Now for the High Tides...

This tide easily exceeds the average high tide line, and it's still rolling in.

My last post showed an extremely low tide that allowed folks to walk across the tidal flats all the way out to the spit of sand that becomes Long Point. This photo shows the voluminous high tide the next afternoon, and there were more to follow.
In fact, from now through September, we're likely to have many more  of these tremendous high tides during the full moon as it continues to orbit 31,000 miles closer to the earth than at any other time of the year. I've studied up a bit on all this moon and tide stuff in the last couple of days…
It seems that the moon orbits the earth in a kind of ellipse rather than a perfect circle, with the earth situated slightly off center, just a bit closer to one side of that giant oval shape the moon makes as it travels around us. That means that the moon is actually orbiting closer to the earth from July through September than it does at any other time of the year. It's called the perigee, when the moon is in the part of its orbit that brings it closest to the earth. That's why the moon looks so much larger right now than it does during the winter, when it's at its farthest from the earth, during its apogee phase.
I made it to the Far West End of Provincetown Harbor for this photo a bit before the real peak of the high tide this day, so the water actually rose a bit higher than shown in this photo. Read my June 16th, 2012 blog about hiking the breakwater to the Wood End Light, where you'll find links to a tide chart and a bit of information about the lighthouse, as well as the American Lighthouse Foundation. Unfortunately, the VISA card program cited there, benefitting the ALF, has ended, so that link is no longer valid. But you'll find info on getting to the Far West End and tips to keep you safe on your hike, as this trip can be a little tricky in spots, and may be rather strenuous for most of us.
One day soon I'll write about hiking out to the Long Point Light, at the very tip of Cape Cod. After all, I can't write about this area every day (although I actually could write about it every day, for at least two weeks or more…)
Enjoy your hike, and please, be careful. Or you could simply sit on the benches and watch the water change colors all afternoon, or watch the artists who flock to this spot nearly every summer day to paint the wetlands before they disappear beneath the high tides.

Couples Day on the Breakwater?

Provincetown's breakwater offers couples a romantic stroll across
the west end of this spectacular harbor, and perhaps a picnic along the way.

On one of these glorious spring days we've had recently (although the date on the calendar insists that it's now summer) it almost looked like couples day out on the west end breakwater.
With calm waters near high tide, and the charm of the Wood End Light in the distance, the stroll out onto the granite breakwater can have a certain romance to it, especially for those who are taking in this breathtaking sight for the first time. On this particular afternoon, everyone I could spot out on the breakwater was paired up in a couple of one sort or another, and that gave me a smile.

The West End Breakwater is One of PTown's Greatest Recreation Areas

Kayaking, picnics and sunbathing are popular activities at the breakwater.

The breakwater in the Far West End is a great spot for all kinds of recreation. You can fish for striped bass off the left side, casting toward the Long Point Lighthouse. You can picnic on the edge of the breakwater, or you can walk out to the lighthouse at Wood End and have a picnic there, along with a swim and a little sunbathing in a spot where you aren't likely to have many people around you. You can practically have your own private beach, especially if you're willing to walk a bit farther once you get out to that little spit of sand across the harbor.
You can launch a kayak or a canoe or an inflatable raft and paddle out to Long Point, the very tip of Cape Cod, where you can also fish, swim, sunbathe and picnic to your heart's content, with hardly anyone around you. Folks I talked to last week rented a kayak and paddled out to the far side of Long point, on the edge of Cape Cod Bay, and found seals all along the beach there.

During a very high tide you can swim through the wetlands.

A lot of people will go swimming off the right side of the breakwater, out into the wetlands if the tide is high enough, or just paddle around within a few feet of the shoreline at the head of the breakwater, never getting more than a few feet from the shoreline. Others will try their hand at snorkeling in this area as well. And as the water recedes as the tide goes out, the tidal flats that are revealed yield shells, bits of sea glass, hermit crabs and all kinds of treasures for beachcombers. Families with small children can be spotted carrying nets and buckets to scoop things out of little tidal pools that form at ebb tide.
You can also catch the shuttle boat to get out to Long Point. The Long Point shuttle leaves MacMillan Pier on the hour all day long in the summertime, and it leaves Flyer's boatyard at 10 minutes past the hour, traveling out to the area near the Long Point Lighthouse and back again several times during the day. There is no dock out there, so you'll take off your shoes, roll up your pants legs and hop off the boat in knee-deep water. You can take beach chairs, a small cooler or whatever else you need for the day, but be considerate of others taking the shuttle, too. Don't expect to take the 80 gallon cooler, the barbecue and a side of beef on the shuttle boat. For that kind of party you want to check into renting or chartering a boat of your own.
With this glorious weather we've had recently, there are dozens of ways to use this area we call the breakwater. A lot of folks will simply take a walk out on this enormous granite barrier that forms a walkway from the land at the west end of Commercial Street out to the spit of sand that stretches into Long Point and the tip of the Cape. However you may choose to use this spot, it is one of Provincetown's greatest recreation areas. Be careful, be safe and have fun!

Frank Cook's Big Fish, Caught Near Provincetown's Wood End, c.1910

The black-and-white photo of Frank Cook posing with his 270 pound halibut, c.1910,
was later turned into one of the most popular postcards of the next few decades, shown above.

Somewhere around the year 1910, Frank Cook was out one day in his little dory, fishing with a hand-held line, off the shoreline beyond Wood End. That's out beyond the spit of sand you'll find winding its way around the harbor if you walk out on the breakwater in the West End, toward Wood End Light. This spot got its name, by the way, because when the Pilgrims arrived here in 1620, that's where the woods ended. There were groves of trees and thickly forested areas found in spots all over the cape in those early days, and the forest in Provincetown came right down to the edge of the beach in that spot. 

So Frank was out in Cape Cod Bay, which lies beyond that bit of sand that runs between Wood End and Long Point. He was by himself, dangling a hand-held line from his dory and hoping for a fish to come along. Not all fishermen of the day sailed off with a crew on a large boat. There were many who fished from their own small dories and skiffs, seldom ranging far from the shoreline, since Provincetown is surrounded by deep waters. Good-sized fish were sometimes found quite near the beaches.

When he felt a tug on his line Frank began to pull it in, but he must have been startled as he realized what was on the other end of that line. It turns out a lumbering, 270 pound halibut had taken Frank's bait!

Alone in his boat, Frank somehow managed to land his catch, pulling a fish twice his size into his tiny craft. His dory must have been a "double-ender," having a pointed bow on either end, because hauling a fish that size over the side of a boat with a square stern would likely have swamped the boat. Once his catch was landed, Frank rowed more than five miles around Long Point and into the harbor, heading for a place equipped to handle such an enormous fish. When it had been unloaded and hoisted up to weigh it, Frank posed for this picture standing next to his halibut, holding the hand-line he had used to haul in the fish.

That black-and-white photo eventually evolved into a hand-colored post card that was very popular in PTown souvenir and gift shops for about 50 years, until the newfangled "chrome" style of glossy color photo cards began springing up in local shops in the 1960s. But these old-fashioned, hand-tinted photo post cards are still among those most prized by collectors today. And this is a fish folks still talk about.