intermediate
Oak Bluffs, MA, United StatesJoseph Sylvia State Beach
This two-mile barrier beach between Oak Bluffs and Edgartown separates Sengekontacket Pond from Nantucket Sound, and its usually small waves suit steady swims along the shoreline. There are no lifeguards, and motorized craft are barred within 300 yards of the beach. When wind stirs up the Sound side, the pond side of the beach is usually calm.
Photo: Carol M. Highsmith · CC0
Latest reading · SwimScore 67/100 (Good swim) for a typical swimmer: air 17°C, wind 42 km/h, waves 1.4 m, UV 1. Updated .
Know before you go
- Best conditions
- Waves on the Nantucket Sound side are usually small; when it is windy, the Sengekontacket Pond side is usually calm.
- Getting in
- Public barrier beach owned by DCR and managed by Dukes County, straddling Oak Bluffs and Edgartown. The waterfront is pedestrian-only; use the marked paths from the parking areas and stay off the dunes.
- Parking & transport
- Vehicles must stay in designated parking areas, off the sand and vegetation.
- Lifeguards
- No lifeguards; swim at your own risk.
- Water quality
- Massachusetts rules require marine beaches to be sampled for enterococci within 5 days of opening and at least weekly in season; beaches are posted when results exceed state standards, and some are posted preemptively after heavy rain.
- Season
- Dogs prohibited April 1-Aug. 31 (shorebird nesting season).
- Watch for
- Rip currents: swim parallel to shore to escape
- Ticks and poison ivy in the dunes
Sources: dukescounty.gov, dukescounty.gov, dukescounty.gov, en.wikipedia.org, mass.gov, mass.gov
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Details
- Location
- Oak Bluffs, MA, United States
- Type
- ocean
- Difficulty
- intermediate
- Coordinates
- 41.4236, -70.5531