By Rich

Our sail on Friday from Edgartown to Vineyard Haven was such a tease. The day started out with a nice Northerly in the upper teens (apparent) – enough to enjoy a wonderful beat (and later close reach) at the upper ranges of our full sail plan before – as forecast – the breeze completely died after only an hour or so of sailing. Ugh.

The jaunt between these two destinations is short, however, so we powered the rest of the way to Vineyard Haven and took a mooring in the outer field. A word of caution on this one: it’s very exposed to the Northeast and was very rolly simply as a result of the swells leftover from the wind we’d enjoyed only a short time before. If you plan a visit here be sure to get inside of the breakwater if the breeze is expected to be from anything like the North.

Our actual intended destination for Friday night was a small fishing village called Menemsha on the Western part of the island so we could enjoy fresh lobster and a sunset. Menemsha only has a couple of moorings, however, and they book up instantly. Our diversion to Vineyard Haven allowed us to enjoy a leisurely lunch and take in some of the sights of this little ferry terminal port before we hopped on a bus for Menemsha.

Menemsha provided us with fresh-off-the boat lobster and the sunset we’d been looking for, but at the price of large and boisterous crowds who flocked to the beach for the sunset. In the photos below, I’ve been crafty to catch only the natural scenery but the photos are a bit misleading; we weren’t there alone by any stretch and while scenic, the scene wasn’t as peaceful as my little slight of photographic hand would have one believe.

Still a very fun experience, though, and one we are all glad we shared.