Fishers Island, NY

We’re on our way to Cuttyhunk, MA and I wish I could tell you how much we loved Fishers Island, but we just don’t. It’s a great place to stop to break up a longer passage, but as much as we had liked it during our first trip north, there is simply nothing that makes us want to stay longer.

Anchorage – Fishers Island, NY

They have a great anchorage area, but it’s rather exposed and very rolly from most directions. There is one deli in town, which isn’t bad, but nothing to write home about. Fuel is expensive, there’s almost no place to land a dinghy except for the yacht club and while allowed, it’s not exactly welcoming. No place to get rid of your trash – explicit signs saying they won’t accept it; even if you’re buying fuel! I guess that’s the issue; nothing about Fishers Island says; Welcome!

All that said, we stayed for a few days waiting for a good window to shoot up to Cuttyhunk, MA and got a great surprise! On the 7th, a barge showed up and anchored just forward of us. While it seemed unusual, we figured it was simply stopping for the night awaiting a tow or something.

Fishers Island fireworks display

Well, were we ever wrong! Just about 9PM, we hear loud explosions and scramble up Rocinante’s companionway to see that a full blown fireworks display is just getting started from said barge; talk about ringside seats!

The following morning Rocinante was covered in all sorts of fireworks debris, but it was so worth the cleanup effort! We pulled up anchor and headed out… next stop Cuttyhunk, MA.

Cuttyhunk, MA

Those of you that have been following us for a while or that have read our old posts, know that we passed on Cuttyhunk our last time through this area and went straight to Newport, RI. We had met some folks on Fishers Island that told us it just “wasn’t the same place anymore” and that it wasn’t worth the trip. Likewise, we had gotten similar advice to skip the Georgia portion of the intracoastal on our way south.  We ignored that advice and found out that we loved Georgia!

Well, guess what? We love Cuttyhunk!

Yes, it’s little more than a rock right smack in the middle of Vineyard Sound and Buzzards Bay. The first of the Elizabeth Islands – 16 lumps of land sprinkled in the waters southwest of Cape Cod. Fourteen of them are the property of the Forbes family, one, Penikese, is a former leper colony and then there is Cuttyhunk!

Anchored just outside Cuttyhunk for the night

As usual, we arrived in Cuttyhunk just before sunset, dropped the hook near the entrance channel and settled in for the night.  The following morning, we went in for fuel.  Unfortunately, it’s a small fuel dock (1 pump) and so we had to circle for a while – a long while!  We finally decided we could do without the fuel for now and opted to take a mooring for the next few days and be closer to town.  We approached the mooring ball at the far southwestern corner of the dredged basin and noticed it had no pendant to pick up… odd!  Ok, seems that these mooring balls have a ring where you pass your own line through.  I readied a line and approached again; grabbed the ring, passed the line through but was not able to cleat it off quickly enough, but our second attempt was a success!

I checked out the FAQs on the visitor website and found the following:

Most businesses don’t accept credit cards only cash & personal checks.
No worries right, just hit the ATM – ah, nope; no ATM on the island!

Ok, it’s a small island and there is no need for rental cars, but certainly they rent golf carts somewhere, right? Nope! No Golf Carts for you! Bicycles? Nope! Campgrounds? Nope! Kayaks? Nope!; Nope!; Nope! & Nope!!

All of this reads like a Do Not Trespass Sign, but instead Cuttyhunk, is genuinely welcoming!  You just have to take it on it’s own terms & I’m cool with that!

Cuttyhunk’s Businesses – Just Enough!

Part of the charm of Cuttyhunk is that there aren’t many businesses on the island, but those that are here are great and are just enough to meet your needs! The first thing you’ll see when you go ashore is a great dinghy dock and what looks like a nautically themed strip-mall along the town dock; the raw bar, a couple of charter fishing guides, the cafe, the fish Market and one or two others that I can’t remember… each one about 10’ deep and 5’ wide!

Off to the left of the town dock is a seafood shack the size of a backyard shed & the similarly sized Ice cream shack.

Fresh oysters delivered to your boat – talk about decadent!

I had oysters from the raw bar (they actually make the rounds out to the mooring balls) and they were great! A bit expensive, in my opinion, at $27/dozen, but great! We had ice cream on 3 occasions; Orange Pineapple, Chocolate & Strawberry Cheesecake – all of them where great… highly recommend them! We also had breakfast sandwiches, pastries & coffee from the cafe when we ran out of propane. They too were very good and I would highly recommend them as well!

Not too far up the ”main street” leading away from the docks you’ll come to what I was told was called “the four corners” and there you’ll find the Cuttyhunk Corner Store, a great gift shop that is run by Sheryl. Sheryl is a “former” live-aboard cruiser as well and we had a great time chatting with her and hearing about some great places to visit. Pop in, say hello and pick up some souvenirs, they have tons of great stuff!

