When I was on the swim team in college, we always did a pre-season "bonding trip." Everyone hung out with the friends they already had on the team while the freshman awkwardly made small talk My sophomore year, a member of the team suggested we go to Wingaersheek Beach, which she knew about since one of her family members owned a house there.
It's not like I was from the area-- I'm from Connecticut-- but I had never heard of Wingaersheek before. But I rolled with it-- I was always excited to explore new places, and it was a free beach trip, after all. Typically, when students around Boston want to go to the beach, it's Crane beach, Revere Beach, or bust. Few of the adventurous students I knew would make forays to Nantasket or Nahant, but most liked to stick with the classics.
Growing up, my parents took my sister and I to Ocean Beach in CT all the time. We loved it because there were jettys we could climb on. The tide went down so low that pretty shells and tidepools littered the beach. We grabed our nets and our buckets and caught crabs so large they could barely fit inside, and then we watched them swim back into the ocean when it was time to leave.
I guess this is why Wingaersheek appealed to me so much. I remember thinking that the beach was beautiful at the time I went with the swim team, but I honestly forgot about it until many years later. My hazy recollections of the swim team trip were swimming out to huge rock-islands and climbing up on top of them. On fourth-of-July weekend, the summer after I graduated college, one of my friends wanted to go to the beach. (Classic, 4th of July weekend). She suggested Crane beach and Revere, of course. I almost said yes right away, but tucked in the back of my mind was that beautiful beach I went to so many years ago. I had no recollection of what it was called, but after discovering a geo-tag on a photo while backstalking myself, I convinced my friend to go with me.
When we arrived on the Saturday before 4th of July weekend, I was understandably nervous. I picked my friend up first thing in the morning and we arrived right when the beach opened at 8am. Our timing paid off-- we were able to park in the first row of the parking lot. Although I had a hunch that we didn't need to worry anyway; the parking lot was enormous! As the day lazed on, the beach filled with hundreds of sunscreen-lathered, 4th of July beach-goers.
But as the day rolled on, the beach got bigger and bigger! The tide went down so low that the beach nearly tripled in size. As more people came in, the beach adjusted to the crowds. Because of that, the beach didn't feel crowded at all. The beach's main selling point is its beautiful boulders. They tower over the beach and jut out from the water in every direction. Swimming out to them, climbing them, and walking to see them is an excellent adventure.
When the tide was at its lowest, there was a sandbar that went out so far into the ocean I thought I would be able to touch the boats that were whizzing around in the ocean. The lighthouse that seemed like it was on the other side of the world suddenly looked like it was within swimming distance.
Even though Wingaersheek is about a 40-minute drive from Boston, it's absolutely worth it! If you can hitch a ride, it's a day trip you definitely won't regret.
