Shellfishing Reconnoiter

Russell got his shellfish license so one morning we drove around, scouting out some of the beds open for digging.  The map in the town guide is really, really bad.  We had to compare it to a map of Bourne that I brought with us.  Pretty sure he has a good idea of where he'll go digging, if the weather ever gets warm.  These first pics are from various locations.

We finished up at Scraggy Neck so I could beach comb at low tide.  It was beautiful out...wind a bit nippy but not freezing.  Looking out towards Cleveland Ledge Light.

The same view, frozen solid, from January 2018.

 The water looked so inviting but for the fact it was ice cold.

I had some fairly decent luck with my beach glass endeavors.

Another shot from January when it was completely silent.  No sound of the water at all.

And back to normal with the awesome sound of the waves.

I am so grateful to my hubby for putting up with my painstaking search for treasure, even though he was really cold and hungry.  We went out for pizza after we left!

Right after I took that I looked at the sand and couldn't believe my eyes.  A beach glass bead.  I was literally dancing around.  This is one of the beach glass holy grail items and was a huge score.  Really one of the finds of a lifetime.

Dramatic skies

Looked threatening but it never did rain.

Once last pic of Cleveland Light before we left.

My treasures for the day.  Russell picked up a bunch of sparkly rocks he thought I'd like.  He knows me so well!

Another shot of the bead.

I hope we get some spring weather cause we're both eager to keep getting out to the coast.  It smells so good and the sounds of the water is very soothing.

An Abbreviated Trip to Scraggy Neck

I haven't been out to Scraggy Neck to beachcomb in a long time.  Usually I am extremely lucky with glass.  So we headed over there to check it out.  Unfortunately the second we got out of the car we were hit with a strong and icy wind.  I couldn't believe it.  We were NOT dressed for that kind of cold at all.  Needless to say, this was the fastest and most half assed beachcomb I've ever done.  

White caps in Buzzards Bay.  The thing sticking up on the horizon is the Cleveland Ledge Lighthouse.

It wasn't so bad if I faced in this direction but we were still buffeted by that wind.

Russell was quite chuffed at his find of a very old, hand wrought chain.  He spent the rest of the trip tantalizing me with thoughts of possible treasure chests buried in the sand.  Now we both want to go back down there with a shovel.

These were my finds from Scraggy Neck, although the slipper and scallop shell were from Town Neck the day before.  The rock on the bottom right says "You don't have time to be timid. You must be Bold & Daring'.  It's from the Kindness Rock Project and we found it on the stone bridge that'll be featured in my next blog post.  

Let Beachcombing Season Begin!

Now that it's cooled off and the tourists are gone, the beaches are once again empty, and also free.  During the summer, I will pay the $7 to park at Scusset if I really need a beach-fix, but I'll be damned if I pay $20 in Sandwich or Falmouth to park for an hour or so.  

I need a beachcombing fix bad, so I headed out one clear, cool morning.  Cleveland Ledge Lighthouse was so clear.

I'm not sure what those white spots/lines are.  If I had to guess, I'd say they are houses with their reflections in the water, but it looks like a mirage effect.

It was at this point, after I shot this, that my trip was cut short due to an emergency (don't worry, it's all fine).

So I went back 2 days later to finish my glass hunt.

Those green things are rusted and busted up garden tools.  I can't tell if they washed up or were used to make this fire pit.

It's soooo nice to have a camera with a clean sensor.  This picture would have been very spotty with the Pentax.

This doggy ran down the beach and over the jetties, then dashed into the woods.  He came back out at full bore, completely ignoring me, and plunged into the water for a quick dip, then ran off!  If you biggify this pic you can see his tongue sticking out!  

This looked better in real life...it's a crystal clear tidepool.  You can see the water ripples at the edges of the pic and around the large rocks.  Every stone glitters like a jewel.

On the way out, I pulled off on the side of the road to check out this beach.  

This part of the road is narrow with a harbour on one side and this narrow, crescent shaped beach on the other.  I didn't have high hopes of getting glass but I found a few pieces plus some great shells for glitter ornaments.  This screen cap of the map shows the narrow strip with the beach at the bottom and harbour at the top.

This stream ran out of a small salt marsh, across the beach and into the water.  I really, really wanted to take my shoes and socks off to play in the water and cross to the other side but I was too unprepared to do that. 

This is by far the largest piece of beach glass I've ever found.  It's actually worn too.  I have found bottles this big before, but they were fresh.  This one isn't. Epic. Score.

This is in the harbour on the other side of the road from the beach.

Then I parked at a little conservation area and took pics of another small harbour.

It's awesome to be surrounded by so many beaches.  I forgot how much I missed it.  To be honest, Puget Sound beaches really didn't cut it.  And to get to the WA or OR coastal beaches, it was a 3-5 hour drive depending upon where you were headed.  Even living in the Bay Area, except for when I was living in the Richmond District of SF, near Ocean Beach, it was a long drive to get to Pt. Reyes or Stinson or anywhere along Rte. 1.  

Oh and I did pretty well on the beach glass....mostly very small pieces, but still a total of 53, with one small cobalt blue and that big piece of green, plus some great shells & quartz rocks.