Marthas Vineyard, Block Island trip

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crownline250

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My family and I are planning a week long trip for the week following the 4th of July. We leave out of old saybrook, and are planning on spending the first night at Mystic. From Mystic we are planning on heading to Marthas vineyard for 3 days. We have never been to the vineyard and was wondering if anyone out there might have some advice on where to dock and what to do there. By wednesday or thursday we are planning to go to block Island. We have stayed at Payne's and are thinking of trying the boat basin. Any thoughts on the Boat basin? We enjoyed paynes, but arent crazy about being rafted. This will only be my third trip on the ocean so any ideas about my itenerary or other places I should see would be great. My wife and I have a 4 year old son, and we own a 25 ft crownline cruiser. Thanks for your input
 
You will be rafted at Paynes. You will have your own slip at the boat basin.

Do you have radar? Fog can roll in quickly and get pretty thick east of Saybrook. Watch the weather, it can get rough out there, especially for a 25' boat.
 
Fog can be a huge issue out there. June and July seem to be the worst though. I have a 26 foot cruiser and would love to go to the Vineyard, but after having enough troubles getting to Block, will just take the ferry to the Vineyard. The last time we went to Block, it was 6 footers and 4 hours from Saybrook. Really sucked.
 
The run from Mystic to the Vineyard is pretty long, with prevailing winds for your starboard (Usually from S or SE) May be ambitious for a week trip, uless you have felxibility on the back end.
 
That is a very ambitious trip for that size boat and for only your third ocean voyage...the differences from LI Sound to BI Sound can be significant and are multiplied again once out of BI Sound heading to Martha's Vinyard. A suggestion on a still ambitious, but easier trip might be to head to Newport for a couple of days and from there to Block...Newport is a great town with much of the same "charm" as the vinyard and would still provide you with a very significant ocean trip from Saybrook but would offer a bit more protected waters.

Not trying to discourage you...my slip mates have a 26 foot SeaRay Sundancer that they have taken to Nantucket a number of times on yearly vacaction trips...but, they have many years of salt water experience, take minimally two full weeks for the trip with stops at BI and MV both ways. They did not do the trip last year....felt it would have cost them over $2k in gas at the price at the time.

Either way, a trip that should be planned very, very well with flexibility built in.

JB
 
If I'm not on the hook, I'd be at the boat basin...
I'll echo the caution regarding the run from Mystic to the Vinyard. That's a long haul unless the seas lay down completely...(Which I had happen only once in 10 years).

I would run the Mystic-Newport-Cuttyhunk-Vinyard once a year and it was all of 10 days due to weather, etc.

I'd hit Block on the return if I had the time/weather to do so. Keep in mind 4hrs in 4-6 is tiring for anyone. Although the wife & kids could take 6hrs or so, I tried to keep the rock'n roll to a max of 4.
 
Mystic to MV shouldn't be too bad even with a 25 footer since you're always near shore. If the weather goes down, there are pleny of places you can put in. Much safer of a trip than Block where you will be a few miles offshore in the sound.
 
Pascal,

For once I've got to disagree with you, my friend. I agree with JoeBalt that the better departure point for Block is Newport. Mystic to Block is a pretty long day unless you luck into pretty calm seas. Starting from Newport you should also have better weather info for the relatively short run to BI. From either Block or Newport Martha's Vineyard is certainly doable. In either case you are going to have to cross Rhode Island Sound and go up Vineyard Sound. Crossing RI Sound you are pretty well off-shore regardless where you started!
 
what i meant is that mystic to MV is a safer run in a small boat since you're always near shore. it's about 25NM from Mystic to Pt Judith, you can head straight out to cutty if the weather is good or stay close to the Newport an Sakonet River entrances.
then depending on weather, you can come in Buzzard bay and cross at Woods hole or take the Vineyard Sound
 
I don't think I would make that run in that boat in anything other than ideal conditions which are rare in RI and BI sound. I have a 30ft and I can't go to Block from Narragansett Bay (which I do a couple times a year) without at least one leg being a total mess with 3-6ft ocean swells. And thats just a short hop from Pt Judith out to Block. To go from Mystic accross BI and RI sound straight to MV is pretty chancy. It's not that you can't do it, I just know that my wife and kids (or me for that matter) would not enjoy the very long and likely rocky leg. Better a stop in Newport and then even a jump to Cuttyhunk before MV.
 
