Monomoy 9/25

[Linda]

Nine of us met at Harding Beach, including four folks from RICKA. This was a leisurely informal paddle out the Southway to the tip of South Beach.

Several pods of gray seals followed along beside us and sometimes would pop up behind one group of paddlers to check them out as they went by, only to be surprised by the delighted paddlers behind them. There was a large herd of seals hauled out on the inside of South Beach and an even larger (200+?) group hauled out on a sand flat on the outside beach.

The sands of Monomoy continue to shift, making the gap between South Beach and South Monomoy nearly impassable at low tide. We saw several groups of seals kicking up "rooster tails" as they made their way through the shallow waters. We had a lovely lunch and beach rest while we waited for the tide to come back up so we could pass between North and South Monomoy. Some of us were happy to wait at the end of a channel for the water to slowly fill in over the sandbar, while others tried various techniques to get themselves over before the water came up. There was a lot of rocking, "kayak walking", knuckle-paddling, and finally assisted shoving to get us all on our way.

The return on the west side of North Monomoy required a long paddle to the west to clear the bars and then a fun down-wind run with 2-3 foot waves from the freshening southerly winds.

The day was capped off by the traditional PPPO with lots of brainstorming of ideas to change the world...if only someone had taken notes. Thanks to all!

[JohnHuth]

Sounds great! (although I know the sand flats can be a slog) I have a prediction - let's see if it comes true - within the next two years south Nauset beach will join up with South Monomoy, and South Monomoy will experience a break in the middle - in that order.

[jason]

The pictures that I took can be found at this location:

http://www.kates.org/t/4

The pictures are not the best. I am still getting used to the camera. (I think that it needs a view finder).

-Jason