February 4th 2012: Exploring More of Martha's Vineyard

This morning, I headed from my friend's place in Martha's Vineyard into the town of Edgartown to continue where I left off a month ago. On my way to South Beach along Atlantic Drive, I passed by the Farm Institute, where kids and adults learn the basics of farming. The wide open farmland here appealed to me, with little chickens of the side.

The Farm Institute

Heading to South Beach, I parked at the lot at the east end near Herring Creek Road, and trudged onto the beach. The waves this morning were quite strong on this fine, sandy beach, and I started to walk eastward to try to reach where Edgartown Great Pond drains out into the North Atlantic Ocean. Along the way, I took several pictures of the beach.

Along the way, I decided to head beyond the dunes on my right to see the other side, and spotted Crackatuxet Cove, a small pond much like Wilfrid's Pond in Tisbury.

Along the way, I saw a few interesting features, including pools on the sand itself, a feather stuck in the sand, and interesting sand patterns made in the sand by the waves.

Feather in the sand

Interesting water patterns

The water coming over the bend

The next scenic area was the shores of the Edgartown Great Pond itself.

I continued along the beach, hoping to reach the end soon, but it never came, and the beach seemed to stretch eastward forever all the way to Long Point Wildlife Refuge in West Tisbury. Looking at my GPS, I apparently had crossed my target destination a while ago, so I decided to head back. At my supposed destination, the Great Pond did come close to where I stood, but there was still a wide stretch of beach separating the pond from the ocean. From here, I decided to walk behind the dunes, where the scenery was markedly different from the seaside, though beautiful and peaceful as well.

Between the Edgartown Great Pond and Crackatuxet Cove, there is a small stream linking the two water bodies, although at this moment the water levels were not high enough.

Crackatuxet Cove Side

Edgrtown Great Pond Side

More views of Crackatuxet Cove follow, with the waterfowl there lifting off to flight as I passed by. I was an interesting sight to see how the large lumbering birds lifted off from the water, pretty much like passenger planes do, with their webbed feet kicking the water constantly with wings outstretched until they were in the air, upon which the landing gear would be retracted to maintain the streamline shape required for efficient flying.










Heading westward on South Beach, more pictures were taken.

Looking behind the sand dunes

As I continued walking, I walked past Katama Road, and passed into Norton Point Beach. My destination was the very edge of Norton Point itself, which faces Chappaquiddick Island on the other side of Katama Bay. More beautiful views follow as I headed towards it.

Finally after about an hour or so of walking, the end was in sight, and there were a lot of sea birds resting here, only to be disturbed by my inevitable approach.

Finally at the very edge, I had a great feeling of achievement, but also one of exhaustion, with only the return walk to look forward to.

Walking back along the shores of Katama Bay on the other side of the beach, there were very little waves here, making it more serene compared to the loud crashing waves on the other side. Pictures follow.

Sandpipers

Live White Clam

I somehow managed to make it back to Atlantic Drive, and back on concrete road, I definitely walked much faster here back to my car.

By the time I was sitting back in my car, it had been over 5 hours since I last sat in it, and my phone had died. Thankfully, once I started up my car, my phone charged and turned on again, and I was able to find a place to go to for lunch.

I drove my starving self to the Sharky's Cantina in town. This place is a semi-Mexican bar restaurant with interesting decor, as shown below.










Feeling really hungry, I decided to get two dishes, namely a plate of 12 boneless wings with Tangy Mango Teriyaki sauce, and the Chalupa Cha Cha with lobster. My lunch started off pleasantly enough, with the wings tasting really good. However, the lobster chalupa was a disappointment, although the layout of the dish was pretty interesting. T

Boneless wings with Tangy Mango Teriyaki Sauce

Chalupa Cha Cha with Lobster

After lunch, I headed back to the South Beach area to continue my sightseeing at the Katama Point Reserve. There is a single path to the small, rocky beach here, and the path I took is highlighted below.

There's no proper parking area here, so I just found a proper patch of grass nearby before heading down to the shore of Katama Bay. The walk down itself was on an open field with nice views and an osprey pole for the nesting birds of prey.

The beach itself was a little disappointing though, being really small and stony, although the view of Katama Bay was still pretty good.

The next hike was at the Sheriff's Meadow Sanctuary, located at Planting Field Way and Planting Field Wood Road. After parking at the side of the road, the path I took is shown below in pink.

The route was pretty simple, passing by nice views of Eel Pond and Sheriff's Pond, which the path goes around.

View of Eel Pond

Sheriff's Pond

Next, I decided to visit the Martha's Vineyard Museum, which was closed the last Sunday I saw it. Other than the lighthouse lens that I saw one month ago, there were other old artifacts housed outside the gallery and gift shop area, shown below.

Inside the gallery itself, there were a few interesting exhibits, including one about the many shipwrecks about the island. It was interesting to see how advanced technology could accurately trace out the fine details of wrecks on the ocean floor with sonar.

Map of the shipwrecks

Sonar image of shipwreck

Another exhibit was about the history of the island, and there were some interesting articles, including the eel net shown below.

Other than that, the museum was a pretty small place. I guess after seeing the Museum of Science, my expectations have grown a lot higher.

The next place I went to was the Edgartown Lighthouse area at 121 North Water Street. There is a small path leading to the lighthouse, and there is a beach area here called the Lighthouse Beach as well. Pictures I took of the lighthouse and the beach area follow. This place is also near the Chappy Ferry, used to ferry people to and from Chappaquiddick Island. I intend to visit it someday soon.

Edgartown Lighthouse

The next place I went to is actually linked to the Lighthouse Beach, the Fuller Street Beach, located at the end of Fuller Street. This is a relatively small easterly facing beach, and pictures follow.

Fuller Street Beach is actually linked to Little Beach which encloses Eel Pond. I would have walked to the end of it if not for the time, so I decided to stop hiking for the day and head into West Tisbury to see the interesting sights there. On the way to find the Martha's Vineyard Glassworks, I happened to pass by the Old Millpond, found along Edgartown West Tisbury Road near Sweet William Way, where there were several waterfowl swimming in it, including a few swans and an African Goose.

Mute Swan and mallards with African Goose

African Goose

The next place I headed to was the Field Gallery and Sculpture Garden, where like the Fruitlands Museum in Harvard, there were several sculptures outdoors. Pictures follow.

Other places I visited in town were the West Tisbury Free Public Library and the First Congregational Church.

West Tisbury Free Public Library

First Congregational Church

With the sun still out, I decided to head into Chilmark to check out a few buildings before the sun set.

Chilmark School

Chilmark Community Church

With the sun setting, I headed back to my friend's place. We then headed to Atria in Edgartown for dinner.
This was a pretty nice restaurant, where we headed to the basement to our seats. My friend decided to get the Red Wine Braised Lamb Shank Special, which had apricot chips and Israeli Couscous, while I had the seafood risotto.

Red Wine Braised Lamb Shank

Seafood Risotto

Both of us enjoyed our meals thoroughly, and head back home after that.