Atlantic Ocean

MOLLY KOOL CARNEY, 93 Groundbreaking sailor Molly K. Carney, who as Molly Kool was the first woman in North America to become a licensed ship captain, died Feb. 25 at a retirement home in Bangor, Maine. Known in Canada by her maiden name, Molly Kool won her captain's papers in 1939 and sailed the Atlantic Ocean between Alma, New Brunswick, and Boston for five years, her friend Ken Kelly said.

A replica of La Amistad docked at the Inner Harbor yesterday as part of an 18-month voyage that retraced the history of the original ship and the slave trade on the Atlantic Ocean. Several speakers, including Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, extolled the historical importance of the original ship, while a large crowd of middle- and high-school students looked on from the dock. In 1839, the 53 slaves on the ship, which was transporting them between ports in Cuba, revolted and took control, and eventually guided the ship to New York, where it was captured by the U.S. Navy.

CHAPPAQUIDDICK ISLAND, Mass. - Native Americans called the bay Katama. Those of us who are attempting to fish it this season are calling it our Bay of Ignorance. My family spends the last two weeks of August up here off the island of Martha's Vineyard, reading, eating, watching old movies and fishing. We recalibrate our internal clocks to a slower time, one more in tune with what the weather and tides provide than with what the mainland insists upon. Pulse rates fall. Laughter comes more easily.

A number of years ago, I couldn't be persuaded to ride "Superman: Ride of Steel," at Six Flags America. I simply hate that feeling I get in my stomach (with a smile on my face) when riding over the crest of the first hill of a roller coaster. When I was given the chance to take a media ride with pilot Charles Lynch and the Yak Attack Demo Team, I was faced with another chance of placing my life in someone else's hands, and photo editor Chuck Weiss wanted me to shoot video and capture photos.

BEACH NEWS A WAVE OF HOLIDAY VISITORS If you're going to Ocean City for a weekend getaway, be sure to get there early to claim your stake in the sand. According to the city's Department of Tourism, an estimated 259,823 tourists visited the resort town during Memorial Day weekend, marking the best unofficial start to the summer season since 1994. Town officials pointed to the weather, with highs near 80, as the reason for the increase in the number of visitors. "Much of the talk leading up to the holiday weekend was about gas prices topping $3, but the weather decided to steal the show," said Mayor Rick Meehan.

Many villages along New Jersey's coastline facing the Atlantic Ocean are primarily summer-residents only. Because their seasons are short, they've been able to resist erosion - meaning any capitulation to contemporary tastes. Until quite recently, treasured attractions along the shore (pronounced "show-uh" here), such as the Miss America pageant, Wacky Golf or the East Coast's biggest Ferris wheel, created a prevalent style that was a bit oblivious, but endearingly cheesy nonetheless - something like a teenager with a bright-red sunburn.

Allstate Corp. and other insurers could be forced to write homeowner policies throughout Maryland, including coastal areas where some companies have pulled out, under legislation being drafted in the General Assembly. Del. David D. Rudolph, vice chairman of the House Economic Matters Committee, said yesterday that he plans to introduce the bill but that specific language has yet to be worked out. Rudolph said he is responding in part to Allstate's announcement in December that it would stop writing new homeowner policies in the state's coastal areas.

Thirty groups, including fishing clubs and oil companies, have formed a coalition to help the state build more fish and oyster reefs. The Maryland Artificial Reef Initiative will use charitable contributions and grants to buy used construction materials and have them hauled to Chesapeake Bay and Atlantic Ocean sites to enhance aquatic habitat. "This is an unprecedented partnership using private and public funds to restore marine habitat in Maryland," said Martin Gary, coordinator of the program for the Department of Natural Resources.

Ridge -- The old Woodrow Wilson Bridge sleeps with the fishes. Chunk by chunk, the bridge that linked Maryland to Virginia and was the bane of commuters in the Interstate 95 corridor, is being hauled to the waters off this St. Mary's County community to create a home for striped bass, bluefish and oysters. "This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," said Bill Curry, president of the Coastal Conservation Association's Maryland chapter, as a massive backhoe shoved a slab of concrete off a barge and into the water yesterday.

IT IS A FREQUENTLY REPORTED statistic in the study of how Americans spend their leisure time. (Yes, people actually have jobs where they study people who are not working.) That is, American workers have fewer vacation days -- only about 14 -- than their counterparts in other industrialized nations, but they don't use them all. According to a recent report in Time magazine, the average American will fail to use about four vacation days. That adds up to about 574 million days a year, Time reported.