Celebrating JAWS 50 Year Anniversary – Oak Bluffs MV

We spent four days on Martha’s Vineyard joining in the festivities surrounding the 50th anniversary of the release of the movie JAWS.

Along with Peter, Mrs. Horne’s sister Paula joined us on board.

What Does Brisk Mean?

Friday was always going to be a bluebird day, but the Channel 25 weather lady kept saying brisk. The forecast called for a 17 knot wind shifting from Southwest to West at 8:00 AM.

That would mean the wind would be at our back for most of the trip. And since Oak Bluffs is only 25 miles, it meant beating it out into the wind for 12 miles and then a Nantucket Sleigh Ride downwind run through Woods Hole and across West and East Chop into OB.

I was monitoring BouyCast data and it looked like the worst winds were south (34 knots reported on Rhode Island Sound and 17 knots on Nantucket Sound).

At 5:30 AM, it was blowing 26 knots off Cuttyhunk. Not fun, but something we’ve handled in both Vigilant and Relentless. No problem for Amazing Grace.

By we left the house at 9:00 AM, Buzzards Bay was down to 21 knots and the wind was almost due West.

My Worst Day On Buzzards Bay!

It was definitely brisk when we left Onset (I later learned it was blowing a steady 40 knots). I did need constant thrusters to back out of the slip, but it was no big deal.

Everything was more or less okay as we turned up the canal, but as we cleared the breakwater, we found ourselves in seas that felt like an episode of Deadliest Catch.

The run to Cleveland Ledge was the worst I’ve ever experienced on Buzzards Bay. Amazing Grace did great, although we slowed to 18-20 MPH. We weren’t pounding and the biggest issue was the waves breaking over the top of the flybridge.

I admit it, I was curious how Amazing Grace would handle these conditions. She did great, but I probably won’t do it again unless I have to. We’ve deep-washed the boat twice and we are still finding salt in places we never imagined possible. Hopefully, Travis will get the rest on Tuesday when she’s back in Onset.

As soon as we tied up at Dockside, I fired up the DI Water System and attempted to wash off the salt. The wind was still blowing 30 and our spray was hitting the people eating lunch at Lobsterville.

The staff came over to complain a few times. I apologized, and told them I was working as fast as I could. If you sit in a waterfront seat 15’ from boats, these things happen.

Truly The First Day Of Summa

OB is the most popular boating spot on Martha’s Vineyard. This is because it’s only 6 miles from Falmouth and the town allows rafting on the town moorings.

The boardwalk filled up fast with people coming over by ferry, but only the heartiest boats came in during the gales.

Chris and Karen came in just in front of us around noon. They have a large center-console, but it was still daunting.

Chris is a retired State Trooper with a big heart. He saw the kid on the boat walking by and gave him a fishing pole!

The people who came over on the big high-speed catamaran ferry said it was getting knocked around.

Unlike our first two visits to OB this year, it was warm and getting crowded on Friday afternoon.

Lunch at Fishbones

By the time we finished the first wash-down, it was 1:30 and everyone was hungry. We walked the 300’ and grabbed a table inside.

I ordered a Jai Lai IPA, but the server said “Sorry, we’re all out, but we do have Fiddlehead.

My heart swelled with happiness!

My only knock on Fishbones is plastic cups – not good!

Mrs. Horne and Paula shared the Caesar.

Peter went for the Smashburger.

It’s available as a single, double, or triple and it appears to be a specialty item that can be configured from simple to over-the-top.

I considered the Battered Fish Bites ($15), but the server steered me to the Fish and Chips.

Its a huge portion for $20. The fish was really fresh and moist. I’m not that big a fan of Olde English Style beer batter Fried Fish, but the Fisbones version was perfectly executed.

After lunch, we returned to the boat and enjoyed the beautiful day. We’ve spent seven days in OB this season and this was the first time it was warm enough to hang out on the Skydeck, read, and people watch.

Around 4:00 I heard people cheering from Lobsterville. I went below and saw someone playing guitar and singing. I grabbed Peter and we went down to check it out.

It was pretty empty inside and there were several seats open at the bar.

A guy was singing a sad song that sounded like an original. He had a great voice, but like I said, the song was rather melancholy.

Then another guy walked up and grabbed the second guitar. He did a Leo Kottke riff and started doing more upbeat material.

After his set, I introduced myself and realized he was Brad Tucker, the guy who always plays bass for Mike Benjamin’s Band On The Boat in front of Coop de Ville.

