Social Events in Woods Hole

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Creative Arts

Flying Pig Pottery

410 Woods Hole Road, Woods Hole; 508-548-7482. Adult pottery classes. $120 for 6 weeks includes all materials and 7day/week open studio.

Colorful Creations

43 North Main St., Falmouth; 508-495-1847. Scrapbook shop right next to Coffee Obsession. Sells paper, stamps, etc., and has ongoing classes and workshops. Especially applicable around holidays when they have workshops on things like ”Holiday Card Making” and ”The Perfect Valentine.”

Paint-Your-Own Pottery

Mashpee Commons. They provide the pre-made pottery, you get to decorate it, they fire it for you and voila, you’ve designed your own mug!

Fairs and Events

Many calendars listing Cape Cod events exist on the web; http://www.capecodtravel.com/attractions/calendar/ is particularly well maintained and complete. A few local, or big Cape events along with a few of the more “touristy” Cape offerings are here.

MBL Friday Night Lecture Series

Schedule and info at http://www.mbl.edu/inside/what/news/events/events_friday.html. Science lectures on a variety of topics. Free and open to the public.

Nantucket Film Festival

508-325-6274; http://www.nantucketfilmfestival.org. Event showcasing independent films, panels, readings, and annual screenwriters tribute.

Falmouth Arts and Crafts Festival

Held annually during the summer on the town green in Falmouth.

Barnstable County Fair

Barnstable County Fairgrounds, Route 151, Falmouth; 508-563-3200. Held annually (normally in mid-late July each year) Adults $8, children 12 and under are free. The Cape’s largest annual event featuring rides, games, exhibits, demonstrations, music, food and concerts.

Woods Hole Film Festival

Annual event. 508-495-3456. Daily screenings, workshops, panel discussions, and staged readings. Points throughout Woods Hole. Usually held in late July. Link: www.woodsholefilmfestival.com

Woods Hole and Falmouth Public Library Book Sales

Held periodically throughout the year. Watch for the sign outside the Woods Hole Public Library. Good place for leisure, mystery, comedy, plays, poetry, science fiction, religious, travel, history, household, etc. Five soft-covers for $1.

Amusement Centers

Joe's Driving Range and Miniature Golf

221 Teaticket Hwy, Rt. 28-S, Teaticket. Joe’s offers a driving range, low-tech mini golf and a few practice greens, all at very reasonable prices. Closest to home.

East sandwich Mini Golf

157 Rt. 6A, Sandwich; 508-833-1905. This place offers probably the best mini golf on Cape with a course built on a tidal wetland that changes depending on the tide. Family-run.

Adventure Isle

Rt. 28-N, Bourne; 1-800-53-KARTS, www.adventureisle.com. Adventure Isle has mini golf, amusement park rides, a batting cage, and go-karts.

Bass River Sports World

Rt. 28, S Yarmouth; 508-398-6070. This place offers mini-golf featuring a pirate-themed course, batting cages, soccer cages, a driving range, and video games

Trade Center Bowl

89 Spring Bars Rd, Falmouth; 508 548-7000. Bowling alley in Falmouth

Museums & Exhibits

WHOI Exhibit Center

School St., Woods Hole; 508-289-2663. A few research-related exhibits, with several models of underwater vehicles in use at WHOI. Suggested donation: $2/person aged 10 and over. Small gift shop. Open from May through September; hours posted at http://www.whoi.edu/calendar.

Aquarium of the National Marine Fisheries Service

Albatross Street, Woods Hole; 508-495-2001, http://www.nefsc.noaa.gov/omi/aquarium/. Hours: Mon-Fri 11:00-16:00. Excellent small aquarium, with more attention paid to the fish and other specimens than to their presentation. Many of the tanks are actively being used in research. A rescued seal lives in a pen outside the aquarium. No admission charge, and no parking.

Woods Hole Historical Museum

579 Woods Hole Rd., Woods Hole; 508-548-7270. Hours: Tue-Sat 10:00-16:00, June through Labor Day. Depicts the history of Woods Hole through an audio-visual presentation, displays and dioramas. A scale model of the town as it was in 1895 is on display. A boat museum and a gentlemen’s workshop of the 1890s are also on the grounds.

