The Cape and The Islands

As reported last week, our planned trip to Maine with Jake and Peggy was scrapped due to weather.

We left Amazing Grace at Sunset Bay (Hull) with an eye toward picking up our old California friends Kay and Steve in Boston as they returned home from Europe.

The plan was to ride the prevailing southwest wind 70 miles north to Portsmouth New Hampshire and then return to Onset after a stopover in Marblehead.

Unfortunately, ten days out the long range forecast was calling for strong headwinds on the long run home, so we scrapped that plan too.

PLAN B : The Cape and The Islands

Mrs. Horne suggested Martha’s Vineyard and I quickly realized we hadn’t visited the islands with Kay and Steve since 2018, so it made perfect sense. Also, if the forecasted winds held true, they’d be off our stern as we returned to Onset on Thursday.

As good as this Plan B looked on paper, it required booking dockage for our 60’ boat in the middle of July – prime season.

All of our favorite marinas were sold out, but after a few phone calls, I was able to book MacDougalls in Falmouth ($620) and Harborside in Edgartown ($900).

Plan B meant leaving from Onset, so Peter and I took an Uber to Hull and ran the boat south on Friday morning. As we neared the Cape Cod Canal, we saw a boat coming from the south that looked like a Maritimo.

I hailed them on Channel 16, but we didn’t connect. It turned out it was Bill Elliott from Portsmouth in his new M55.

He didn’t answer the VHF because he was busy taking our photo!

Thanks Bill!

Falmouth

We left Onset around 9:30 on Tuesday and the 20-mile ride to Falmouth couldn’t possibly have been smoother.

We arrived early – around 11:00, and there was a sailboat in our slip. They had engine trouble, but the crew at MacDougalls did a great job. They let us tie up at their fuel dock and immediately assigned two techs to downed sailboat. We were in our slip by 11:30!

Anéjo

We like walking to town when staying at the Town Docks, but MacDougalls is a 35-minute walk.

We offloaded bikes and rode to town for lunch.

I usually order the Tres Tacos, but I find that I don’t like the Carne Asada as much as the other two.

They fully accommodated me delivering two Carnitas and one Elote.

Mrs. Horne was having a stomach bug and only wanted specific (bland) ingredients for lunch.

Once again, they fully accommodated her!

She was very happy!

Shining Sea Bike Trail

After lunch, we introduced Kay and Steve to our new favorite bike trail.

All told we ran 20 miles from MacDougalls to the north end of the trail.

I had 6:15 reservations at Romeo’s. Kay and Steve spend a lot of time in LA and know NOBU. I was excited to show them our secret Cape Cod Nobu!

Mrs. Horne snapped a quick selfie while we waited for Uber.

We arrived at Romeo’s to discover it was closed! With all my Plan A and Plan B changes, I had made reservations for the wrong night. Romeo’s is closed on Tuesdays!

I immediately called another Uber, hit up Opentable, and booked reservations at Bluefins.

Bluefins Falmouth

Our friend Katheen recommended Bluefins to Mrs. Horne. It’s been around for five years and was named The Best Asian Restaurant on Cape Cod in 2023.

The vibe is lively, clean, and hip…

I would generally study the menu of any new restaurant we try, but since this venue wasn’t planned, I saw it for the first time when we sat down.

My first impression was that we were in a Sushi Bar until I dug deeper into the menu.

Yes, there are two pages of Sushi and Japanese dishes on the Bluefins Menu, but there is also an entire page of American – Asian Fusion dishes.

They also had a short specials menu (sorry, no photo).

We began with the Dumplings.

Very well executed and tasty. There were only three, but they were large. We shared, but an entire order might made a small entree.

Another star dish was the Smashed Cucumber salad.

Mrs. Horne ordered Sushi and tried it without any soy sauce.

She said it was the freshest and most flavorful sushi she’d ever had. I suspect she may never have soy sauce on sushi again.

Kay ordered the Salmon Special and shared some with me.

Yet another star – perhaps the best Salmon dish I’ve ever had. I think it may have been Pitashio encrusted.

Steve ordered the Cod and I ordered the Orange Chicken.

Both were well executed, but unlikely to bring us back. That said, the Dumplings, Cucumber Salad, and Salmon certainly would!

We returned to the boat just before sunset…

The Town Mooring Mess in Edgartown

I had booked Harborside despite the ludicrous price ($900 and no electricity). I told the Dockmaster we wanted to arrive around 11:30 and go to lunch at the Atlantic.

She said…

“Oh, your slip opens at 3:00. We rent dock space from 11:00 to 3:00 for lunch boats. I’ll try to finagle you in, but you want to confirm a spot, it will be another $315.”

She suggested I check back that morning and I said “Okay.”

