Last summer we finally went to Mayflower Beach, which is one of the most popular beaches on Cape Cod. It's a hard beach to get into because the parking lot fills up so fast due to its popularity. But we made it in and nabbed one of the last parking spots left! It was a great beach day. I'd been there a couple weeks before with my friends and our kids (my mom dropped me and the kids off because the lot was full and then she picked us up later)--on that day with my friends, it was a regular beach day with no low tide. On the day in these pictures, the tide went out and we got to walk far out on the sea floor--one of my favorite things to do on the Cape!
When we got to the beach in the morning, the tide was on the low side, but still pretty normal.
One of the reasons Mayflower Beach is so popular is because the color of its water is beautiful--blues and greens, reminiscent of the Caribbean. It's also very clear. The sand is soft and the water is pretty warm. It has great tidal pools for kids to explore in when the tide goes out. (More to come on that later in this post.) These things are what make it one of the top-rated family beaches in the country.
The boys had a blast using one of the boogie boards.
Sam pulled John along on it through the water and they had so much fun.
We took a nice long walk down the beach, in and out of the water. The water temp felt nice!
You can see here how the tide is receding from where it was earlier in the morning.
Wave-jumping...
Within an hour, all this water was going to be gone, pulled far out to sea, leaving only smooth wet sand behind. Fascinating!
After they were done with the boogie board, the boys wanted to play with this one net we had. I should've bought two, because they fought over this silly net and had to take turns with it.
{Note to self: Buy more nets this summer!}
Do you see John? (With the net?)
I call this picture "Successful Turn-Taking."
Look at that beautiful clear water!
And it felt so nice.
Love, love, love so much.
Sam enjoyed making lines in the sand with the handle of the net.
Both of the boys. I love it! (And them!)
Out goes the water...
Someone's cute creation.
Where'd the water and waves go?
I took this picture from out on the sea floor looking back on the beach where our umbrella and towels and other beach gear were. At high or regular tide, if I were in this spot I'd be really far out in the water.
A nice big tidal pool to explore and play in!
As I mentioned before, these are one of the things that makes this beach so popular.
Tidal pools are so cool. They're like lakes out on the sea floor, full of neat things like different types of crabs, little fishes, and various types of sea vegetation.
Here you can see the tidal pool, then a beach, and then the ocean behind it.
We walked out further to where the waves and ocean had receded. We wanted some waves!
(John was out in this swimming with Peter and Peter's mother, which is why he's not in these pictures.)
I love these colors. Let me indulge in them for a minute...
That was enough waves for Sam. Back to the calmer waters of the tidal pool!
Most of the time there's a lot of water covering this sand. But you'd never know it!
Although maybe that clump of seaweed gives it away.
Some people bring their beach gear and follow the tide out, rather than leaving it all behind on the beach.
We linked up with John and Peter. John was busy collecting hermit crabs from the tidal pool.
Poor Peter needs to remember to bring sunglasses! It's so bright out there.
Other than that, I like this picture of us.
Sam found a perfect stick (I think it was the broken-off abandoned handle of someone's net). He had so much fun with that stick!
Peter, his mom, and John, looking for crabs.
This almost looks like a painting to me.
The lifeguards have to keep changing the location of their stations with this kind of tide.
John found a really cool leopard crab!
I got some really cute pictures of the boys together. Unfortunately the lens of my camera had gotten wet (imagine that!) so these pictures have a nice salt water filter on them. How appropriate.
Like brother, like brother.
My own salt-water tinged selfie.
That tidal pool sure was a popular place to hang out!
I like how this photo turned out due to the water drops and smudginess on the camera lens. It gives the picture a realistic, vintage beachy feel.
When we got back to our beach gear, waaaay back on the actual beach, this was how far out the water was:
If you compare that with the first pictures in this post, you can see just how far the tide had gone out. It continues to amaze me, and I'll keep on taking pictures (not every time, because I want to be able to play and explore, which is kind of hard to do with a camera in my hand) and doing some blog posts about it until I've become used to it (but this may never happen, because I find it truly fascinating!).
It was a wonderful day at Mayflower Beach! We'll be back again (bright and early!).
