2021 Life Logs, Day 250: Goldpebbles’ Guide to Falmouth Beaches
Date: Tuesday, September 7, 2021
Weather: Sunny; High Temp 76, Low Temp 63 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Today was a Cape Cod beautiful day with clear deep blue skies and lots of sunshine. It could not have been a more perfect day for Sam, Jonah, Ollie, and I to drive around to every public beach in Falmouth as our end of summer celebration. The Goldpebbles came up with a rating system from 0 to 10 based on sand quality, size of the beach area, and number of tourists among many other things. If you are not from Falmouth, this list will mean nothing to you. But for those of you in Falmouth, you might want to do your own rating of our beautiful beaches. Our list does not match Trip Advisor’s 5 Best Beaches in Falmouth List. Our #10 is their #1! Obviously, choice of beach is very personal. I will list our ratings at the end of this log if you are interested in our opinion on Falmouth’s beautiful beaches.
As we drove from Woods Hole back to Falmouth, we drove by Nobska Lighthouse where we stopped to enjoy the beautiful view. It is not a beach, but I could not drive by without stopping. We had to end our tour by 2:30 pm so we could get Sam home and ready for his 3 pm soccer practice, so we had to move on, but it was a fun stop.
When I got home, I ended the day by finally canning the marinara sauce I made from the San Marzano tomatoes from my garden. Last week I canned 4 pints from 5.5 pounds. This week I got 10 pints from 11 pounds, a little better. But every pint is precious this year. I usually buy about 100 pounds of organic sauce tomatoes from Carrie at Peach Tree Farm in Falmouth but this year she has none. Tomorrow I need to do some research to see if I can buy more somewhere. I can this sauce for Heather and family as they go through a pint per week during the year—14 down and 42 to go.
Tomorrow is first day of school. All three boys are going to new schools. Sam is going to high school, Jonah is going to middle school, and Ollie is off to a new neighborhood elementary school. Here’s hoping they all have a good first day of school.
Now for the Goldpebbles’ Guide to Falmouth Beaches . . .
Menauhant Beach on Nantucket Sound #1–Our adopted home base with a huge beach area divided in half by a channel leading into huge Bourne Pond, lots of parking, a sand bar, and a beautiful view across to Martha’s Vineyard. The only negative was sand quality.
Wood Neck Beach and Little Sippewissett Marsh on Buzzards Bay #2—This was a tough decision for the boys and for me. We all LOVE Wood Neck, so it vacillated between #1 and #2. As we left there, Sam stopped to reflect on just how good it made him feel just being at Wood Neck. The boys love the ocean side at low tide when you have to walk out very far over sand flats to get to the ocean. It is beautiful. They love the lazy river that flows from the marsh into the ocean as the tide goes out. And the marsh offers hours of exploration. Sam is right. This is a very special spot on Planet Earth.
Quissett Beach in Quissett Harbor off Buzzards Bay #3—A walk to The Knob, paths through the woods with great climbing trees, a rocky part of the beach perfect for building rock cairns, very little beach but dogs are allow on a leash, a view of one of the most quintessential harbors in New England, and former summer home of Windbird.
Chapoquoit Beach on Buzzards Bay and Chapoquoit Marsh on West Falmouth Harbor #4—t beach is known as “Chappy” and has become smaller and smaller over the past few years. It is long and narrow and soccer players love to go there after prime beach time to kick soccer balls. Across the street is the Chapoquoit Marsh which is alive with armies of fiddler crabs and a view of beautiful West Falmouth Harbor. The boys ran through the marsh today like wild deer. We haven’t been to the marsh there for three or four years, so it was wonderful to get reacquainted.
Stony Beach in Woods Hole on Buzzards Bay #5—Along time favorite of the Goldpebbles from the days when they attended the Woods Hole Preschool and when Windbird spent two summers in Eel Pond. Stony beach is small and stony until you get a few feet out into the water. It is mostly populated by families with Woods Hole connections. The two jetties offer great opportunities for crabbing and at low tide there is sandbar that kids love to swim out to. There is also a big rock out in the water that older kids climb and jump off. And it is a short walk into the village.
Surf Drive Beach on Nantucket Sounds #6—The boys discovered this beach after moving to Grasmere Drive. It is just over 2 miles to this beach. We sometimes meet Heather and Jed there for a quick dip at the end of a busy day so the boys have labeled it the “Quick Dip Beach”.
Bristol Beach on Nantucket Sound #7—Big beach close to town. The negative is that it is populated by tourists that rent homes in the area for the summer, but it is less crowded than adjacent Falmouth Heights Beach.
Falmouth Heights Beach on Nantucket Sound #8—Less than 2 miles from Grasmere Drive and a beautiful beach, BUT too many tourists for the Goldpebbles.
Megansett Beach in Megansett Harbor off Buzzards Bay #9—Small beach that doesn’t have anything to lure you there unless you live close by. It does have a great pier that older kids jump off of at high tide and has lots of critters to explore that live under the pier.
Old Silver Beach on Buzzards Bay #10—Best sand of any of the Falmouth beaches, but just too crowded to suit the Goldpebbles.
