Second - the vacation

We walked the one-mile dyke over to Long Point in Provincetown, which is the very tip of Cape Cod. It was deserted; the only other couple on the beach was leaving as we trekked across the dunes towards the mouth of Plymouth Bay. In the distance, we could see Coast Guard vehicles near the Wood End Lighthouse. It's amazing to think that Long Point was once a fishing village – probably one of the earliest settlements in the New World. Not a trace of humanity remains. The homes were all "rafted" back to the mainland by the early 1800's.

As we napped on the beach, distant spouts indicated presence of whales. We could see a few clearly through binoculars. Then, we gasped – there was a whale about a thousand feet from the shore. The great beast just floated for several seconds and finally dipped and vanished out of sight. Thanks to the wonders of GIS, Chandreyee created a map to illustrate our adventure, click here to see the details.

Ethnic cuisine is a rarity on the Cape. There are a few Thai restaurants in Hyannis/Falmouth and Inaho at Yarmouth is said to serve the best sushi in Massachusetts, but that about sums up the diversity. Thus, we were surprised to find a South African restaurant on Commercial Street. I had earlier asked our gentle inn keepers about Portuguese restaurants in the area – in my warped imagination, Provincetown was still an old whaling town. The duo, Steve and Dave, were at a loss for words. They gently stumbled out the statement that the Portuguese had slowly left Provincetown (as the gay population in town reached the "tipping point" -- they did not say it, just my editorial). The re-gentrification is well noted in Karen Krahulik's "Provincetown". More on this on my next blog.

The Cape Cod Light and some other lighthouses in the area have been re-located owing to the sliding cliffs. We did a quick tour of the Cape Cod Light while waiting for our dinner reservations. The lighthouse is surrounded by a golf course, a fitting statement of the Cape's advertised image as a golfing paradise.