Buzzards Bay
The waters of Buzzards Bay are one of the most pristine and beautiful natural resources we have. I have spent most of my life sailing the bay. I have seen the bay so calm that the sky seems to merge with the mirror smooth water. I have seen the bay with the wind so fierce, and the waves so high that all I could do was hang on as the boat surged along on a broad reach under reefed sail, the top of each wave coating us with spray.
I've seen the arrival of the terns in springtime, to mate and habitate Bird Island in Mattapoisett, and their return by the hundreds each evening at sunset, to feed their young, with sand eels hanging from each of the wave after wave of birds flying back from all corners of the bay.
I've seen seals arrive to winter over off of Cuttyhunk and seen the seals return north in the springtime by swimming back though the Cape Cod canal.
Summer brings Oystercatchers and Snipes to Little Bay, and Bluefish in abundance.
Summer brings dependable 15 knot breezes out of the Southwest each afternoon, laying out a roadmap for a sailing vessel, broad reach to Woods Hole, windward to Kettle Cove.
The fall brings the changing of the seasons. The Bluefish head south, along with the terns and other shore birds. Blue Herons and Snowy Egrets stop for a while on their migration south to warmer climbs. In their place arrive the arctic ducks, the Buffleheads. These tiny ducks of black and white markings fly in clusters. They are first seen offshore, out by NoMans Island, then as the month of October progresses, they are seen further and further in shore, until by December, when they roost with the mallards in Little Bay and other protected estuaries.
Harbors of Buzzards Bay
Hadleys Harbor Woods Hole Mattapoisett Cuttyhunk Fairhaven Padanaram New Bedford