The Packet Boat Journal
The Packet Boat Journal shares observations from Wellfleet Harbor — tides, wildlife, weather, shifting sandbars, and the quiet details that shape each crossing.
Rather than travel tips, these entries focus on how the harbor changes day to day and season to season. Some are practical. Others are simply notes from time spent on the water.
Wellfleet Harbor is never fixed. Channels move, tides reshape the shoreline, and wildlife follows its own patterns. This journal exists to document those changes as they happen.
If you’re interested in how the harbor works — not just where it goes — this is a good place to start.
Why We Call Ourselves The Packet Boat
One of the questions we hear most often is, "Why are you called The Packet Boat?" The answer begins more than two centuries ago, when scheduled packet boats connected Wellfleet and Boston across Cape Cod Bay.
Why Are There So Many Seals in Wellfleet?
Gray seals have become one of Cape Cod's greatest wildlife success stories. Discover why hundreds gather around Wellfleet Harbor and what makes these protected waters one of the best places in New England to see them from the water.
Osprey in Wellfleet Harbor: What We See from the Water
A local captain's notes on osprey in Wellfleet Harbor — where they nest, how they hunt, and what the harbor looks like from the water when the season turns.