Quick run down of MV

Oak bluffs: Slips and Moorings. Lively (sometimes too lively) night life, but great fun. Kids love the carousel and proximity of shops. Not much privacy in slips. There is a dink dock and launch service.

Vineyard Haven: More laid back slightly longer walk to town. Fairly quiet at night. small picturesque harbor. We usually stay at Tisbury Wharf comapany and have a beautiful view of the harbor and the Black Dog and Shannandoah swinging on their moorings. There are slips available from several marinas, but have found Tisbury Wharf company to be the most reasonable although a bit further (5mins) walk from town.

Edgartown: Classic MV. Great shops, food, and some fun nightlife.n Slips are prohibitive ($). Moorings are great. If you want peace, quiet get a mooring in the back field. Great place if you do not want or need to have a slip. Launch service here too.

Menemsha: Quaint old fishing village on western portion of MV. Not much to do, but very relaxing. Take the dink and explore and order some fresh oysters/lobsters and have dinner back on the boat. Slips here are available on a first come first serve basis call at 7am when harbormaster office opens.

Let me know if you have anyother specific ?'s

I would also echo all the comments above about planning/weather. I do a lot of boating in and around the Cape and have made countless trips to MV and Nantucket. In a boat your size you need to plan travel on the good days and have enough flexibility to stay longer or cancel portions of your trip.

Ted

Prospective how did you find Tisbury Wharf Co. and Menemsha last year???
 
I echo the planning comments.

This is what it looked like leaving Block:

boat1.jpg


This is what is looked like entering Vinyard Sound:

Boat2.jpg


We could see the fog bank coming like a wall and it lasted in varying degrees for an hour.

I recall that even from Block, it was a fairly long run. Stopped in Newport on the way back in less than ideal conditions and that makes for a very unpleasant ride.
 
regarding crossing from Mystic to BI vs. Newport to BI, when you come out of Mystic, you are totally protected in behind Fishers all the way out to Watch Hill Passage, from there its an easy run to New Harbor. On a nice day, in a 25' boat, maybe 35 mins.
 
Yes, on a 'nice day' it is a very easy trip. In pea soup fog or 8'seas, it is not all that much fun...

You can do it, just make sure you listen to weather reports. You can even radio boats in BI Sound to ask them for up-to-the minute weather conditions.
 
Whatever you decide, the safer time to travel is early AM, before the winds kick up the waves. Lots of good cautious advise here. I think the trip up the coast is the best advise. Mystic to Pt Judith, petition the crew, go on or duck in? Next stop Newport or cuttyhunk, Crew ? Next stop Menemsha, crew ?

Menemsha midweek is a better choice because of the dockage situation, first come first served. We always call from Cuttyhunk to secure a spot. If there are none availble we stay on Cuttyhunk one more day or take the dink over (at 25 knots) to menemsha pond.

Your little ones will love Menemsha behind the docks against the breakwater. Lots of fishies and crabs to wrastle with.
 
While I agree an early departure generally makes for calmer seas, an early start also increases yours odds of heavy fog. Figure one or the other, relative calm and dense fog, or sunshine and rough seas. One thing you should have is a copy of Eldredge, read it and make sure you understand what they are telling you about the currents in that area. If you're crawling along in dense fog, having a several knot current behind you is far preferable to fighting the current and fog. Bob
 
Thanks for the feedback i might put off the vineyard for this trip sounds like I should probably gain some more experience before trying to pull that off in one week. I think based on this feedback I will probably do Saybrook, mystic,newport, and Block Island Where i can at least cancel part of the trip if mother nature doesnt provide some favorable conditions. Thanks again cant wait for summer!
 
Crownline
What day are you leaving? We are going to do something similar. Maybe we can get together on the run to Block?
My boys are 5 and 2
 
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