Wednesday 22 August: Edgartown, Martha’s Vineyard (MA).
A combination of heavy rain and strong wind, alternating with some weird unidentified bird or animal noises, gave us a restless sleep last night. But the sky seems to be clearing and maybe we have a dry day.
After breakfast we call the harbormaster to book the mooring buoy for another night, and few minutes later a boat comes in, to collect the payment. The boat is driven by two 12 years old boys, the office must be very trusting of their skills, to allow them to drive a 250HP toy!
A bit of admin rest of the morning, with call to Paul, Glen’s brother, attending some email and video editing. Mid-afternoon the sky clears completely and it’s warming up, looks and feels like summer again. On a boat next to us, kids are jumping off the boat under the supervision of their father, who is upping the game with more twists in the fending rope.
Early evening we are fed up with the laptop and head off to town. At the dinghy dock, there is a pile of dinghies, on double row, and we only just manage to tie our one.
First stop is at the Edgartown Yacht Club, where we need to fill in a form in order to be allowed in as visiting members. Once in, it is striking how upmarket the place is. Not necessarily as setup, but the people. There’s nothing casual about any of them, and not a strand of their hair out of place either. No music, only whisper chatting, no kids running around. We feel all looks on us as we enter the room. We find two seats at the bar and order some beer. The bartender is very pleasant, but other than her we talk to nobody else. There are groups of people around us, very much to their own. The bartender suggests us to try the crab cakes, which we then order, but nothing to rave about. Even less so when we get the bill, which is ridiculously expensive.
Out in the fresh air we giggle about the experience and the rules of the place, and we walk few streets in search of a more down to earth bar. Not before stopping at the ice cream shop. We indulge in amarena cherry, our favorite, savoring it on a bench while watching the world go by.
Next stop is The Port Hunter, where we aimed for nice cocktails. But it’s more of a pub than a cocktail bar and we end up ordering beer, again. And in between sipping from our glasses, we fantasize about all the great cocktail bars which we hope we will find in New York.
Back at the dinghy dock, we are pleased to find most of them gone, and we can actually step straight into our dinghy. Back on Cloudy Bay we seal ourselves inside the boat, as the night is getting chilly. Bikes go on charge, alarm set for the morning, and enthusiasm levels high for a full-on activity day tomorrow!
Martha’s Vineyard photo album
Martha’s Vineyard video on Sail Cloudy Bay YouTube channel
