Seals and surf

[Linda]

On a foggy, overcast Cape Cod Sunday, most of the tourists leave early. So it was a good day to head down the Cape to explore Nauset Marsh and play in the waves outside the break at Nauset Beach. I downloaded a Google satellite map of the area that was very useful in finding the open water channels in the marsh.

We started with a warm-up tour of the marsh, leaving about two hours after the Tide Tool high tide for Nauset Harbor. Then we headed out through the break in Nauset beach to find some lumpy water. There was a light easterly wind, but no significant swell. The outgoing tide and the off shore wind provided some fun little 2ft waves to play in, however. It was just enough to get some short rides, practice boat handling in the surf, combat rolls, etc.

And the seals were everywhere! Groups of 7-8 would pop their heads up and dive around us. We kept our distance, but occasionally we would hear a loud ker-splash as a seal would come up behind one of our kayaks and quickly dive underneath.

After a lunch break on the beach, we continued down the coast (north) past Coast Guard Beach and Nauset Light and found more little play areas along the way. We got back to the entrance to Nauset Harbor about 30 minutes after the tide changed and had an easy float through the entrance and paddle back to the put-in against a lightly receeding tide further into the harbor.

After a brief PPP-O in Orleans, we had a traffic-free ride back up the Cape. So....Don't be afraid to come to the Cape in the summer, folks. The water is delightfully warm, and if you delay your leaving on a Sunday until after an early evening PPP-O, the return to your off-Cape environs should be pretty painless!