Nantucket Moorings

Hello, all,


As with us all, we're looking ahead to summer cruises. Plan to spend a week or so in Nantucket on a mooring. If anyone has first hand experience with the above, would you please share pros and cons. All feedback will be appreciated.

Thank you,

George - Grumpy Old Men - '03 Rossi RF-246

Bring your extra wallet $70.00 to rent a mooring and $$$.00 for lunch. The billionaires have taken over. But it's a pretty old town and fun to see how the 1% live.

We've stayed on the moorings there a couple of times. Call ahead to reserve, the moorings are specifically sized to different sizes of boat. The folks there are very helpful. Make sure to have them walk you through how to rig to the mooring; they are happy to send out the launch to help people get tied up and oriented. Nantucket itself is very crowded, even well after Labor Day, though the mooring field is not busy then. I have to admit, Nantucket really wasn't our style, we never stayed more than one night. Martha's Vineyard offers more variety IMO.

George:

I went over to Nantucket once a number of years ago in a sailboat. The crossing from MV was rough in 20+ kts of wind and 4-6' seas. That will be a sporty run in your Rossi.

Yes moorings are expensive. I would have guessed more than the $70 that the previous poster quoted. You can anchor which is what we did. It is a little longer dinghy ride but no real problem. Make sure you have good ground tackle as it is a reversing current anchorage with 1-2 kts of current.

David

We anchored in the back of the harbor last year, pretty sure I heard $75 a night for the moorings. Years back we stayed on a mooring and even more years back at a slip.

I have to concur with others in that I would not want to stay there for a week, the kids did have fun when we rented a jeep and road on the beach. Town is crowded, restaurants crowded, harbor is VERY active, really too active.

We like Cuttyhunk the best, but don't tell to many people.

Thanks, all,
Our homeport is South Cape (Falmouth). We've visited Nantucket via ferry many times, but thought it might be an adventure on our own boat. You've given us much to consider. And, yes, Marlinmike, Cuttyhunk is among our favorite anchorages, as well as Hadley Harbor. Shhh

Her are the 2015 rates

MOORING RATES (per Night):
Boats under 40 ft. $65.00 + 6.25% tax $69.06 per night with tax
Boats 40 ft. to 59 ft. $70.00 + 6.25% tax $74.38 per night with tax
Boats 60 ft. to 79 ft. $80.00 + 6.25% tax $85.00 per night with tax
Boats 80 ft. to 100 ft. $105.00 + 6.25% tax $111.56 per night with tax

There is a launch service also that will pick you up at you mooring ...$5.00 per person per way and $10 min to the anchorage.

Also with out a mooring finding a place to land and secure the dink may be difficult.

They have a short summer season and milk the visitors BIG TIME!

We stayed on a mooring there after Labor Day last year. Once was enough for us. Do make a reservation in advance though.


Via iPhone.

They have a dingy dock, but it gets very crowded, especially some of these "dingy's" are actually very large twin engines ribs.

FF said:

Also with out a mooring finding a place to land and secure the dink may be difficult.

They have a short summer season and milk the visitors BIG TIME!

Click to expand...

Marlinmike said:

We anchored in the back of the harbor last year, pretty sure I heard $75 a night for the moorings. Years back we stayed on a mooring and even more years back at a slip.

I have to concur with others in that I would not want to stay there for a week, the kids did have fun when we rented a jeep and road on the beach. Town is crowded, restaurants crowded, harbor is VERY active, really too active.

We like Cuttyhunk the best, but don't tell to many people.

Click to expand...

Cuttyhunk is the best place in the world to do nothing!

Nantucket and its summer population (of boats and people) are beautiful. It can be a lively harbor, with always something interesting to see. As others noted - bring plenty of do-re-mi, and expect to leave it there!

We docked at Nantucket Boat Basin rather than mooring but we did observe the service being provided to those mooring and talked to some. The consensus was that it's one of the best mooring fields you'll find in terms of service and quality of moorings plus access to amenities although quite expensive as mooring goes. However, compared to the marina, with prices of $5.50 to $7.75 per foot, then $70 for a 40-59 ft boat doesn't sound so bad. I was very impressed by the moorings.

Now, obviously we're not helping the OP as he was looking for Summer 2015.