My US Adventure: Part 4 – Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

So, it’s time for my fourth post on my crazy US adventure – I bet you’re starting to realise why sleep has become my best friend since I got back – This trip was just so busy!!!

Anyway, part 4 – onwards!

So, having started in New Haven, moved on to Vermont, and then travelled across to Boston, our next stop was Cape Cod.

By the time we arrived, we were in a real need of a good lie down and some chill-out time – long drives and busy days had left us all a bit shattered so you can imagine how pleased we were to arrive to lemonade and cookies, really fast WiFi (for necessary instagram posts, tweets and whatsapp-ing!) and a gorgeous pool in the sunshine! 🙂

Cape Cod was supposed to be the “relaxed” part of our adventure, but although we somehow kept ourselves crazy busy, it was full to the brim with beaches and sunshine – not a problem in my eyes at all!

My highlight of the 4 days in Cape Cod has to be, without a doubt, the whale watching. We got up really early on our third day and headed to the harbour to get onto the whale watching boat. I have to be honest, I was sceptical – they can’t be sure you will see anything. How could they possibly know where they are – they could be under the water and we could sail right past them? I wasn’t convinced, though I was excited.

Needless to say, the whales proved my doubts wrong! We travelled out into the sea for about an hour until we got to the spot where they saw the whales the previous day and then they just started looking.
In no time at all, they had spotted a whale and as we got closer to it we discovered it wasn’t one, but five gorgeous humpback whales!

I’m not sure which these are, but the 2 females were called “Cajun” and “Jabiru” and the male was called “Pele” – the babies don’t get names until they are seen next year.

2 Females, 1 Male and 2 Babies! The marine biologist, who was on board, was telling us over the microphone where the whales were in case we missed them, little details about each individual, told us their names etc – It was completely indescribable – They were just so close!

Or so I thought! They just kept coming closer – I thought they would avoid the boat, but they swam right up to it and then dove underneath it to pop up the other side – it was absolutely amazing! I am rarely lost for words (can you tell?!) but I really was speechless! These incredible creatures were right underneath the boat – and they were HUGE!

We were out there for about 3 hours just watching them but I could have stayed out there for days, it was just amazing!

One thing that struck me about Cape Cod while we were there was the wildlife, particularly the marine life – it was everywhere. We were on the beach at Martha’s Vineyard on our last day, and I was vaguely keeping my eye on the horizon having seen a couple of seals far out to sea on our first day, and this little guy (below) popped up just 20 yards from the shore! They just aren’t afraid of humans at all – its amazing – and the locals were totally non-plussed by it, like these gorgeous animals are a regular occurrence! I was completely awestruck by it.
While we were out there, a press photographer caught a photo of a great white shark, diving out of the water to catch a seal as it swam away from it not far from where we were staying – it’s just a part of the normal life out there – well, it’s a life I could get used to! (the wildlife, I mean, not the sad seal-eaten-by-shark incident!)

The seafood was amazing while we were there too! On one of our first nights there we walked down to the local harbour for dinner and went to a fab place called “Black Cat Tavern” – which was fantastic. I honestly had a meal that could possibly be my best meal of the entire trip while I was there. Sesame tuna steak with rice and a sesame seaweed salad – I could have had a bucket of the seaweed salad! – the whole meal was amazing – you really can’t beat really really fresh seafood! 🙂

Cape cod was wonderful – I think I could have done with a few extra days roasting marshmallows on the fire pit (which got lit every night at 7pm), eating all the fresh seafood I could get my hands on, watching the incredible wildlife from the beach and swimming in the beautifully clear sea. It was just what we needed after a busy 8 days, and before shooting off to New York.

🙂

R xx