Projo Offbeat Blog

Environmental and tourism officials say they've discovered the real reason Cape Cod's beaches are eroding, and they're taking drastic measures to stop it.

Investigators equipped with high-powered vacuums will stop every car leaving Cape Cod via the Bourne and Sagamore bridges this summer to search them for beach sand.

The move comes after the beach police say they've cracked a wide-spread but unorganized ring that has been stealing sand from the Cape's beaches for years.

The suspects typically operate in groups or families. They visit the beach for a couple of hours, swim, work on their tans, and maybe play a little catch or volleyball.

"They look like any other beach goers, but by the time they get home, they've got enough sand in their hair, their bathing suits, their beach bags and on their car floors to build their own beach," the detective said.

Some ring members go back generations.

"Over the years, their fathers and grandfathers took tons of beach sand with them when they left the Cape on Sunday nights and went back to their homes in Needham, Natick, North Providence, you name the place," the detective said.

One accused smuggler defended herself. She said she hadn't intended to steal anyone's sand.

"The sand sticks to everything. I can't get it out of my kids' hair or my car. I spend days cleaning my living room. I don't want to take this stuff home. It comes uninvited, like most of my summer guests," she said.

Whether all of the smugglers are acting intentionally or not, officials here say they pose a big problem, one that's having dramatic consequences.

"Cape Cod is the beach. If you have no beach, you have no Cape Cod," said a member of the chamber of commerce.

Some initially endorsed a less drastic remedy and suggested that Cape towns hire high school kids to hose down people before they leave the beach, but with so many beaches -- albeit shrinking beaches -- on Cape Cod, that idea was dismissed in favor of checking everyone at the Cape's two primary points of exit.

Investigators say they will pay extra attention to minivans and SUVs with Rhode Island or New Hampshire license plates. Some suspect Rhode Island of trying to enhance its image as the Ocean State by adding Cape Cod sand to its beaches. Others say New Hampshire, envious of the long stretches of coastline in neighboring Massachusetts and Maine, is trying to build up its own paltry stretch of beach.

Sand gathered at the bridges will be brought back to the beaches, restoring them, the Cape's economy and its image.

 Tags  beach Cape Cod

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