Sand and sun abound at local beaches

Cape Ann is one of the few places in the world where you can watch the sun rise and set over the ocean.

Good Harbor Beach, on the east side of Gloucester, offers a superb sunrise over the Atlantic; Plum Cove Beach in the city's Lanesville section gets a glittering sunset.

Nearly two dozen beaches ring Cape Ann's shoreline:

In Gloucester, there's Lighthouse Beach in Annisquam; Plum Cove in Lanesville; Brace's Cove and Raymond's on Eastern Point; Good Harbor, Niles, Pavilion, Cressy's, Half Moon and Wingaersheek beaches in Gloucester.

Rockport has Front, Back, Old Garden, Pebble, Cape Hedge and Long beaches. Gray Beach is on the Magnolia-Manchester line; and Singing, Black, White and Tuck's Point beaches are in Manchester.

Seven beaches offer public parking: Wingaersheek in West Gloucester, Good Harbor Beach in East Gloucester, Long Beach in Rockport, Pavilion Beach in downtown Gloucester and Half Moon and Cressy's beaches in Gloucester's Stage Fort Park.

Wingaersheek Beach, where the Annisquam River meets Ipswich Bay, has dunes of fine white sand and shallows great for wading.

Good Harbor Beach, on the open Atlantic, offers good body surfing when the waves are running.

Many of the inns and motels on Cape Ann provide temporary resident parking permits for their guests. A shuttle trolley takes Rockport visitors to downtown beaches.

It costs $10 on weekdays and $15 on weekends for non-residents to park at the Gloucester beaches (except at Pavilion, the only free beach around). The lots near Long Beach are privately owned, with parking fees set by the owners.

There are some metered parking spaces near Front and Back Beach in Rockport' downtown area.

And visitors to Singing Beach in Manchester can park in the train station lot (for a fee) and walk up the road to the sand and surf.

As for the remaining beaches, two of them - Brace's Cove and Raymond's Beach on Eastern Point - are for neighborhood association residents only.

Parking at the others are for Cape Ann residents only, and cars without stickers are almost always ticketed and sometimes towed.

Many of the inns and motels on Cape Ann will, however, provide temporary resident parking permits for their guests.

A shuttle trolley will take Rockport visitors from public parking lots to several of that town's beaches.

As far as amenities go, Good Harbor, Wingaersheek, Front and Singing beaches, as well as the Stage Fort Park beaches, have concession stands and restrooms.