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Oh boy, I haven't been this sunburned since our family trip to Disneyland (Disneyworld? I can't keep them straight; the Florida one) when I was nine or ten and hadn't yet had the Fear Of Skin Cancer beat into me. The beach was totally worth it, though.
Rockport is an hour's Commuter Rail trip from North Station, plus maybe ten minutes walk down to the beach from the station. Lovely and scenic -- unfortunately my cameraphone was acting up again so I've got nothing to show here. If instead of going straight to the beach you opt for a wander farther down the coast, there's all sorts of adorable candy stores (we narrowly resisted temptation) and art galleries (less difficult for me personally to turn down). As far as I can remember this plus a couple cute hotels is the sum total of Rockport's commercial sector. :P
There are two beaches, Back and Front; when we walked by the Front Beach it was crowded enough that we went on to Back Beach in hopes of more space and peaceandquiet, which we successfully found there (and if we found it on a nice Sunday afternoon during a long weekend it's probably a decent bet that it's not too crowded in general). Allegedly there were public bathrooms somewhere between the two; all we found were a couple of portapotties. Both beaches were pretty small when we walked by, but after a while spent on Back Beach the tide started going out and leaving much more beach exposed, and I assume the same thing happened on the other beach. Getting to the beach required a little bit of rocky but dry navigation; once there we were pestered a bit by annoying little gnatlike flies.
The water stayed shallow for a fairly long way out, which could be a good thing or a bad thing depending on your goals. It was also not too ridiculously cold, considering it was the Atlantic Ocean in early July. (Or so I thought.) Terrain underwater was intermittently rocky; you'd certainly have to get through some rocks in order to get far, but if willing to venture out to somewhere that might or might not be waist height depending on the tide, you reach nice soft sand. There were hardly any waves to speak of, which I was heartbroken by.
To sum up
Pros: really pretty, really not urban, convenient walk after (pretty) train ride, soft sand (for what sand there was).
Cons: lots and lots of rocks, "sand fleas" (a new addition to my vocabulary, courtesy of![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
beat_the_beaver), barely any waves to speak of, fairly small beach, boaters disturbingly near.
Nevertheless, I really enjoyed spending a day beaching. Definitely something to do again in the very near future.
Rockport is an hour's Commuter Rail trip from North Station, plus maybe ten minutes walk down to the beach from the station. Lovely and scenic -- unfortunately my cameraphone was acting up again so I've got nothing to show here. If instead of going straight to the beach you opt for a wander farther down the coast, there's all sorts of adorable candy stores (we narrowly resisted temptation) and art galleries (less difficult for me personally to turn down). As far as I can remember this plus a couple cute hotels is the sum total of Rockport's commercial sector. :P
There are two beaches, Back and Front; when we walked by the Front Beach it was crowded enough that we went on to Back Beach in hopes of more space and peaceandquiet, which we successfully found there (and if we found it on a nice Sunday afternoon during a long weekend it's probably a decent bet that it's not too crowded in general). Allegedly there were public bathrooms somewhere between the two; all we found were a couple of portapotties. Both beaches were pretty small when we walked by, but after a while spent on Back Beach the tide started going out and leaving much more beach exposed, and I assume the same thing happened on the other beach. Getting to the beach required a little bit of rocky but dry navigation; once there we were pestered a bit by annoying little gnatlike flies.
The water stayed shallow for a fairly long way out, which could be a good thing or a bad thing depending on your goals. It was also not too ridiculously cold, considering it was the Atlantic Ocean in early July. (Or so I thought.) Terrain underwater was intermittently rocky; you'd certainly have to get through some rocks in order to get far, but if willing to venture out to somewhere that might or might not be waist height depending on the tide, you reach nice soft sand. There were hardly any waves to speak of, which I was heartbroken by.
To sum up
Pros: really pretty, really not urban, convenient walk after (pretty) train ride, soft sand (for what sand there was).
Cons: lots and lots of rocks, "sand fleas" (a new addition to my vocabulary, courtesy of
beat_the_beaver), barely any waves to speak of, fairly small beach, boaters disturbingly near.Nevertheless, I really enjoyed spending a day beaching. Definitely something to do again in the very near future.