Jumping Off the #Jaws Bridge! Visiting #MarthasVineyard #Edgartown #OakBluffs #CapeCod

My younger son in mid-jump off the "Jaws Bridge" on MV.
Beneath him landing in the water is my nephew.

Living on Cape Cod, we always have busy summers filled with visitors.  This August, we had back-to-back guests for two weeks--our best friends, and then my brother and sister and their families.  I've done posts in the past on some of our favorite places to visit with guests, but we also always try to fit in one or two new things.  Yesterday, we finally got my sister and her young kids to Martha's Vineyard, which has never worked out in the past due to the age of her children and the logistics of getting everyone onto a ferry on time to head over to this beautiful island off the Cape.

In addition to just wanting to see the Vineyard, my sister loves scary movies like I do, in particular, the movie Jaws, which made my list of scariest movies and books (here).  She is fascinated by sharks in general.  Since Martha's Vineyard was the site where this 1975 movie was filmed, it was especially important to see the sites.  A few years ago, we'd been over to see some of the towns in the movie with friends, but we'd never been on an actual Jaws-themed tour, so this time, I arranged it, complete with a small private bus for all 11 of us.  Martha's Vineyard Tours and Excursions was the company that ended up taking us on the tour, and I highly recommend them.  They are the #1 tour company on Trip Advisor, and they rescued us when the tour we originally booked in advance (with a different company) literally cancelled on us last minute.  I have to give them a shout-out, as we had 11 people, including a toddler, assembled for a scheduled private tour, and they came in and accommodated us last minute.

Menemsha, the fishing village from which Quint's
boat the Orca left to find Jaws.

The two-hour tour included a lot of interesting information about the island in addition to scenes from Jaws.  We saw Sheriff Brody's house in East Chop in Oak Bluffs, Quint's Shack in Menemsha in Chilmark, and Edgartown, which basically served as the fictional town of Amity Island (which is actually supposed to be off Long Island, NY, at least in the novel).


We basically circled the island, making our way back toward Oak Bluffs (and the ferry terminal) along Beach Road and Syliva State Beach, which was where many of the beach scenes--and shark attacks--were filmed.  The most famous landmark there is the "Jaws Bridge", which carries traffic over the channel separating the Atlantic from Sengekontacket Pond--the pond in which a particularly gruesome death takes place, when the Great White shark severs the leg of a sailing instructor as a group of young boys huddle on a sailboat.  The actual name of the bridge is the American Legion Memorial Bridge, also known as the "Big Bridge" by locals.  But its fame from the movie has led to a time-honored tradition that involves climbing over the railing and plunging 15 to 20 feet into the waters below.

I can only assume this was a small crowd for
this spot, considering it's now late August and
tourist season is winding down.

One of the best things about this, aside from the cinematic history and the adrenaline rush, is the sign prohibiting jumping or diving off the bridge, posted in front of a huge crowd of people of all ages doing exactly that.  

It's a rite of passage around here, and a bucket-list item for many New Englanders.  We had little time to spend there, but we got it done!  

In the future, I'd love to just spend a day there, alongside the rock jetties, and watch everyone have fun jumping and diving in.  Although we live on Cape Cod, spending the day on one of these islands feels like being in another world!  I set most of my novels on the Cape, but one day I'd love to write a story set on Martha's Vineyard or Nantucket...maybe I could figure out a way to stay for a few weeks in the name of research?

Back to entertaining the family...thanks for stopping by!  

My younger son taking flight as one of his cousins plunges
in, and another younger one looks on.

Favorite Spots on Cape Cod #CapeCod #MarthasVineyard #vacation

I’ve done a few posts on my favorite spots on Cape Cod, and I like to think I have a little expertise in this area, having lived here year-round for the last 18 years.  I covered some of these places in this post in 2014, and I dedicated an entire post to visiting Cuttyhunk in this post in 2015.

Whenever we get together with our best friends, we schedule crazy weeks of fun things to see and do, and usually get into some kind of trouble along the way (see Adventures in Ziplining and Three States inTen Days).  They just left after visiting for a week, and once again, we kept up an exhausting pace, rewarding ourselves with wine each evening.  While a few of the days were repeats of our favorite activities covered in the 2014 post, we hit a few new spots as well, so this post will cover the best of the new.

The Gingerbread Houses of Oak Bluffs -
it really does feel like being in a fairy tale

Instead of taking a day-trip to Nantucket this year, we journeyed to Martha’s Vineyard.  The ferry ride from Falmouth took only about 30 minutes, and we arrived in Oak Bluffs before 10:00 a.m. and strolled through town, making our way over to the “Gingerbread Houses”.  This grouping of brightly colored, elaborate cottages is really something to see.  Apparently the history behind these houses dates back to the late 1800s when Methodists meeting on the Vineyard each summer began building tiny houses instead of using tents. Then it grew into a friendly contest to outdo each other in terms of how ornate they could make each cottage.  They are adorable, and many of them have themes and names.  I love cats, so one of my personal favorites was the cat-themed cottage:

I have 2 black cats, so I loved this one.

A neighboring house has a cute
little clue to the famous lot.

We then picked up two rental jeeps to maximize our site-seeing and pretty much drove the perimeter of the island.  Near the East Chop Light House, we found the lot where the Brody house was located during the filming of Jaws.  The house itself has been completely reconstructed, and looks nothing like it did in the movie.  But a neighboring house provides a clue via a sign reading “Little Jaws”.

Menemsha is a scenic little fishing village that also provided local flavor for Jaws.  From there, we continued on to the clay cliffs of Aquinnah and Gay Head Light House.  We stopped to see South Beach and admire the huge waves before heading to Edgartown for shopping and dinner by the water.

Menemsha - Quint's boat left from here in Jaws.

The clay cliffs of Aquinnah & Gay Head Light.

Over a thousand acres of dunes takes the breath away.

Another day trip we’ve done before is Provincetown, but this time we did something new – a tour of the dunes with Art’s DunesTours.  It was truly unbelievable to see the acres of pristine sand dunes stretching out to the sea.  This area is part of the federally protected Cape Cod National Seashore, and only a few vehicles are allowed to drive back there; in stark contrast to the boisterous crowds of Commercial Street, we saw almost no people.  There are a few small shacks back there, most of which are federally owned and offered through a lottery to artists and writers…should I apply?  While the solitude amidst stunning wilderness might make it the perfect spot to write a new ghost story mixed with steamy romance, I’m afraid being that isolated might send me over the edge!  One other caveat: no plumbing or electricity.

The Popponesset Spit - it's never usually this crowded,
but 4th of July is a bit crazy - and fun!

We spent the actual 4^th on the Popponesset Spit, a long peninsula of beach accessible primarily by boat (a long walk can get you there too if you know where to park, but it’s very hard to find a spot).  This “spit” of land separates the bay from Nantucket Sound, and all types of boats tie up along the bay side and set up camp on the beach.  A large network of waterways offers kayakers plenty of areas to explore.  This is one of our favorite places on the Cape, and the Spit actually makes an appearance in HAUNTED SOULS.

If there’s a visit to Cape Cod in your future, check out some of these places!  And if there isn’t, you can still experience the area in both GULL HARBOR and HAUNTED SOULS – two steamy reunion romances mixed with spine-tingling ghost mysteries.  Happy summer and happy reading!