Nantucket Biking and More

Wednesday morning arrived with a little less wind and bright sunshine. We planned to go biking with Dave and Renee, but first we needed to offload the eBikes.

With a starboard tie and a floating dock, the crane in the lazzarette makes this pretty easy (the bikes weigh over 60 pounds), but Natucket Boat Basin has fixed docks and tides over six feet, so we have to load and unload the bikes at high tide.

We offloaded the bikes and headed to Madaket around 10:00…

The ride to Madaket was brisk, with the 20-knot wind in our faces. Unfortunately, Renee had forgotten to charge the battery on her bike and so she and Dave limped back to the boat before they lost all powered assistance.

I’ve driven by Millie’s Market too many times to count, but never stopped until now,

As soon as I walked through the door I was greeted by two lovely young ladies!

It’s a really cool little story with basic groceries, souvenir clothing, a snack bar, and a small package store.

The Galley Beach Restaurant

We love to wrap up our bike rides to Madeket with lunch at the Galley Beach. It’s a beautiful spot that feels like Maui.

It’s part of the very high-end Cliffside Resort, where a midsummer suite can cost up to $6,000/night.

So the service, food, and prices at Galley Beach follow suit.

Everything tasted great and we enjoyed a splendid lunch on the beach. It’s a very special spot that’s like nothing else on Nantucket. It’s only about a mile from town and highly recommended.

After all that biking, we spent the afternoon enjoying the unusually pleasant Nantucket weather.

I think there has been one day out of the last fifteen on Nantucket when we could sit out on the Skydeck and read. This year, we’ve already had two and the forecast keeps getting better.

Dinner With JT Holding Court

A few years ago we met JT, who among other things, is the Bartender at “The Q’s” (formally know as Queequegs). He’s a very interesting fellow with a colorful past and even more colorful political opinions.

We chat frequently during the year, but only get to see him once year where he holds court a The Q’s.

JT manages seat assignments at his bar and puts us on the corner next to a wonderful couple – Nick and Jana.

It took about 30 seconds for Nick and me to hit it off. We shared stories laughed away the evening for several hours.

All the while enjoying a great meal…

We spent almost three hours with JT and our new friends, arriving back on Amazing Grace just before dark!

Nantucket Weather!

Doc Ruel was the one who first turned me on to the beauty of Nantucket in June a decade ago. He, Joan, and Jean always come over on Thursday and leave on Sunday.

Folks know that I subscribe to several weather services, so I frequently serve as the Buzzard’s Bay Meteorologist for friends and followers of this site.

So I was more than happy to weigh in with Doc when he started looking for weather advice on Wednesday morning.

My first pass looked rather frightening…

Doc has a very solid 34’ Pursuit, but even at a 7-second wave period, 4.8’ waves and 18-28 knot gusts are clearly no-go conditions.

I texted Doc Wednesday night and told him it might be decent in the afternoon, but the morning looked bad.

Thursday Morning

I woke up Thursday morning to fog and the tail end of a wind-whipping rainstorm that was heading out to sea.

Around 6:00 AM, all the weather services showed the same thing: a lousy morning turning into a decent day at some point!

I told Doc to watch Buzzarda Bay and as soon as it looked good enough to leave the dock in Mattapoisett, he’d have a decent run all the way to Nantucket. The WSW wind was a plus in that whatever wind was left would be blowing off his stern until the last ten miles.

At 10:15 Joan sent me this photo from Vineyard Sound…

Doc and crew arrived just before noon…

It was great to see them arrive on Thursday, particularly since the forecast through Sunday looked perfect.

Up Next: The Nantucket Flotilla Arrives