Active Pursuits

Beaches

Though the distinctions are far from hard and fast, Wellfleet's fabulous ocean beaches tend to sort themselves demographically: LeCount Hollow is popular with families, Newcomb Hollow with high-schoolers, White Crest with the college crowd (including surfers and off-hour hang gliders), and Cahoon Hollow with 30-somethings. Only the latter two beaches permit parking by nonresidents ($15 per day). To enjoy the other two, as well as Burton Baker Beach on the harbor and Duck Harbor on the bay, plus three freshwater ponds, you'll have to walk or bike in, or see if you qualify for a sticker ($30 for 3 consecutive days, $60 per week). Bring proof of residency to the seasonal Beach Sticker Booth on the Town Pier, or call the Wellfleet Recreation Department (tel. 508/349-9818). Parking is free at all beaches and ponds after 4pm.

• Marconi Beach, off Marconi Beach Road in South Wellfleet: A National Seashore property, this cliff-lined beach (with restrooms) charges an entry fee of $15 per day, or only $45 for the season. Note: The bluffs are so high that the beach lies in shadow by late afternoon.
• Mayo Beach, Kendrick Avenue (near the Town Pier): Right by the harbor, facing south, this warm, shallow bay beach (with restrooms) is hardly secluded but will please young waders and splashers. And the price is right; parking is free. Make sure you go at high tide; at low tide, oyster farmers take over. You could grab a bite (and a paperback) at The Bookstore Restaurant across the street, which serves three meals a day and sells used books around back.
• White Crest & Cahoon Hollow Beaches, off Ocean View Drive in Wellfleet: These two town-run ocean beaches -- big with surfers -- are open to all. Both have snack bars and restrooms. Parking costs $15 per day.

Bicycling

The end (to date) of the 25-mile (and growing) Cape Cod Rail Trail (tel. 508/896-3491), Wellfleet is also among its more desirable destinations: A country road off the bike path leads right to LeCount Hollow Beach. Located near the bike path terminus, South Wellfleet General Store (tel. 508/349-2335) can see to your snacking needs and also rents bikes for $26 per day.

Boating

Jack's Boat Rentals, located on Gull Pond off Gull Pond Road, about a half-mile south of the Truro border (tel. 508/349-9808), rents out canoes, kayaks, sailboards, and Sunfish, as well as sea cycles and surf bikes. Gull Pond connects to Higgins Pond by way of a placid, narrow channel lined with red maples and choked with yellow water lilies. Needless to say, it's a great place to paddle. Renting a kayak or canoe at Gull Pond for a couple of hours costs about $50. If you'd like a canoe for a few days, you'll need to go to the Jack's Boat Rentals location on Route 6 in Wellfleet (next to the Cumberland Farms). There, a kayak rents for $50 for a single, and $65 for a tandem for 24 hours. Sunfish sailboats are $200 for three days. Rentals come with a roof rack if you need it. There are many wonderful places to canoe in Wellfleet -- for example, a trip from Wellfleet's Town Pier across the harbor to Great Island.

For information about other excellent naturalist-guided tours, inquire about trips sponsored by the Cape Cod Museum of Natural History (tel. 800/479-3867 or 508/896-3867) and the Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary (tel. 508/349-2615).

The Chequessett Yacht & Country Club on Chequessett Neck Road in Wellfleet (tel. 508/349-0198) offers group sailing lessons. Call for rates. For experienced sailors, Wellfleet Marine Corp., on the Town Pier (tel. 508/349-2233), rents 14- and 19-foot sailboats in season. The cost is $45 to $55 for the first hour, $16 to $19 for each additional hour, or $125 to $150 for the day. They also rent 14- to 16-foot motorboats for $45 to $70 for the first hour and $16 to $30 for each additional hour, plus a 20% fuel surcharge on all rentals.

Fishing

For a license to fish at Long Pond, Great Pond, or Gull Pond (all stocked with trout and full of native perch, pickerel, and sunfish), visit Town Hall at 300 Main St. (tel. 508/349-0301). Massachusetts residents pay $14 for a 3-day pass or $29 for a season pass; nonresidents pay $25 for a 3-day pass or $39 for a season pass. Surf-casting, which doesn't require a license, is permitted at the town beaches. Shellfishing licenses -- Wellfleet's oysters are world-famous -- can be obtained from the Shellfish Department on the Town Pier off Kendrick Avenue (tel. 508/349-0300). Shellfish licenses are $40 per season for residents, $125 per season for nonresidents. Also heading out from here, in season, is the 60-foot party fishing boat Navigator (tel. 508/349-6003), which charges $40 for adults, $35 for seniors, and $30 for children for a 4-hour trip, gear and bait provided. Charter boats include the Erin-H (tel. 508/349-9663; www.virtualcapecod.com/erinh), charging about $650 for a half-day and $800 for a full day.

