Eastham

EASTHAM - Those who know the outer Cape know that its subtle charms and salt-sprayed majesty are nestled nearly everywhere. An exit from Route 6 can quickly turn up perfect terrain for soft adventure or idle hours outdoors. So the outer Cape is a good place, particularly outside the high months July and August, for two travelers to spend two days for under $200 (not counting gas). Here is one way to do that. DAY ONE Morning: First Encounter Beach, Eastham In the tides of time, this stretch of sand backed by salt marsh on the bay side of the Cape looms large: It is the site, on a...

One person died in a fire at an Easthamcq home Sunday afternoon, authorities said. Eastham firefighters responded to the fire at 4 Gimlet Waycq at about 4:23 p.m.cq to find flames engulfing between 70 to 80 percentcq of the 1,900-square-foot, one-and-a-half story wood-frame home there, cqtown fire department Chief Glenn J. Olsoncq said in a statement. No firefighters were injured, officials said. How and where the fire started remain under investigation, the town fire chief said.

The state has closed Nauset Harbor to shellfishing after the first red tide outbreak of the year in Massachusetts. The closing announced Wednesday by the Division of Marine Fisheries also covers the rest of the Nauset Marsh System, including Mill Pond in Orleans, Salt Pond in Eastham, and Town Cove in both Orleans and Eastham. The same area was closed to shellfishing last May after discovery of red tide. The toxin is produced by naturally-occurring algae. It can affect the human nervous system and cause fatal paralysis.

One person died in a fire at an Eastham house Sunday afternoon, authorities said. Eastham firefighters responded to 4 Gimlet Way at about 4:23 p.m. to find flames engulfing between 70 to 80 percent of the 1,900-square-foot, one-and-a-half-story wood-frame house there, Fire Chief Glenn J. Olson said in a statement. No firefighters were injured, officials said. How and where the fire started was not known Sunday, Olson said. The identity of the victim was being withheld pending family notification, officials said.

Recent bird sightings on Cape Cod (as ofFeb. 1) as reported to the Massachusetts Audubon Society. A Pacific loon was seen from the Sandwich end of the Cape Cod Canal. A purple sandpiper and an Iceland gull were also in the area. The painted bunting on Shore Road in Eastham was seen again this week. Two snowy owls continue on North Beach Island in Chatham, having been seen from Chatham Light and the Fish Pier this week. Highlights between Falmouth and Marstons Mills included a Eurasian wigeon and a red-shouldered hawk at Dutchman's Ditch, 3 blue-winged teal and a Northern shoveler in Marstons Mills,...

Recent bird sightings on Cape Cod (as of Feb. 27) as reported to the Massachusetts Audubon Society. The lazuli bunting continues at Mass Audubon's Wellfleet Bay sanctuary, where a Northern harrier, a Cooper's hawk, several Northern gannets, 5 Eastern bluebirds, 4 Northern bobwhites, 5 field sparrows, and an American tree sparrow were also noted. In local waterfowl sightings, a Eurasian wigeon and 2 redheads were in Little Pond in Falmouth, 2 blue-winged teal continue in Mill Pond in Marstons Mills, and 3 Northern shovelers were on Mill Pond in West Barnstable.

EASTHAM -- Yogi Berra once said of a popular restaurant, "Nobody goes there anymore. It's too crowded. " He could have been talking about Cape Cod, or at least a common perception of it. What good is a vacation spent either in traffic or struggling to stake out a tiny patch of beach? Imagine our delight then, on Friday of last Labor Day weekend, to find ourselves completely alone on a bluff above a beautiful ocean beach, then strolling a boardwalk through a cedar swamp in solitude.

All it took was a little more wind and a little less sunshine for us to fully appreciate what we once had. For more than 20 years, my parents have rented a house on the Cape for one week every summer, usually in late August. We don't have a lot of traditions in our family; we're not big gift givers, birthdays get forgotten, anniversaries are important only in the big round-number years, and holidays are mostly ignored. But for as long as I can remember, there has always been one week when we all got together to read on the beautiful beaches of the...

When Teresa Martin tried to start an online game company in Mashpee, right in the middle of the Upper Cape, she found the town’s Internet service was inadequate for the massive game files she needed to send and receive. So she took her budding enterprise - which she thought would create 40 or so jobs - to Providence. That was five years ago, and in the end, the business never got off the ground. But now Martin has another venture: developing social-networking software for middle schools.

The state has closed Nauset Harbor to shellfishing after the first red tide outbreak of the year in Massachusetts. The closing announced Wednesday by the Division of Marine Fisheries also covers the rest of the Nauset Marsh System, including Mill Pond in Orleans, Salt Pond in Eastham, and Town Cove in both Orleans and Eastham. The same area was closed to shellfishing last May after discovery of red tide. The toxin is produced by naturally-occurring algae. It can affect the human nervous system and cause fatal paralysis.

Recent bird sightings on Cape Cod (as of Feb. 27) as reported to the Massachusetts Audubon Society. The lazuli bunting continues at Mass Audubon's Wellfleet Bay sanctuary, where a Northern harrier, a Cooper's hawk, several Northern gannets, 5 Eastern bluebirds, 4 Northern bobwhites, 5 field sparrows, and an American tree sparrow were also noted. In local waterfowl sightings, a Eurasian wigeon and 2 redheads were in Little Pond in Falmouth, 2 blue-winged teal continue in Mill Pond in Marstons Mills, and 3 Northern shovelers were on Mill Pond in West Barnstable.

Recent bird sightings on Cape Cod (as ofFeb. 1) as reported to the Massachusetts Audubon Society. A Pacific loon was seen from the Sandwich end of the Cape Cod Canal. A purple sandpiper and an Iceland gull were also in the area. The painted bunting on Shore Road in Eastham was seen again this week. Two snowy owls continue on North Beach Island in Chatham, having been seen from Chatham Light and the Fish Pier this week. Highlights between Falmouth and Marstons Mills included a Eurasian wigeon and a red-shouldered hawk at Dutchman's Ditch, 3 blue-winged teal and a Northern shoveler in Marstons Mills,...

An animal welfare organization is checking the health of 11 common dolphins that survived after beaching themselves on First Encounter Beach in Eastham yesterday. Besides the 11, two other stranded dolphins died, said Kerry Branon, media manager for the International Fund for Animal Welfare. Why the dolphins came ashore on a 500-foot stretch of beach after 2 p.m. is unknown, Branon said. As of 7 p.m. yesterday, the organization was still checking the health of the surviving mammals, which each weigh between 175 and 250 pounds, Branon said.

When Teresa Martin tried to start an online game company in Mashpee, right in the middle of the Upper Cape, she found the town’s Internet service was inadequate for the massive game files she needed to send and receive. So she took her budding enterprise - which she thought would create 40 or so jobs - to Providence. That was five years ago, and in the end, the business never got off the ground. But now Martin has another venture: developing social-networking software for middle schools.