Thursday, July 16, 2009

Martha's Vineyard

Every year my wife and I head to Martha's Vineyard with a group of some of the best people on Earth. There's a bit of a rotating cast of characters but the core of the group stays the same. We stay at the same house in same town and do basically the same things every year. This might sound boring to some but it's the one trip I look forward to every single year, rain or shine. There's more character and charm on Martha's Vineyard than any town I have ever visited. From the Gingerbread style homes on Oak Bluffs to the beautiful nature reserve of Chappaquiddick and on towards the gorgeous cliffs of Aquinnah this is one amazing Island.

We've been staying in Oak Bluffs in the Nashawena Park area for about 7 years now. We have a great little park in front of the house that has hosted many evenings of cocktail fueled bocce tournaments. This year we introduced the latest addition to our bocce craze which is light up night bocce. I'm not sure it's the neighbors favorite addition but it's a ton of fun for us.

Most days start with the guys heading to some remote fishing spot very early in the morning. To be clear you are supposed to catch fish early in the morning and we always have the best intentions but the reality is we have some stops to make. First we usually need to stop at the bait store to figure out what's been fishing well over the past few days. Then we need to grab some caffeine and breakfast. After that and usually a bathroom stop or two we actually start fishing about two hours after we got up. Several hours later of casting and usually catching nothing we start cracking back the beers until we run out and then call it a day.

We also did some charter fishing this year which proved to be extremely lucrative. We hired Captain Tom who is out of Oak Bluffs although we left out of Edgartown because we had originally booked with a gentleman who goes by the name Captain Porky. I'm convinced we went on name alone. It turns out Captain Porky's boat wasn't up to the task so lucky for us in swooped Captain Tom and his ship mate Garth Garett, Gareth or some other name I continued to butcher while he worked his ass off getting us rigged up and many a "Fish On". There was also Mako the Black Lab who was a wonderful boat dog and handled the rough waters better than the rest of us. The trip started with my buddy landing a whopper of a Striped Bass that fought like Razor Ruddock vs. Mike Tyson and 1991. Side Note: That fight was completely underrated. Anyways he landed a 25 pound striped bass on the first fish on of the day. This was certainly a sign of things to come. After that I hooked into a 20 pound Striper followed by my buddies Amtrak & the Doctor pulling in blue fish by the fistful. The fishing continued to be hot the entire time and my wife pulled in the largest blue fish I've ever seen at about 12 pounds. I can't say enough about how awesome Captain Tom was and for the life of me I can't find his business card. If you want to catch fish head down to the wharf in Oak bluffs and ask around. Tell him I sent you , it's worth your trouble.



We only have one car on the island and about 9 to 11 guests at any given time so when we head out fishing everyone else must fend for themselves which usually leads them walking down to Jelly Rock beach. It's actually called Inkwell beach but due to the often treacherous walk over the rocks to get into the ocean and occasional dodging of a jellyfish we have dubbed this Jelly Rock beach. Once happy hour arrives (anytime from 3:00 to 7:00) we get the blenders and cocktails rolling. We also start the charcoal grill that my Amtrak managed to master this year. Then comes the bocce, food, bocce waltz for the rest of the evening.

If you are headed to Martha's Vineyard there's a few things you need to do. Some of which I didn't even get in this year. Head over to State Road and a few hundred yards before you get to Cronig's Market you should see the pie stand where you can get Eileen Blake's Pies. Unfortunately Eileen passed away in August of 2008 but her pie business is till being run by the family. Don't ask for an address or a website you'll have to trust me. Plus you're on an island and they don't spend a lot of money on flashy web pages using the tubes. You'll also want to head on over to Season's Pub on a night they are doing Karaoke (Tuesday & Thursday). There some abominations and some downright inspiring talent. Drink up and join the party. You should also not miss the lobster rolls and unbelievable tropical cocktails being mixed at Nancy's Restaurant & outside bar. Any bartender that tastes each drink before he serves it to make sure it is absolutely perfect is alright in my book. When you take that kind of pride in your work you know you're at the right place! Have fun and be nice to the locals! They're what makes Martha's Vineyard one of the best places in the world to visit.