Falmouth Historical Society

55-65 Palmer Ave., Falmouth; 508-548-4857, http://www.falmouthhistoricalsociety.org. Hours: Jun 10-Sep 13, Tue-Sat 10:00-16:00; Sep 20-Oct 27, Sat/Sun 13:00-16:00. Society maintains a museum and offers historical tours of Falmouth. Also has extensive archives including ships logs, maritime records, manuscripts, and family genealogy records. Excellent website with Falmouth lore.

Libraries

For research and study, the MBL/WHOI Library has perhaps the best marine sciences collection in the world, but requires an MBL OneCard for access (see listing below). The Cape is also littered with public libraries; the two closest are in Woods Hole and Falmouth. A CLAMS (Cape Libraries Automated Materials Sharing) card gives you membership in your local library plus access to the collections of all the 26 CLAMS libraries: http://www.clamsnet.org.

MBL/WHOI Library

Lillie Laboratory, MBL St., Woods Hole; 508-289- 2455. Open 24 hours a day/seven days a week. Arguably the best marine sciences library in the world. Enormous selection of journals (and if they don’t have it, they’ll get it for you). Great reading rooms; great place to study. The rare book room is pretty cool too. You’ll need an MBL OneCard to get in. These can be acquired from the Digital Processing Center on the second floor of the Lillie Building weekdays between the hours of 8 AM and 5 PM. Online databases, journal list, and other services at http://mblwhoilibrary.mbl.edu.

Woods Hole Public Library

581 Woods Hole Rd., Woods Hole, 508- 548-8961; http://www.woodsholepubliclibrary.org. Fantastic book sales on a fairly regular basis which are well-worth checking out. Hours: Mon noon- 17:30 and 19:00-21:00, Wed 10:00-17:30 and 19:00-21:00; Tue/Thu/Fri/Sat 15:00-17:30.

Falmouth Public Library

123 Katherine Lee Bates Rd., Falmouth (visible from Main St.); 508-457-2555, http://www.falmouthpubliclibrary.org. Hours: Mon/Thu 9:30-17:30, Tue/Wed 9:30-21:00, Fri/Sat 9:30-17:00. Closed Sundays (check hours online or by phone - sometimes they are open Sundays depending on the season). Good selection of books, CD’s, movies, Internet, magazines. A real multimedia library. For movies, they have lots of musicals and classic films and an eclectic selection of some recent films. Best of all you can check out 2 flicks for 3 days for FREE! Access to online CLAMS catalogue through website.

Adult Education

Gus Canty Community Center

790 Main St., Falmouth; 508-457-2567, http://www.vsd.cape.com/~upload/recreation/Index.htm. Lots of rec classes, yoga, pilates, etc.

Falmouth Night School

Falmouth High School, 874 Gifford St., Falmouth; 508-548-1621. Tons of classes from yoga to Spanish to small engine repair. Online catalog: http://www.falmouth.k12.ma.us/ntsch00.htm.

Fishing & Shellfishing

Fishing

Fishing charters are available throughout the Cape, with several operating out of Falmouth Harbor. Most are expensive sport-fishing outfits that accommodate between 5 and 10 people at around $75 to $100 per person. For the budget-minded, Patriot Party Boats, 1-800-734-0088, runs bottom-fishing excursions twice daily during the summer for $25 per person and their boat accommodates up to 50. Reservations are essential.

Shellfishing

Falmouth and Woods Hole provide excellent shellfishing throughout the year. Licenses are required and can be purchased at Falmouth Town Hall; $20 resident, $50 non-resident. Permits are good from March 1 until the last day of February. For recorded shellfish information call 508-495-7334.

