Circuit parties in Provincetown

"Hey GB," says boyfriend P a few days before our recent holiday, "shall I get us tickets for the circuit parties that'll be taking place while we're going to be in Provincetown?"

"I've never been to a circuit party," I reply, sounding vaguely interested in the proposal, "so I guess it would be fun to see what they're like :-)."

"Take a look at davidflower.com," answers boyfriend P, "looks like there are three parties. I'll get us tickets for all three because we get a discount for booking them all in advance."

I'd always thought that circuit parties were huge events lasting all night, but the parties that boyfriend P was calling circuit parties were only due to last between 4 and 6 hours. On offer were a sunset cruise from 5pm to 9pm on Wednesday 2nd July, a night cruise from 9pm to 3am on Thursday 3rd July, and a party on one of the piers in Provincetown from 3pm to 9pm on Friday 4th July.

"Yeah why not," I agree, after reviewing the web site, "we may as well go for the full monty! Have you been to events like this before?"

"Actually no, but I imagine the usual dance club crowd will all be there, dancing topless as usual :-)"

The day of the first party arrives and four of us make our way down to the pier to board the boat for the sunset cruise. Apart from myself and boyfriend P, we bought a ticket for our distraught female friend N to try and take her mind off her marriage problems. Another gay male friend is with us too.

"Do you think I could find a gay guy to make out with?" asks N looking around mildly lecherously at all the buff muscular gay guys, "It wouldn't count if I make out with a gay guy, would it?! I miss my husband so much :-("

"Maybe," I say laughing, "and there'll probably be a few guys here who've got bisexual tendencies deep down so who knows what could happen!"

We all troop down to the bar on the lower deck and get ourselves a drink to help us into the party mood.

"Actually," says boyfriend P looking around, "it's an older crowd than I was expecting. The average age here is probably around 40."

Looking around, I find myself agreeing. But whatever their age, almost all the guys are well built, so most of them would have too many muscles for Janet!

Back on the top deck which is the main dancing area, almost all the guys are dancing topless so I decide to join in. Taking my t-shirt off, I tuck it into the rear of my shorts in the usual way. Although I'm a long way from having the best body in the crowd, I'm a long way from the worst too so it feels quite comfortable. Looking around I spot N dancing with a few of the guys nearby, who seem to be enjoying the novelty of having a pretty girl to dance with.

"N seems to be getting a lot of attention," I say to boyfriend P while he's looking in N's direction.

"Well she's a very beautiful woman," he replies, "so it's not surprising, even here!"

A little later, N comes running up to us, "That guy there who I've been dancing with says that 'I confuse him'", she laughs almost uncontrollably, before heading back to dance a bit more with her new friends.

The party continues while the boat sails slowly around Cape Cod bay and the sun gradually heads towards sunset. It's a very pretty setting. With an occasional drink from the bar, the time goes quite quickly, and a few hours later we're back on dry land.

"So did you make out with that guy, or anyone else for that matter?" I ask N as we walk back to our house.

"No GB," she says sounding slightly depressed, "I don't know if he would have wanted to but in any case it wouldn't have felt right, after all he's not my husband :-(."

The following night, we end up skipping the Night Boat party. The idea of another party on presumably the same boat, which means that one's got nowhere else to go if one gets bored, doesn't seem like a good idea.

We do attend the Pier Party, although it's a bit of a disappointment. It's nothing like the huge well-attended event that I'd been hoping for. Furthermore, the drinks choice at the bar is extremely limited, there are huge queues for the toilets in spite of the fact that there are probably only a few hundred guys there, so paying $60 in advance per ticket seems like bad value for money even to me.

However the sunset cruise was certainly good fun, and if I'm ever back in Provincetown during the 4th July party week I'd be quite happy to do that one again. Provincetown itself was a great place to spend a few days too. So if there are any gay guys who're reading this and haven't visited Provincetown, I'd say it's definitely worth a visit at some point :-).