We are lucky to have the kind of neighbors who send us a text on a Saturday night to say we should come over and watch the Moon tow Jupiter across the sky. They have a nice open view over a pond.
Sitting next to them, looking up, we heard more news of the day: “We went up to the overlook and for the first time ever we saw whales. From land. It was amazing.”
I wanted to know what Jim Gilbert would say. I know he’s been out there fishing from the beach. “Yesterday there were humpbacks and pilot whales off White Crest and a sighting of a great white thrown in for good measure,” he said. “Along with a plethora of seabirds — surf scoters and diving gannets among them. There’s a lot of bait now off the back shore, something that was virtually nonexistent all summer.
“Four or five years ago,” Jim recalled, “in mid-November there were hundreds of whales of a variety of species occupying pretty much every square meter of ocean from Ballston to Marconi.
“Very often the whales will hang around for two or three weeks. This is some of the best whale-watching available on Cape Cod: Whales should be visible from Herring Cove to the Race Point Seashore parking lot to Marconi Beach. Binoculars and patience required.” —Teresa Parker, Wellfleet
Readers are invited to send their own mini-stories (word limit: 200) about funny or illuminating, only-on-the-Outer-Cape moments to [email protected] for consideration for “Incidentally.” We hope this will become a place for recording memorable snippets overheard at the post office, grocery store, beach, or wherever our stories take place.
