While researching my latest book, New England Seacoast Adventures, I became an expert on the beaches along the Atlantic coast.  Sure, I like to lounge and read a good thick book now and then on the sand.  But I also like to be active (thus my website, ActiveTravels.com). So I put together a list of my favorite activities along the New England coast.  Enjoy!

Best Walk: Napatree Point, Watch Hill, Rhode Island
Take off your shoes and listen to the sound of the waves as you saunter along the water on this crescent-shaped beach all the way to the point.  The spit of land curves back towards Rhode Island, similar to Provincetown at the tip of Cape Cod.  Sailboats cruise in the Long Island Sound, ospreys and their young fly above the shores.  As you reach the point and the last square foot of terra firma, the winds begin to howl, the surf seems a bit more ominous, and the sand is replaced by large battered rocks.  On the return trip, you’re treated to the view of the Victorian houses that cling to the bluffs of Watch Hill. 

Best Mountain Biking: Bluff Point Beach, Connecticut
Mountain biking at the beach might sound like an oxymoron, but at Bluff Point State Park in Groton, a dirt road lines Poquonock River leading straight to the ocean.  If you want to ride by your lonesome, numerous singletracks spread out in every direction from the main trail like spokes on a wheel.  Choose one and ramble along the shores, or head inland to the John Winthrop house, dating from the early 1700s.  Take a breather on the bluffs where you can see directly across the Long Island Sound to New York’s Fishers Island and west to Rhode Island’s Watch Hill.

Best Road Biking: Provincelands, Race Point Beach, Massachusetts
Most bike trails, like the popular Cape Cod Rail Trail, are former railroad lines with very little grade.  If you have a hankering for hills, head to the 8-mile-long Provincelands Bike Trail at the tip of the Cape.  The undulating route dips in and out of sand dunes, weaving through scrub-pine forests and along beaches in one of the most unique bike paths you’ll ever venture on.  The loop starts at Herring Cove Beach and heads inland through Beech Forest.  Before sweeping downhill to the Province Lands Visitors Center, stop and look at the mounds of sand and the deep blue waters of the Atlantic. 

Best Sea Kayaking:  Mile Beach, Georgetown, Maine
Paddlers head to Georgetown’s Reid State Park to kayak along the shores of Sheepscot Bay.  At Mile Beach, the sand soon gives way to a boulder strewn coastline where the Northern Atlantic pounds the rocks, spewing foam high into the air.  You’ll most likely be joined by seals who pop their heads out of the water like periscopes to look around, and the ubiquitous lobsterman, zipping from buoy to buoy to pull up his catch.

Best Surfing: Narragansett Beach, Rhode Island
When tropical depressions make their move north from July to September, surfers make their way to Narragansett Town Beach. The U-shaped beach and shifting sandbars often produce waves in excess of ten feet.  Even without inclement weather, the surf is decent year round.  In the winter months, there are swells in the three to four foot range.  In summer months, when the water often resembles a duck pond, you have to be patient.  The Watershed Surf Shop (401-789-3399; surf phone, 401-789-1954), 396 Main St., Wakefield, rents boards and offers lessons every Wednesday at 12 noon.

For an autographed copy of New England Seacoast Adventures (Countryman Press), please email me at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)