Wellfleet Harbor and Great Island - Auguast 18, 2026

Cottage at Indian Neck Beach

We are renting a cottage on Indian Neck Beach in Wellfleet this week. The good news is that there are several great paddling locations just outside my door. The bad news is that the wind and tides have been conspiring against me when it comes to paddling.

Paddling here is very dependent on the tides. At low tide, the water retreats significantly dropping by 8-10 feet and exposing huge mudflats. While Wellfleet Bay is protected by Great Island to the east, a southwest wind (typical many mornings and most afternoons) can kick up significant chop in the bay.

Boats in Wellfleet Harbor

Since I am paddling alone, I’m pretty particular about where and when I paddle. I'd prefer to launch early in the morning, in light winds and around high tide so I will have a couple of hours of paddling before water recedes. I woke up yesterday to near perfect conditions – tide just going out and light winds from the east, so I decided to explore Wellfleet Harbor and Great Island.

I launched from the public beach access at Burton Baker and headed north along Indian Neck Beach. After rounding the breakwater I headed into Wellfleet Harbor. In the 18th and 19th centuries, Wellfleet was home to a large whaling and fishing fleet. As tourism grew in the 1870’s a dike and railroad bridge were constructed across Duck Creek, which cut off much of Wellfleet’s inner harbor. As the inner harbor silted up and turned into salt marshes, commercial fishing moved out leaving Wellfleet to become a quiet seaside town.

Chequessett Point and Great Island

Today, Wellfleet Harbor is filled with small recreational boats. I paddled around the harbor, past the pier, along Mayo Beach and past Chequessett Point to Great Island.

Great Island is no longer an island but rather part of the 6-mile barrier beach that separates Cape Cod Bay from Wellfleet Bay. The peninsula incudes two former islands (Great Island and Great Beach Hill), two salt marshes (the Gut and Middle Meadow Marsh), and a narrow sand spit at the end called Jeremy Point.

Middle Meadow Marsh and Great Beach Island

As I paddled past the towering cliffs of Great Island I could see seals feeding just off shore. I landed at the bottom of Great Beach Hill at Middle Meadow Marsh to check out the cliffs and the salt marsh. Unfortunately, there was no clear path across the marsh to the Cape Cod Bay side. The wind was starting to pick up so I decided to head back.

My original plan was retrace my route along Great Island, Chequessett Point and Mayo Beach before crossing the bay. When I got to the bottom of Great Island I got confused and started the crossing. It ended up being a crossing of about a mile rather than a quarter mile, but it cut two miles off the trip. I made it across fine.

Sandbar at Middle Meadow Marsh with
the cliffs of Great Hill Island in the distance

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Where to Paddle in Wellfleet

Paddling the Cape Cod National Seashore