Our sail to Nantucket from Provincetown started with zero wind and the need to motor from four in the afternoon until almost one in the morning. Nine hours of motoring used more diesel than I wanted to use and the noise from the diesel engine left me craving wind.

I was expecting about 15 knots and we ended up with 25. From the ocean side so we also ended up with about a four to six foot swell that rocked us pretty bad.

Most of the boat was tossed like a salad below and I was grateful to round the Nantucket Shoal and head into protected water. We didn’t feel comfortable crossing the shoal in the dark with that swell so the trip took a bit longer than we’d planned.

We arrived about noon on Saturday and anchored just inside the anchorage behind the Green 13 marker. A good spot that after about a week has shown to have some great holding.

The dinghy dock is easy to find and is about 0.6 NM from where we’re anchored so it gives a good pleasant ride. There is ample in the downtown area as well.

One of our excursions was to the Nantucket Whaling Museum. In my opinion a must stop for those arriving by boat. Not only do you get the nautical history you can also get onto the only rooftop that you can get onto in Nantucket for that obligatory “I can see my home from here” photo.

We also found the local hardware store to be a short walk from the dinghy dock and to have just about everything you could need in a hardware store.

One thing we also discovered is that the Nantucket Boat Basin which runs a pricy marina, manages the mooring field, and has the fuel dock also leaves their bathrooms, showers, and laundry open to the public. This means you can bypass the harbormaster’s bathrooms and showers which are in a severe need for a remodel for the excellent ones just a short walk away.

We ended up also taking advantage of the laundry, since there were three of us we packed up as much as we could and then dinged right over to the laundry and I sent the boys up the ladder with the wash to avoid the need to walk over from the dinghy dock. Then I dropped the dinghy off at the harbormaster’s dock and walked over.

After the laundry was done we walked it back to the dinghy proving that the walk was honestly not that bad and we could have done it.

One mistake we made in town was not asking the harbormaster if we could have had a package sent to his office. Instead we had a package sent to the UPS Store which was a bit of serious hike.

The town also has two grocery stores. A close one to the dock and another that is about a mile walk from the dinghy dock. Honestly it’s worth the walk since it’s so much larger and has much more to offer.

I’ve spent most of the time here working the day job from the local cafes, which are all great, and the public library which has some great work spaces up on the 2nd floor.

That said the town is fantastic to walk around in and to explore. With three of us and only two bikes we didn’t end up biking the town but I’m not thinking that we’ll need a third bike before our return in the spring. There are rental bikes available but I found them to be too much. Perhaps in a pinch.

With us saving up for a new dodger this winter we decided to limit our spending and only ended up visiting one restaurant. Pi Pizza which is right next to the grocery store and a perfect stop to ensure you don’t spend too much at the grocery store had an awesome wood fired pizza at a reasonable price.

Overall our time has been great but limited by my work schedule and a bit overshadowed by the hurricane season in the Atlantic and the need to keep our options open.

The spot we chose to anchor has some tidal current, so the boat can do some odd things when the tide and wind disagree. Even so though we had 25+ knots the other night and it was pretty flat and as you can see with the track on the anchor monitor there was zero issues with dragging.

We’ve been here a week and I feel like we’ve not done anything that the town has to offer. We’ll certainly need to come back.