edgartownlight Our 1999 Martha's Vineyard Vacation: Edgartown Light from the town. The bluffs behind are Chappaquidick. The main part of town and the harbor are to the right. You're looking over the eel pond. Behind are lovely “captain’s” homes and gradens. gayheadlight Gay Head light, from the overlook point. gayheadcliffs The cliffs at the westernmost point of Martha's Vineyard. Sailors named them for their gaily colored bands of clay. gh-cliffs-light Gay Head cliffs and light, from the overlook. To the right is the entrance of Buzzards Bay. About 45 degrees to the left is Cuttyhunk, last and smallest inhabited island of the Elizabeth Islands chain. JFK Jr's plane went down about 4.5 miles to the left (west). To the east (right) lie Lobsterville and across the inlet, the fishing village of Menemsha. dt-rt-overlook We're at the southern overlook of Menemsha Great Pond, which is on the road from Chilmark to Aquinnah (the Wampanoag Tribe renamed it from Gay Head in a 1998 election; by about 2-vote margin out of about a 300-vote total). The view is to the north, with Menemsha off to the right horizon. dt-rt-mnmshw-wide Here we're on the jetty on the Lobsterville (west) side of Menemsha inlet. The orange-roofed building is part of the US Coast Guard station where the search for JFK Jr's plane was headquartered. dt-rt-mnmshw-cu Another view with Menemsha in the background. There's no bridge over the inlet. There's a bike ferry though, and one of James Taylor's brothers takes day-sailors to Cuttyhunk from here on a catamaran. We drove all the way around past the south overlook again to get to Menemsha for sunset and were treated to dinner at Menemsha's landmark Homeport Restaurant by our guests, Sandy and Pete (Sandy is Ruth's co-worker). rt-kayak-mnmshw Ruth kayaking on Menemsha Great Pond. We went from north to south on the pond, from Lobsterville down to Stonewall Beach. We also waded and snorkeled the pond and picked up molted horseshoe crab shells. We had a nice picnic on the Lobsterville beach. rt-mt-porch Ruth & Mathilda on the porch of the cottage we rent, “Rivendell”. It's owned by Glenn and Joanne Ickler (he's my former column editor). rt-wading With the tide nearly out, much of Menemsha Great Pond is a wading flat. Ideal for browsing and kayaking. Watch out for “Jaws”, Ruth! dt-sandy-kayak I took Sandy and Pete kayaking from State Beach in Oak Bluffs up to the “Jaws Bridge” to Edgartown. This is me returning with Sandy. mt-teaching Mathilda (center) meanwhile was teaching pottery classes like this one when not incising or glazing at Chilmark Pottery. mnmshw-pond-beach Mnemshaw Great Pond beach: We kayaked to here and had our picnic. Behind the beach it's mnmshw-geese This family of geese was our only companion on this Mnemshaw Grat Pond beach. sandy-pete-pagoda Sandy and Pete in front of the pagoda tree in Edgartown. The tree was brought from China as a seed in the 18th century by a sea captain. It's grown a bit since! dt-rt-horiz We’re standing next to “Rivendell”. dan-pete-kayak Pete and I return from Jaws Bridge. lem-porch Lem sang his head off from the “Rivendell” porch. His “wolf whistles” also nearly got me into trouble with passers-by!