Lots of people waiting in line for take-out and ice cream at Mac’s Seafood, on the town pier, today at noon. I hope they all had places to stay. It’s incredible the number of folks who think they can make an early-August reservation at the last minute! I field at least three emails a day, as well as several phone calls. Here’s what I respond to the emailed requests: “Thank you for your inquiry about Chez Sven. I am sorry but we are fully booked and have been for months at this busy time of the year. I wish you luck with your search. Your best bet would be to call the Wellfleet Chamber of Commerce to see if there have been any cancellations.” To say there are too many people in Wellfleet right now would be an understatement. Inhospitable? Not at all. Simply a matter-of-fact observation. Sven and I do not list a phone number on our Web site because we do not want phone calls, preferring to handle reservations online. Nevertheless, the phone has rung often over the past few days. These aspiring guests ask in an extra-cheerful voice, “Do you have any rooms available this weekend?” When I say no, many of them hang up so abruptly that I do not even get a chance to suggest they call the Chamber. A small bed & breakfast is not a hotel. More Americans are realizing and appreciating the difference, but in August, it often feels like we still have a long way to go. Driving anywhere has become a nightmare. Yesterday I tried to buy fish at Hatch’s later than usual, around 6 pm, feeling fortunate to have found a parking space in the town hall lot, packed as tightly as the wall of mats at Quiet Mind Studio after yoga classes are done for the day.
There were so many tourists in the very hot shop – almost two dozen – that I did an aboutface and headed down to the harbor. Mac's fish store is located at the other end of the building from the take-out counter. Shopping for dinner was quick and easy. The flounder, salmon, and bluefish fillets were cozy and cold on their bed of ice. Check out the fish counter an hour ago. One person shopping. I spoke with manager Sam Bradford who told me Hatch's and Mac's each has its own clientele. 
While in the shop, I bought some of the delicious seaweed salad. Mac's used to have great octopus salad, but seems it is no more, having succumbed to the same fate as the Shack's Tofu on Green Mango: if customers do not purchase, dish will cease to exist. I had no trouble parking, although there were scores of cars on the pier and tourists everywhere, in line for cruises or rental boats. A superb idea on this hot and muggy fourth of August....
