2) POSH BOTIQUES: Many pretty and Nantucket style botiques have opened ready to adorn you for your nautical adventure including: Jack Wills, the British university outfitter, and Milly & Grace

3) NEW FANFARE DINING: A new popular restaurant Dune (20 broad street) has local seafood and produce for their delicious entrees! The restaurant has 3 dining rooms and a patio – but call ahead!

4) BEACH MARTINIS: The Gallery Beach on 54 Jefferson Avenue is a classic hotspot for late night gatherings in the newly renovated location. Drinks offer pomegranate margaritas, Seaside Martinis,  and by midnight – tiki torches line the beach where sofas line the sand!

5) ISLAND MARKET: visit the islands weekly market on Cambridge and North Union St with 65 different island farmers and artisans through the season by island growers and craftspeople.

6) BEACH SURFING: head out to the west, Nantucket’s most pristine island is on pristine beaches towards Eel Point and Smith’s Point. Here people spend their days floating in the water and lounging on the sunny sand!  With no amenities on the beaches, be sure to bring your beach supplies!

7) DRINKING TO A VIEW:  

8) BAJA: Corazon del Mar, has a grand opening since last summer with many tourists and locals! This is a tiny papaya orange den with 7 tables, 10 bar stools, with upstairs having 9 tables and a tequila bar.

9) SEA SAVIORS: 700 shipwrecks litter the treacherous shoals and surrounding waters around Nantucket. Are you interested in learning the cultural history of the area? Visit Nantucket Shipwreck & Lifesaving Museum for all the information imaginable! Reopened last year after a $3 million expansion, the museum has vintage “surfboats” once used to save wreck survivors, child-friendly exhibits on Coast Guard sea dogs, and — most chillingly — grainy black-and-white 1956 film footage of one of the most infamous wrecks, the Italian ship Andrea Doria, slowly listing into the sea after its collision with a Swedish ocean liner.

10) BEACHSIDE BRUNCH: The Summer House Restaurant in Siasconset village, is the island’s most popular place for lunch, especially its umbrella-shaded Beachside Bistro.

11) NOT QUITE OPEN HOUSE: The Bluff Walk in Siasconset village was once the south shore’s most fiercely guarded secret. Pick up the trail in the village center and walk along the high, Atlantic bluffs, past the backyards of the island’s stateliest gray-shingled mansions.

IF YOU GO

FLIGHTS: JetBlue flies nonstop to Nantucket from NY; with daily flights from NYC Kennedy Airport until mid-September with fares from $117. The Nantucket Regional Transit Authority runs shuttle buses all over the island, but a rental car with four-wheel drive is recommended.

The Cottage & Lofts at the Boat Basin has 25 shipshape cottages along the Nantucket Harbor wharves starting rates at $520. The Union St Inn has 12 rooms in a 1770 house with Frette robes and modern baths, rooms starting at $299. the White Elephant is downtown and is a true resort property with a harbor side patio, restaurant, spa, 64 rooms, suites and cottages starting from $680.  

marthas vineyard:   

IRELAND LOOKALIKE: The roads wind next to Sheep, horses, cattle grazing in bright green pastures – in Chilmark the Allen Farm Sheep + Wool Company, founded in 1762 – where from the rolling fields, buy lamb chops, or homemade wool sweater in gift shop.   

Sailing: This old fishing community – with beautiful surrounding waters is home to many old wooden sailboats. Sail on Liberty boat on the Vineyard Harbor – for $55/person on a 2 hour tour. At Book A Boat (508-645-2400 – www.bookaboatmv.com, you can charter a private sailboat – where the company arranges the place, boat type + miscellaneous items.

Lobsters: a huge part of the culture on the island, from 4:30-7:30 during the summer at Vineyard haven at Grace Church – (woodlawn Avenue and Williams Street – www.gracechurchmv.com) with picnics, lobster rolls – which may be the best deal in town for this fresh catch at $13.

accomodations:

- 1720 House – www.1720house.com convenient & cheery 6 bedroom home - $150/night during the summer.

- Menemsha Inn and Cottages (www.menemshainn.com) has guest homes and cottages tucked into the less-trafficked western island with many flowers, stone walls, privacy, and beaches. Double rooms start at $355/night, and in the summer – private cottages start at $3,700/week.

- Lamberts Cove Inn – www.lambertscoveinn.com, is individually decorated giving a home feel versus a hotel – also offering a pool, tennis court, private beach – starting from $225.

Nightlife: not commonly found on Marthas Vineyard –the best bet at Oak Bluffs is lively bars along Circuit Ave – or Ritz Café with locals & live music.

Donuts: In Oak Bluffs, at the Martha’s Vineyard Gourmet Café and Bakery (www.mybakery.com) – people line up to wait for warm doughnuts from the oven “Back Door Donuts” which are soft, sticky and just $1.

Beach: Private beaches are the most scenic on Martha’s Vineyard – but you need a key to access.

Island Spirit Kayak (www.islandspirit.com) rents and delivers the kayak to you – with rentals starting at $35 for 3 hours, launching from Quitsa Pond on the island’s western side. – 20 minutes of a ride lands you in Menemsha Pond – and Squibnocket Beach which is private.

Exercise: Hiking – natural reserves (www.mylandbank.com – Waskosim’s Rock Reservation) has 185 acres of open fields, wooded trails, marshes – up Waskosim’s Rock – established 350 years ago.

Farmers Market in West Tisbury has wildflowers, organic fruits, vegetables, jams –

clams, oyster, shrimp, scallop, squid: In Menemsha, The Bite (www.thebitemenemsha.com) provides the island’s best fried clams, oysters, squid, shrimp, scallops – small weathered shingle home – having 2 picnic tables near the dock by the fisherman from May to October.

Flights nonstop from certain locations such as NYC – with roundtrip starting at $367 – or woods-hole Massachusetts about 250 miles away can be the closest mainland airport – where then you can take the ferry for $135 roundtrip with a car. www.steamshipauthority.com