Furthest Points North and East, Post 25-32

Friday, August 1 through mid-day Thursday, August 7

63 nautical miles (NM) / 72 statute miles

Places Visited:

• Newport, RI

• Cuttyhunk Island, MA

• Martha's Vineyard, MA

It is August and we are often wearing long sleeves and sometimes jackets! The north is a strange, but pretty world.

We are are far from Florida!

Two more days in Newport, RI

N 41° 29’ 10.5”, W 71° 19’ 32.2” (Furthest Point North)

Friday, August 1 & Saturday, August 2

Jimmy ended last week’s post covering Thursday, the last day in July. We stayed in Newport for a few extra days to wait out bad weather in a good harbor where we spent the time with a nice mix of catching up on boat chores and sightseeing with Quest II.

Quest II had not yet seen the Cliff Walk and Jimmy and I were more than happy to join them on the walk.

We also visited the beautiful grounds of Rough Point.

Our weather delay allowed us to raft up outside of the Newport Jazz Festival.

Two nights at Gosnold, MA on Cuttyhunk Island

N 41° 25’ 32.7”, W 70° 55’ 31.0”

26 NM / 30 miles traveled from Newport

Sunday, August 3 & Monday, August 4

Sunday morning both Utopia and Quest II slipped lines from our respective mooring balls and headed east to Cuttyhunk Island in noticeably light winds.

One of the tightest mooring fields we have ever been in where several boats are too close to the 50' limit, and many boats sharing a ball.

Cuttyhunk is part of the Elizabeth Islands off the Massachusetts mainland, accessed from Buzzards Bay. The island has a very charming, quaint village, the Town of Gosnold. About 20 people live on the island year-round. Although a ferry does bring people over, it is much, much more laid back than Block Island. It is also much smaller island. As we approached the hilly island, we thought that if one added some sheep, the area looks like what we imagine Ireland to look like.

Town of Gosnold, MA, Cuttyhunk Island

One of the tourism websites for Cuttyhunk had a great description of Cuttyhunk Island:

• Cuttyhunk Island is part of the Town of Gosnold, in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

• Rests 12 miles south of New Bedford, MA and 8 miles west of Gay Head, Martha's Vineyard.

• Is a place to do a whole lot of nothing.

• Has a small beach (which seems to have sand that moves about every year!), a great harbor, good fishing, a few dozen houses, some great ice cream(!), and some beautiful hiking trails.

• Does not have discos, bars, malls, a singles scene, a party life, video games, parking lots, traffic, or much action.

• What Cuttyhunk does have is a quiet, isolated, beautiful, ocean environment, perfect for getting in touch with yourself and your family, or just catching up with your reading!

• Cuttyhunk is famous for fishing and relaxing.

We only spent two nights here, but the area certainly charmed us during our low-key activities.

Exploring the island by foot, visiting a beach by dinghy, eating delicious pizza at Sopranos, which really looked like someone’s house, reminding me much of the Bahamas.

Baxter on one of his lookout perches, entertaining all who notice him.

Baxter loves the cooler weather. It is almost as if he knows he is near his breed's namesake state of Maine. He has been spending a lot more time out on the deck of Utopia watching birds and boats.

There also is a boatside service from Raw Bar, where Jimmy and I purchased clam chowder and a bluefish dip; both were delicious!

We took a ton of photos of this quaint island.

Now, Click Me for Pretty Cuttyhunk Scenes

Two nights at Tisbury/Vineyard Haven, MA on Martha's Vineyard

N 41° 25’ 32.7”, W 70° 55’ 31.0” (our furthest point east)

18.3 NM/ 21.1 miles traveled from Cuttyhunk, MA

Tuesday, August 5 & Wednesday, August 6

Martha’s  Vineyard will most likely be Utopia’s most furthest east traveled by her current crew, and it is really neat to have made it this far. Vineyard Haven is accessed from Vineyard Sound, south of the the Elizabeth Islands and west of Nantucket Sound.

Gingerbread Houses in Oak Bluff on Martha's Vineyard

During our short visit to Martha’s Vineyard, we visited three of the towns that originally formed during the whaling industry days. There is an interesting mix of history and architecture here and the free bus system allowed us to move easily between the island’s towns. It feels like a very busy area, especially after spending time at quiet Cuttyhunk. Very large ferries bring people and vehicles, including full sized tractor trailers, over to the island from sunrise until after sunset.

Return to Cuttyhunk

18.5 NM / 21.2 miles traveled from Vineyard Haven, MA

Thursday, August 7, 2025

As summer works its way to autumn, we now need to start thinking about heading back south. Quest II has guests arriving in Newport, while Jimmy and I have several packages getting shipped there. So, we begin our trek back today.

Both boats slipped from our mooring balls just before our checkout time of 10 am in an effort to wait for countercurrents to subside a little bit. We motorsailed in light winds back to Cuttyhunk. Returning to this popular cruising ground was less stressful with having been here once before, but also because there were fewer boats this time around. There were several balls available, a big difference from a nearly full field with several boats rafting up to narrow down the isles between boats that we found last time.

 A video of our first days at Cuttyhunk are at the second part of this video:

Next week we will share our return visit to Cuttyhunk, and a planned return to Newport where we need to pick up several packages.

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Post #25-32

You can read about our stay in Newport, Post 25-31, by clicking on the link below under “Related Posts”

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