To the north lie the chilly waters of Ipswich Bay, but you must walk quite a distance (depending on the tide) through warm water to reach the choppy over-your-head cold water of the bay.

To the east lies the Annisquam River, a salt-water channel that connects Ipswich Bay with the Atlantic Ocean and making Cape Ann technically an island.

At low tide, the l-o-n-g sandbar that forms the western bound of the Annisquam River channel is revealed, and you can walk for nearly a quarter mile out into the bay toward the Annisquam lighthouse. The sandbar is a natural causeway far out into the bay...until the tide comes in again and it disappears, only to re-appear in another 12 hours.

Salt water pools, deep or shallow depending on the tide, are usually warm as baths on a hot summer afternoon, and provide perfect placid places for all but the littlest kids to splash and play.

The large parking lot has space for hundreds of cars, and the wide expanses of beach provide beach-blanket room for hundreds of families. The beach always has room for all, but the parking lot fills up by mid-morning on any summer weekend day. A few of the private houses along the narrow road into the beach from MA Route 128 rent parking space, but once the main lot and these few private spaces are filled, you're out of luck. The nearest alternative parking is several miles away.

Wingaersheek Beach has sufficient, if minimal, facilities—toilets, showers and a snack stand—but there is no shade on the beach, so be sure to bring your own, or at least lots of sunblock cream.

To get to Wingaersheek, follow I-95 north to MA Route 128 toward Gloucester and look for the signs to Wingaersheek before coming to Gloucester itself. The beach is several miles north of Route 128.

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