Plymouth Long Beach or just Plymouth Beach, or as many locals call it by its nick name; Bert’s Beach is easy to get to and is a very short ride in the southern direction from the center of town and the waterfront where most of the historic attractions are located. This beach is one of the most convenient beaches in all of New England. Food and bathrooms add to more of the things that make this beach very convenient. There is a small take out window style restaurant / bar (cash only – of course there is an ATM in the dining section) in the beginning of the parking lot. It has a wonderful view of the ocean and the landscape. There are bathrooms that are located next to the restaurant. Parking is extremely close to the beach. Literally the parking is right over it making unloading and loading your vehicle very easy. Please take a look at the Plymouth Beach Parking section of my website. It is filled with important information and some things that will enable you to know what to expect and to be ready for.
Now I must mention here about my favorite activity, swimming. For me the conditions are great most of the time for long distance swimming. The water is cool and refreshing. Getting into the water is best at middle to low tide. At this time there are not as many rocks and if you look around enough, no rocks in the way of you walking or running into the water. You won’t have to worry about swimming into the 5 jetties at this time either because the low tide goes out beyond them. It is worth checking into more details about swimming and things you may want to bring in the Swimming the Ocean Beaches section of my website.
Walking Plymouth Beach to its point will provide one great experience with breath taking scenes. The blues and greens of the ocean backed by the formation and beauty of the land mass rising out of the water are incredible. While you walk you will notice the clean fresh salt air and it is hard to miss some of the sea / shore life that will be all around you. There are many things that you should know and be informed about this walk. Please follow this link to the Walking the Beaches section of my website (coming soon).
The beach is protected by five jetties and the land masses that surround it. Looking out to the right is Rocky Point and the land mass to the left and jetting out further into the sea is Gurnet Point or the Gurnet with the Gurnet Lighthouse (only open to the public once a year – Memorial Day) on top. Gurnet road starts in Marshfield, a couple of towns directly north of Plymouth and extends all the way through Duxbury Beach, just north of Plymouth by boat. The last mile in the southern direction of the Gurnet belongs to Plymouth and therefore the Gurnet lighthouse is in Plymouth as well. The only way to get to the lighthouse by land is in a four wheel drive vehicle that dons a Duxbury Beach resident sticker. The land mass coming from the Gurnet that looks like it continues left or west is called Saquish. The furthest left point of Saquish is known as Saquish Neck. There is an island, Clarks Island, located behind Saquish. Clarks Island is so close to Saquish that it looks like it is part of Saquish.
Even though the beach is very well protected, the sea is very powerful and can get extremely turbulent. Heavy and dense granite make up a good portion of the land masses and is also what is lying under the water in some locations. This granite is formed into boulders and rocks after it gets broken off by the power of the ocean. They are then tossed onto the beach and shore. So at times the beach can be very rocky but most of it does get covered with a nice layer of soft sand. The corner of the beach is extremely rocky right below the parking lot entrance. Some beach goers will set up in this area and make it theirs for the beach day but most seek that soft blanket of sand. The best place to find this nice blanket of sand is go all the way to the end of the parking lot just before you enter the four wheel drive section and try to park there. This is the most popular part of the beach because of the soft sand so I recommend getting to the beach as early as possible to find parking near this nice sandy spot. Don’t worry if you don’t get parking near it. You can just unload your things onto this spot (never leave children or your things unattended even though Plymouth Long Beach is one of the safest beaches around) and then find parking afterwards.
As I mentioned before no matter where you end up in the parking lot, you will be close to the beach. The best way to get yourself and your things on to the beach is to scope out a good spot on the beach that you like and place your things on the retaining wall closest to the spot (again never leave children or your things unattended). Now all you need to do is head to the closest life guard stand and walk down to the bottom of the ramp (about 12 feet long with one exception – the handicap ramp). Well that was quick. You will now be on the beach! For anyone handicapped I recommend obtaining life guard assistance to get down on the beach. The steel handicap ramp at life guard station 4 is located just after the break in the retaining wall. The ramps are usually installed in the beginning of May and removed in mid to late October.