Edgartown, Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts
Harmonie
Don and Anne Myers
Fri 21 Sep 2007 02:11
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41:22.616N 70:30.315W
On Monday (9/17) we made another detour from our
quest to head south, and sailed east to Edgartown on Martha's Vineyard. We
had to time our departure from Hadley Harbor carefully so that we would transit
the Woods Hole Passage at the 'right' time. The passage is fairly short,
but the currents can be ugly. In fact, the current changes direction from
ebb to flood so fast that there is really no slack in between [non-boater
translation:usually when the tide reverses, there is a period of time with
little or no current - not so in this passage]. We can only imagine
what it's like to make this passage in the height of the summer season, because
even on a Monday morning in mid-September the boats were lined up at the
start of the passage waiting for a favorable current. We were first
through the passage and I'm pretty sure the boat with the evil eye captain was
behind us. Fortunately they didn't catch up with us, so we escaped
further mental stress. After dodging various ferries and fishing boats in
the passage, we entered Vineyard Sound and open water. The rest of the
trip to Edgartown was an excellent, fast sail
with the wind coming from a very proper direction.
We arrived in Edgartown, which is on the east side
of Martha's Vineyard, and were greeted by an extremely friendly,
salt-of-the-earth-type harbormaster who directed us to a mooring (which, by the
way, we picked up on the first try, and the cost per night was only $40 - none
of that $1/ft business here on Martha's Vineyard!). Once we got settled
and looked around, we were greeted by the view in the first picture below. No
shortage of money here...
We stayed two nights in Edgartown and found it to
be fairly deserted, which suited us just fine. On the second day,
we took advantage of a really nice fall day (no summer to be found here on
Martha's Vineyard either) and biked to Oak Bluffs (the next town
over) along the beach road.
Just a side note here on the concept of exercise
while living on a boat...
Basically, while on the boat, we get none.
However, we must be expending energy in some fashion because we are always
positively starving after a day of travel - particularly if we spent that day
sailing. Also, Don continues to shrink (no, not that kind of shrinkage, I
mean weight-wise he is shrinking). I'm not sure whether it
is due to the fact that he has to eat my cooking for pretty much every meal
(except for those once a week out-to-dinner occasions) or whether it's
due to this energy we mysteriously expend while sitting on the boat. At
any rate, this situation has caused Don to alter the way in which he tells the
time. Now, when I ask him what time it is (I quit wearing a watch when I
quit work, isn't that nice?), his answer is always related to the next
meal. For example, when I ask what time it is and it is 11:45 am, Don
answers, ' It's quarter 'til lunch!'. I'm not kidding. This happens
every day.
Ok, now back to the exercise thing. So, aside
from whatever happens when we are sailing or motoring, we really don't get any
exercise while on the boat. So, when we are in port, I insist that we
walk, bike or whatever, just to feel like normal human beings again. So
the exercise plan is a bit inconsistent. None for days at a time, and
then, as Don would put it - 'a forced march' on land.
During one of our forced marches through Edgartown,
I took the second and third pictures below. The second picture is a
typical street in Edgartown - white picket fences and all. Edgartown was
the site used for the movie Jaws - so if it looks familiar, that's why.
The third picture is of a giant pagoda tree, brought over from China in a flower
pot by one of the whaling captains that made his home in Edgartown back in
1837. If I remember right, it's the second largest pagoda tree in
North America. I know it's just a tree, but it's a nice break from
pictures of lighthouses and sunsets, isn't it?
Martha's Vineyard is really our last
touristy stop as our plan is to make a beeline from here to Manhattan via
the Block Island and Long Island Sounds, and the East River. For the
upcoming weekend, we have reservations at a marina just across the Hudson from
Manhattan, with a good view of the city and the Statue of Liberty. Pretty
cool, huh? There we will see Don's brother Bill and his wife Vicky.
After that, we plan to make an overnight trip down the New Jersey coast into
Delaware Bay and up the C&D Canal to the Chesapeake Bay and Baltimore.
There we will stay for 1-2 weeks to attend the boat show, meet my niece Tracy
and my sister Harriet and her husband Donald, and catch up on many boat jobs
that need to be done before we get into more serious off-shore sailing.
That's the plan anyway, we'll see how it goes.
Anne
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