Rain Does Exist!

August 2-8

David met me on Tuesday in Newport with the boat after 100 hours of boating with his guy friends having delivered them to the airport One of the best parts of traveling is unexpected neat stuff happening. On Wednesday evening in Newport, we were walking to a Japanese restaurant when we walked by a very old, open church. There was a docent giving a tour which she invited us to join. It was Trinity Episcopal Church built in the 17th century by the British as an Anglican church and, when they had the courtesy to leave (or were invited to leave) in the late 18th century, it became Episcopal. A stroke of luck to be walking by at that time! We also saw a number of beautiful Victorian homes on our walk.

We left Newport early Thursday and arrived at Cuttyhunk that afternoon, immediately embarking on a walk around an island which I had been assured was not very big—not even two miles across. Eight miles later, after a lot of backtracking, we finished the walk!

Cuttyhunk has about 30 full time residents all of whom, as far as I could tell, run B&Bs or very small restaurants. (I almost said “very small rocks,” for you Monty Python fans.) We ate that night at a pizza place run out of someone’s house with seating on picnic tables in the backyard. We shared our table with two couples from Newport (or Long Island?) and had a very pleasant time.

We arrived in Vineyard Haven on Friday afternoon after an uneventful sail from Cuttyhunk. We rented bikes and biked from Vineyard Haven to Oak Bluffs, taking a detour to ride by and gawk at houses along the water. When we got to Oak Bluffs, David found a quiet place (Note from David: It was a quiet place when I scouted it out, but once the call began, the vacationing family next door came home and started a raucous yard party, popping beers, yelling, etc. just on the other side of the fence I was sitting against!) for a conference call and I did a little shopping as well as spying Daily Show host Jon Stewart! We rode home and saw more gorgeous houses.

That night we ate at the Black Dog Tavern. The whole Black Dog thing was started by a man who started a tall ship charter company in Martha’s Vineyard and always took his black lab with him. The dog was either more pleasant or famous than the man so, as he opened a tavern and clothing line and more clothing stores, they were all named The Black Dog. And that’s all I’m going to say about that.

Saturday, we walked and ran about 4 or 5 miles around Vineyard Haven to get our almost daily exercise. Then we went on the bike ride from hell, from Vineyard Haven to Edgartown and back, a distance of less than 20 miles, but with lots of hills (they felt like mountains!) that were hard on us non-bikers. When returned the bikes and mentioned that we were tired he asked where we had ridden. I told him I was pretty to California and back!

Sunday was almost a total washout. After so many perfect days of sun and comfortable temperatures, we received our comeuppance. It rained and rained, so we stayed put inside the boat. Finally, in the late afternoon, the rain stopped, allowing us to finish the day with a great dinner at La Grenier, an authentic French restaurant run by an authentic French chef and owner.

Monday morning, we disconnected from our mooring just outside the Vineyard Haven breakwater and headed out, bound for Block Island. Before we could round the top of Martha’s Vineyard at West Chop, the fog rolled in and blinded us. We spent most of the trip down Vineyard Sound glued to the radar screen. Finally, as Vineyard Sound gave way to the open ocean, the fog dissipated. Soon after, we spotted a group of birds sitting on something floating in the water. We altered our course to get closer. Sadly, it was the carcass of a very large sea turtle.

Brooke (with a little David at the end)

P.S. The picture shows how thick the fog was—no way you could see a boat on a collision course until it was too late!