Mermaid Kisses ~ Starfish Wishes

Posted on May 31, 2016May 31, 2016 by Dusty Roads

This was quite a weekend. Memorial day 2016 ranged from HOT HOT HOT to cool and rainy. Something for everyone.

Saturday was the best day and my original plan was to head to the beach. But after some thought I decided on a whale watch. I figured if it was 90 degrees and the first weekend of the summer that I would be one of many who would be heading to the beach. So Instead I headed to Plymouth and the Captain John Boats.

I stopped for lunch at Cabby Shack where I spotted the wall art quoted in the title.

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I just like the whimsy.

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Once I had lunch out of the way I headed over to the boat. I was very early but once again I was concerned about summer crowds. Turns out it wasn’t too bad.

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Whale's Tail-2a

If it was 90 degrees on shore the temperature dropped like a stone once we left the harbor. I was glad I brought a warm hoodie. The trip took us the the same place we always seem to end up, the tip of Cape Cod just off Provincetown. There, with the Pilgrim Tower in the background, we spotted out first and only whale of the day.

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It was a juvenile humpback. Our Naturalist estimated it was the calves’s first year without its mother. A sighting of such a young animal is rare according to the naturalist. Once the more mature whales arrive you don’t see these “yearlings” so often.

Whale's Tail

Our “little guy” was very active. He’d surface, cruise then we’d see him “hump” his back, the tail would start up and then there it was, the fluke indicating he was going into a dive. He’s be gone about 5-6 minutes then do it all again.

Here’s the back

There’s the back

He comes the tail

Humpback

And there’s the fluke.

There’s the Tail

What a great day!

Food, Fun and Sun

Posted on September 20, 2015September 20, 2015 by Dusty Roads

The Scallop Festival opened up at 10 AM. Now I may love scallops but I don’t know about eating a plate at 10 am. Somehow my tummy just isn’t ready for it at that time. Besides, we’d just had a big breakfast at I HOP so I wasn’t ready for anything more to eat right away.

The Scallop Fest has been going on for 40 years or so but this was the first time I ever went. The weather forecast this morning was cool with chance of showers and thunderstorms. They lied.

I bet it was mid 70’s when we parked at the fairgrounds in Falmouth at 11:30 and well on its way to mid 80s, The sun was shining and the sky was bright blue with white fluffy clouds. Not a thunderhead in sight.

There were loads of vendors and even though we were taking out time we were both soon soaked with sweat. Sandy made a new friend of the Geico gecko.

Sandy was wearing one of my black T Shirts so you can image how that got hot pretty quickly. She found a T Shirt stand and bought a lighter colored and it so happened lighter weight T shirt. There was plenty of room in the rest rooms so she did a quick change there.

I located a hematite jewelry kiosk and couldn’t resist a double strand magnetic bracelet. The stall owner went on and on about the healing properties of the hematite but I bought it because I liked it. If it eases joint pain that’s just a bonus.

I also found a little black cat head, like it was peaking around a corner, that I will mount on the kitchen wall as soon as I get a ladder.

There were bands playing on the main stage. They were all pretty good but I liked The Reminisants the best. They sang oldies by artists like the Moody Blues (Knights in White Satin), Neil Diamond (Sweet Caroline), Roy Orbison, Johnny Cash and even The Beatles. I could name every song and every artist. Fun.

And then there was the food. Of course there was the main attraction, Fried Scallops but if that wasn’t enough there was ice cream, fried dough, strawberry shortcake, fudge and on and on. No one will go hungry here today.

There was a huge “Bouncy Park” for all sizes. Sandy and I pulled up chairs and watched the little dare devils jump from the ramparts of one bouncy house.

The younger kids were fearless but as they got older they got more hesitant.

We even saw a drone hovering nearby. Look up in the sky….

We ate our plates of scallops in a shaded picnic grove. It was a relief from the sun. The heat wasn’t too bad when the breeze blew but it was sure warm when it stopped.

I don’t know what they consider a crowd but it seemed like there were a lot of people but not so many that there were lines.

We wrapped up our day about 3 pm and wonder of wonders, the drive off cape was as easy as it had been in the morning. No 3 mile back up for us!

There Be Whales

Posted on June 21, 2014June 21, 2014 by Dusty Roads

Last Sunday was father’s day and it was a perfect day, sunny and warm. It was a perfect day for a whale watch. It would be the first of the year for me. The Captain John website was bragging about amazing sightings from whale calves breaching to pods of whales bubble net feeding. I had to get in on the act.

All of the whale watches seem to go to the same place. The difference is how long it takes to get there. They will tell you you’re going to Stellwagen bank, a marine sanctuary. Located between Cape Ann and Cape Cod, in the southwest corner of the Gulf of Maine, is Massachusetts Bay. The bay’s most prominent submerged feature is the kidney-shaped plateau called Stellwagen Bank, which lies at the bay’s eastern edge. But in the last 3 whale watches I’ve been on we’ve never made it to Stellwagen Bank. We’ve been just outside the marine sanctuary near the tip of cape cod. Race Point at the tip of the cape has been a recurring landmark on these trips.

