Debbie Manley Smith and her husband John wake up long before sunrise most weekdays during scallop season. They gather their orange foul-weather gear and head to Edgartown Harbor to board their 22-foot fishing boat.
John has had the old Aquasport since 1978, and converted it for scalloping. “The insurance company had it as a complete total when I bought it,” John said as he began to ready the well-used boat last Thursday morning. “It was the first fiberglass boat in the fleet in Edgartown, and they gave me a hard time about it,” he remembered.
It was about 6:40 and the sun was just coming through in shades of pink and orange. Debbie pulled her cellphone out of her pocket and walked to the end of the dock.
“Wait a minute,” she said, “I’ve got to get a picture of this for the guys on Facebook.”
Debbie said that John gets up at 4:30 am, and she lies in bed a few minutes longer, listening to him talk to the dogs. They live in Edgartown, and besides scalloping together over the past dozen years, the couple also work together at the Edgartown Prime Marina. Debbie works in the office, and John works on the boats.
