INTRO
Martha’s Vineyard & Nantucket
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throttle. Oak Bluffs will come up quickly, marked by jetties. Inside this small harbor you’ll find the Oak Bluffs Marina, the largest marina on Martha’s Vineyard. Finally, Edgartown Harbor. Cruise to the east-southeast for a red #2 bell buoy, heeding the green-and-red can marking Squash Meadow to the north. The bell buoy will by John Galluzzo put you on the approach to Edgartown Harbor to the south. Follow the channel past #3, #4 and #6, nce it was whaling that drove the economies of keeping Cape Poge Light and the spit Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard, but now it’s the of sand known as Cape Poge Elbow good life: food, fishing, festivals and more. Isolated to port as you go. Round the red #8 and head for the inner harbor, around off Cape Cod due to the whims of ancient glaciers, Chappaquiddick Point. Because of the islands have become internationally renowned shifting sands in this area, NOAA puts out a localized chart, number 13238, to places of seasonal retreat from everyday life. help you find your way. Coming from the southwest of Martha’s Vineyard, look To find Nantucket, take the green for the high, sandy bluffs known as Gay Head, marked by #1 bell buoy, marking a shipwreck off the east end of the red brick Gay Head Lighthouse. Stay north of the green Tuckernuck Shoal, before making your move to the south#31 buoy in the sound to steer clear of the notorious Devil’s southeast. The channel that will take you into Nantucket Bridge rocks, which claimed the steamer City of Columbus Harbor will head to the southeast. Nantucket’s north shore in 1884. The channel heads northeastward. Ride it around will spread before you, and a red-and-white bell buoy a green #27 marking the western end of the Middle Ground marked “NB” will guide you into the dredged channel into shoal area. Nine miles to the east-northeast you’ll find the the harbor, past one of the island’s signature lighthouses at other, eastern end of that hazard, marked by a green-and-red Brant Point. The Nantucket Boat Basin, stop number one can buoy. Find that and you’ve found West Chop. Swing your for transient cruisers looking for friends on the Faraway way southward between West and East Chops, and you’ve Island, is on the western side of the harbor beyond those entered Vineyard Haven Harbor. landmarks. Next stop, Oak Bluffs. Leaving Vineyard Haven Harbor, Tie up, ask a local what’s going on, and let island time roll to starboard around East Chop, and ease up on the begin.
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CAPTAIN’S SEASIDE GUIDE 2013
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