“The larger the islands of knowledge, the longer the shoreline of wonder.”

There are many islands around cape cod. Most people are familiar with the big ones, Marthas Vinyard and Nantucket. And, of course, Cuttyhunk. These islands are inhabited and expensive to live on unless you have a super job or a trust fund.

Unless you inherited property on these island, the cost of real estate is sky-high. But rentals are within reason if you don't want to be right on the beach, especially if you compare rentals in San Diego, CA where rentals near the beach can run over $3,000 per month.

But I want to talk about the uninhabited islands. The largest on the uninhabited island on Cape Cod are the Elizabeth Islands which is a chain of islands extending from Woods Hole in Falmouth, MA and ending with Cuttyhunk (year round population around 55 people).

The Forbes family of magazine fame owns Naushon Island. A Forbes ancestor, John Murray Forbes, purchased that island with profits he made during the Opium War, selling opium to the Chinese.

The Forbes family own all of the Elizabeth islands except Cuttyhunk and Penikese.

The Elizabeth Islands include Naushon, Weepecket, Pasque, Nashawena, Penikese, and Cuttyhunk.

Weepecket Island include a series of small islands and are publicly accessible even though it is owned by the Forbes family.

Pasque island is 1.5 miles long. Be very careful on this island - it is covered with poison ivy and has a shallow tidal creek that cuts part way into the island.

Nashawena island is three miles long and has livestock grazing on it.

Nonamessett island is the island nearest to Cape Cod.

Uncatena island is northeast of Naushon island.

Now for some island that can be found in the upper reaches of Buzzards Bay. Some of these have no names, but others like Bird Lighthouse at the head of Marion harbor do.

Right off the beach at Little Harbor in Wareham, is a small island that is only exposed at low tide. It's name is Little Bird island. So we have Big Bird and Little Bird.

If we go West from Little Bird island to the Swifts beach are, there are two islands there. Well, maybe four, but one is just big enough for one person to stand on and the other is about nine feet by twelve feet. Both of these tiny islands are awash at high tide.

The nex size up is bigger and has a beautiful sandy beach on the lee side. It has no name, as far as I know, and is accessible by wading to it at low tide. It has a nice sandy beach as you can see in the photo below.
The other island is in Marks Cove. It is called Cedar island. It still has a few gnarly cedar trees on it and can also be reached at low tide if you don't mind slogging through some muddy sand on the bottom. At one end is a large boulder. Cormarants use it to rest on and dry their wings. At the other end, it is a just short wade to the marsh that surround Marks Cove.