke clear and calm and the air smelled clean in Swampscott on Monday. It contrasted with the clammy and stormy weather over the weekend. Boat owners whose vessels tore loose from moorings went to work Monday retrieving their vessels. Here is some footage of the retrieval and recovery work.

About 18 boats tore free from moorings in Swampscott during the weekend's storm, largely a product of frayed pendants, said local mooring man Harris Tibbetts. Many of those boats were large sailboats, a majority of which appeared to receive minor damage; a few boats, including at least one sailboat, were destroyed. Susan Booras of Swampscott said that her family's boat, Moira, a 25-foot sailboat, received minor damage. After its cleat tore loose on Sunday, the 25-footer, landed on King's Beach. Family and friends anchored the vessel, and other vessels. Then, later, when the tide rolled in, …

Three young men and a young woman anchored a wave-tossed sailboat that was drifting toward shore Sunday. At the end of the video, two people hold the anchor line to another sailboat that was moved from a spot near the rocks to a better anchor spot. Sailboat owners planned to return to their boats on Monday to move them back to Fisherman's Beach.

Here is a place for you to post your video clips and photos. You can either upload them directly to this story or you can email them to me at terry.date@patch.com

Susan Booras and other boat owners watched the storm-driven waves from the Swampscott Yacht Club today at high tide when the lines in the harbor started to snap. "It was so sad," she said. "They went, 'snap, snap, snap.'" One after another more than a dozen boats broke free from their mooring lines. The mooring line was tied to a cleat on the deck of the Booras's boat, Moira, a 25-foot sailboat that they have owned for a year. The cleat was ripped from the deck. About 10 sailboats ranging from 24-36 feet broke free from their lines. They bobbed and rocked in the rough seas and drifted at an …

More than a dozen boats snapped free of their mooring lines in Swampscott Harbor earlier today. Most of them drifted to King's Beach or just off the beach. A few crashed against rocks and the shore close to Fisherman's Beach. Owners scrambled to secure them, protecting the vessels from smashing against the sea wall at King's Beach come high tide. A few boats that landed against rocks elsewhere were badly damaged.

Local mooring man Harris Tibbetts has seen many storms come and go over the years at Swampscott Harbor. He was one of the crew at Fisherman's Beach yesterday and today helping boaters get their boats out of the water, what with Irene looming to the south. Here he remembers a few strong storms that passed through Swampscott years ago and what they did to Swampscott boats. One sailboat got tossed in a hole along the rocks toward King's Beach. The only places that you could see it were from sea and the St. John Church parking lot, said the Fisherman's Beach mariner. Another boat cut loose in the…

Footage from Swampscott shortly before high tide on Sunday: King's Beach and the rocks behind Marian Court College.