I lost my mind at Nauset Beach!
Written: Sep 10 '00 (Updated Sep 10 '00)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: The beauty of the crashing waves
Cons: Showers don't do the job, but not a reason to stay away!
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| sarahgutch's Full Review: Cape Cod |
Once you are on the Cape, there is a beach to the north or south, or, once you turn the corner past Brewster and Chatham, to the east or west. Each has its own beautiful features and personality. Early in the week we discovered Sea Gull Beach, on Nantucket Sound in Yarmouth. Gently lapping olive green waves (although somewhat sea-weedy) and a gentle slope into the warmish water made it a nice family beach day for building sand castles. We saw the Cape Cod Bay side at The Cape Cod Museum of Natural History (Brewster) a few days later, and enjoyed all the flora and fauna skittering around underfoot out on the flats.
By the end of the week, some of our party had a hankering for some surf. I remembered reading something in a booklet I picked up in Brewster about Nauset Beach:
...we took them all down to Nauset in the afternoon, where a heavy surf clawed away at the summer berm, creating a sharp shelf two feet high, while an offshore wind blew back the crests of the waves like a thousand horses' manes...
--Robert Finch
I had some faint recollections of Nauset Beach from a previous weekend trip seven years earlier, but I had been on pain medication for a broken foot so my memory of the place was a little foggy, although I did recall that there was fun going on that day.
Anticipating the fun, our teenage son purchased a cheap boogie board in Provincetown the day before our beach adventure. We packed a lunch and headed out just before noon on a BLUE-tiful day...deep azure skies with cotton candy clouds. A quick check in the Cape Cod guide (www.eCape.com) confirmed our route via the Mid-Cape Highway (Rte. 6) to Exit 12 at Orleans, then just follow the signs through East Orleans along Beach Road to the parking lot. We paid the $10 parking fee (standard at all the beaches we visited that week) and found a space close to the facilities... a bath house, life guard station and food concession with an extensive menu (even lobster rolls).
As we plodded through the parking lot with all our gear, I started to hear screams of delight, similar to what comes from a roller coaster at an amusement park. Along the boardwalk, between the dunes, we had arrived at the Atlantic Ocean--the surf crashed foamy white onto the sand, was a bright aquamarine just beyond the foam, and a deep teal farther out. Then we saw the people, bobbing in the waves or sprawled in the sun. I hardly remember arranging our own blankets and umbrellas, because the ocean was calling me.
I stood at the water's edge. A wave engulfed my feet, then the sand was being sucked out from under me. I felt the power. I had to do something, and suddenly I was eleven years old and drawn into the ocean. Just at the point where the waves were breaking, my feet and ankles started getting bashed with beach rocks. I looked around and saw my own reaction reflected in the faces of the others who were venturing into the surf for the first time--our faces all said "oooch, ouch, ...HEY!" The only way out was to dive into the next wave. Then we were treading water, waiting for a good wave to body surf back onto the beach. Boogie boards? Bah! With proper timing, any body can catch a wave and be swept in. I heard my own screams of delight join with the others.
It was exhilarating! I dove back into the surf again and again. Then, reality set it. I rode a nice big wave in, and suddenly my middle-aged body couldn't get up out of the foam before another wave smacked me in the back of the head and turned me sideways. "Get up! Get up!" my dear videographer cheered from behind the camera, but I couldn't hear him. A third wave rolled me up and down in the surf, then I jumped--aching, laughing, spitting sand--up and out of the surf.
"Tell me you didn't get all that on film."
"Yep."
"I can't wait to see it!"
Trudging back to our beach blankets, I realized I felt heavier than normal (which is heavy enough, thank you). My sister-in-law pointed to my bright blue, and now quite lumpy, tank suit and started laughing. I looked down and saw that all sorts of rocks had become lodged inside my suit. I pulled my suit out at the leg opening and a small pile fell to the sand. My 10-year-old niece started giggling, so I did it again. Pile after pile was deposited and the giggling continued.
"I have to do something about this." I headed back out into the ocean, only to discover that more rocks were collected on every trip back out to the beach. Now I know the true meaning of sand-washed. I was swimming in nature's own exfoliator. I was riding in a rock tumbler. My feet were callous-free, but I was wiped out, and my suit was still collecting rocks. I headed to the shower and changing room and discovered that the showers (not much more than spritzers) were all outside and there were only sinks in the changing rooms. So I took my bathing suit off, turned it inside out and held it out the window and shook it out, put it back on and went out to the spritzer. It didn't do much good.
We spent the rest of the day burying our son up to his neck and building him a muscle man body out of sand.
At one point, my sister-in-law pointed out to the water just beyond the swimmers and said "Hey, isn't that... a SEAL?" It was, and he was big! He poked his black head above the waves to peer at the people frolicking near him, and it seemed to me that he shook his head in amusement and then swam away.
It was a great day.
Back at the motel, I finally had a chance to shower properly... "Honey, there's an entire ecosystem here in my bathing suit!" "Can I see?"
Days later, I asked honey to look at the bottom of my feet, "Are they black and blue?" "No."
It took a couple of days to recover, but would do it all over again? I couldn't resist!
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
sarahgutch
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Member: Abbie Slaman
Location: NJ
Reviews written: 42
Trusted by: 22 members
About Me:
What's so funny 'bout peace love & understanding? --Nick Lowe
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