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#catamaransailing #leopard48catamaran #sailing #marthasvineyard #nantucket #menemsha #vineyardhaven #edgartown #chappaquiddick

Arrival Menemsha Marthas’ Vineyard July 3, 2023 6 PM

July 4 we spent exploring the little fishing village / summer destination for the more adventurous Marthas Vineyard tourists. Menemsha is the city where they filmed much of the movie JAWS. Real people. Real fishing life. With a few good restaurants thrown in for the summer visitors. And the BEST fresh seafood shops around including harpooned Big Eye tuna. No anchorage inside for our size vessel, so good thing we had calm weather and did fine right outside the harbor for 2 nights.

July 4th celebration fireworks could be heard all around us.

July 5 we decided to go see Gay Head Lighthouse – also called Aquinnah cliffs. In order to get there, we took the dinghy to the back of Menemsha pond, where we met the seafood farming folks, then tied up to a mooring, hiked about 1/3 the way there, and hitchhiked the rest of the way. Two kind ladies picked us up – on their way to a hippie commune – no joke.

The lighthouse was in danger of falling into the ocean due to erosion so has been moved back from the cliffs.

Then we hitchhiked back to our boat. This time a summer visitor with 2 kids in back picked us up! We can only imagine what the kids shared at the dinner table that night!

July 6, we departed for Vineyard Haven, Martha’s Vineyard. There are certainly some beautiful sailing tour boats around – full of people.

We hung about on the boat quite a bit here, people watching. We toured an old military hospital converted to museum – where the most interesting part was the gardens. We enjoyed the beautiful homes on the coasts, saw the most unique dinghy in the world, and of course had to visit Black Dog Cafe. Very busy harbor with multiple ferries day and night.
 
Next we visited Edgartown, Martha’s Vineyard. We took a ferry and rode bikes on the infamous Chapaquiddick bridge that Ted Kennedy drove his car off, killing his passenger Mary Jo, and ruining his chances for Presidency. (now sporting new guard rails). We spent the afternoon at the rocky beach looking over water shrouded in fog – not exactly my idea of a beach day. Edgartown was a beautiful town with plenty of coves and inlets with beaches, many gorgeous large sailing vessels, old ship captain’s mansions, and summer cottages.

On to Nantucket

3 1/2 hour sail – and yes again in the fog. Very good inlet but strong tidal currents to get in. The area truly caters to boaters – massive mooring field with over 125 balls supporting up to 85’ in length, full of mostly local boats. This is where people keep their boats because there’s nowhere on land to keep them, little access to boat launches and sparse marina facilities. Numerous very large motor yachts 100’ or more were Med tied to the Marina. The only available anchorage is small due to depth and in the middle of the current and the path to the Coskata-Coatue wildlife refuge.

We became part of the tour of charter and pleasure boats transiting to the refuge. Very strong currents in the anchorage so dinghy deployment is best done on the tide change. Plenty of dinghy docks but often crowded – including children crabbing off the docks.

Nantucket was the nicest New England town we saw in these islands. Very rich in history and beauty. The homes, streets and grounds were beautiful and upper class. Many MORE old ship captain’s homes, each one more beautiful than the next. We saw people in sport coats, slacks, and dresses in the evenings even on their boats.

TIMELINE:
0:00 Introduction
0:15 Menemsha – fog, gay head lighthouse, pond, july4 fireworks
2:46 Vineyard Haven
4:15 Edgartown
6:00 Chappaddick
6:54 Nantucket

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Blue Dot Voyages is a Sailing Adventure Company. We recently packed up our belongings, sold our house and moved on to our Leopard48 Sailing Catamaran PILAR, where we are traveling the world. We offer travel advice as well as boat maintenance tips. We offer charter sailing experience trips when we can. Watch our videos and live vicariously through us!

Master Captain: Stephen Bell
First Officer: Dawn Bell