Cape Cod pt 10. Weds 31st August 2011

[Briggsy]

Due to the uncertainty of Hurricane Irene and its possible aftermath, together with the early, early start I did not post this as an upcoming trip. Also the shark population has scuppered my plans for "Cape Cod Pts 7,8 and 9" so those sections will have to wait till next year.
Towns and harbormasters up the Atlantic coast all advised against kayaking that section but the northern tip seemed safe so Norm and I decided to paddle from Race Point Beach, around the tip of Cape Cod and down to Pamet River in Truro. Race Point is so named after the tidal race that flows at a max 1.5 kts. I had not kayaked this area before and could not find much info on the web other than NOAA current charts. Slack current at the Race was 7.11 am. As he had to drive the furthest, I gave Norm the choice of Thursday (slack water at 8am) or if he was interested in starting in Sandwich and doing 3 or 4 trips ending in P-town, but he chose the early start on Wednesday and thats how we found ourselves at Race Point beach at 7am.
It was a cool morning in the mid 50's as we walked our kayaks down the beach and loaded up, only a couple of guys on the beach fishing. It was low tide as we hit the water. In the next 2 hours we would hit nearly every compass point on the huge left turn to P-town. There was a small section of beach that allowed campers. Seemed strange to me to drive that far for beach solitude and have to listen to someone snoring in the next camper over !!!

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The sea was flat and there was barely a breath of wind, a great start to the day. 2.5 miles further on we could see the tide race very clearly, it wasn't much, just a very obvious large patch of disturbed water. Looking at the chart the depths went from 10' to 174' in the space of 1/4 mile, I guess the flooding tide concentrates around that point.

Norm at the race

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The race

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Shortly after the race Norm spotted something a couple of hundred yards off. We stopped paddling and watched. A minute or two later there it was again followed by a loud snort. It was a whale !!! we paddled out a little and probably spent 15 mins or so watching what we thought were 2 whales, truly a special moment to be that close in a kayak. The peace was disturbed by a procession of power boats and fishing boats and we never saw the whales again after they passed.

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We continued on our huge left hander passing miles of empty sandy beaches before finally making it to the tip of Cape Cod where we headed NW (!!!!) in search of coffee!

The Tip

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As we entered the harbor a whale watch boat was just leaving, I felt like shouting out "They're over there".

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I knew of a coffee house just off the beach so we landed and walked through Whalers Wharf to Commercial St. for a cup of joe which we drank on the beach.

Coming into P-town

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Leaving P-town was a little more interesting, several ferries, fishing boats and harbor cruises all seemed to be arriving or leaving at the same time but we threaded our way though to the sea wall and followed the line of beach shacks,cottages and motels.

Sea wall

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The flat shore ended and was replaced by sand cliffs topped by large houses. There were some neat looking houses with long long stairways down to the beach, one even had an elevator. There were also a few imaginative decks, perfect for morning coffee or sunset cocktails.

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Most of the beaches were private but I was surprised to see a lot of the residents actually using the beach. At 12.30 we reached the Pamet River but decided lunch on the beach would be better than lunch in a parking lot so we landed just before the channel into the harbor. After lunch it was nearly high tide so we paddled into the harbor and on into the Pamet River for a little way to check out the salt marsh. Back at the boat ramp the water was too deep to use the "Kayak/Canoe Steps" so we used the concrete ramp and were immediately accosted by the rather feisty harbormaster. He informed us that the kayak launch steps fee was $6 per person but we had used the ramp which was $10 per boat. On this occaision he said he would let it slide and only charged us the Kayak Steps fee. I was going to argue the fact that we only landed and did not launch so maybe the fee should have been halved but thought better of it and thanked him profusely. We loaded up in record time and got out of there before we were charged anything else. It was actually a busy boat ramp. In contrast when we arrived back up at Race Point Beach for Norms truck, the Ranger let us in for free and didn't charge us the $15 parking fee !!
According to my GPS we did 17.5 nautical miles (20.125 miles).
It was an awesome day paddling and the whales were a real treat. Thanks Norm for the company and being willing to drive all that way down here.
Briggsy

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[kayakerjnj]

Another great trip! Thanks for sharing

[norm]

Briggsy covered all the details of the trip, so I'll just add in some additional shots with comments. I had to take lots of pictures on instruction from Bea since she couldn't make it for this leg of the trip. Here is just a subset of the 417 pictures I shot.

Pamet Harbor at 6:22am, leaving Briggsy's truck here for the afternoon shuttle.




