by Mary Knippel

Despite rough economic waters, it’s always blue skies at Peggy Beckett’s Huck Finn Center in Pillar Point Harbor on the Coastside.

Art wall at Huck Finn Center. Photo: Mary Knippel.

Beckett is casting a wider net these days, using the lure of marine gifts and   an enticing art gallery to catch new clients and customers. The bait and tackle store of Huck Finn Sportfishing, which Beckett has run since 1990, remains a constant in the harbor where anglers may charter a boat from Beckett for a fishing expedition. Visitors may also take a whale-watching tour or nature trip with Beckett’s Half Moon Bay Whale Watch.

From redesigning and repainting the space to capture the textures and look of the ocean, to introducing a new hook — it’s all about the ocean — Beckett has reinvented the shop which sits between the Harbor Bar and Princeton Seafood Co. “Fishing seasons have really taken a tumble,” Becket said. “As things have been changing, I had to change. I can’t make my living fishing. And there are all those other aspects of the ocean that we have available to us. Things that we get to enjoy on a daily basis when we’re running the boats. I decided there has to be a way that we can share that.”

Back in the ’70s when women were not encouraged to be part of the crew, let alone be the captain, Beckett was drawn to the ocean. “I was dating someone who was a deckhand,” she said. “I lost the boyfriend, but kept deckhanding and eventually got my captain’s license.”

Browsing customer. Photo: Gwen O'Neill.

Beckett and her husband own and   operate Huck Finn Sportfishing, a booking service for a group of eight fishing, whale-watching and tour boats. Licenses, tackle and lures now share shelf space with books, photographs, glass art, sweatshirts, crochet items, postcards and jewelry – all with a marine theme. “I wanted someplace where you could find something for a child,” Becket said. “A fisherman could find something for his wife, such as a piece of jewelry with shells. A woman could find something for her husband that’s about the ocean because that’s what he loves. It could be something that’s not necessarily fishing tackle. Or,   it could be a glass fish, maybe even a book about the ocean.”

Art and craft merchandise sold in the shop is made by local artists and craftspeople. One such artist is award-winning photographer John Albers-Mead. He is a volunteer naturalist on the board of directors for the Friends of Fitzgerald Marine Reserve and uses his tide pool photographs to educate kids and adults about marine animals.

A resident of Half Moon Bay since 1987, Beckett would like to develop a new way to repurpose the boats in the harbor. “I’d like to see the harbor be alive again,” she said. “The reason for going on the boat doesn’t have to be catching fish. It can be to admire the life that’s out there. There are an awful lot of days that we don’t see whales, but there are a lot of birds on the breakwater, occasional sea otters, the sea lions on the buoys, and different kinds of birds.” She hopes to get people to “see the whole picture, rather than going after specific sightings.”

Peggy Beckett. Photo: Gwen O'Neill.

“I like coming to work … and having a warm place that people will enjoy coming in,” Becket said. “I want folks to linger, sit in one of the chairs and look at the books. And I hope they remember that we’re here when perhaps they need a gift for someone for a birthday, special occasion or even the holidays. I’d like to give them another reason to come to the harbor.”

For more information, contact Peggy Beckett at 650-726-7133.