Thanks to the late lunch and happy hour show at Lobsterville, we didn’t head off to dinner until 7:30 (late for us).

Offshore Ale Company

I considered all of our dinner options, but I was craving a wood-fired pizza and that meant The Ale House!

The brutal ride across Buzzards Bay was a distant memory as the crew sat down for supper.

For some strange reason, Mrs. Horne wanted me to photograph this sign.

It was a line from the famous 1970 DOORS song Roadhouse Blues.

Peter and I planned to share a pizza, but it would still be too big for us to finish, so the girls ordered some mains knowing pizza would likely be available too!

Paula started with their take on classic chowder…

If you like authentic wood-fired pizza, you’ll love what they serve at the Offshore Ale Company.

One last thing, our server Nick was funny and fairly attentive. He even photo-bombed our selfie!

But be warned, he also appears to be quite clumsy 🤕

He dropped a glass of water on the table near us which splashed me. He also dropped a dirty fork on Mrs. Horne.

And as we were leaving, we heard a tray crash and turned to see what happened. We are not sure. There were two servers near the crash, but one of them was Nick!

The twilight stroll back to the boat was magical..

JAWS Anniversary Day

New England has set a dubious record with 13 rainy Saturdays in a row (going back to frigid March).

Not so for June 21!

It was a spectacular bluebird day with no wind and temperatures in the 70°’s at 9:00 AM.

By 10:00 AM, the boat basin was full with as many boats as I’ve ever seen here!

Despite two hours of washing salt off Amazing Grace Friday, she was still gritty, so we gave her another bath before Lobsterville opened for business.

Nancy’s

I’ve been visiting Oak Bluffs for almost fifty years and I’ve never eaten at Nancy’s. By 1:00 on Saturday, every restaurant had a one-hour wait.

As I researched our best option, I noticed that Nancy’s wasn’t just a snack bar anymore. They had a full-service restaurant upstairs.

I headed up with an eye to get us on the list, head back to the boat, and wait for a text that our table was ready.

Just as I was about to talk to the host, Mrs. Horne waved over that she had snagged four stools at the bar.

It was a little cramped, but at 1:30 we were ready for lunch.

The restaurant was packed, but the staff kept their cool and took good care of us.

Nancy’s has two great sushi chefs and they never stopped working the entire time we were there.

We all agreed the food was quite good and with all the seaside dining we’ve been doing lately, the Japanese cuisine was a welcome change.

The Street Festival

I’d love to tell you the JAWS 50th Anniversary Street Fair was incredible, but it was just okay.

The highlights were the food tents – Coop de Ville was serving up great BBQ Chicken and Richard Dreyfuss signing autographs ($40/each).

Beyond Dreyfuss, there was very little JAWS or Shark merchandise for sale – it just looked like a typical Sunday morning Flea Market.

Back to Dreyfuss!

The line for the Dreyfuss autographs was over 100’ long. We weren’t waiting, but Paula went by and engaged the old movie star…

PAULA: “Hey Richard Dreyfuss, you’re the reason I never go in the ocean!”

DREYFUSS: “Hey, I saved your life…”

Mrs. Horne and Paula also made friends with the OB Chief of Police.

Apparently, he was in the original movie where he had one line!

I also ran into John Methia – The Host of The Drift TV Show and Podcast (driftsocially.com).

We talked about doing a collaboration with The Drift and My Buzzards Bay (stay tuned).

John was interviewing Michael Sterling who built an incredibly accurate replica of ORCA – the JAWS Shark Hunter boat.

The Orca returns to Amity Island

The Orca replica project got its start nine years ago, and began as the shell of a Vinnie Cavanaugh Maine lobster boat from the 1960s. Sterling, a “Jaws” enthusiast as well as a marine carpenter with nearly 40 years of boatbuilding experience, began working on the replica as a passion project at Sterling Marine Carpentry (SMC), an organization based in Florida. 

The MV Times

Saturday also marked the start of a steady flow of visitors on Amazing Grace – beginning with Tom (Safe Harbor Onset Bay Marina) and his family.

Thanks to the Oaks Bluff Harbormaster for allowing their Viking to raft next to us for the day.

We also got a surprise visit from a long time follower and old friend Jim.

We met Jim on “Opening Weekend” at the Chart Room in May of 2020. It was the peak of the Covid shutdowns, but Jim had a gas powered blender on the back of his boat to make Mudslides.

We wrapped up Saturday with “Room Service” from Coop de Ville on the boat (it was great, but not very photogenic).

After dinner we watched JAWS on board…

Next Up: The Band On The Boat