Friday, July 31, 2009

Warm Water on the Bay Side


The line of trees marks the navigable channel out to the bay




Once the tide came in swimmers yielded to the boat traffic




Two days ago we visited Marconi Beach on the ocean side of the cape. Nice waves and views but a water temp. of 57 degrees as is usually the case. Yesterday we heard about this nice bay side beach in Orleans. When we first arrived the tide was out and we could have easily walked a half mile out before we reached the waters edge. The beach area had what appeared to be town dockage for a number of charter boats and a channel marked by scruffy dead pine trees leading out to navigable waters. When we arrived the channel was less than 2 feet deep so there were no boats coming or going. The water felt like it was about 80 degrees. I went swimming twice without hesitation. The water was absolutely perfect. Once the tide turned and started to come in everything changed fast. The current of the flood tide was so fast that people who had walked out on the sand minutes ago were floating back in on the tide current. Before long the channel reached a navigable depth and the fishing charters started to depart. We understand there is a 6 hour window for the boats to leave and return for each tide cycle.

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