I knew there wasn't going to be much in Harwichport, so to make the trip down there worthwhile, I reserved a spot on the 90 minute Monomoy Island Excursion seal tour. I had no idea what to expect. I've always been intrigued by Monomoy Island, because you can't get there except by boat. And no one's allowed on there anyway because it's a wildlife and bird sanctuary.
We left from where the first red 'ramp' is pointed, Saquatucket Harbor, and sailed over to south Chatham and the top part of the island, above the word 'Monomoy'. Due to last winter's violent storms, this area has shifted and changed so much that it hasn't been re-charted. Sand was washed away to build new 'islands' and other islands are now under water.
Checked in, got my ticket and went down to the docks to wait. It was high tide.
2 fighter jets from Otis AFB flew overhead, which is unnerving ever since 9/11. However I do not believe there was a sinister reason for that day's flight.
That's the boat we took, a high speed catamaran. I was lucky enough to get a seat right up front in the bow.
Leaving the harbor.
Headed out into Nantucket Sound
North Monomoy Island.
This is a fish weir. The fisherman is one of only two in the entire state who is licensed to fish this way and that family has held that license for generations.
I'm still not entirely sure how it works, other than the nets under the water that round up the fish. Seems to me the whole set up would be difficult to repair after a storm.
This looks like it walked off a Winslow Homer painting. Not that he ever painted this lighthouse when he was on the Cape, but it still looked Homeresque to me.
At this point the boat was making so many twists and turns around sandbars just under the surface and beaches and channels that I got really confused as to what was part of Monomoy Island and what was still part of the southernmost beaches of Chatham. That's looking at the Atlantic, which we did cross into both going and coming and it was a wild ride on those waves.
That's definitely Monomoy.
I know that is the Chatham beach because there were people on it. You can walk there from town, over 2 miles on soft sand, or reach it by boat and/or kayak.
And to think we haven't even gotten to the seals yet!
