The Lighthouses of Cape Cod

Our initial plan for Cape Cod was to base our stay at Hyannis MA, and on driving in we made a very good decision to eschew the mainstream hotels and stay at one recommended by the Lonely Planet, namely the Anchor In on the harbour waterfront and within walking distance of Main Street restaurants and of the ferries to Nantucket. The Anchor In is a family run hotel and was an absolute delight. Sandy, the receptionist, was ever so helpful and allowed us to view rooms before we decided. She also gave us great advice on the ferries, where to go on Cape Cod and where to eat. Our room was as good as any we have stayed in, and we had lovely views of the harbour, the ferries and the sunset. The Lonely Planet recommendation was a good one indeed.

Sunset over Hyannis Harbor from the Anchor In.

We had some excellent and interesting dinners in Hyannis. One was at a tapas bar EmBarGo, perfect because we were after a drink and a light meal. We tried quahog, a large shellfish stuffed with lobster and chorizo. The waiter, Ben, told us this was a Massachusetts and Rhode Island specialty. Ben looked like a wannabe footballer, and gave us lessons on the game on that night, Baltimore vs the New England Patriots. The locals were clearly on the side of the latter, but we don't know who won in the end. Even with the football on, a trio played live jazz at the EmBarGo.

Empty recreational berths populate Hyannis Harbor, like all other marinas in New England in winter.

All up the Atlantic coast, we see cute lighthouses like this one in Hyannis Harbor.

These gulls seem cranky that they could not have a swim in the frozen water.

There are only two roads onto Cape Cod, both crossing the artifical Cape Cod Canal which cuts about 200 miles off the shipping journey from southern ports into Boston and Plymouth. With the canal, Cape Cod is now an island. We came in over the Sagamaore Bridge which is quite a bottleneck. Luckily (on a Sunday afternoon) we were heading onto the Cape, because the traffic heading back onto the "mainland" was backed up maybe 10km behind this bridge. We noticed at Sagamore a huge Park 'n' Ride depot where Cape residents can park and commute into Boston for work. Trouble is, they have to drive across that bridge!

A well integrated navigation system, like this one at Dennis Beach.

Cape Cod is a thin J shaped spit of land with 900km of coastline and beaches - it protects most of the coast of Massachusetts from the Atlantic Ocean. We toured what a map referred to as the Mid-Cape, the Lower Cape, the Outer Cape and the northern part of the Upper Cape over a couple of days. Cape Code is a lighthouse fiesta. The present-day lights distinguish themselves from each other for seaman by their colours and flashing patterns. Before the invention of rotating lights, other artifices like multiple lights side by side were used. Eastham was identified, for example, by a row of lights called "the three sisters" which are now redundant but have been preserved for posterity in the bush behind the present facility.

The Nauset Light is near Eastham on Cape Cod. Behind it are the now retired "three sisters" lights.

Moving sand at Chatham Banks at the tip of the elbow on Cape Cod.

We learned that Cape Cod is predominantly a holiday destination - there a multitudes of beach houses but the vast majority are locked up for winter. Their owners either stay in their Boston homes, or have moved to Florida to escape the bitter cold. That said, there is still a sufficient residual population to keep businesses open and we had no trouble finding cafes and bars to relax at. Most touristy art, craft, fashion and souvenir shops are firmly closed. Buildings are typically clad (walls and rooves) with timber shingles. These are blonde in colour when new (so recent renovations are easy to spot), and grey off to become quite dark if not black as they get old. Towns are uniformly grey for this reason and look quite charming.

The 1878 Chatham Light is maybe the prettiest on Cape Cod.

The houses are not beach shacks as an Australian would recognise them - they range from modest to grand but are generally well kept and neat & tidy. Cape Cod lives up to its reputation - it is evidently a summer playground for the wealthy from between New York and Boston. They are basically not here in winter, and during that period the Cape is mostly populated by local business owners and tradesman working on getting the place ready for summer.

The 1797 Highland Light near Truro is the oldest and brightest on Cape Cod.

The last 30km of the Outer Cape is effectively one road in and out to Provincetown, surely one of the cutest towns imaginable. What this compact town must look like in summer is, on the contrary, unimaginable, and the traffic up that road must be unbearable. But our visit was in winter, and the place was very quiet and all but closed. Each afternoon we look for a cafe for a warming cup of tea, and in Provincetown, we could only find one open in a main street of dozens.

Uninterrupted & close-packed beachside shacks and cottages line the Cape Cod Bay shore for miles along route 6A into Provincetown.

Kale grows colorfully in planter boxes in Provincetown.

In Provincetown, a Christmas Tree made of lobster pots and topped artily with colourful fishing floats.

All the townships we saw leading up to Provincetown were pretty as a picture. These include Chatham (fantastic lighthouse), Eastham and Truro. The coast on the east side is wild, being fully exposed to the Atlantic. The protected beaches on the west, inside Cape Cod Bay, are much calmer, and seem to be the popular swimming spots in summer. Nearer the canal, in the Upper Cape (this nomenclature is acknowleged to be irrational and confusing), there is a delightful town called Sandwich (the first town established by Europeans on the Cape, 1637!), which is separated by broad (and windswept) marshes from Cape Cod Bay traversed by a quite spectacular boardwalk.

The 1654 Dexter's Grist Mill in Sandwich still grinds cornmeal, in summer anyway.

Warming up at a welcome cafe in Sandwich. Coffee in real cups!

This long windswept boardwalk connecting Sandwich to its Atlantic surf beach dates back to 1875. On reconstruction in 1992 by the community, almost every board was engraved with a sponsor's name.