July 22 – Aug 6: Edgartown, Martha’s Vineyard
Aug 6 – Aug 10: Hadley Harbor, Elizabeth Islands
Aug 10 – Aug 16: Provincetown, Mass.
Aug 16 – Aug 18: Hadley Harbor, Elizabeth Islands
Aug 18 – ?: Edgartown, Martha’s Vineyard
We’ve done a bit of touring on foot, kayaking, walking, biking, running the dog at the beach. We’ve both been working on our various boat chores, things that just don’t seem to get done when we are busy cruising and enjoying ourselves in far away places.
There are a lot of shops and stores in Edgartown and Provincetown, but prices are through the roof, so we just window shop. Just as well as we don’t have a need for anything. I buy my stickers for the wall of places we’ve been to and that’s good enough as far as spending goes.
The only eating out we’ve done all summer is at a pizza by the slice place here in Edgartown (very close to the NY pizza P grew up with). We went there the other day and sadly they are closed for the season, not to re-open until 2016. I guess the season is over here. Everyone is heading back to school.
Through the summer we enjoyed watching the kids out learning to sail. Every week there would be races to watch as well. We found ourselves cheering them on at times and totally losing hours on end just watching and enjoying them and their laughter.
One young boy sailed by us one day and sang Oh Canada for us. Then he told us he was from Canada. Another person proud to be Canadian.
Martha’s Vineyard has a lot of room to anchor, good holding, nice bike paths and sidewalks, a good mile walk to a large grocery store, liquor store, and hardware store. They also have a launch to take you ashore if you don’t want to use your own dinghy (a bit pricey) and a pump out boat that comes to you (Channel 74). We’ve also discovered we can get our mail delivered here, so we’ve ordered it sent and will depart when it arrives in a few days from now. So this is why we’ve spent so many days here – it’s convenient for a cruiser.
Hadley Harbor is more out of the way and has a small anchorage where everyone squeezes in as best as possible. Holding is good once set, but getting set can be more challenging. We’ve watched many struggle and move about until they find a sweet spot. It’s quiet and only has one small island that you can take the dog for a walk. No beaches there for him. All of the area is privately owned, so we respect that. It’s great for kayaking and paddle boarding, and is well protected from the open seas. We enjoyed the serenity there.
Provincetown was really fun. It’s a colorful place with lots of quirky shops to browse. Best place ever to people watch. It’s so nice to see a place where gays and straights are all comfortable with each other. We were there just before Carnival so the place was very crowded and every Inn and Hotel had their No Vacancy signs out.
We anchored near the beach opposite the main town so the dinghy ride was a long one. But the walk to the grocery store was .7 miles instead the the 1 mile in Edgartown. They don’t allow plastic bags so if you don’t bring your own bags you’ll be hauling your load in brown paper bags. I always bring my own bags and we each carry a knapsack so didn’t have to worry about it. We also found a place to refill our propane tanks (Days Propane close to the grocery store)– it was a about 1.2 miles walk round trip and we used our wheelie thing to bring them to and fro.
On our Saturday there, we discovered a farmer’s market. I bought some nice Swiss chard, zucchinis, and heirloom tomatoes. They also had a stall selling Kettle Corn – which I can’t resist. It was so good I wish I’d bought two bags of it.
So that’s our summer. Next we head back to Cuttyhunk, then Block Island for labor day weekend. After that we’ll head to Port Washington and hope to figure out how to transit to NYC to see some family.
(internet is slow, so pics to follow)