Places that were closed due to COVID-19 constraints are starting to reopen.

Entry to Crane Beach in Ipswich, a Trustees of Reservations property, is currently available only to Trustees members, by reservation only. They have moved to this system to limit the number of people on the property, hoping to encourage social distancing.

Luckily a friend has a beach membership as well as a reservation; I joined her for a beach walk in the late afternoon.

Crane Beach on the Crane Estate - The Trustees of ReservationsNortheast 1,234 acres Visited by more than 350,000 people annually, Crane Beach remains a national model for balancing conservation of diverse natural habitats and wildlife-more than 1,200 acres of beachfront, dunes, and maritime forest grace the property-with the management of active public recreation.www.thetrustees.org

The light was simply amazing.

The line near the horizon as shown in this photo is somewhat deceptive. It is the point at which the smooth inland waters meet moving ocean water. My eyes could easily recognize it as land instead of water.

When we arrived we saw dunes covered with bright yellow flowers.

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Looking east we were greeted by quiet water and a cloud-painted sky.

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We arrived more than an hour before low tide. This section of the beach would not be comfortably walkable at high tide.

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The combination of sand, water, and bright green grass was amazing.

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The remnants of a shipwreck are visible at low tide.

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We were lucky to visit when there were clouds in the sky.

I like the reflection of the sky on the wet beach.

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What a gorgeous day with a gorgeous sky!!

Loved the shipwreck, so many possiblities there - both color and B&W! Great wide angle territory

Lovely series, @Denise

Thank you @Pathfinder!

The visit was a walk with a friend, not a camera walk. All of the photos I posted were taken with my phone.

Crane Beach is definitely on my list for a return visit with my camera.

I'm very lucky to have a friend who has a beach pass to Crane Beach.

We figure there are another few weeks of good visiting time before the greenhead flies descend on us turning the beach into a stay away zone for a while.

Yesterday was a good no-fly day. There were a lot of folks on the beach but there was also a lot of beach that was unpopulated except for the birds, good walking territory. We saw piping plovers and their chicks, least terns, black skimmers, sandpipers (sorry, don't know which one), and lots of gulls.

Here's a very zoomed shot of a black skimmer standing in the water.

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The beach and the water were both lovely, a light breeze supplied a reasonable walking temperature.

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It was another day of phone photos.

One day I'll bring a camera. Yesterday our focus was on walking...