A day on one of the last two lobster boats of Nantucket: F/V Julie Alice

By the time the summer crowds rub the previous evening from their eyes and stroll down Main Street for their morning coffee, Jim Sjolund is already four hours into his fishing run. Miles offshore, he is hauling traps from the deep water far off the coast of Nantucket. His coffee's empty, but his brain's alight with the countless equations that occupy the mind of a commercial lobsterman captain.

There are only two boats remaining on Nantucket who are practitioners of the delicate financial balance of fuel, bait and time that must be calculated to make a lobster season worth pursuing.

Jim set out with the F/V Julie Alice, an easy-to-spot Blue Hull Marine vessel that he refitted himself, laboring through the seasons in his barn until her christening.

Finding him after one of those trips is worth the work and may help bypass an Island reality: most lobster rolls start their journey to the waterfront on a mainland truck and ferry rather than a fishing boat.

The most savory boat-to-plate lobster comes from boats like the Julie Alice. To get one of the true Nantucket "freshies," you should track down Captain Jim after he returns by way of Brant Point.

FLOTSAM stepped aboard the F/V Julie Alice for one of their early morning starts, riding along deep into the offshore fog as Jim and crew worked to bring home the claws and tails that help keep a legacy of fishermen alive on Nantucket.