Surfing

Surf in the Northeast does exist. Summer surf is slow. But be patient. As hurricane season approaches, the surfing spots come alive. Watch for tropical waves off the West coast of Africa. These storms will move east and often start curving North as they approach the Lesser Antilles and the Puerto Rico Trench. They’ll bring a nice solid 4-8’ swell with 11-13 sec period to South facing beaches like Squibnocket beach in Martha’s Vineyard; the Town landing in Little Compton, RI; and the beaches in the outer Cape like Coastguard station, Marconi beach, Whitecrest. The outer Cape has lots of secret spots too that can be reached only by off road vehicles -like Marconi Secrets. If the swell has some East to it, the South shore will get a nice swell. Places like Brant Rock in Marshfield will go off. As the winter approaches, Nor’easters give challenging surf for those who don’t fear the cold. You need a 6x5x4 wetsuit (6mm chest, 5mm arms/legs, 4mm hood) booties, and gloves. You often look for protected spots like Green Harbor in Marshfield because duck diving is brutal in the winter. The outer Cape gets a sweet Northeast swell too -but paddling out to the line up can be challenging. Best website for all your surfing needs: http://www.nesurf.com/index.html^{Image Removed}. Gives tides, surf report, cam, local surf shops, everything

Windsurfing

Woods Hole beaches are popular windsurfing spots. Windsurfing is allowed on public beaches prior to 9:00 and after 17:00. Trunk River Beach and a portion of Chapoquoit Beach are open any time. Which beach sailors head to depends on wind direction and tidal currents. See the beach listings below. Tide information is available online, but the Eldridge Guide, published yearly and available through the WHOI stockroom, offers graphical representations of the tide and is worth picking up anyway if just for the included lore. Both experts and novices should join wind-stalkers@mit.edu for daily traffic during the summer months on who is going sailing and where, and also to inquire about borrowing equipment.

Locations

Stoney Beach (MBL Beach)

NE N NW wind; rocky beach but great NE waves.

Nobska Beach

Between Oyster Pond Rd. and Church St., Woods Hole. Views of the ferries passing and of the lighthouse. Sandier than most other beaches in town and has changing huts. Parking is a nightmare, and there’s nowhere to lock bikes. A short walk from the village or Winding Lane. For windsurfing: SW W wind on a dropping Woods Hole tide. Advanced sailing only because of strong tides and waves.

Surf Drive Beach (Trunk River)

SW S SE E wind; popular windsurfing spot for WHOI locals.

Surf Drive Beach (Jack's Beach)

SW S SE E wind; dirt parking lot off of Surf Drive near Elm Rd.

Chapoquoit Beach

Very popular bathing and windsurfing beach on Buzzards Bay. Rt. 28 North, Brick Kiln Rd. West, Rt 28A north. Left onto Chapoquoit Rd. Large Parking lot near end of road. The pond across the road is warmer and calmer. For windsurfing: N NW W SW wind. Great high wind spot with waves. Pond on the east side of the road for beginners.

Woodneck Beach

N NW W SW wind; great beginner beach and SW high wind sailing.

Equipment

Generally, better deals are available online or at the occasional tag sale. Add yourself to windstalkers@mit.edu if you’re in the market for any large items. Some of the people on that list watch online postings religiously and will alert the list. Eddie from Cape Cod Windsurfing (see listing below) is also a good source for heavily used, ex-rental equipment, particularly beginner stuff. Every summer finds WHOI community members learning to surf, and there are always experts willing to help beginners get started. Again, subscribe to wind-stalkers@mit.edu.

Sail World, Cape Cod

271 Main Street, Buzzards Bay; 508-759-6559, http://www.sailworld.com^{Image Removed} Large selection of new boards and new/used sails, plus all the accessories, although generally only one brand of each. Knowledgeable staff. They hold swap meets about 3 times a year; check their website for upcoming meets. They also run clinics and sponsor area races.

Island Sports

86 Aquidneck Avenue, Middletown, RI; 401-846-4421, http://www.islandsports.com^{Image Removed}. About 3 hours away. Smaller selection of windsurfing equipment that sailworld, but they hold swap meets too, and have a much larger selection of wetsuits. lessons

Cape Cod Windsurfing

350 Quaker Rd., North Falmouth; Beach Location: 508-457-7806, Pro-Shop: 508-801-3329, http://www.capecodwindsurfing.com^{Image Removed}. Affiliated with the Sea-Crest Hotel. Eddie offers lessons and rentals. The website lists current rates.

