The July 31, 009 - The Natural Resources Defense Council has just released its 2009 report water on quality at US beaches for last year. The annual survey of water quality and public notification at U.S. beaches finds that pollution caused the number of beach closings and advisories to hit their fourth-highest level in the 19-year history of the report. The number of 2008 closing and advisory days at ocean, bay and Great Lakes beaches topped 20,000 for the fourth consecutive year. Aging and poorly designed sewage and stormwater systems hold much of the blame for beachwater pollution. Even in the relatively dry 2008 beach season, stormwater runoff contributed to two-thirds of the closing/advisory days in which a contamination source was reported. Unknown sources of pollution caused nearly 13,000 closing and advisory days.

Massachusetts ranked 15th in the nation in terms of the water quality at its beaches. 6% of samples exceeded national standards. In August 2008, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health released its sanitary surveys of five beaches within Barnstable County. Each had a history of enterococcus counts in excess of state health standards. The beaches chosen for the surveys were: Colonial Acres in Yarmouth, Rock Harbor in Orleans, Cooks Brook in Eastham, and Town Landing West of Coast Guard Station and Adkins Lane in Provincetown.

In general the water quality at Cape Cod beaches is excellent. Read the full report with specific beach by beach information here.

July 3 update - Looks like the sun will come out tomorrow afternoon. The chance of rain for Sunday has moved up from zero to 10%.

July 2, 2009 - Someone is building an ark on Cape Cod. I know it. The forecast for today through Saturday shows continued soggy and foggy conditions. But Sunday will be entirely different. On that glorious day the clouds will part and the sun will shine. Weather.com shows zero percent chance of rain with high of 71 and wind out of the west at around 10.*

For those of you who've forgotten what the sun is, here's the entry from Wikipedia:
Sun - The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. The Earth and other matter (including other planets, asteroids, meteoroids, comets, and dust) orbit the Sun, which by itself accounts for about 98.6% of the Solar System's mass.[citation needed] The mean distance of the Sun from the Earth is approximately 149,598,000 kilometres (92,956,000 mi), and its light travels this distance in 8 minutes and 19 seconds. But it varies throughout the year from a minimum of 147,100,000 kilometres (91,400,000 mi) on 3 January, to a maximum of 152,100,000 kilometres (94,500,000 mi) on 4 July. Energy from the Sun, in the form of sunlight, supports almost all life on Earth via photosynthesis,[9] and drives the Earth's climate and weather.

*Surf will be clean.... and... ankle high.

Bodyboarding doesn't get the respect it deserves. This video might change that.

Culmination from Ripbowl Media on Vimeo.

May 22, 2009 - Once again Coast Guard Beach has been named by Stephen Leatherman (aka "Dr. Beach") as one of the top ten beaches in America in terms of water quality, cleanliness, weather, sand, safety, facilities and other criteria. See a live shot of Coast Guard Beach here. The top beach on Leatherman's 2009 list is Hanalei Bay on Kauai.