Question about northeast

[FootballFan]

How would you differentiate Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket?

which do you prefer?

 

[superwa]

Depending on where you are coming from, there's certainly another couple of hours of cruising to Nantucket, and the fuel there is insanely expensive. Think a grand or more for a fill up. Nantucket is a nice island, but a bit too fancy for me, as in I forgot my linen pants. If that's your thing, you'll love it. Nice restaurants by the docks and driving a jeep on the beach is a nice thing to do. Cool maritine museum. In august the bay fills up with jelly fish, so not a great place to visit if you like to swim off your boat. We made that mistake once and ended up leaving after 2 days and anchoring at Cuttyhunk. Personally I prefer Block Island. It has just the right casual vibe for me. MV is some where in between the two.

 

[Ididntdoit]

Nantucket boat basin is $$$ and full service - nice dining options. The island is totally geared towards summer residents and high end seasonal renters.......MV is FAR more casual and "approachable" excellent public transit - a mix of day trippers and renters/seasonal residents - Totally different experience in VH, Edgartown, Menemsha and Oak Bluffs - the good news is, with public transit, you can dock in one location but take in the whole island.....out favorite is Edgartown (always took a mooring), with trips to Menemsha for the beach....Hopefully Jeremy chimes in on this thread - he would be a great source of specific info on visiting the islands with a boat of your size.....

 

[Irie308]

Agreed with all statements above. We go to MV every year as our kids love it there. We do too, but would say its very kid friendly. With teenagers and preteens its easy for them to get around and stay busy. I would say the public transportation and bike paths are the best I've seen at any vacation spot. I think the beach access and usability is much better in MV. Nantucket does have a ton of jelly's during the season. The vibe in MV is much more casual and you can pick a harbor based on your taste. When we go we dock\moor all around the island so that we can take it all in. For us during the peak season Nantucket has too much going on as far as the crowds. The "fancy'ness" of Nantucket doesn't bother us too much as it makes for great people/boat watching. Its a beautiful place to visit but just too crowded to be truly enjoyed during the height of the season. That being said we prefer to spend most of our time in MV and if a window opens we pop over to Nantucket for a day or 2 via mooring. Last year we were in MV for a 4 weeks. No one wanted to leave. Someone mentioned Block and yes Block is nice and much closer for us but after 2-3 days we are looking for other things to do. I would compare MV to Block but just on a much larger scale with some fancy parts sprinkled through out. This is not rooted in science but it seems most of the weather that hits the coast tends to miss the islands. Rarely have complete wash out days when we visit in July/Aug.

 

[superwa]

Good points. We were just in Block Island for two weeks. While inland there was a heat wave and then flooding, we had a couple of showers and beautiful days, and temps probably 10-15 degrees cooler. We call it the Block Island Bubble. Also a quick note that if you are cruising now, there is debris that has coming down the CT River to Long Island sound and may be on its way to the islands. We had a couple of folks with the binocs out on our way back this past weekend.

 

[Skybolt]

Depending on where you are coming from, there's certainly another couple of hours of cruising to Nantucket, and the fuel there is insanely expensive. Think a grand or more for a fill up. Nantucket is a nice island, but a bit too fancy for me, as in I forgot my linen pants. If that's your thing, you'll love it. Nice restaurants by the docks and driving a jeep on the beach is a nice thing to do. Cool maritine museum. In august the bay fills up with jelly fish, so not a great place to visit if you like to swim off your boat. We made that mistake once and ended up leaving after 2 days and anchoring at Cuttyhunk. Personally I prefer Block Island. It has just the right casual vibe for me. MV is some where in between the two.

Perfectly stated. And I could not agree more about Block. Block is one of my favorite place(s) in the NE. MV is nice but don't stay in Oak Bluff, the ferry and lines are there all day and starts very early in the morning. The rest is very much worth visiting. Nantucket is also worth visiting but for a shorter stay.

 

[Irie308]

Perfectly stated. And I could not agree more about Block. Block is one of my favorite place(s) in the NE. MV is nice but don't stay in Oak Bluff, the ferry and lines are there all day and starts very early in the morning. The rest is very much worth visiting. Nantucket is also worth visiting but for a shorter stay.

Oaks Bluff is one of our favorite spots. I know what you are saying about the lines and people coming and going however we found that if you go bow in at the dock its like you are on your own private little mooring with all the privacy you need and full access to all the amenities as well as access to town. Kids are able to use the floats off the stern full access to dinghy etc. Actually don't know why anyone would want to go stern into a public bulk head with such a nice harbor at your disposal. We have an upcoming week in OB. Don't get me wrong its probably one of the busiest harbors but I wouldn't write it off.

 

[Skybolt]

Oaks Bluff is one of our favorite spots. I know what you are saying about the lines and people coming and going however we found that if you go bow in at the dock its like you are on your own private little mooring with all the privacy you need and full access to all the amenities as well as access to town. Kids are able to use the floats off the stern full access to dinghy etc. Actually don't know why anyone would want to go stern into a public bulk head with such a nice harbor at your disposal. We have an upcoming week in OB. Don't get me wrong its probably one of the busiest harbors but I wouldn't write it off.