Sopranos Pizza – Cuttyhunk, MA

Just up from the Cuttyhunk Corner store is Soprano’s Pizza – basically the only “sit down restaurant” on the island. First let me clarify; Soprano’s consists of a Pizza oven in a garage & 4 picnic tables in the driveway which is lined with tiki torches. Oh, and then there is the croaking bullfrog in the pond!

Now, this is the second time that I have eaten in someone’s driveway and the second time that the food has been amazing! Now being a “New Yorker” and being an old fart, I don’t go for all these new fangled pizza toppings, yep, I’m sure they’re great, but no thanks! I went with The Godfather – pepperoni, bacon and linguica topped with tomato-basil sauce and mozzarella – Amazing! Let me say it again; Amazing!

Cuttyhunk market – daily special in our honor!

Just up from Soprano’s Pizza is The Cuttyhunk Market. It’s a great little market with awesome lunch specials that is well stocked with pantry basics, fresh fruit, vegetables, etc. Seriously, for the size of this place they have an amazing variety of quality stuff at very reasonable prices!

Exploring Cuttyhunk’s scenic wonders

Ada & I continued our walk up the street where we then met Lolly tending her garden. Naturally, having been avid gardners we complimented her on her flowers and continued heading up the road thinking we were heading towards lookout hill; we were not! So we turned around and headed back down where we stopped to ask Lolly how to get to where we wanted to go.

Well, that simple question turned into a great chat about the island, the pillboxes up on the hill overlooking the sound, the beach rebuilt with car barges, etc., etc. and to top it all off, directions on how to get there! We said our goodbyes and headed down the hill to turn up the next of the four corners and up towards Lookout Hill. We met a couple on their way back from the beach at a split in the road and once again had a great conversation along with directions on how to continue up to Lookout Hill (take a left at the fork)… not the way they came, that was the way down to the beach; We’ll talk about that later.

We continued our trek up the hill until we finally came to what was an old World War II post with 3, that I could see, bunkers (pill boxes) that had apparently been manned by soldiers charged with watching for Nazi submarines! Very cool!

Million dollar view from Cuttyhunk, MA

Well, we didn’t see any subs, but wow! what a view!
We had a clear view of Vineyard Sound, Martha’s Vineyard, the Elizabeth Island chain & Buzzards Bay- gorgeous! We climbed to the top of the bunker to sit and enjoy the view while we had our picnic lunch from The Cuttyhunk Market; Meatball hero, salt & vinegar potato chips & lemonade! After which, we made our way up to the official top of Cuttyhunk but I have to say, it was not as impressive a view.

We opted for a different path heading back down into town and enjoyed a leisurely walk down a paved road with lovely homes and awesome views of the harbor beyond. We would repeat this little trip several more times over the next few days – it truly was a million dollar view!

Loved this beach!

The following day, we decided to take a right at the fork and head for the beach. Wow!
Again, gorgeous views and we had the beach completely to ourselves! We walk about for a bit; I explored amongst the boulders exposed by the low tide while Maria yelled at me to be careful! Having had our fill, we headed back to town for ice cream and then back to Rocinante for the evening.

Rocinante gets a visitor

I posted a few pictures to instagram and one of our sailing friends; Luis from Mystic Pearl messaged me – he was in Warwick, RI and was going to sail out and meet us the following day… how cool is that!

Our friend Luis aboard his boat; Mystic Pearl

Well, sure enough, around 3:00 PM we spot Luis’ Hallberg-Rassy Mysteic Pearl heading into the mooring field! I hopped in our dink to help him tie up and then ferried him back to Rocinante, where we hung out eating cherries & oysters while catching up – not too shabby!

As dinner time rolled around, I decided to make some Bucatin and clam sauce. I put the pot of water on and soon noticed that it wasn’t coming up to a boil… what the heck? Sure enough, we were out of propane! Figures! Oh well, we loaded ourselves into the dink and headed into town for dinner – Soprano’s pizza! Yum!

The following morning we ended up going over to Mystic Pearl for coffee and to see him off – We had a great time catching up with Luis and look forward to catching up with him again in the future… Maine?

This idyllic little island only has a couple of shortcomings as far as a cruising sailor is concerned; no laundry facilities & no place to fill propane; they do have exchangeable 20# tanks, but that doesn’t work for us.  Now mind you, I’m sure a quick ferry ride would fix those issues, but we didn’t try and thus can’t report on it.  Still, it’s a great place to spend a week or three just relaxing and catching up on your reading!

Well, time to figure out our next leg and start planning the trip…

Till next time,

Carlos & Maria
SV Rocinante…_/)

Photos – Fishers Island, NY and Cuttyhunk, MA

Our last night in Northport

Foggy morning – Fishers Island, NY

On the way to Cuttyhunk

Land Ho! Cuttyhunk Island in sight!

Million dollar view from Cuttyhunk, MA

Walking around Cuttyhunk, MA

Cuttyhunk Selfie!

Walking around Cuttyhunk, MA

Walking around Cuttyhunk, MA

Loved this beach!

Loved this beach!

Beach was crowded today – 5 people!

Cuttyhunk Sunset