Coast Guard Beach extends into a little peninsula that leads to Nauset Spit, with the ocean on one side and Nauset Marsh on the other. Coast Guard Beach and Nauset Beach were once connected, but now they are not. Nauset Spit is a narrow body of water deep enough for the boats to go in and out of Nauset Marsh and Orleans Cove. (Click on blog link for other photo.)
You can walk to the end of Coast Guard Beach and turn around or you can proceed further and walk along the marsh side. There used to be a little trail that eventually would lead you back to the beach. Now there are several ponds that are there all the time. You can see they get higher at high tide. You can still find that trail, but it is not as easy.
Such a different view than in years past, don’t you think? There’s very little grass on the salt marsh side.
It was a gorgeous, windy day so we thought we’d go back to First Encounter Beach and watch the kite surfers while we ate our picnic lunch in the car. Wrong!
How funny! We had forgotten that the tide had changed just enough in those few days that it was dead low at lunchtime. So we sat and watched the people walking out on the flats… and then we took a walk too.
If you enlarge this photo, you can see the little specks of people walking way, way out there on the flats. Pretty cool!
I love to drive along the coast and see some of the Cape Cod beaches with the huge dunes towering above. Cahoon Hollow is just gorgeous on this beautiful, sunny day.
The reflections on the water at Cliff Pond at Nickerson State Park were so pretty the other day. The hike is always a pretty one and even better when you don’t see another person on it!
I saw my first Double-Crested Cormorant this year at Rock Harbor a couple of days ago. What a treat! I love to watch them swim along and dive for food. They are so entertaining.
The Double-crested Cormorant is a medium-sized cormorant with an iridescent black body and an orange throat pouch. They frequently spread their wings to dry them.
This is the first one of the season for me… beautiful bird, don’t you think?
Cape Cod daily articles on the wonderful Cape Cod places to hike, experience and photograph. A Cape Cod Outdoor Adventure Series.