I immediately went to Dockwa to see if I could rent a town mooring. They were all booked until mid-September. I then remembered what the launch operator told us when we were on a mooring over the fourth.

The launch operator was lamenting how empty the harbor was on the day of the annual fireworks display. He pointed out dozens of empty moorings. I mentioned that they were all sold out on Dockwa and he said:

“The problem is that thet are only $55/night and they sell out in the Spring. There is no refund if you cancel within 7 days and people just no-show and leave the moorings empty.”

I called the harbormaster to ask about renting a mooring for lunch. They said they couldn’t confirm anything over the phone, but thought they could accommodate us if we called at 10:00 the day we were coming in.

Just in case, I brought fixin’s for lunch on the anchor, but at 10:00, the harbormaster confirmed a lunch mooring on a private mooring.

My friend has managed to hold onto a private mooring in the inner harbor for decades (it’s not easy). He told me one of the conditions is to agree to always tell the harbormaster when you are not using your mooring. This gives them the flexibility to deal with lunch customers.

Next spring I’ll book a couple of summer weekends in Edgartown on the mooring.

Edgartown Wednesday

We left Falmouth around 10:00 for a leisurely ride to Edgartown. As Mrs. Horne was dropping lines, she heard a guy calling out from another dock.

His name was Jeff. He’s a Seatow Captain and a dedicated follower of this website.

Despite all the empty town moorings, the harbormaster assigned us to a private mooring very close to the yacht club.

We hailed the launch and headed to town for a little shopping before lunch.

After shopping, we introduced Kay and Steve to Jaryl’s bar at The Atlantic.

Jaryl talked us into trying a new dish – Seabream Frit…

Seabream is a white fish that is fried (the Frit). They were very good along with the sauce. The fried onions weren’t great (a little cold and overdone). The pita was excellent!

Around 3:00 they cleared us to dock at the Harborside. They had a couple of boats coming in for dinner and put us as far up the dock as I would go. From the bridge, it looked like I was beached.

Around 6:00 we headed to dinner…

Alchemy Bar and Bistro

We returned to one of our favorites, partly because it’s good, and partly because it was available on short notice.

Although it looks intimate from the street, there are several large dining rooms upstairs.

Mrs. Horne and I decided to share the Surf and Turf ($78) with a side of Mashed Potatoes. I recalled that the chef liked to pile food on top of each other, so I ordered it “deconstructed”, and it arrived fully deconstructed!

It was all quite tasty, but I wish they had another steak option. The ribeye is very thin (1/2”) It’s impossible to cook a steak that thin medium rare and still char the outside.

Thursday – Moving Day

The forecast for Thursday was the reason we woke up in Edgartown instead of Marblehead. For the last ten days, it was supposed to serve up a brisk southwest wind.

It was calm at dawn, but the offshore buoys were already reporting 16 knots.

Last week I did a report on my favorite weather apps and services. When I published it, a few people commented that none of the apps were very accurate.

As I wrote the story, I was looking at the weather for Thursday (8/24) and I just looked at the screenshot I took from NOAA last week and it was very accurate!

We left Edgartown around 9:45 and it was pretty smooth until we cleared the Elizabethan Islands on Buzzards Bay.

By the time we entered the canal at 11,00, Buzzards Bay was a full-on shitshow.

As we surfed done the canal, we spotted several center consoles turning around and heading home.

On the way home we stopped at a new restaurant in Wareham I’ve been eying for a Dock and Dine.

Warren’s Harborview

It’s a very large restaurant that is right on the water in downtown Wareham.

We sat outside and even amid temperatures over 80°, it was quite comfortable.

As soon as we sat down, our server gave us a bowl of incredible homemade potato chips.

It was a really nice touch and if you eat them all, they’ll bring you another bowl!

They offer a wide variety of draft beers and each variety is served in a logo’d glass.

The food was very good and the menu offers everything you might want.

After we finished, the manager – Daria, came by to see how we were doing.

She was incredibly charming despite having recently suffered a personal tragedy (details omitted out of respect for her privacy).

We promised to return and visit with her in the future.

Is It A Dock and Dine?

I’d love to tell you this is straightforward Dock and Dine, but it’s complicated. Speaking to folks there, the restaurant owns six 32’ docks on the water and boaters tie up on a first-come, first-served basis. I spoke to the owner about this he told me he’d had a lot of trouble with OUI boaters and didn’t want to become a Dock and Dine – too many headaches.

However, the Town of Wareham offers a public dock 500’ to the north. According to The Waterway Guide, it’s 160’ long and the water is at least 6’ deep.

It too is available on a first-come, first-served basis, but you may have to work around fishermen!

All-in-all, My Buzzards Bay gives Warren Harborview a thumbs up 👍

Next Up: The 16-Day Tour To NYC!