Martha's Vineyard

We're kicking off our 2 weeks driving trip through New England from Martha's Vineyard, the island off Buzzards Bay. We’ve had a very relaxing 3 days. We didn’t even have to drive. We landed in Boston at 5.45am, picked up the car, drove to Woods Hole ferry terminal and parked our car there. It’s recommended that we don’t drive on the island due to limited parking spots. I’m glad we took the advice. There are many bus routes and we took them to all the different communities on the island. Every community has a different look and feel to it. The biggest town is Oak Bluffs where there are many restaurants and shops. We had dinner there on our 2nd night at “Nancy,” a restaurant overlooking the sea. This is a really beautiful island, with some very expensive and great looking homes. I can see why Obama vacations here every year. Things are pretty expensive and we noticed that there are no fast food chains to be found. I guess they don’t want their reputation for great food to be tarnished.

Many of the visitors are just day trippers. They arrive in the mornings and by evening, the island is pretty empty as all of them had left. The season is almost over as fall officially started yesterday. Many of the businesses close until spring of next year.

It is Derby time – for Stripped Bass and Bluefish fishing. It started mid Sept and will run through till mid Oct. It is taken seriously by folks around here. We see people fishing everywhere. Kids are introduced to this recreation from a very early age. We were at Lamberts Cove by Nantucket Sound yesterday. It is a really nice stretch of beach and a pass is required in high season. As we were leaving in the evening, we saw people arriving with their tables, beach chairs and food for the fishing party at night. The biggest catch so far was a 30lb striped bass yesterday. Fishes are weighed every morning to see who had the biggest catch. We saw a picture of a bass as tall as a man!

Our hotel is located in a perfect spot in Vineyard Haven. We are 2 blocks from the ferry. As a matter of fact, from where I’m sitting right now, I can see the ferry arriving and leaving. The beach is less than 20 feet from our room and at night as we lay down to sleep, the gentle lapping of the surf lulls us to sleep. The bus to Oak Bluffs stops right in front of our hotel. We catch all the other buses at the ferry terminal. It was raining and cloudy for the first part of today. We took the bus to Katama Beach and there were just 2 other couples. It is along the Atlantic Ocean and very isolated from the nearest town. It was miserable as it was cold and windy.

We will be taking the ferry back to the mainland tomorrow and make our drive up to Cape Cod for 2 nights.

Beach at Vineyard Haven

Edgartown pier

Gay Head Cliff and Lighthouse at Aquinnah

Gay Head at Aquinnah