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.

Oh what a racket they were making.

They weren’t concerned about the boat in their midst at all. We moved on past Lighthouse beach to another seal colony.

Eventually we reached the fish pier where we passed Chatham’s pirate ship before turning for home.

The whole tour was maybe 1.5 hours. There weren’t any Great Whites but we sure did see seals.

Wave Bye Bye

Posted on August 14, 2013August 14, 2013 by Dusty Roads

Fog, a Lighthouse and Seals

Posted on July 11, 2012July 11, 2012 by Dusty Roads

The Captain raised the anchor and turned our little vessel into the wind for the last leg of our 3 hour tour. There wasn’t much to see except grey, choppy seas and fog. The naturalist said we were about an hour out from Egg Rock Island, our next destination.

Hmmmm an hour and heading into the wind with wet clothes??? Not a good idea. I could see hypothermia being a problem so even though I didn’t want to go into the cabin I didn’t have much choice. I took a seat way up front by the “snack bar” (I use that term loosely) which also happened to be where the heater was located. The sick folks were all huddled in the back. Oh I have been there and done that. I know how miserable they were feeling.

I was almost dried out and semi warm when one of the few children still mobile popped into the cabin too. He felt that heat and glued himself to the grate effectively blocking the heat for anyone else in the room but at least he was warm and he is a child…women and children first and all..I took the high road and kept my mouth shut. If someone else wanted to tell him to move they could but it wasn’t going to be me. 🙂

In spite of the situation, once I warmed up the hour passed fairly quickly. I chatted with the Naturalist about the type of seals and tried to avoid looking in the back. Eventually the Naturalist went outside. When he came back he announced that Egg Rock Island was in sight. Time to go back into the wind, spray, fog and cold.

Egg Rock Island is a big nesting site for many types of sea gulls. Its pretty flat and open without much cover. Consequently it is like an all you can eat buffet for passing eagles.

Our guide told me that last year there were so many eagles that not one sea-gull chick survived from that nesting season. They were all eaten by eagles. He said sometimes it was really hard to watch. Nature is beautiful but also cruel. Every creature is just struggling to survive. We didn’t see any eagles today but judging from the number of gulls soaring over and around the island losing one season of chicks didn’t put much strain on the population.

As we came closer to the island we could see what looked like grey boulders only they moved. These were the seals of Egg Rock. The Island is a major haul out for Northern Grey seals and harbor seals.

We didn’t stop here, just slowly motored past then it was back to the harbor.

As we entered the outer harbor the sea changed again. Here the fog rolled back and the sun was out.

We passed a beautiful island with a cliff face.

Our guide said that the Navy used it for target practice. The “subs” used to come into the harbor and shoot torpedos at the cliff face where it dropped into the water.

Looking back I could see the line of demarcation between the foggy sea and the sunny inner harbor.

Back at the dock I let the sufferers off first. I enjoyed the trip. I doubt if the weather is always this bad but if anyone else plans to take this tour I recommend taking extra sweatshirts and even oilskins or rain gear…and of course your medication of choice for seasickness. You may have blue skies and fair sailing but you never know and it’s better to be prepared.

Seals and more beach, Chatham Ma

Posted on August 26, 2011August 26, 2011 by Dusty Roads

We had a great lunch on the patio at the Kreme and Cone in Chatham, MA. Over fish and clams, shrimp and onion rings we planned the afternoon. It was going on 2:30 pm by then anyway. The kids wanted to go to the Zooquarium in Yarmouth but they also wanted to see the seals. Since we were right there in Chatham we adults made an executive decision to go to the Fish Pier and see the seals.

We had great timing because the fishing boats were coming in with their catch. When we first got there a boat was off-loading lobster. Another boat had dogfish. Alex loved watching the unloading process.

The seagulls were swooping and there were 3- 4 seals that kept diving and swimming around the boats.

The nice thing about the Fish Pier is that a 2nd floor wrap around deck with a railing gives spectators an awesome place to watch the whole process. There’s a takeout seafood restaurant and a couple of picnic tables too as well as a decent restroom. Parking is a challenge. The parking lot is very tiny and always packed. Once you park you walk down to the pier.

The activity here held the kids attention much longer than I expected and we had a great time. When it was time to leave the kids made one last request. They wanted to walk the beach to look for shells. So it was back to the car for their buckets and flip-flops so they could wade in the water.

It was really neat. The little beach combers were very cute. A couple of the seals came around the dock and played in the water just off shore. This is the inner harbor and there hasn’t been any problem with sharks this far into the harbor but even so Nancy & I went on high alert to keep an eye out. Better safe than sorry.

We wrapped up the day by stopping for soft ice cream at the Seafood Shanty in Bourne. While we were eating our ice cream at the Herring Run recreation area across the road a huge barge passed us and traveled under the Sagamore bridge. It was just nearing sundown and it was easy to see why these are considered the golden hours for taking pictures.

The Sagamore bridge seemed to glow a burnished gold. It was the frosting on the cake. I had a great day and I think the kids had fun too. Next time we’ll have to get to the Zooquarium.