In October, 2008, Wellfleet’s new marina took her first bows, ramps and floats displayed like so many ribbons and pompoms on a child’s party dress. I immediately noticed the expanded parking lot, and, since May, have been able to admire, from the deck at Pearl, the boat slips, neat and tidy. Now fifteen months have passed and I’d like to salute Harbormaster Mike Flanagan and the Marina Advisory Committee, who brought this work to fruition. There’s one decision that deserves particular mention. With reconstruction of the marina came a design for a marvelous walkway at the water’s edge. The walkway means people, who don’t own boats, can enjoy this improved space, too. The semi-circular track allows pedestrians to explore the inner harbor without risk of getting hit by a rogue vehicle. Folks who walk dogs, and the elderly are especially enamored of the marina walkway, exactly one half a mile, according to our neighbor Sally Branch, who tends the mitt-boxes. The marina also makes an ideal excursion for tourists with young children. There’s so much to see and talk about: pleasure boats, fishing boats, sea birds, ducks. Sven and I walk the marina when the wind at the ocean rules out sand in the shoes. Not everyone was so pleased with the walkway, Flanagan told me yesterday. Some Wellfleetians even protested due to cost. How shortsighted can people be! From Marilyn Miller’s article in a fall edition of the P-town Banner, I learned of further controversy over a “significant amount of debt” after a review by DOR auditors, who, nonetheless, concluded the marina "is run by a skilled harbormaster and staff," and said "we are impressed by the facility's recent physical transformation and the amount of effort that has gone into improving this community asset over the past 10 years."
Friends of Wellfleet out there in cyberspace, have you walked Wellfleet’s inner harbor? Arrived by boat? How do you feel about the changes? How do you get exercise in winter?
