Following up six months later with part two of a feature article has it’s advantages. Mainly because it’s shorter, given that the events are far hazier in your mind and all the details have since been washed out of your brain by a continuous slurry of chilled Bombay Sapphire or Mt. Gay Rum with Diet Coke over the past six months. Keeps it brief.
Back on point…the second half of the first vacation.
As I alluded to so long ago, we moved on to Nantucket later in the week. Nantucket is a charming place, of course – lots of shops and cobblestone streets. Visits to the Brotherhood of Thieves and the Nantucket Whaling Museum are mandatory, being two of the children’s favorite spots.
One of Dad’s favorite spots though is Great Point. It’s not just because you get to drive an SUV over the sand to get there, but that does of course add a definite fun factor which my wife does not fully appreciate. But I just happen to think it’s on of the coolest places around here to go. It still feels so remote and unspoiled – even though there’s a porta-pottie and a lighthouse out there you get a feeling of wonderful quiet desolation that is hard to find easily.
The last time we were on Nantucket the whole park enclosing the point was closed due to bird nesting activity; this trip just the very end was closed off. Unfortunate if you bring your pole for some surf casting at the current rip at the tip of the point, however this trip turned out to be so special not being able to fish there didn’t matter.
There were seals.
Several seals, as a matter of fact. For the entire afternoon they cavorted and played right off shore. The kids were in heaven and we were all enthralled watching them. These were not little indistinct black blobs off in the distance, these Harbor Seals were playing in the surf not twenty-five feet from where our children were playing at times. They were clearly aware of the activity of the other creatures playing in the surf.
Marine mammals are a hands down favorite in our household. My children’s beds are loaded with stuffed manatees, seals, whales, dolphins otters and a veritable ocean of creatures. They are thrilled by nature and in love with all things aquatic. So THIS day was one they’d keep with them the rest of their lives.