Online Resources

Current wind conditions are available for free from Weather Underground http://www.wunderground.com^{Image Removed} and a NOAA tower at the mouth of Buzzards Bay http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/station_page.phtml?\$station=buzm3^{Image Removed}. Subscribers to http://www.iwindsurf.com^{Image Removed} can access data from a tower at Chapoquoit Beach. No web-accessible anemometers exist in Woods Hole proper.

Sailing and Yacht Clubs

Spring, summer and fall in provide a wide range of opportunities to get out on the water and sail in and around Woods Hole. MIT students, don’t forget about the MIT Sailing Pavilion for a great opportunity to learn sailing while in Boston.

Boats

If you have your own boat and will require a mooring for it, check with every harbor master you can find soon. It can be a painfully slow process to get a mooring. Beware of the tides in Woods Hole. Check out an Eldridge Guide before heading out, to avoid being flushed through the hole.

Yacht Clubs

There are also many local yacht clubs that host racing fleets during the spring, summer and fall. Joining up as crew can be as easy as putting your name on a bulletin board. Call or stop by the specific clubs for the details.

• Woods Hole Yacht Club, 548-9205 (Dinghy sailing several nights a week)
• Falmouth Yacht Club, http://www.falmouthyachtclub.com^{Image Removed} (Dinghies, 210’s, J24, Beetle Cats)
• Quissett Yacht Club, http://home.earthlink.net/~alecburt/index.htm^{Image Removed} (Hereshoff’s and Dinghies)
• Chapoquoit Yacht Club, 508-548-0681 (Beetle Cats)
• Marion/Beverly Yacht Club, www.beverlyyachtclub.org (Wed. night PHRF big boats, J24’s, J105’s, Shields)
  For a bigger list check out http://www.cc-waterweb.com/main/clubs.htm^{Image Removed}

SCUBA

WHOI Diving

Typically the classes (theory and pool sessions) take a month or so in June. Major time sink but worth doing if you need it or just are interested in helping other people out with their projects. It’s also free and you’ll get a NAUI certification out of it. Start early doing the paper work (February or March). You’ll need a full medical exam—easy to schedule and get done at MIT Medical, not so convenient in Falmouth. Really important to also do First Aid, CPR and O2 courses otherwise you won’t be able to dive in other places, or off UNOLS ships. These courses can be delayed until the fall.

Local Dive Shops

• Aqua Center - 2 Freezer Rd., Sandwich; 508-888-3444. Owned/operated by Greg McGrath. Friendly guy. Constantly organizing dives, underwater hockey games. Get on his email list.

Skating and Rinks

Woods hole is within driving distance of two year-round ice rinks, one of which is right in Falmouth. During the winter some of the ponds freeze. During the particularly cold Winter of 02–03, students and locals played ice hockey on Oyster and Ice House ponds weekly (interested JP students should subscribe to pondhockey@mit.edu).

Falmouth Ice Arena

9 Skating Ln. off Palmer Ave. (Rt. 28) by the Texaco; 508-548-9083 (human), 508-548-0275 (info line), http://www.falmouthicearena.com^{Image Removed}. Public skating offered Fridays, 19:30–21:00 (the place for your first middle school date), and Sundays, 13:00–14:30. Cost is $4 and rentals are newly available. League and pick-up information on the website.

Gallo Ice Rink

231 Sandwich Rd., Bourne; 508-759-8904. Public skating offered Mon-Fri, noon–14:00, and Sundays 16:00–18:00. Cost is $2 and rentals are available.

Courts & Fields

Softball

• McKee Field is located behind Clark Laboratory.
• Bell Tower Field is located in Woods Hole village on Bell Tower Ln. off Millfield St.

Tennis

• WHOI court is located behind Clark. It can be reserved via a sign-up sheet at the court.
• Public courts are located on Bell Tower Ln. in the village.

Volleyball

• Two sand volleyball courts are located behind Clark. Call Rick Chandler, x2272; or Dana Gerlach, x2596 for access to the nets.
• There is also one court in Bell Tower Park in the village.

Basketball

There is a basketball court (built in 2002) on the NE side of McKee Field.

Creative Arts

Fairs, Events and Amusement Centers

Museums & Exhibits