Ice Tour: Winter Paddling on the Cape

I love paddling amongst the ice on Cape Cod just after a freeze breaks up. All alone on the water, there’s a quiet beauty in my surroundings … the same surroundings that are anything but solitary for much of the “busy” season.

The looks on peoples’ faces when they see me stepping into my dry suit on the beach, prepping for a winter paddle is always amusing. It takes them a few minutes to grasp the reality—that I’m really going to paddle out into the water with all that ice. But it’s the ice that makes it worth it. By the time they figure it out, I’m usually already offshore, paddling towards the broken up ice pack.

Navigating between the mini-bergs, as I like to think of them, the water is crystal clear, making it easy to see the undersides of these unique, shape-shifting structures. Their volume is amazing and there’s so much more below the surface than you’d expect when glancing at the ice from shore.

I paddle around for awhile, captivated by the scene, trying to examine each individual berg. Of course, I can’t look at every one, there’s just too many, some floating this way and that, some colliding, some diverging, all moving with the water. I am too, until it’s time to turn around.

Even though the current is against me now, the paddle back to shore is quick. In no time, I’m on the beach and out of my dry suit, trading the solitude of the ice for the warmth of my truck.

Words and photos by Luke Foley