Wild, Wild West

Actually, it really is the wild east but nobody could deny Provincetown’s umm, lively character.  Yet another artists’ colony high on Cape Cod’s outstretched arm, Provincetown attracts performance artists, show-offs and a gay old crowd to its hub-bub.  Described as colourful with quirky stores and vibrant nightlife, this village marks the Pilgrim’s first landfall in 1620.  Five weeks later, they boarded the Mayflower and set off to Plymouth for less hostile territory.  

Kalmar Nyckel at Dock in Provincetown

Now galleries brimming with high-end landscapes sit comfortably next to tattoo parlours. Restaurants blot out any coastal views along 3 miles of main road.  But who needs it when touts are dressed in costumes that would have the Village People salivating.  A nearby spa is spitting a steady stream of soap bubbles to fill any empty space.  Clothing shops, gift shops, ice-creameries and interesting leather goods stores line the other side of Commercial Street.  A young man in a tall red hat and short skirt (jolly nice legs) bicycles madly through town advertising an evening of theatre, a comedian tells us about her upcoming show, street musicians play everything from classical to hip hop.  A girl in bunny ears and a nice 50’s style summer frock sits in the gutter, sobbing.  She has lost (or made) $25 – I can’t quite make it out.  Her nice young man is comforting her.  He has on a similar frock. No ears, but a large white bunny tail is (badly) stitched to the back of his dress.  The old man nearby, in a tuxedo twisting balloons into animal shapes, hardly notices. 

Classic Beach Cottages

Provincetown is a place to see and be seen.  The Motleys took a trolley bus tour (40 mins) and we saw the village, beaches, cranberry bogs, lighthouses and the Pilgrim Monument, 252 feet of granite soaring above the coastline.  We had taken our bikes but peddling up Commercial Street into a surging current of humanity was impossible.  Besides we couldn’t take it all in.  The back streets are full of classified, classic cottages – Greek Revival, Gothic, Victorian and Old Cape Cod.  Some were built by whaling captains, while others were floated over to the village (yes, on barges).  Now they and their gardens are primped and preened within and inch of their lives.  It’s Martha Stewart gone Rococo.  Mind you, Provincetown has cred.  Writers, the likes of Tennessee Williams, Norman Mailer and Eugene O’Neill, and artists including Mark Rothko and Jackson Pollock found inspiration here.  Who could not with all those tanned, well oiled, sculptured torsos?  For those of you who enjoy Black Adder, Cape Cod will never mean the same again…

From: Woods Hole, MA  Lat/Long: 41 30N  70 42W  Date/Time: 29/8/10: 0715

To: Provincetown, MA  Lat/Long: 42 02N  70 11W  Date/Time: 29/8/10: 1400

Time Taken: 44nm (7hrs)  Distance (this year): 642nm (124.5hrs)

Distance Total (since 2008): 4282nm  (823.5hrs)   Fastest Speed: 10.8kts**

Weather: Winds NW 5-10kts; Seas 3-5ft; breezy Buzzards Bay & mirrored pond Cape Cod Bay

(** In the Cape Cod Canal, going with the current obviously!)