Cuttyhunk a place you NEED to visit!

Hello again from sailing land!! We're moored right now in Oak Bluffs Harbor on Martha's Vineyard. We'll tell you about this place soon but first let us tell you about where we've just been. We've spent the last ten days at Cuttyhunk Island and then yesterday we came over from Cuttyhunk to the Vineyard. On the way we stopped at Tarpaulin Cove on Nashoun Island to anchor, swim and eat lunch. It was a great stop over at one of only a very few places (maybe four) that you can go ashore in the Elizabeth Island chain. Cuttyhunk is a great exception to the no landing rule.

There aren't many places in the world where Jo and I would feel comfortable letting the kids take the dinghy out by themselves so that they could go into town for a trip to the market (for candy) but Cuttyhunk is definitely that kind of place. Here is the Expedition heading into town. When the kids use the dinghy they're Expedition on the radio and we're Jubilee.

Drew has been doing his best to catch a keeper Striped Bass. The limit is 28 inches or over. This guy measured 17 inches so we had to put him back. Still a VERY nice catch for our young angler.


Cuttyhunk has the market cornered on quaint and quiet. From the high spot on the island you can see the entire place without any trouble at all. And what you see is absolutely gorgeous. South and east is Gay Head on Martha's Vineyard and north and west you see the other side of Buzzard's Bay. And of course everywhere you look there is water.

Cuttyhunk has a about 35 year round residents and there are 2 children who attend public school at the one room school house. The public library is right next to the school and it has an eclectic collection of books and a VERY nice librarian. Just down from the library is the Cuttyhunk Historical Society that had a great exhibit about Bartholomew Gosnold who "discovered" Cuttyhunk in 1602.

Here is a shot of Jake in 17th century sailing garb that he got to try on at the Historical Society.


Here is a shot of Drew 21st century sailing garb. Drew helped with the helm during our trip from Newport, RI to Cuttyhunk, MA. We'll have another post soon about provisioning the boat in Newport.


During our time at Cuttyhunk we just hung out and relaxed. The town mottos is: "If you can't relax here, you can't relax." We anchored for all our time at Cuttyhunk save the first two days when we took a mooring. We're getting pretty good at our anchoring routine and it is nice to skip the mooring fees ($40.00 per night).

Here we are having a beach party complete with hot dogs and S'Mores.



While there are not a lot of dining options on Cuttyhunk (maybe two) there is a really cool Raw Bar boat that comes by with clams, oysters, etc. each evening which is really great after a "tough" day swimming at the beach. Also there is a place to buy lobsters off the boat right next to the dinghy dock and the lady who sells them is just wonderful. We cooked lobsters aboard two nights during our stay and they were fantastic.

The weather at Cuttyhunk was pretty interesting. Most days were sunny and warm but there were some days and many mornings when the fog would roll in and limit visibility at some points to less than 100 yards. Because the pump-out boat only comes on Wednesdays and Sundays, trips to the restrooms from the boat were fairly frequent. I felt like I was running a ferry. But it was pretty cool to be out in the Cuttyhunk Pond at night in the dinghy with the fog searching for the boat.

Here are some more pictures from our stay at Cuttyhunk:

This is what relaxation looks like as it is actually taking place.

Jumping off of the boat into Cuttyhunk Pond was a big form of entertainment. Here are a few shots of the gang doing what they do best, have fun.

As you can see, Emily still sports her earrings (this pair she made herself) even when diving off the boat.


Above is Jake and below is Drew and I and during a Geocaching session (click on the word for more info). We found the only Geocache on Cuttyhunk and we made sure to leave a couple of Geocoins from Portland, OR in the ammo box we found.

Jake, Emily and Jo are also big Geocachers . . .


Well that's all for right now. I have to get this posted and then it looks like we'll be taking our last two weeks worth of laundry to the laudromat. It isn't all fun and games out here. We've got work to do. So by for now.