Campers on Race Point Beach.




It was a bit of a long walk out to the water from the parking lot at Race Point beach, but the water was nice and calm.




Briggsy helped me launch and then did the knuckle drag launch when a little wave came in.




Campers from the water. Doesn't look like they are very much above high tide line.




Flocks of birds were in a feeding frenzy and once in a while I thought I saw a seal.






But it turned out to be a whale!




We sat and watched and waited to spot the whales. One came up within about 30 yards of Briggsy. This is one of those times you really hate the delay on digital cameras - by the time you sight the whale, aim the camera, hit the shutter release button and wait for the camera to calculate the exposure and record the picture, the whale has gone back underwater.




Not all the birds were in a frenzy. This one was taking a break. Notice the tide race ripples in the background.




We were just offshore of Race Point Lighthouse when we spotted the whales.




This loud, rumbling lobster boat seemed to scare the whales away. After this boat went by a few more private fishing boats also cruised by.




Herring Cove Beach with the Pilgrim Monument in the background.




Wood End Lighthouse




A couple sailboats powering out of Provincetown Harbor.




Lighthouse at the end of Long Point.




Provincetown Harbor from Long Point.




An odd sailboat leaving the harbor.




Briggsy smiling about already seeing whales as a whale watch boat goes by.




Many of the moorings in the harbor were empty, but this nice houseboat looks like it was left on its mooring for the storm.




The Pilgrim Monument.




The breakwater that protects Provincetown Harbor.




There were a few boats still up on beaches 3 days after the hurricane.




This one is appropriately named.




We stopped for a cup of coffee at a building with several shops and galleries in it called Whalers Wharf.




There was a kayak rental shop in the beach end of the building.






And a coffee shop at the other end of the building opening onto Commercial Street.




The aisle through the center of the building has shops on both sides on multiple levels. There's a nice indoor fountain and there are also public restrooms. A very nice place to stop.









Outside, on the beach near the deck is an old sign.




The tide came in a bit during our coffee break, reducing the distance we had to carry the boats back to the water.




A bit of traffic as we waited to dash out across the harbor to the breakwater.








Another houseboat in the harbor - not as attractive as the first one we saw.




Not sure what to make out of this sailboat. Looks like a salvage wreck.




A little more storm damage.




Leaving the harbor to head along the shoreline.




This was my first time visiting Provincetown in about 40 years. I was amazed at the size of some of the sand dunes.




I found the assortment of rental dwellings and variations of sea walls interesting.













This one seemed to have a different idea about how to stay safe from a storm surge.




The bird on the left wouldn't stop squawking at the bird on the right.




There is a transition from low beach area to hilly bluffs.




Then you get to see an assortment of stairways to the private beaches and storm fences trying to preserve the hillsides.








Some prefer to make their viewpoints more dramatic than others






And some people just can't climb all the stairs so they set up an elevator system from their high deck to their low deck.




This viewing platform must be standing room only. Not much protective railing!




Some of the hillsides were being actively repaired with grass planting.








But other areas were left to crumble.




We couldn't see the house at the top of this cliff, but it looked like they were about to start losing their deck - notice top left of pic.




These guys had to be the winners for longest stairways.




There were not many moorings or rafts near these beaches, but there were a couple boats and this one play raft.




At the end of the high bluffs, there seemed to be a public beach, complete with some very active long distance swimmers we had to avoid.






We found our own unoccupied section of beach to stop for lunch.








Paddling into Pamet Harbor. A lot more water here now than when we left Briggsy's truck here 6 hours ago.






Three was a single seal playing in the channel of Pamet Harbor.




Terns and cormorants sharing a capsized sunfish.




Briggsy commented, "you get a bird with each mooring".




We headed into the Pamet River a little and came across a few kayakers in rec boats.






But I started thinking about the long drive home and thought we better call it a day.

The Pamet Harbor boat ramp was a busy place, but the harbormaster kept everybody in line and under control.




I think there are rewards for launching early in the morning - this time it was seeing whales close-up. I would guess that you don't see them that close in to shore when the boat traffic picks up. Stopping in Provincetown for coffee was quite a nice addition to the trip also. Thanks for planning and executing another great trip Briggsy. It was worth the 200 miles of driving!

[Birdseye]

Thanks for another great trip report. I really wish I could have done these trips. Maybe you guys can do it again next year... the opposite way . If so, I'll will definitely make a point to take some time off and join you.