Martha’s Vineyard – 24-27 Aug 2014

We departed Nantucket at 1230 (on the ebb current) and sailed the 28nm to Lake Tashmoo, Martha’s Vineyard (MV). It’s in the town of Vineyard Haven/Tisbury but west of the main harbor. We chose Lake Tashmoo because we could put down our anchor, vice having to “rent a mooring” in either Vineyard Haven, Oak Bluffs or Edgartown. The entrance is marked only by private buoys and is shallow. On a falling tide the shallowest we saw was 6’.  We couldn’t have been happier on our decision. It is a dead calm beautiful “lake”, with a town dock and trash cans. We arrived at 1700 and enjoyed watching the sunset. It’s similar to a quiet anchorage up some small creek on the eastern shore of the Chesapeake Bay; trees all the way to the water, houses tucked back, geese floating and flying by. Quaint.

We anchored near the southern part of Lake Tashmoo

Monday we loaded the bikes into the dink and rode the mile to Vineyard Haven. A nice little harbor and one or two streets of shops, but for the most part, it is the point where people arrive and leave MV, or catch a bus or taxi to move further on into the island. We rode onto Oak Bluffs (OB) which is an eclectic little town. It started as a Methodist revival retreat in 1835. Many of the homes in the “Cottage City” are Victorian style gingerbread cottages. In the middle of the cottage city is the 100ft high by 130ft diameter wrought iron Tabernacle built in 1879 where services were services are still held today.

Inside of the Tabernacle

One of many Gingerbread houses

Then there is the Harbor which holds as many as 500 boats which, after dark, becomes a buzzing strip of bars and live music. There are the T-shirt shops, the carousel, and ice cream shops; like a small version of Ocean City, MD. Also this is one of the locations used in the film Jaws. OB is also a terminal for three different ferries from the “mainland”.

We ate lunch at a burger place called Fat Ronnie’s.  A crowed little place with bench seating for about 2 doz. Jo asked if we could share a table with two ladies.  It turned out Barbara and Junie were from DC (!) and vacationing in OB for a week. We learned that Fat Ronnie’s was on the must-do list of OB. And I must say the burger was better than Five Guys; but not as good as In-n-Out Burger or Kidd Valley or Dick’s in Seattle. Jo had the only non-burger item on the menu – the lobstah roll. A big thumbs up.

Jo finally gets her Lobstah Roll

 OB also has a long history as a summer social center for African Americans.  Many upscale African American professionals started coming to OB at the turn of the 20^th century. 

One of the T-shirts we kept seeing was “I jumped off the JAWS bridge”. We learned that the bridge was approximately 3 miles east on the way to Edgartown. Back on the bikes, we were off the see the bridge. There were 20 -30 people jumping off the bridge… right next to the sign that said “Do Not Jump or Dive from the Bridge”. We rode further on to visit Edgartown. 

Edgartown is a classic New England harbor town founded in 1642 that grew to a major whaling port in the 1800s. Narrow streets, white houses built by ship captains but no cobblestones.  The only ferry is the little car ferry the short distance to Chappaquiddick.  It reminded us of downtown Annapolis; a tourist town in the summer, lots of people wandering up and down the streets, popping in and out of shops and restaurants.  A lot more upscale than VH or OB; maybe it’s the lack of ferry service.

Tuesday we bought all-day bus passes for $7 ea.  Such a deal! Each bus has a bike rack for 2 or 3 bikes so we loaded up and headed Up Island to the little fishing village of Menemsha.

Menemsha Harbor

Quite a bit of the movie Jaws was filmed here.  Fresh seafood is available from the shacks on the quay just up from the little beach. The rest of the village consists of 3 or 4 more small eateries, a one-room chandlery, a couple of boutique shops, and an antique store.  We found the house we stayed at back in the 90s when my sister, Piper, invited us to visit.

Menemsha also has a bike ferry to carry you the .09nm distance across the entrance to Menemsha Pond. That’s about twice as far as the MRE race across Spa Creek and the guy operating the ferry is printing money! It does cut off about 10 miles if we were to ride around to Aquinnah on the west end. We rode to Gay Head lighthouse and the clay cliffs.  We visited the Wampanoag Cultural Center then loaded our bikes onto the bus for the ride back to Edgartown.

Oldest House on MV

The oldest un-altered house on the island, the Vincent House, is in Edgartown. It was built in the 1670s.

 Also of note is the Pagoda tree (Sophora Japonica) which was brought back from China by a whaling captain and planted in 1833. It is the largest of its kind in North America. Walking different streets and ducking into shops, we ran into Barbara and Junie, the ladies we met the day before. It was fun to talk with them again.

Wednesday we departed Lake Tashmoo. We were originally going to go to Falmouth to see a friend of Joelle's, but she called and had to cancel as she was sick. We elected to go back to Newport and go back to the mooring we rented for the month. With the wind out of the SW it was a long 5 hour slog down Buzzards Bay to Newport.

Today, Thursday, is Cleaning Day. Spent the morning washing down the condo and doing laundry. Then we are off to the commissary and NEX. Normal day to day living but with a waterview.