Buzzards Bay to Martha's Vineyard

[foggysail]

David--

Right you are! A twenty five anything is the very smallest boat I would willing venture into the Bay or Sounds in and then not far from shore!. Lost a close friend about 10 years ago in a 23' power boat. He went out to fish Sow & Pigs off Cuttyhunk. He was found two weeks after his boat was found. One is foolish if he/she is not careful out there!

Foggy

[CruisersRogue]

Thanks again everyone. Foggy, hopefully soon enough I will be in something larger! My Cruisers 25' handles the choppy stuff quite superbly though. I'm not too too worried. Of course, I'll do my homework and keep an eye on the weather the whole time.

-Dave

[maytrix]

25' Seems like a good size to me! I've started out in Harwichport on a Waverunner and ventured all the way along the coast to Falmouth and then across to the Vineyard. Keep thinking about Nantucket, but haven't done it yet

This of course was all in the summer with warm temps and good weather.

[AfterHoursNLCT]

Here's the link to Oak Bluffs Marina. Oak Bluffs is a fun town with plenty to see. You can leave the boat and catch the island buses to Edgartown and Vineyard Haven. Make sure you check out the 'Camp Cottages' in Oak Bluffs.
Plan well and have a safe trip....LL
Home

[twistedtree]

Activecaptain.com is well worth a read, especially the notes regarding the Canal, Buzzards Bay, and out to MV. P'town is definitely a diversion - Salem to the CCC is about the same distance as Salem to P'town, and then you still need to go from P'town to the CCC. But P'town is a lot of fun so if you are looking for adventure, by all means go for it.

The CCC has heavy current and pretty good size standing waves (4' or so) with steep faces. Try to time it for slack tide as best you can, but pay the most attention to where the CCC dumps into Buzzards bay. It can be hell on wheels, or hell on water as the case may be. With an outgoing tide and wind coming up the bay towards the CCC (typical afternoon) you will get 6-8' steep waves that will kick the living sh&*t out of you and your boat. Don't underestimate it. Lifejackets on, nobody anywhere near the bow, hold on tight, and nobody moves around the boat. Here's a trick - Check your charts carefully, and immediately as you emerge from the CCC there is a cut off to the left (south) which connects up with a parallel channel that runs close to shore. It's way calmer over there if things are rough in the main channel. All that said, I've come out of the CCC into Buzzards bay sometimes and found it a lake, so it all depends.

[CruisersRogue]

Thanks, twistedtree! That's very helpful. I've only been through the CCC once on my dad's boat, but I don't remember much about it. We were on a 32' wooden Pacemaker flybridge cruiser then.

I'll definitely be going for PTown. In fact, that's my main goal. From there, I may either hang out all night in the harbor and around town and head back to Salem the next day, or I may continue on to the Vineyard and Nantucket, time/weather permitting. I can make it to PTown in two hours at a very leisurely pace, so I may even go a few times this summer. I'm basically looking at weekend trips at this point. We'll see!

-Dave

[Kettlewell]

Twisted Tree is right on the money about the CC Canal. I have come out of there headed south into the teeth of a summer "smokey sou'wester" and taken solid green water over the deck on a 37-foot sailboat. If the wind is hard from the SW, and you are running through the CC Canal with a strong fair current, prepare for offshore conditions after you pass Onset. I frequently duck into Onset and anchor for the night if things look nasty and wait for the current and wind to subside in the evening or usually the next morning.

[Cormorant]

Also don't assume you need to take the Canal both ways. If the weather's good you can shoot down the outside of the Cape for some truly magnificent views of the bluffs towering above the beaches. I did a Cape circum nav last summer and that outside leg was one of the nicest parts.

So from P-town you can make a decision to go outside straight to Nantucket (or stop off to visit Chatham) and thus make a clockwise circumnav; or otherwise go P-Town > Canal and consider going outside after MV and Nantucket on the way home counterclockwise.

In any case, beautiful cruising grounds there. You can't go wrong. The only mistake is not spending enough time there. And no matter what, you'll wish you had more time. . . .

[CruisersRogue]

Cormorant, thanks a bunch for the advice! The circumnav trip sounds like a fun one. I've never been around the outside of the Cape. I do visit the cape by land pretty regularly, though, so my main goals are to get to the islands. But different scenery for each leg definitely sounds nice!

-Dave