Buzzards Bay | Evergreen's Log

July 29th and 30th- Block Island, RI to Cuttyhunk, MA

Time to move on.

Another sunset on Block Island.

We left Block Island with a squall on the horizon. The storm stayed offshore and we didn’t see a drop of rain during the day. We had a nice ride through the remainder of Block Island Sound with a light southwest breeze.

Eventually we passed the Buzzards Bay tower (an offshore weather station) and were back in home waters.

During our trip I’ve developed the habit of having 2 GPS devices running and paper charts out for navigation. I periodically mark my position on the paper chart just to keep an idea of where I am. In North Carolina we were out in a bad lightning storm. Every 5 minutes I had Lynne write down our Latitude and Longitude. The idea being, if we were hit by lightning it could fry all of our electronics. At least we’d have a hard copy of our Latitude and Longitude so I could figure out where we were and plot a course (worst case- radio for help with an accurate position). Very rarely do I look at the Buzzards Bay chart. My entire sailing “career” has been in this bay. I know it well. I enjoy the navigation so I plotted an accurate course from Block Island to Cuttyhunk Harbor.

It would have been easy to travel a few extra miles and head to our mooring in Padanaram Harbor (Dartmouth). Cuttyhunk is a special place for both of us. It’s our home away from home. It’s only around 10 nautical miles from Dartmouth and was our first “big trip” when we got up enough nerve to cross the bay. I’ve been told it’s a difficult place to anchor (due to eel grass), but it’s where I learned to anchor. Now I have many more anchorages under my belt but Cuttyhunk is still one of my favorites. We felt we started our journey here so we had to visit again before returning. It’s a busy harbor in summer.

Cuttyhunk has a year round population of 20 to 30 people with about 250 in the summer. They recently had a Covid outbreak with 9 people testing positive at last count. The little grocery is closed down. Everyone is wearing masks. We haven’t gone in to town yet.

LAND HO!!! Cuttyhunk and Martha’s Vineyard on the horizon.

Cuttyhunk Island.

Penikese Island.

The entrance to Cuttyhunk Pond.

One of the attractions of the island is being serenaded by breaking waves during the nite. The inner harbor (Cuttyhunk Pond) is calm but you can hear breaking waves on Barge Beach outside. Sometimes you also can hear the howl of seals on Penikese.

We woke to fog which quickly turned into a sunny day.