Golf

Hugging a pretty cove, the Chequessett Yacht & Country Club on Chequessett Neck Road (tel. 508/349-3704) has one of the loveliest 9-hole courses on the Cape; nonmembers need to reserve at least 3 days ahead. Greens fees are $32 for 9 holes, $46 for 18 holes; prices are lower in the afternoon.

Nature & Wildlife Areas

You'll find 6 miles of very scenic trails lined with lupines and bayberries -- Goose Pond, Silver Spring, and Bay View -- within the Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary in South Wellfleet. Right in town, the short, picturesque boardwalk known as Uncle Tim's Bridge, off East Commercial Street, crosses Duck Creek to access a tiny island crisscrossed by paths. The Cape Cod National Seashore maintains two spectacular self-guided trails. The 1.25-mile Atlantic White Cedar Swamp Trail, off the parking area for the Marconi Wireless Station, shelters a rare stand of the lightweight species of cedars prized by Native Americans as wood for canoes; red maples are slowly crowding out the cedars, but meanwhile the tea-tinted, moss-choked swamp is a magical place, refreshingly cool even at the height of summer. A boardwalk will see you over the muck (these peat bogs are 7 ft. deep in places), but the return trip does entail a calf-testing half-mile trek through deep sand. Consider it a warm-up for magnificent Great Island, jutting 4 miles into the bay (off the western end of Chequessett Neck Rd.) to cup Wellfleet Harbor. Before attaching itself to the mainland in 1831, Great Island harbored a busy whaling post; a 1970 dig turned up the foundations of an early-18th-century tavern. These days the "island" is quite uninhabited and a true refuge for those strong enough to go the distance. Just be sure to cover up, wear sturdy shoes, bring water, and venture to Jeremy Point -- the very tip -- only if you're sure the tide is going out.

A spiffy, eco-friendly visitor center serves as both introduction and gateway to the Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary, off Route 6, a couple hundred yards north of the Eastham border, in South Wellfleet (tel. 508/349-2615; fax 508/349-2632; www.wellfleetbay.org), a 1,000-acre refuge maintained by the Massachusetts Audubon Society. Passive solar heat and composting toilets are just a few of the waste-cutting elements incorporated into the seemingly simple $1.6-million building, which nestles in its wooded site like well-camouflaged wildlife. You'll see plenty of the latter -- especially lyrical red-winged blackbirds and circling osprey -- as you follow 5 miles of looping trails through pine forests, salt marsh, and moors. To hone your observation skills, avail yourself of the naturalist-guided tours offered during the day and sometimes at night: You'll see and learn much more. Also inquire about special workshops for children (some, like the Japanese "fish-printing" session, are truly ingenious), and about canoeing, birding, and seal-watching excursions. Seal-watching trips are $45 for adults, $40 for children for a 1 1/2-hour tour by boat. Canoe trips for experienced paddlers (over age 12) are scheduled in season throughout the Lower Cape. The cost is $25 to $35. A listing of all Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary events with dates and times is posted in the main building.

Trail use is free for Massachusetts Audubon Society members; the trail fee for nonmembers is $5 for adults and $3 for seniors and children. Trails are open July through August from 8am to 8pm, and September through June from 8am to dusk. The visitor center is open Memorial Day to Columbus Day daily from 8:30am to 5pm; during the off season, it's closed Monday.

Note: It's worth joining the Massachusetts Audubon Society just for the chance -- afforded only to members -- to camp out here.

Tennis

Public courts are located at Mayo Beach on Kendrick Avenue near the harbor; for details and exact fees, contact the Wellfleet Recreation Department (tel. 508/349-0330). Also for a fee, book one of the five clay courts at the Chequessett Yacht & Country Club on Chequessett Neck Road (tel. 508/349-3704) or one of the eight at Oliver's Clay Courts at 2183 Rte. 6, about 1 mile south of town (tel. 508/349-3330). At both venues, 1 hour of singles play on clay courts costs $22, doubles $26.

Watersports

Surfing is restricted to White Crest Beach, and sailboarding to Burton Baker Beach at Indian Neck during certain tide conditions; ask for a copy of the regulations at the Beach Sticker Booth on the Town Pier.

Eric Gustafson (tel. 508/349-1429; www.funseekers.org) offers windsurfing and surfing lessons ($120 for 2 hr.), and, for the most adventurous, kite boarding ($250 for 3 hr.).