{Chatham Fish Pier} Let's go find seals

Last week, we had family visiting Cape Cod from out of state.  They were very curious about the great white sharks we have in the area and I was a bit surprised that those from out of state even knew about the sharks.  I'll talk more about sharks in an upcoming post.  This is mostly about seals, but you can't discuss seals without mentioning sharks.  When I was a child, seals were basically nonexistent in the waters around here.  With their population in decline, seals became protected and now the coast is teeming with them.  Some even argue that the seal population is too great and no longer needs protection.  The increased seal population, most especially over the past few years, has lead to great white sharks in the water off of Cape Cod .  Many great white sharks.  Our family wanted to see sharks but there's never any guarantee you'll see a shark no matter where you look, but seals are quite abundant and easy to find.  I suggested Chatham Fish Pier.

Chatham Fish Pier is exactly this - a fish pier.  Fishing boats unload their catch during the afternoon hours and there's a fish market open to the public.  Seals follow the boats around in hopes of catching scraps.  We arrived around 4:30 and were lucky to see the last two fishing boats of the day unload.



























The fish market is what we refer to as a lobster shack.  It's a take out place with a scattering of picnic tables.  We had planned to eat here but, unfortunately, the only kid item on the menu was fish and chips and we had several little ones with us who don't eat seafood.  Meanwhile, my kids are requesting lobster rolls.  We hope to return later this summer to taste test.  Note that the public parking lot is on the small side (people had parked along the roadway because the lot was full) and there are public restrooms, which always get a thumbs up from me.