Today we planned to go to Nantucket and figured it would take us 5 hours. We wanted to be in Nantucket by 3 so we would have to leave by 10. Since we were up by 6:30 and didn’t need anything from town we just figured we’d get on the road, or on the sea. We left at 7:20. Once again the forecast was wrong, we were expecting 9 knots of wind but we got 25 knots. The wind was in the low teens when we left so we put up the sails but then as it built to 25 knots. we had to reef (shorten the sails). The wind whipped up the seas and the boat was rocking and rolling. I didn’t feel too good. We saw power boats that were experiencing a lot worse so I guess I shouldn’t complain. As we got closer to Nantucket the winds and seas calmed. Just after noon, we arrived in Nantucket under beautiful blue skies. Here are pictures of the channel into the harbor.
We had no trouble mooring the boat. The harbor is beautiful and we decided to extend our stay until Sunday. Here are pictures of the harbor.
Once settled we cleaned up the salon which had things strewn all over the place because they slide around during the rough transit, swabbed the deck, had some lunch, and took showers. Now we are ready for Nantucket.
A college friend has a house in Nantucket and we had arranged to get together with her and her husband, Deb and Peter. We went a shore and Deb met us as the dinghy dock. We walked back to her house and she provided a historical tour along the way. We visited for a while at their house and then they toured us around the island. We went out to Sankaty which is on the eastern most point of the island. Most of Nantucket is sandy earth and Sankaty, facing the Atlantic, is very vulnerable to sand erosion. Many of the houses here have been moved back from the eroding cliff and some have been condemned by the town. They have tried a number of preventative measures, all with limited success. Here are some pictures of Sankaty.
We returned to their house to let their dogs out and then went out of Madaket to get takeout for dinner. While we waited for the takeout we enjoyed the sunset.
We had dinner and then they drove us back to our dinghy. It was wonderful to see Deb and Peter and some of Nantucket.
