Maria Surf Check, Horseneck Beach

We went to Horseneck Beach in Westport MA on Thursday to check out some of the long distance surf rolling in from Hurricane and then Tropical Storm Maria.

We picked a great day for it, amazing late September weather. I'd have gone swimming if I thought that I would have survived it.

The wind was cutting across the waves, rather than pushing behind them. Didn't seem to slow 'em down much...

Did make the waves a bit messy, but they looked good.

Tropical Storm Maria is steamrolling East out to sea, but she should throw swells back at Massachusetts for a while. She'll be soaking Irishmen as a non-hurricaney low pressure area by Monday.

There's a High Surf Warning through Friday night's 6 PMish high tide for SE facing beaches.

There is also concern over rip currents, although we turn more Fall than Summer Friday and Saturday, and no one is swimming if it is 50 degrees and raining.

When I was a kid, a storm like this would wash up 50 lobster pots for the locals to raid. They switched to metal pots in the late 70s, and storms don't beach as many of those.

Westport was on some Hawaii 5-0 ish Thursday...

I didn't see any surfers, as the surf was pretty messy. Someone told me maybe Rhode Island.

May be Outer Cape tomorrow and Saturday for waves...

Westport had 6 and 7 foot waves at times.

Good show, Maria!

Fort Phoenix

Sagamore Beach Jose Pics

We're a week late, as we've been having computer issues... but here are some pics of Sagamore Beach during Hurricane (or Tropical Storm) Jose. That tree actually looks like that all the time, but that doesn't stop our photographers.

Sagamore Beach was the cutoff point for Tropical Storm Warnings in Massachusetts for much of Jose's visit.

Keep in mind that Saggy B is somewhat sheltered by the giant barrier beach that is Cape Cod, but barrier beaches don't stop wind.

We were working with a rotten camera phone that didn't survive Jose, but we did our level best for you.

No major damage was done, although if the storm wobbled west or north a bit more...

A little beach erosion.

This surf isn't tearing down any houses, but it is very respectable for somewhat-sheltered Sagamore Beach.

We have some video below, notable only for the wind blowing over our 245 pound photographer....

Pre-Jose Surf Check

With Hurricane Jose lurking offshore, we went to a few beaches to see what's what. We met the Weather Warrior up by Bert's in Plymouth.

Plymouth is a big town, so we also stopped at The Lobster Pound in Manomet.

Manomet needs a little off the top, so to speak.

The Tropical Storm Warnings are no longer applying to the South Shore.

"I am a rock, I am an iiiiiiisland."

I had to crawl down on the rocks to get better shots than the lazy NECN people in the van.

It looks very menacing if I zoom in, but this wave was about 18" high.

See?

Things will probably be a bit more perky tomorrow.

From Plymouth, we then headed to Duxbury. Duxbury was a bit far north for storm waves, but we may return there, so it's good to have some BEFORE pictures.

Duxbury Beach was fixin' to get angry, but it wasn't quite there yet.

Two of those equals Steve's house, no joke... that one has a better roof.

My camera levels well if I have a 1700 foot flat level thing to aim at... three or four times.

Whenever I look at this bridge- and  grew up in Duxbury- I always wonder what Evel Knevil would do with it. Eventually, you realize that nothing could top putting a ramp at the beach end and jumping the shark off of it. It worked for Fonzie, although the term lives in infamy.

There's no way Jose that a puny tropical storm was gonna keep ol' Poop Deck Pappy here from his appointed fish. I'm not picking on PDP, he's way cooler than I am and is most likely having a nice striper filet as we speak.

There would be a certain irony to being killed by a wind-blown lifeguard stand, sort of  the anti-Hasselhoff. Not a worry in Duxbury, though... they tip that ish over.

Best wave I saw in Duxbury, hoping Thursday will be better.

Why I never jog in the dark on Duxbury Beach... OK, that and 300000 Newports.

We actually started in Fairhaven, but we'll end up there now to give this article a snake-draft feel.

New moon high tide, should be fun tomorrow. We'll be out there somewhere...