This little bird is a plover right on Magnolia Beach. They are so cute.

My View of Life on the Dock
This little bird is a plover right on Magnolia Beach. They are so cute.

Covid-19 and summer brought an old post to mind. Reposting summer 2020; First published in July 2016.
Are you up for a Gloucester beaches challenge?
A mid-week vacation day is the easiest. Oh, and you’ll need your resident beach sticker. We prepped our car with a picnic blanket for the seat, extra towels, and ice waters. Start early and grab a big “lobsterjack” breakfast because you’ll need the fuel. End late.
Let’s establish some base rules here.
First off, you need to spend at least 15 minutes at each beach. (You can tweak this a little if you want.) Next, you need to dive under. We suggest a ritual for each beach, e.g. ‘The Five and Dive’. Finally, you have to stop for ice cream and candy. Remember, you can do these beaches (or others or quarries in Gloucester) and jumps in any order. Be flexible for different ages and unexpected delays like staying at one beach for hours, or a friend asking you to drop off a sub (*cough* Joey *cough*). Most importantly, you have to do at least 13 beaches and 2 jumps in one day. Mind the tides. Be grateful we have so many choices.
alphabetical order
Annisquam lighthouse. Coffin’s beach. Good Harbor beach. Long beach. Magnolia beach. Niles beach. Pavilion beach (by Beach Court). Pavilion beach bonus (by the cut). Plum Cove beach. Rocky Neck Oakes Cove beach. Stage Fort Park (1) – Cressy’s beach ( our alt. title ‘sea serpent’ big beach). Stage Fort Park (2) – Half Moon beach. Wheeler’s Point. Wingaersheek beach.
Annisquam bridge. Magnolia Pier.
*We did this challenge at least once each summer. (In 2016) we started off with breakfast at Willow’s Rest and continued from there. Our timing was random especially as we spent hours at Wingaersheek. The second meal to get us through the day came from the sandwich counter at Annie’s by Wingaersheek. Yes, they have a sandwich counter.
Gloucester Beaches sandwich directory




Using my waterproof camera, love taking waves sitting at the edge of the ocean.


Using social distancing, Rick and I took a walk to the beach around 5:00. So beautiful out and the waves seem to telling stories.

With a different type of Easter with no family visiting for Easter, we did some yard work and then walked to the beach. Other walkers were very considerate and no congregating. Most walkers were wearing masks and I find people are polite. Stay safe and stay healthy.

During these difficult times, mother nature is showing her beauty with the wave formation.

The other night before the sun went down everything looked silver. So pretty

Took this photo from Shore Road towards Magnolia Beach


Beach goers on Sunday, including myself, enjoying the sun and surf. Love the Orca kite flying around.

Even though it gets dark earlier the sunsets are so beautiful.

On Tuesday afternoon while sitting on the beach after work the clouds were beautiful.


A beautiful night on Saturday for the 2nd Sunset supper of the year at Magnolia Beach.
Such fun with sparklers, Japanese Lanterns, all which were cleaned up, great food and lots of fun. Also there was a gorgeous sunset.

Another beautiful day on Saturday for the beach until around 4:00 and here comes the clouds.

If I could work from the beach I would. The beach is my happy place and very important to get there as often as possible. Hint, wear your bathing suit under your work clothes.


The winter clouds are beautiful even on a windy Monday. I barely could stand with the wind yesterday. Always fun.
