The Mayflower came to anchor in what is now Provincetown Harbor, on the morning of November 11.  It was still early morning, so they waited for the sun to rise, and for the tide to come in, before they sent anybody ashore to see what was there.  From the ship, they could see the numerous trees, oaks, pines, and juniper.  They were in great need of wood, as they had run out of wood to use for cooking and heating fires.  Juniper was especially desired, because when it burns, the fragrance helps clean and perfume the air.  Some of the passengers were somewhat unhappy with the decision to stay at Cape Cod, instead of continuing south to their original destination in Northern Virginia.  The Pilgrims did not even have England's permission to settle in this area.  They decided they needed to create a document, now called the "Mayflower Compact", that would give them the temporary right to establish and maintain a government until official permission could be sought back in England.  All of the adult men signed the "Mayflower Compact".

Later that day, when the tide was right, the Pilgrims sent out the Mayflower's longboat with sixteen well-armed men to see what the land was like, and to return with juniper that they could burn back on the ship.

Climbing to the top of some small hills, the Pilgrim explorers saw the ocean on the other side: they found Cape Cod was a small neck of land.  They found plenty of pine and juniper trees for wood, and noted that the hills were somewhat sandy.  They returned to the Mayflower later that day with the wood they had gathered.  The next day, November 12, was a Sunday, so they stayed on the ship and worshipped God together: the Pilgrims felt it was important to honor the Sabbath, and so did not work or explore on any Sunday.

On Monday, November 13, the Pilgrims organized a much larger expedition to come ashore.  Some of the men hauled the shallop ashore, to begin fixing it.  The shallop was a 30-foot single-sail boat that the Pilgrims were going to use to explore, and eventually to trade with the Indians along the coast.  The shallop had been taken apart and stored onboard the ship, and now had to be taken to shore and re-assembled.  It was badly damaged during the voyage as well, because some of the passengers slept in it during the two month voyage.  Most everyone got to come ashore at this time.  Even the women got to come ashore, although they spent most of the day doing a much-needed laundry.

Back onboard the ship the next day, November 14, the Pilgrims discussed what to do next.  Their shallop was nowhere near ready to be used for exploring the Cape, the carpenter had a lot of work to do on it.  But many of the men were eager to begin looking for a place to settle and build their colony.  So it was decided that they would send out an exploration party of sixteen men to go on foot and explore a nearby river they had seen as they had sailed into the harbor.