The Island is under a gale warning throughout the day, with the National Weather Service predicting up to seven-foot seas and 40-knot gusts.

While most of commuters to the Island take Steamship Authority ferries from Woods Hole, a few dozen are now making their way to and from the Vineyard via New Bedford aboard the Whaling City Express, a high-speed catamaran for passengers only.

A state Land Court ruling last week involving a Nantucket rental home could set a precedent for how municipalities on the Vineyard handle vacation rentals, Vineyard officials said.

Dark green and gray, slick with algae, pocked with parasitic scars and polychaete worm tunnels, wild oysters are survivors, fighting everything the pond's brackish waters throw at them.