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Cape Cod Beaches
Written on Wednesday, August 17, 2005 by That's Camping
Article Categories: Northeast-Attractions • Natural-Attractions
One of That's Camping visitors and a regular poster on our forum recently shared a wonderful reference/review to a few of her favorite Cape Cod beaches. She graciously allowed us to add it to an official article, thank you so much "Twinnish" - We appreciate it!!!
Cape Cod Beaches: a review authored by Twinnish
We just got back from a trip to Cape Cod. While there we hit as many beaches as we could. Here are some favorites:
Coast Guard Beach, Cape Code National Seashore, Eastham.
Entrance Fee: $15
Coast Guard Beach has miles of shoreline on the Atlantic Ocean. It is a classic Cape beach, backed by grassy sand dunes and cliffs. You could walk all the way to Provincetown via the beach from here. Near the entry from the bathhouse, the beach can be crowded, but walk two minutes in either direction and you'll have plenty of room to spread out. We saw seals in the water while we were here.
The surf can be heavy, so it isn't the best beach for toddlers and preschoolers, unless they prefer to play in the sand and pick up rocks to playing in the water. Even my 8 year old was a little leery of getting in and the waves were relatively moderate. Bring your boogie board when you come here, you'll get good use of it. Lots of people were using surf boards a few hundred yards down the beach from us. The water was cold, but not frigid cold. It felt good on the hot day we visited. Plenty of lifeguard supervision here, and they do a great job.
There are also hiking trails here, although we didn't use them. There are bathrooms, changing rooms and outdoor showers. I kind of wish they would set up some sort of primitive camping here somewhere, like at Assateague National Seashore. I could easily spend a few days here! No parking is allowed at the beach itself, except handicap parking (I think). You have to park at an off-site lot and take the shuttle in, which was no problem for us.
Flax Pond, Nickerson State Park, Brewster
Entrance Fee: Free!
Flax Pond is a kettle pond in the woods of Nickerson State Park. The beach area, small and sometimes crowded, is nice when it isn't wall to wall people. We found it not too crowded on a day that had started out cloudy. The water was clean and dive-right-in warm. My kids loved it! It 's a good place for little ones to swim, and the big ones, too! In the next cove is a canoe and kayak rental area. We saw lots of people paddling around in those rentals.
There is a bath house nearby. It has composting toilets, so be careful letting little ones use it. My 8 year old wouldn't use it because the hole in the toilet scared him. It had no changing room, so if you need to change, a bathroom stall will have to suffice. The parking lot is a short walk from the beach.
Paine Creek Beach, Brewster
Entrance Fee: Town Permit needed, free after 4 or 5pm
We stopped here on a whim. Be warned that the parking lot is small, around 20 cars can park here. The only facility is a pit toilet. But the beach is absolutely beautiful.
Right next to the parking area, Paine's Creek winds its way through the sand toward Cape Cod Bay. It's shallow enough and warm enough (or was at low tide when we were there) for the kids to play in. From there it meanders through lush, green beach grass out to the tidal flats.
We were there at low tide. When the tide is low, it's a long walk out to the bay. The water recedes over a mile at low tide, I've read. It sure felt like a walked a mile to get out there. Once at the water, it is warm and very shallow. Very, very shallow! The kids had difficulty getting out far enough to get up to their knees. Long, flat sand bars stretched out into the water. We could see (barely) people out on it.
Our visit was after hours and we only spent 45 minutes. I'd like to go back here someday and spend a whole day. The kids had fun exploring the tide pools and playing in the creek.
Town Neck Beach, Sandwich
Entrance Fee: Permit needed, free after 4.
We came to Town Neck Beach because we wanted to walk on the boardwalk at sunset. In the early '90s a storm damaged the original boardwalk. The new one was funded by selling planks engraved with the purchaser's choice of words. We found the boardwalk right off the parking lot. The boardwalk goes through a tidal marsh and has a small bridge. When we got to the bridge, teens and a few adults were jumping into the marsh creek off it. That water was pretty cold. I tried to bribe my 16 year old son to jump in the water, but he wouldn't do it! If I had had my bathing suit on I may have done it! It wasn't a very tall bridge, but tall enough and the air was warm enough to make it worthwhile.
The beach itself was nice, although we just took a look at it. We had been to another Sandwich beach earlier and the water was freezer burn cold, so we figured it would be that way here. I recommend the boardwalk hike. The kids and I enjoyed reading the inscriptions on the boardwalk and it's a good place to view birds and get a glimpse at scenic Cape Cod.
Article Categories: Northeast-Attractions • Natural-Attractions
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