1982 (10) – Martha’s Vineyard

Martha's Vineyard.  Postcard

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We spent the month of July with Ed’s folks.  In early August we sailed from the south shore of Long Island to Martha’s Vineyard, in Massachusetts.  It was a long trip.  We motored most of the first day and night.  When we reached the eastern tip of Long Island, we couldn't see Montauk light because of the fog.  The second day we stopped at Block Island, in Rhode Island, and spent the night.  We motored again most of the third day, and spent the night at Menemsha Bight on the western shore of Martha's Vineyard.  On the fourth morning, we traveled to Edgartown with a favorable current, taking four hours to cover the distance along the northern coast of Martha's Vineyard.  We were rendezvousing with friends, Kathy and Bill, from Ann Arbor, Michigan.  (A couple years before, we had met up with them during their vacation at Caneel Bay, St. John, in the U.S. Virgin Islands.)  We reached Edgartown one hour before they arrived!        

One day the four of us rented bicycles and biked around Edgartown.  Then we took the ferry over to Chappaquiddick and biked all around that island.  We stopped to see the bridge that Ted Kennedy had made famous, and went to a beach.  After a mid-afternoon lunch, we took their car and went to a winery on Martha's Vineyard.  We enjoyed an interesting tour, and Kathy and Bill bought some wine.

Bill, with the bluefish he caught.

The next day we took Kathy and Bill out sailing, and had lovely weather, but not much wind.  That was fine with them - they were happiest when we were ghosting along at two knots.  Bill loved to fish, and had brought along his rod and tackle box.  While we sailed, he had a line over the side.  When we were eating lunch, a fish got hooked, and there was utter pandemonium on deck as Bill tried to get control of the line.  We were doing four knots, so we headed up into the wind to slow the boat, and dropped the genoa.  Bill reeled in the fish and Ed gaffed it, while Kathy took pictures.  Bill had caught a beautiful 10-pound bluefish.  He filleted it before we reentered the harbor.

Bill and Kathy, enjoying littleneck clams.

We were having drinks on deck when a "Raw Barge" came by, with a sign offering Littlenecks.  For $5.00, the two men cleaned a dozen clams, and served them on the half shell with cocktail sauce and lemon slices.  Kathy and Bill thought that was really great, and got a dozen.  They managed to talk Ed and me into each trying one, but we did so without much enthusiasm.  For dinner, I fixed a rice and tomato dish, and Kathy sautéed the bluefish that Bill had caught.