Day Three: Cape Cod Circumnavigation
Posted by Joe Kelly on Wed, Aug 24, 2011 @ 04:17 AM
Woke up early in Edgartown on Saturday August 20th. My plan for the day was to get over to Nantucket in time to watch some of Nantucket Race Week sailing regatta. I purchased fuel at Edgartown Marine just before I left. There fuel dock is very easy to approach as long as you head into the current during your docking.
Edgartown harbor has a huge amount of current that runs through it. In a small or large boat you need to be very conscious of this. In April of 2007 a big storm broke through Norton Point Beach. This has happened in the past and over time the breach fills in. The breach is one of the main causes of the large current in Edgartown harbor.
A chart dated 1894 shows the 1886 breach that connected Katama Bay to the Atlantic Ocean. Image NOAA
As you navigate around the harbor keep your eye on how the current is moving your boat around. There are some areas that back eddys occur, especially around fixed piers. The current also is felt when anchoring in the outer harbor. If you are going to put your skiff out there I would suggest putting it close to the beach on the Chappaquiddick side and a good distance away from the mouth of the harbor.
Just as I headed out of the Harbor I saw some friends on a sailboat anchored. Four of them had purchased a cruising sailboat and were fixing it up themselves. They plan on sailing from the New England area, down to the Caribbean and then over to Europe. Best of luck to the crew on RIOT. As I left they snapped a few picture of the skiff also!!
Leaving Edgartown Harbor enroute Nantucket!!!
The trip over to Nantucket was really easy. There was a light south west breeze with maybe a 1 foot chop. The course that I took to Nantucket is ONLY for small shallow draft boats. Their are a lot of shoals if you take the straitest route from the tip of Chappaquiddick directly to Nantucket. From Island to Island it is about 18 miles. The first harbor that you can enter when you get to Nantucket is Madaket. It is truly one of my favorite spots in New England. It has a very narrow passage in with most of the harbor being to shallow to navigate. All of the shallow water though gives it the appearance of a tropical area.
Madaket Habor. Madaket Marine is the building off the port bow.
One thing that should be noted about Madaket is all of the shell fishing that is done here. Please watch the shoreline for people wading in the water raking, snorkeling or scuba diving. If you see people shell fishing it is appropriate to reduce your speed so as to not give them a large wake.
I pulled into Madaket Marine to take a quick break and grab a cold soda. It is a great marina with a full service boatyard.
I left Madaket and headed out to the race course to watch the sailboats. The wind picked up some and the sailors on board the boats were obviously having a blast.
The final part of the trip was heading into the main Nantucket Harbor. Going into Nantucket is always a treat. The scenery is beautiful as well as some spectacular boats to look at. Below are a few examples of the boats you will see in Nantucket.
Motor Yacht Sea Owl leaving Nantucket
Motor Yacht Innisfail
The Nantucket Lightship
After driving around the harbor some I need to spend some time on logistics for the trip. My plan had been to spend the next day (Sunday) on Nantucket and then leave for Boston on Monday. Because of the weather forecasts though I needed to leave very early the next day so I would not get stuck in a Storm!!
Getting dockage in the middle of the summer on Nantucket is difficult. It is next to impossible during Nantucket Race week. I knew this and had the boat anchored. The logistical issue was that I wanted to leave the next morning at 4:30am. I knew that the wind would not start to pick up until 8-9am. So with those 3-4 hours of perfectly flat seas I could go much faster and knock off a lot of miles on my 100 mile trip back to Boston. I had arranged to sleep at a friends house for the night but needed to use the water taxi to get back to the skiff on the anchor.
Well......The water taxi only runs from 7am until midnight. The solution was sleep on the boat!!! I put the cushions down on the cockpit floor and jumped in my sleeping bag (very glad I brought it). It was a beautiful night under the stars!