A full view of the West End Breakwater from the end of Commercial Street to Long Point
PROVINCETOWN – A woman reportedly suffered a broken ankle while walking the West End Breakwater to Long Point in Provincetown. The incident happened sometime after 3:30 PM about half-way out. Firefighters had to carry the victim about 100 yards to shore at the rotary to a waiting ambulance. She was then transported to Cape Cod Hospital.
This photo shows how low some of the dips in the breakwater are. (Click photo to enlarge).
Walking on the breakwater can easily be treacherous. At higher tides, part of the rocks near the bend you can see in the top photo and in the lower file photo get covered by the tide and strong current. During lower tides the rocks are still wet and thus slippery. Rescuers have to utilize different approaches to each incident. At higher tides the Harbormaster can get a boat in close enough to reach the victim but at lower tides the victim has to be carried back to shore or out to Long Point to a 4 wheel drive vehicle for transport to Herring Cove Beach to meet an ambulance.
A quick check of Cape Wide News archives showed more than a half dozen similar rescues at the breakwater last year:
May 28th
July 18th
August 10th
August 19th
August 30th
September 4th
September 9th
