Distance: A little over a mile
Difficulty: Easy
If you have not noticed yet from my reviews and blog posts, I love exploring New England and finding off the beaten path places. On a recent trip to Roger Williams Park we were driving home and wanted to check out a beach. We did not want to pay anything or have to deal with crowds. Once again I started googling to see what I could find. Thanks to All Trails I found the cutest beach. This is not your typical beach, it is defiantly off the beaten path and takes a little work and navigation to get to, but it is well worth it. West Island is located on Buzzards Bay in Fairhaven MA. There are a few miles of trails, one that leads to a secluded beach, which was my favorite part. I recommended using either the trail map on All Trails (which you need a login for) or this one as the trails are not well marked.
The trailhead is located on Fir Street in Fairhaven, outside of New Bedford MA. This is a residential area with limited parking. There is a kiosk to mark the trailhead . We followed what looked like an old road for almost a mile until we got to the bay. From there we followed a sandy trail to the right and came upon a beautiful secluded beach. I was a little surprised at how peaceful and beautiful it was. There were two other couples there, one that looked like they brought their boat there and another that must have walked in. My guess is the beach is dog friendly as we saw a couple there.
The sand was white and soft, the water was clear and very blue. There was a beautiful view looking wards the Cape. There were plenty of rocks, seashells and snails to keep kids entertain. The beach is very small, which is part of it’s charm.
We tried to walk past the beach through the marsh, but lost the trail and ended up circling back to the beach. We also observed that when the trail got to the bay there was a large trash can overflowing with trash and smelled pretty bad. There was no trash on the beach or anywhere else.
If you are looking for a little hike and/or some beach time and like to have some peace and quiet, I highly recommend you checking out West Island. It is an absolute gem.
