Inflatable Kayak Blog

by Carole Moleti

So you’ve got a place to stay and have studied the field guides and local maps I pointed out in the second installment of this series on family bonding. (Posted August 3, 2010 – Kayaking the Salt Marshes of Cape Cod, Massachusetts). You’re ready to go, but aren’t sure where to start. How about one of these itineraries for beach to beach kayaking in the historic sea captain’s town of Brewster, Massachusetts?

High on my wish list for this excursion is one of the Conquest Clear Bottom Inflatable Kayaks, perfect for observing underwater goings on. But for now I stow a mask and snorkel in my inflatable Sea Eagle 370, which allows both the younger ones and us older kids to interact with crabs, eels, and small fish at high tide.

Consider a trip out from one beach, paddle horizontal to the shoreline, then return to one of the other beaches, which are spaced about one-two miles apart. Get a drop off at Breakwater Beach, Brewster on an outgoing tide and paddle southwest toward Paine’s Creek. Hang out on the flats until the tide starts to come in (check out the second installment for ideas on how to wile away the hours) and ride with the current past the crescent shaped sliver of Paine’s Creek Beach. You’ll enter a narrow channel surrounded by tall, lush dune grass, spot an osprey nest (on a platform built by the Cape Cod Museum-Natural History in Brewster) and eventually end up at a dead end. Get some aerobic exercise paddling against the current back to the beach–a local hot spot to take a dip, relax, and watch an incredible unobstructed view of the sunset.

Take an easy stroll up Paine’s Creek Road where you’ll find Kate’s Fried Seafood at the intersection with Route 6A. Kate herself might be there helping serve huge ice cream treats, New England chowder, clam, and lobster fritters. No beer, no bathroom.

If you choose the opposite route and return to Breakwater Beach, the Brewster General Store, built as a church in 1852 and in business since 1866, still has most of the original fixtures and architecture. They feature breakfast fare, snacks, ice cream and fudge, an old-fashioned penny candy extravaganza, beach and boating supplies, books, and souvenirs.

If you take a longer trip and paddle into or out of Linnell Landing Beach, be sure to sample the best fried clams on the Cape, (with a real bathroom, but still no beer) at Cobies, also a short walk to nearby Route 6A.

Because of easy access lots fill up fast, and you will be ticketed for no permit or illegal parking. There are no lifeguards. Some have porta johns, and an ice cream truck makes regular stops.

The Brewster Town Office has maps, local print guides to area attractions, and in season (June 15-Labor Day), sells passes which allow parking at the beach heads along this middle portion of the Cape.

Pay for parking at entry to most beaches in the neighboring towns of Dennis, and Skaket Beach in Orleans. They have real bathrooms, snack bars and lifeguards, but their lots often overflow onto the approach roads. There may be a prohibition against the use of inflatable devices at some (lifeguard discretion), and a few beaches in Dennis allow parking for residents only.

At all beaches, shell fishing is by permit only. Dogs are not allowed on most public beaches during the summer season.

If you want more adventure, and if surf and weather conditions allow, check out the beaches on the ocean side of the Cape. On Nauset Beach in Orleans, as well as at beaches on the Outer Cape, certain areas are reserved for surfers only. Stay tuned here for more information about Kayaking the Outer Cape.

Here are some links for beach information:

Brewster beach information

Dennis beach information

Orleans beach information

The Author, Carole Ann Moleti spends her winters sliding down steep, icy Northeastern slopes and summers on the lakes, rivers, beaches, and bays of Long Island Sound, upstate New York, and Cape Cod. With her inflatable Sea Eagle 370, there’s no limit to the places she can go. For a fictional account of paddling the salt marshes, check out an excerpt from Carole’s novel Unfinished Business which was posted on the InflatableKayakBlog on 4-27-10.