You forgot about the ferry horn every time it leaves and it starts at 6AM. But I have to agree it is one of the nicest spots. I also bowed in and launched the dinghy as well. Lots of fun tooling around there.

I still like Block better, stay at the Boat Basin or Paynes and not Champlins and it will have a new outlook on it. But there is always a mooring as well. It's the best harbor to tool around with the dinghy in.

 

[swaterhouse]

Our favorite spot by far between the two is Edgartown as it sits literally and figuratively between the two. We really enjoy nice dinners ashore while on vacations, and while some of our favorite restaurants are in Edgartown we go there 5-6 times a year so its nice to get out to Nantucket as they have 5x the number of nice restaurants and that's without going to the ones that will cost $200+ per person.

Both islands will be busy in the height of the season between 4th of July and second week of August. After that it's only really busy in either place on Saturday nights.

On short notice its impossible to reserve moorings in Edgartown, but if you call on radio at 11am you usually get lucky for at least one day/night. The reservable moorings fill up on March 15th, but there are tons of "private" moorings that the harbormaster can put boats on if not in use.

One other spot we really enjoy is Lagoon Pond in Vineyard Haven but only if you have a fast dinghy. There is a bridge that only opens at certain times but its quiet in the evenings and a great place to swim. There is a dinghy dock in teh pond but its about a mile walk to town, we usually just go to the dock by the ferry but its a fairly long ride from where we normally anchor.

For the average Sea Ray, travel time from the southwest to Nantucket is just shy of 1 hour longer than Edgartown, 1.5 hours longer than Oak Bluffs/Vineyard Haven.

Fuel in Edgartown or Nantucket will be expensive, much better to stop in Falmouth if needed, or if going into Buzzards Bay, Fairhaven/New Bedford generally has the cheapest Diesel because of the volumes they pump all year long.

 

[Riptide III]

You really need to tell us what you are looking for. Kids swimming. Adults drinking. Eating. Etc. I spend 3 or four days a week at OB.

 

[FootballFan]

You really need to tell us what you are looking for. Kids swimming. Adults drinking. Eating. Etc. I spend 3 or four days a week at OB.

We are currently in Nantucket, minus boat. Flew in. Debating whether we wanted to catch a ferry over to MV for the day.

First time to the area for us, so learning.

thanks for your input.

 

[Shaps]

Last year we stayed for a week in Nantucket and absolutely loved it. We have been to MV many times, but never on our boat, so difficult to comment on that part. However, we found Nantucket preferable over MV. Everything seemed a bit nicer, and less crowded (but still there will be crowds). We did block too, it was cool, didn't love Champlins.

Agree with @Riptide III , tell us a bit more about what you're looking for.

 

[Jeremygavin]

Everything said above is spot on. My wife and I get over to MV a lot because we are out of Falmouth MA and Oak Bluffs and Vineyard Haven are only 15min away.
mid you can grab the ferry to MV for a day or 2 I would defiantly check it out.
For a quick referent point IMO On MV Vineyard haven is the quietest and “quaintest” town. The original Black Dog restaurant and boats are there so always a good time to check it out. OB is the busiest and loudest town. A good time to people watch for sure. Lots of bars and restaurants around the harbor with great views. Check out the Lookout Tavern for lunch. Some of the best Lobster rolls in MA.
Edgartown is the most high end town on MV with nicer stores and restaurants. It has a great vibe and is a great walking down. Check out the light house on the point if you go there as it is a great walk from town. They are all very busy this time of year and All are hard to get a slip/mooring for sure.
Nantucket compared to MV is much harder and more expensive to get to even for a day tripper so the people tend to be more affluent. Nantucket is our favorite island because the food is great and I think it has true best beach scene around of all the islands. We love the scene at the boat basin there but at $600 a night for my boat it is not a cheap trip. We usually get out to Nantucket a few times a year.

 

[FootballFan]

We had lunch at Cru yesterday which was right on the marina. Great boat watching while eating.

First time here for us, really like it. Would love to come here on the boat.

 

[Shaps]

We had lunch at Cru yesterday which was right on the marina. Great boat watching while eating.

First time here for us, really like it. Would love to come here on the boat.

I was slipped directly across from Cru. It can be a scene, Was the zeelander docked next to it? Pretty boat (sorry for the digression)

 

[Jeremygavin]

We had lunch at Cru yesterday which was right on the marina. Great boat watching while eating.

First time here for us, really like it. Would love to come here on the boat.

Cru is a great spot. Can’t beat the location for sure. If you can get into Lola it has really good food.
If you see a 93’ Horizon named One More Time in the boat basin that is my slip neighbor. We share a finger dock back in Falmouth.

 

[FootballFan]

Was back Tavern for lunch today.

Out past Cru there were some larger boats, didn’t walk all the way out. There was an approx. 80-85 ft newish Feratie with a for sale sign on right next to Cru. Looked like the broker hanging around waiting for a walk up impulse purchase.