Help planning a trip to Martha's Vineyard

Greg

Greg

Active Member
Mar 27, 2008
1,310
North Jersey
Boat Info
2003 480 Sedan Bridge
Engines
QSM-11's
I thought I would seek the advice of all of you knowledgeable people. I am planning a trip for a week out towards Martha's Vineyard. We are docked on the Hudson in NJ, we plan on stopping in Mystic for the first couple nights, then on to MV and maybe Nantucket. We are going from August 16th to the 23rd. This will be our first 'big' trip and my questions are: Does anyone have any routes or tracks that they could send me, or advice as to a 'preferred' route? Also any places along that path that I should stop at. We'll have three kids with us 5, 5, and 10. Any other general advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Greg
 
Yeah, I have been following his blog as well, very funny stuff. I think I will try to hit a lot of the same spots. I was wondering more about the actual routes, as I am now starting to 'plot' my course. I am looking for places where the kids will have a good time as well.
 
Greg........

Congratulations on such a good trip......I think you are being a bit ambitious trying to get Mystic, MV and Nantucket in a week trip. I say this only because it is your first long trip, you have a set of twins and another young child on a 34 footer.....The boat is great...I owned one 5 years ago and loved it....You want this to be a great experience for everyone and (i am guessing) I think trying to get a 400 mile round trip into one week might be too much....You need to take seas into effect, rain, winds, etc. that might keep you in a port for an extra day.....How about Block Island, Mystic and Newport this year? A lot to do at all 3 ports for the family.....If it rains, you can get away and off the boat with loads to do....You are only (guessing again) less than 100 miles from NJ and at most would have a 4-5 hour ride....You can also spend at least 2 days at each port of call with 1 day to play with....That would be a great trip...Just my thoughts.....If I could take a week in the summer, thats what I would do but cruise from the Cape...
 
with travel and possible August weather, why not get there, stay there and enjoy. You will not see everything anyway so it will be worth it. Go to Block Island.

I dont get the 2 day stop thing, dont we have the rat race thing when were not boating?
 
Dancin Dave is right, go to Block Island. Mystic is a long way up the river and with young kids you are better to go one place and settle in. We are all different, but if you are going to Marthas Vineyard go to Oak Bluffs as it is more kid friendly than Edgartown or Vineyard Haven.

If you want to go to Mystic look into the membership program. Some programs come with reduced or free dockage.

Have a safe trip

Mr. Salt
2001 540 CPMY
Caterpillar C-12s
 
I agree with Mr.Salt, on Oak Bluffs(kid friendly). The oldest Carousal in the country is there(grab a brass ring) and things galore for the little ones. And Block Island for one the best beaches in New England. Choose one.
Good luck Greg!

Mr.Salt, Great boat you have!!!!!
 
Maybe you guys are right, I guess I was kind of used to some of our other 'road trip' vacations. Earlier this year we flew into Denver then drove in a big loop, to Mt Rushmore, Cody WY, Yellowstone, Grand Tetons, Salt Lake City, Colorado Springs, then back to Denver for the trip home. That was also a one week trip. But we didn't have to worry about the weather. Maybe I'll do Mystic (already made reservations) then go to Block Island, then home. Would Champlins be the place to stay on Block Island? Assuming I don't mind people stumbling across my swim platform.
 
yes Greg Champlins, swimming pool, movie theater, bumper boats, arcade,little beach,lots of kids, ice cream, and on.
 
Greg

I think your destinations are right on......I hope we did not burst your bubble for adventure, but I think you will be glad you selected Mystic and Block Island......Two great choices and great thigs to do off the boat.....Two different port of calls....Make sure you take the kids to the Mystic aquarium...Neat little town...Once the kids are a sleep you and the wife can go to foxwoods....kidding....Block Island will be a nice place to kick back and relax with the pool and mudslides.....Keep us posted on your travels....
 
Well, I'm back from our trip. Although initially I thought I would hit a bunch of places, then backed it down to just Mystic and Block, I wound up going more with the original plan. I only did this because the weather looked great, and I thought I would be bored staying in the same place for so long.

Here we are cruising into Long Island Sound. The first time really out of the Hudson River where we dock.
Img_8287.jpg


Our first stop was Mystic Seaport, we stayed there for two nights. Took a dinghy ride down to Abbotts Lobster house for dinner it was great. First time I used the dinghy. Stopped on the way back at the town dock for Ice Cream and saw this and thought of Gary.
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Saw the Charles Morgan

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Mystic was Great for the kids, with the aquarium, and the activities at the Seaport, They all made toy boats and candles.

When we left Mystic we headed for Martha's Vineyard. We stayed in Oak Bluffs, that was nice:
Img_8480.jpg


We rented bikes and rode to Edgartown over the Jaws Bridge.
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Went to America's Oldest Carousel, but didn't get the brass ring:smt089
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Since the weather still looked great we decided to head on over to Nantucket. Couldn't find any empty slips so we got a mooring (another first for us).
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That was nice also, and it was cool enough at night that I didn't have to run the generator all night. I was a little uncomfortable about that.
The standard Nantucket pic:
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Walked all around and saw the museums and all the old historic places, the old jail, mill, etc.
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The only trouble we had on Nantucket was when we docked our dinghy at the dock, left, then came back at high tide. The dinghy had floated under the dock and was stuck there. We had to wait about an hour for the tide to get it back out. So we stopped in to see the Nantucket Nectars Juice Guys for some smoothies and ice cream.
Img_8657.jpg


After Nantucket it was time to start heading back, so it was off to Block Island. We didn't really get a chance to tour the island, we pretty much stayed at Champlins the whole time. The kids loved it, with the pool, playground, arcade and everything. We were lucky and were able to back right up to a floating dock. Which was good after having a bunch of those mudslides. We took the dinghy to dinghy beach
Img_8694.jpg


Had some fun on the bumper boats

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And then it was time to go home. The weather was perfect the whole week, which made this possible. The worst seas were I guess 2-4 feet from the reports but it didn't seem so bad. One kid started feeling a little sick, but she was down in the cabin. Once we had her come up top she was fine. I know a lot of you thought it might be too much for a week, which it was busy, but I like that. The way we timed it worked out pretty good, we would leave in the morning get to our destination early afternoon, then spend two nights there. That gave us the first half day to check everything out and plan the next full day. We wound up burning about 620 gallons of gas. The most expensive place was Nantucket where it was over 6 dollars a gallon. It was a great trip and I can't wait for the next one. Sorry for the long post...
 
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Awesome looking trip. Great pics.
 
Wow... that looks great!

Did you note how clean that pooper scooper was at Nantucket?
 
I noticed there is a lock on it now. I wonder why?
 
Ha ha ha ha :smt043

That is so funny

:smt043:smt043

I gotta show that to the wife!
 
It's probably the talk of the town. Maybe even had to have a town meeting to allocate funds to lock the scoop dispensers.
 
I'll bet it was the same guy that cleaned out Susie's 'deposit' who put the hasp and lock on the dispenser.
 
Greg, looks like you guys had great time. Very nice pics. It might be something on my radar for the next season.
 
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