The last 2 trips I went on had last year had minimal activity, mainly finback whales. They are interesting but they aren’t the showmen the humpbacks are.

So I had my fingers crossed that we’d see humpbacks this trip.

The trip started off with a minke whale just cruisin’ on past us. Then we got a look at a finback whale named Blue.

She had tangled with a Provincetown Fast Ferry and the scars from that encounter gave her a distinctive look so she could be identified.

Finally we saw a tail off in the distance. The Captain took off after the diving humpback. Once near where it had disappeared we throttled back and drifted and waited. Everyone watched the water.

Finally there was the blow. The humpback did a series of shallow dives and then there it came, the arched back that precedes the beautiful fluke.

Humpbacks are identified by the markings on the tail flukes and this whale was showing off that gorgeous tail. Pretty soon the naturalist announced that the whale was named Hancock.

We spent the rest of our trip following Hancock around and put on a show he did. There were many deep dives with the traditional tail flukes which never fails to please. Each time he did that the crowd on board exploded into applause and cheers.

But the finale was a waving splashing dive that sent rainbow spray flying .

The naturalist said she had never seen anything like that!

The ride back was quiet. Everyone seemed tired from the sea and sun and excitement of the Hancock the Humpback Show.

Lighthouses along the Massachusetts Coast

Posted on August 22, 2013August 22, 2013 by Dusty Roads

I ran around trying to get pictures of lighthouses last summer. I had it in my head that the best lighthouses to photograph were in Maine. It was a fun trip and I got some beautiful shots but I overlooked the fact that there are 16 lighthouses just on Cape Cod. Cape Cod is a day trip for me and what about the rest of the Massachusetts Coast?

Boston Harbor Cruises offers 2 Lighthouse Cruises, a “northern” and a “southern”. Of course they are always on a Saturday night so I haven’t had the chance to take either. But this year I haven’t been looking for lighthouses. I’ve been chasing whales and seals and in process look what I’ve seen!

Gurnet Light

This has been my nemesis of a light since I heard of it. The Lighthouse is not open to the pubic and is accessible only by four- wheel- drive vehicles from Duxbury Beach. But even if you have a four- wheel -drive, which I do not, the road is not open to the public either.

If you want to hike it, which I have considered, it’s only about 5 miles each way. (With camera gear I’d rather not) The other option is from the water but I don’t have a boat so I was thrilled to pass right by it on Captain John’s Whale Watch trip.

Bug Light AKA Duxbury Pier Light

Seems like there are “Bug” Lights everywhere. They refer to little lighthouses, many are “spark plug” like in shape but most also have a real name like this one. Although known as “Bug Light” it’s real name is Duxbury Pier Light. It was built in 1871 on the north side of the main channel in Plymouth Harbor to mark the dangerous shoal off Saquish Head. It was the first so-called spark plug lighthouse in the US.

To really appreciate this spark plug of a light you need to read The Keeper of Bug Light http://www.buglight.org/Harry%20Salter%20Buglight.pdf It’s an easy read and very interesting.

`Let’s take a quick swing down to Chatham on Cape Cod. As I looked at the seal colony we cruised past Chatham Lighthouse with Lighthouse beach in front. (If I ever do a Cape Cod series you’ll see this one again.)

Today, the former keeper’s house is an active U.S. Coast Guard station, with on-duty personnel living quarters. Search and Rescue, maritime law enforcement, and Homeland Security missions are carried out here. Flotilla 11-01 of the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary operates from this station.

This is located right on Main St so it’s easy to get to unlike some of the other’s mentioned here. Lets take a look at a couple more in my next post.

A Seal Of Approval

Posted on August 16, 2013August 16, 2013 by Dusty Roads

Great White Sharks are prowling the shores of Cape Cod once again as the seal population continues to explode. If there was any doubt that the great predators are here to stay it was dispelled when the discovery channel aired Shark Week and the Great Whites of Cape Cod were prominently featured.

I would still like to see a Great White Shark but I would hate to have to go to South Africa to see “air jaws” when we have our own crop of “Jaws” right here at home. At first they were just hanging out in Chatham eating the seals of Monemoy Island but now it appears that they are spreading northward toward Orleans and Truro.

So on a sunny day last week I headed to Chatham to see for myself. My last visit to the seals on Monemoy was back in 2010.

A lot of changes can happen in 3 years. The first change was that the little shuttle isn’t running. I’m still researching ways to get to the island but in the meantime I called the Beachcomber Seal Tours and made a reservation for an afternoon trip.

The tour didn’t leave from the Fish Pier this time. They said that parking had become impossible there so they had us go to their marine showroom and then shuttled us to the boat in a green trolley.

We had a full boat for the afternoon trip. The boats stay in the harbor so are pretty small, certainly nothing like the whale watching boats. As we loaded a seal popped it’s head up right by the dock.

Even though we could say we’d seen a seal, that wasn’t part of the tour. We actually had a bit of a ride to get to the harbor near the seals. As we approached North Beach we saw the first of the seals.

The tide can swing up to 9 ft. here between high and low tide. The tide was still low so the sand bars were just below the surface and the seals were sitting in the water on these submerged sand bars.