Leaving (too) early, New Anchorage, Guarding the President and Menemsha Sunset

Enjoying Edgartown
We spent a laid back afternoon bobbing on our mooring, swimming and just kicking back on Argon.  We eventually ventured in to town and enjoyed walking around in the late afternoon sun and Linda indulged in a pedicure. We continue to enjoy this fantastic spell of wonderful, sunny (and breezy) weather.

Strolling around Edgartown - these guys were really good playing outside  Chesca's restaurant

Back at the ship, we decide to be proactive and rig the spinnaker in preparation for an early sail tomorrow - see below

I've got a great idea!
Today (Friday), Bob learned not to plan for current in Vineyard Sound after a second glass of wine. We got up at 0300 (yeah, 3AM) to take off from Edgartown. The plan was to do a long downwind leg to Block Island taking advantage of a favorable and strong current in the Sound - We needed to leave very early in the morning to hit this. We even had the spinnaker rigged the evening prior to make for an easy hoist in the wee hours and coffee ready to make given the painfully early, but thrilling early morning departure. This was absolutely perfect timing... that is if your idea of perfect timing is to hit the strong vineyard sound current at peak opposing current. I'm an excellent captain (perhaps periodically dyslexic).

Piloting out of Edgartown Harbor at 0320, confident in Bob's plan

Sailing at night = cool.  Sliver of a moon was mostly obscured by clouds thus it was extremely dark.  (We still have not discovered our mistake.)

We realized it would be stupid to try to make any progress toward Block against the 2-3 kt current so we considered alternatives. Linda noticed there is actually a pretty big anchorage right outside of Vineyard Haven. This is good to know as this is a nice free way to stay there!  Anyway, we dropped the hook in there and took a nap while waiting for the current lessen.

Bob prepares the anchor as we watch the sun rise

Sunrise Friday morning as we anchored in Vineyard Haven to await a proper current (~4 hours)

Young children should leave the room for this part
While heading into the anchorage, Bob noticed something in the water and was trying to decide if it was a bird or a Lobster Trap. Guess again... it was a young deer struggling against the current about a mile off shore!  This was pretty tragic to see because he was getting swept out towards the sound. We considered trying to help the fawn using the dinghy but were concerned about fighting the current (and a terrified, kicking deer).  We also scanned the area hoping there might be a small power boat nearby we could radio to for help - but there were none at this early morning hour. We hope he made it back to land.

Don't think this guy had much of a chance

Plan B
So we decided to cancel plans for Block Island today and instead set a course for Menemsha on the North-Western point of Martha's Vineyard. We've heard good things. We will repeat good things. Also, President Obama is in a town not far from here on vacation so there's been a coast guard cutter and several go-fasts along the shore all day. The best part is that Linda found the elusive perfect lobster roll in this tiny fishing town. Too bad we had just finished lunch when she made this discovery (she had a lobster roll anyway).

A couple Coast Guard go-fasts near Menemsha Harbor

This particular fishing boat was somewhat scary and very rusty

Interesting mix of fishermen and tourists at Menemsha

Lobster Roll Shopping; Also bought some freshly caught cod and stuffed scallops.

Menemsha is very pretty

Being Townies
After walking around, Bob headed back out to the mother ship to get supplies (wine and glasses) and we hung out on the beach for a while. Bob also visited the Chandlery which was more like a building that a garage sale threw up in.

We have been searching for an anchor snubber hook at every port - no luck yet

The away team returns to the mother ship with the shuttle craft

Bob bearing a bottle of rose and a pair of plastic wine glasses to enjoy on the beach along the jetty

Dinner on Argon Tonight
Menemsha has a couple excellent fish markets. We got some extremely fresh Cod and some fixings.  Linda made a wonderful five star dinner.

Near Scutra-quality dinner (Scutra is our favorite Arlington restaurant)

And That Sunset
Well, unfortunately some low clouds on the horizon obscured it, but Menemsha is one place on the east coast you can actually see the sun set into the ocean.

Watching the sunset from the cockpit

(Linda) Planning For Tomorrow
We're going to try for Block again Saturday morning - this time at 0600 instead of 0300; will be a 40 nm trip with ETA 1400. We will face the same opposing current early in the morning but the wind will be higher and we've only got a few miles of the narrow part of the sound where it runs fast. Also, we're about 14 miles closer than we were yesterday. Wind is expected to be North East.

Studying potential harbors

Bargains
This trip is remarkable so far for how little we've spent on overnight fees. So far, we've only been on paid moorings twice for a total of $65 ($25 the first night in Chatham and $40 in Edgartown)! And no overnight dockage yet. Tomorrow, we will probably anchor in Block Island's Great Salt Pond so that should be a freebie too.

End of week one of LASVA.