Miles travelled
Driving – 40. Boat – about 30 (I think). Bus – about 20.
Where we stayed
Still at the Doubletree Hilton in Hyannis, MA. This was the morning we woke at 5am. Ugh.
Where we ate
Brunch was coffee and a cookie from Mocha Mott’s in Vineyard Haven.
Dinner was at Wendy’s back in Hyannis. Husband had become obsessed with a Wendy’s ad we saw on TV at the beginning of the trip, and in particular, the Pretzel Pub Chicken burger. We then didn’t go anywhere near a Wendy’s until Hyannis, so we took our opportunity whilst we could.
Photos
Day Ten
To say we didn’t sleep very well is an understatement, so we didn’t get off to the best of starts. But we knew we wanted to spend most of the day on Martha’s Vineyard, so we were pretty confident that our day would improve.
We had two options for getting to Martha’s Vineyard. There was a ferry from Hyannis but it was a bit pricy, and not very convenient for our schedule. The cheaper, more regular ferry was from Woods Hole and to get there took a 45 minute drive, then half an hour bus ride. I’m not entirely sure why you’re not allowed to park at Woods Hole, but we played by the rules and grabbed a shuttle bus just as it was leaving the car park. We didn’t have that long to wait for the Steamship Authority ferry, so bought our tickets for $16 each (round trip), and quickly boarded the boat. It wasn’t the most luxurious of boats, but it got us there in about 45 minutes.
Once we reached Vineyard Haven, we walked up to Main Street to get a coffee at Mocha Mott’s. We people watched from the tables on the pavement, and then decided to jump on a bus going to Edgartown, a little bit further south. We just missed the direct bus, so got the next one which stopped in Oak Bluffs first. It cost us $3 one way ($1 per town) but we could have bought a day pass for $7 if we wanted to travel round a bit more.
Oak Bluffs was exactly like an cute British seaside town. There were geese on the village green, ice cream parlours and boutique shops, and a beautiful sandy beach. Edgartown was just as picturesque, and was hosting a trick or treat event on Main Street as we got there – costumed children everywhere! The first we knew of it was when a very cute little Batman got on our bus, and some Ninja Turtles then walked passed as the bus stopped. Mario and Luigi made me laugh, as did the child dressed up as the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man – the quality and variation of costumes was amazing! There were signs up in the shops who were taking part (oddly enough, not the wine shop) and the street was packed. We’re so glad we saw it!
We had a walk down to the harbor, and then went over to Martha’s Vineyard Museum for an hour or so of looking around. I was really impressed with the quality of the exhibits and learnt a lot about the history of the island. There was a really great Fresnel lens in the grounds as well, and it was amazing to see it up close.
We had planned to go to the JFK museum back in Hyannis in the afternoon, so got the bus back to Vineyard Haven, only to see the boat we wanted to be on pull out of the harbor. We had over an hour wait for the next one, so hung out with the WiFi in the ferry terminal (and also partly because we were hiding from a crazy person). We would love to go back to Martha’s Vineyard again in future as we’ve heard some really great things about the west of the island and how beautiful the cliffs are, so we do want to spend more time here.
The sea was a bit rough on the way back, and I genuinely couldn’t wait for the trip to come to and end. I think this is the only time I have ever been travel sick in my adult life – I felt so yucky. We disembarked the ferry to get the shuttle bus back and it was quite chaotic. There were far too many passengers for shuttle buses, but fortunately, we’d had to park in an overflow car park and not many people were going to this one so we managed to squeeze on a bus.
We paid the $8 for parking, and then we were on our way back to Hyannis, stopping at the Wendy’s on the way. I decided I needed some sugar, so walked across the road to the Honey Dew Donuts. If it wasn’t for the guy sat inside, I wouldn’t have thought it was open as there wasn’t any staff inside, but after a couple of minutes of confusion, someone appeared behind the counter. Husband got a sprinkles doughnut and I got myself a jelly one. Absolutely shattered, we slumped into bed to read after wiping the sugar and jelly from our faces.
The last thing I wrote in my journal entry for the day was “Hope we get a good night sleep”. I feel like I cursed us.
untold blisses 