MARTHA'S VINEYARD & NANTUCKET

He Said:   Hello from Martha’s Vineyard Again.  Since our last blog the weather here has been beautiful.  I think we deserve it to be quite honest. The past 5 days we have sort of went South and then returned to the North, kind of.  

 

We arrived on Saturday AM in Martha’s Vineyard at an area called Edgertown. This place is really cool. We grabbed up a mooring ball for a 2 nite stay.  We checked out the town of course by foot when we arrived on Saturday and really liked the setting. On Sunday we grabbed a 2 buck bus ride (just like 2 buck chuck) without the wine. What a great deal.  We took about a 20 minute ride to a place called Oak Bluffs. This is also part of Martha’s Vineyard but more happening - music, cool bars, some dumpy (one of us likes dumpy) joints, and an area called Dockside. This area is very similar to Cabo for anyone who has visited there. For the dudes with the XL boats they simply put them into the dock and walk maybe 15 feet to all kinds of cool, water front bars. We left later in the afternoon to head back to the boat in Edgertown, but I told Pat we need to figure out a way to return here.  I think so far it is about the coolest place we have been out of about 8 harbors.  

Oak Bluff Dockside
 

So Monday AM we headed to the big dollar joint known as Nantucket. Very cool place and we decided to spend 2 nites in Nantucket. The town is laid out a little bigger than we were hoping and not so much water front.  Lots of Scottsdale-like shops and galleries.  Of course, I would rather have a shit-hole bar with $3.00 PBRs or any other flavor of the day.  We did enjoy Nantucket, and on Tuesday took a little bus ride to a pretty cool beach with a pub directly on the water.  It was a fun day.

 

Just a few of the many yachts

 

 

On Monday we were cruising in the marina area on the dingy.  We were yelled at by a dude named Tim, from Johannesburg, South Africa.  He and his wife still have a home in SA but also in Marblehead and are members of a yacht club there.  He recognized us from an earlier run we did as we followed a bunch of boats to the Cape Cod Canal.  Without too much detail we had an afternoon beverage on his beautiful 44 ft. Catamaran - 3BR, 3Bath, un-flipping real.  They invited to meet up with their club that evening for happy hour on the dock where us regular folk don’t normally hang.  We think we fit in just perfect although we were the only motorboaters at the happy hour.  We later got together on their boat for a terrific dinner on the back deck.  It rocked.  So now it’s heading towards mid-nite and we have to go find Meant To Be.  Our little flash light was pathetic, but we knew our ball was at P8.  We found it, thank-heaven.

 

Tim, Jack, Gail, Jimmy & Janette

 

 

So this morning we took off from Nantucket and returned to our cool little place I talked about earlier called Oak Bluffs, and we are happy to be here again.  Not too much more happening.  We are in week 9 and have yet to leave Mass. -  the great state with no happy hour.  The good news is we have our own happy hour about everynite, and I am pretty certain that Pat’s wine and my beer is still lots cheaper than any old happy hour.

 

We should be in Rhode Island within a few days or so - hope they have happy hours there,  It really is a great opportunity to meet new people and new boaters with fun and exciting stories.  If we keep traveling from North to South we should be down in the Key West area by maybe 2020 or later.  Anyhow I hope everybody is doing well and enjoying our little blog stuff.  I really enjoy writing mine but it makes me think like 5 or so days back and the days really do start running a little together.  If that’s my toughest challenge then everything is just right!

 

Take Care, Jack  

She Said:  After studying the current charts, the wind and the fog forecasts we ventured out to cross Wood’s Hole and enter into the Vineyard Sound.  I am happy to say that it was all very uneventful, and we arrived in Edgartown, Martha’s Vineyard in a couple of hours.  What a great place.  Edgartown is mostly residential although there are lots of cute shops, bars and restaurants.  It is very picturesque. The homes date back to the 1600s and were built for sea captains.   

 

A few of the 100+ classic Oak Bluffs homes

Martha’s Vineyard is made up of several little towns and you can get to all of them via small buses.  We only saw two of the towns – Edgartown and Oaks Bluff – and they were night and day.  Edgartown is quaint and reserved.  Oak Bluffs is funky with a party-like atmosphere.  You could easily spend a week in Martha’s Vineyard and do something different every day.  We plan to spend a night in Oak Bluffs on our return trip from Nantucket later in the week.

 

This is the first place we’ve been where you have to pay to use the launch service so many more people use their dinghies.  It makes parking at the dinghy dock a real challenge.  If we’re lucky, we push dinghies around until we can squeeze ours in.  If we’re not lucky, we have to walk through other peoples’ dinghy to get to the dock.  Over 4^th of July weekend the dinghies were 6 deep.  Jack looked like he was in a log rolling competition as he crossed two dinghies one night – I laughed so hard!

 

We had a great dinner at the Seafood Shanty.  It had a big upstairs patio overlooking the harbor.  The weather was perfect and it was a really nice evening.  We were hoping to hear the advertised live music, but it turned out to be a DJ.

 

Ferry crossing at Chappaquiddick.  Two ferries cross in opposite directions with 3 cars on each ferry.  Ted Kennedy knows this channel crossing well!

 

I really wanted to see Nantucket, but the 25+ mile trip had me nervous.  The water can be choppy because of currents and winds.  The water is not very deep and there are lots of shoals.  I was so apprehensive about making the trip.  When we called ahead to reserve a mooring ball and we were told we were on a waiting list I seriously considered not making the trip.  But within an hour we received a call saying we were confirmed – so off we went.  The trip was great – what a relief! 

 

Whenever anyone talks about Nantucket, the first thing they say is how expensive it is.  And they weren’t kidding.  The harbor is filled with large yachts.  It’s really quite something to see.  The town is much larger and spread out than Edgartown.  Some of the streets are paved in cobblestones – dating back to the days when this was the whaling capitol of the world.  Very cute, but not exactly quaint.  Most of the stores are very high-end boutiques.  (Nantucket's entrance looks a lot like Edgaartown's.) 

 

We were out in the dinghy getting the lay of the land and looking at the big boats when here someone yelled, “Hey Phoenix.”  It was Tim from the Corinthian Yacht Club (CYC) – the group we sailed with from Ptown to Sandwich a week ago.  Tim invited aboard his gorgeous 44 foot catamaran.  We visited for awhile and he invited us to the CYC’s dockside cocktail party that night.  We’re always up for a party, so we fixed up an appetizer, grabbed some cocktails and headed over at 5pm.  There were at least 20 couples there and it was fun to hear everyone’s stories about the last week.  When the party broke up we decided to go to dinner with Tim and his group.  But there was a long wait so Tim and his wife Gail invited us back to their boat for dinner.  Tim and Gail are lovely people and Tim had so many great stories.  We had an absolutely delightful time – we didn’t get home until midnight!

We’re moving slow, but at least now we’re heading the right direction.  We are back in Martha’s Vineyard – this time Oak Bluffs.  There are a lot of night time activities here.  We’re going to have a few quiet days coming up so we thought we’d spend the night here as we leave Cape Cod and Massachusetts.  I’m hoping to have a lobster roll for dinner tonight.  It’s a real New England staple that I haven’t tried yet.