Today was our last beach day. We headed in to Gloucester, MA on Cape Ann. We parked at the Fort Stage Park and took the trolley to the beach. To park at the beach it costs $25/vehicle, if you took the trolley it was free parking and cost $1/person to ride.

A Gloucester lobster inside the Welcome Centre.

It was about a 20 minute scenic trolley ride that took us through different parts of town.

We were at the beach by 10:30 in the morning, and low tide was at 11:00 AM.

There were some off and on sprinkles of rain.

The girls heading out to check the temperature of the ocean.

Just as cold as the outer Cape.

The girls are the dots in the middle of the photo.

I took a walk out to the island. During low tide there is a sandbar that lets you walk right out to the island.

Looking back towards the Good Harbor beach.

The sandbar that provides the land bridge.

With the showers, Angela and Claudia built a shelter in the ground.

Claudia staying dry.

Angela made a turtle sand sculpture.

The girls sitting on the turtle’s back.

Susan waiting for the sun to come out.

The sun was flirting with us trying to come out.

Eventually the sun did come out for awhile.

The tide was starting to come in by mid-afternoon.

One last picture before they filled the hole in. We took the trolley back to town. The ride took us along the coast and through Rocky Neck.

We walked along the harbour before going for dinner.

This is the Gloucester Fisherman’s Memorial. It is a bronze statue cast in 1925.

The Stacy Esplanade.

There is a working draw bridge. We waited to watch some pleasure craft move through the canal.

The girls looking for sea glass on a small rocky beach off the esplanade.

The Gloucester Fisherman’s Wives Memorial.

Gloucester is the oldest seaport in America, it dates back to 1623. It is the setting for the non fiction book, The Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger and the movie version was filmed there on location, with Goerge Clooney and Mark Wahlberg.

We had dinner at Captain Carlos, it was our last fill of seafood for this trip. Susan and Claudia had the Baked Haddock, Angela had the Baked Scallops, and I had the Shrimp and Scallop Alfredo with a mug of chowdah.

We took a short walk after dinner to one of the piers. This is an old marine railway they were restoring.

Looking out at the harbour.

They had a giant lobster trap. Here are a couple of caught lobsters.

Angela inside the lobster trap.

Angela and Claudia sitting on a big wooden buoy.

Trying to pull the trap.

Angela walking in Fitz Henry Lane’s shoes. Fitz Henry (or Hugh) Lane was an American painter born in Gloucester in 1804 (-1865).

The girls posing with Fitz Henry Lane.

The inscription in the rock before his shoes.

The sculpture of Fitz Henry Lane.

Todays route from Danvers (A) to Gloucester (B) to Good Harbor Beach (C).

Today we headed to Mayo Beach. It is on the Cape Cod Bay side. The parking at this beach is free. Other than the National Park beaches, there are Town of Wellfleet managed beaches. Some of them have limited free parking, other have “sticker” parking, meaning you have to be a resident or pay $50 for a 3 day sticker. We opted to go early and get the free parking. Of course we were early and the only people on the beach were shellfish farmers.

It was another beautiful morning, and going early was better as the afternoon started to cloud over.

The tide was still going out.

We headed up to Main Street and had breakfast at The Lighthouse Restaurant.

Once we got back down to the beach, there were more shellfish farmers.

They have areas marked off by buoys that are off-limits to digging.

Looking back up to the beach.

This guy came over to Claudia to tell her not to dig beyond the buoys. I asked if we could come and watch him.

He explained the oyster harvesting process with the cages.

He said a lot of these oysters were close to being ready for market.

He found a cage and brought it back to his table and opened it up for us.

He sizes the oysters, the ones that are big enough and have a deep shell are kept, the others go back in the cage or bag for more growing.

This guy had been doing this since he was 10 years old and was born in Wellfleet, just up the street from the beach.

Here are the oysters cages that are cable-tied to the racks.

Next to those he had littleneck clam beds.

The girls found this crab.

A dead horseshoe crab shell.

It was pretty interesting talking to this guy. He is out there almost everyday. He asked if I had ever been to Newfoundland, he had been for a vacation a few years ago and was looking forward to going back some time.

Claudia finding a place to dig.

A large Horseshoe crab shell.

With the tide coming in, the girls let their crabs and hermit crabs go free.

We walked around some of the shops along Main Street.

Back at the motel it was time for a swim in the outdoor salt water pool.

There is also an indoor pool, but not nearly as nice as the outdoor one.

For dinner tonight we went to Moby Dick’s Restaurant.

You line up and then order from the menu. They seat you and then bring you your food when it is ready. I had the Lobster Clambake (1.5 lb lobster with 1 lb of steamers) and a mug of Clam Chowdah, Susan had the grilled Atlantic salmon, and the girls shared a fish & chips and shrimp & chips dinner. It was very good. You can also bring your own booze, they’ll put it in a can on ice while you wait.

We took the scenic drive back to the motel. We stopped at Calhoun Hollow Beach for a walk along the beach.

There were seven fires that I counted. People can get a permit and they just dig a hole and build a fire. Pretty cool.