Road Trip round New England in the Spring, not the Fall! Day 13 - Martha's Vineyard

[anji]

Day 13 – Martha’s Vineyard

We were booked onto the 9.00am Ferry so were up bright and early. The ferry terminal was less than 5 minutes away but we still got there early! We were glad we’d got our tickets in advance as there were a lot of people at the ticket office.

There was a major yacht race on today so it was generally very busy all round. It was the Hyannis to Nantucket Figawi race, which has been held on Memorial Day weekend since the 1970’s and over 200 yachts would be competing. The start of the race wasn’t until 10am so they were all getting into position.

We sailed on time and passed lots of the yachts on the way over to Martha’s Vineyard. It was a smooth crossing and very warm – ideal weather for Will, who is not a boat fan. I kept a lookout for whales but without any luck. We docked at Oak Bluffs and had a brief look around the harbour before making our way to the tour of the island bus, which we had booked with our ferry tickets. The buses basically meet the ferries, so it was easy to do.

Our driver, Anthony, was really entertaining and knew so much about the island. We did debate whether to do this trip but were very glad we did.

We left Oak Bluffs and the tour lasted for about 2.5 hours in total – the whole time he was telling us information about the island’s history and geography and about the inhabitants, including the Kennedys, presidents staying, movie stars and the like. He was originally a student doing a summer job on a program from Jamaica, then decided to stay after graduating, became a taxi driver and also the tour driver. Martha’s Vineyard is very expensive and there are no chain stores or restaurants.

We drove all round the island and ended up at Aquinnah point. Here was the most beautiful colour sea!

There was the Gay Head lighthouse, some cabins selling local crafts and snacks and viewpoints.

We saw the locations for the Jaws movie and saw the beach (and especially the point where the little boy was killed!) and the famous bridge. People were jumping off the bridge, although they’re not meant to.

Back in Oak Bluffs we had ice creams from the Big Dipper Café and looked at the Flying Horses carousel. This is the oldest working carousel in USA.

We then went for a walk to the Gingerbread Houses. I found this area incredibly beautiful and peaceful. Such lovely and colourful houses, gardens and flowers. There are 318 of them and are preserved Methodist camp meeting houses.

The Tabernacle is at the centre in the park and can hold 4000 people. It is still in use today.

Some enterprising children were selling home-made lemonade from their front yard – it was delicious!

We walked back to the dockside and it was, by now, really busy and also very hot. We were looking at some motor boats when a voice behind us asked if we’d like to see Chief Brody’s car from Jaws! Right behind us was said pickup truck!

The owner of the voice was a guy called Warren. A larger than life, ex-policeman, ex-security guard for visiting presidents (driver for Obama!) and knower of all the local information.

He took our photos, explained all about his heritage and then showed us all round Oak Bluffs for an hour or more! This included going back to the Gingerbread Houses again for another tour!

He was really kind to do this and added me on Facebook. He has over 4500 friends and I think he may be a bit lonely and likes chatting to tourists! He’s also a Trump fan and really couldn’t understand British politics – not that we wanted to talk Brexit or anything like that.

Eventually we joined the line to catch the 3.35pm Ferry back to Hyannis – another smooth crossing!

We went back to the hotel to freshen up. We decided to eat early that night and went to the Black Cat Tavern, which was full last time we’d tried. Just right this time with excellent food and drinks.

We went back to our room again for an hour before going out in search of a dark green sweatshirt with Cape Cod on it for a friend. This proved to be really difficult! There were so many different t shirts, hoodys and sweatshirts but either the wrong green, wrong size, wrong design but after about 8 shops we finally succeeded!

Index - https://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/sho...8#post13903548

[Melbatb]

Another lovely day - perfect weather too!

And how nice to get another personalised tour!

[anji]

Originally Posted by Melbatb

Another lovely day - perfect weather too!

And how nice to get another personalised tour!

See more...

It was perfect weather Very kind of Warren to take us under his wing for an hour - he obviously enjoyed doing it too!

[Loopylooloo]

Those gorgeous gingerbread houses! So cute as Americans would say. Looks lovely 😊

[Libby]

We had Anthony for our tour in 2018. Certainly a larger than life character!

[princessnicki]

This makes me soooo sad and excited at the same time, we are supposed to be here in 75 days looks amazing, beautiful island

[anji]

Originally Posted by princessnicki

This makes me soooo sad and excited at the same time, we are supposed to be here in 75 days looks amazing, beautiful island

See more...

Oh I do hope you get to go, it's such a beautiful place (as is the whole of New England!). We're supposed to be going to Canada/USA same time as you. Big fingers crossed otherwise it's road trip in Wales! It will be worth waiting for for you though