Cape Cod

After checking out the Plymouth Rock memorial where the pilgrims had come ashore to settle, we nighted at the Scusset Beach State Reserve.

Positioned at the corner of a beach fronting Cape Cod Bay and the northern end of the Cape Cod Canal, the site provided plenty of entertainment.

After a massive play on the beach, we checked out the ships cruising through the canal and the fishermen trying their luck using the biggest lures we've ever seen.

One guy caught a MASSIVE fish and had troubles even pulling its weight up on to the rocks but nobody else seemed to be having much luck.

The canal was built in the early 20th century as a way for marine traffic to pass through the area without facing the perils that lay offshore the Cape.

Later during our exploration of the Cape we visited the Race Point Lighthouse which sits at the Cape's very tip.

There sits a lighthouse and lifesaver's hut where men used to train each day and then wait for the inevitable call out to rescue shipwreck survivors out of treacherous seas.

Despite the perils, this ocean-facing side of the Cape offers up the most beauty, with its shifting sand dunes and barrier islands.

The Cape itself won't be around forever.

It's simply the leftovers of a rocky glacial moraine and the ocean is, bit by bit, taking it all back.

Not being built on anything but gravel and sand, the Cape is gradually being washed away.

The site where Marconi sent the first telegraphic message has, in the century of winters since, been clawed back by the ocean, along with most of the cliffs along this stretch.

The Salt Pond Visitor Centre's exhibits and films explain what is happening in the area.

The landscape near the Chatham Lighthouse at the south eastern end of the Cape is also very beautiful.

But most of the Cape feels like a clown car -- too many people trying to squeeze into too small a space!