After leaving Newport we continued northwest into Massachusetts and out onto the Cape Cod peninsula.  Perhaps complacent from the lucky streak we have had, where each stay included at least half of the days with beautiful weather, once we got set up in the cute ocean side Campers Haven RV Resort in Dennisport we settled in for the day rather than take advantage of the clear skies and warm temperatures to explore.  Unfortunately that would be the only nice day of our stay, with the remaining two being dreary and wet.

Dennisport is roughly half way across Cape Cod.  We selected Campers Haven for location and price: of the three places offering the Passport-America discount it was the only one directly on the peninsula coast.  Though only scheduled for a partial hook up site in accordance with their discount policy, they went ahead and upgraded us to a full service site.  We enjoyed the 50% rate for our first two days but had to pay full price for the last night since it fell on a weekend.  You see all sorts of limitations at campgrounds and resorts that participate in PA, and weekend exclusions are pretty common.

Campers Haven offered a nice price for the location.  Private campgrounds in populer tourist areas do not usually offer the wide open spaces and greenery that one finds in state parks but our site was reasonably spacious and the neighboring RVs didn’t impinge on us at all.  The spot was level and the services excellent: in addition to full hook ups, a helpful front desk, and powerful hot water in the bath house, they also had fully working free WiFi provided by Tengonet, and cable TV via a coax connection. 

Both of those are rare enough to warrant specific comment.  We have not always had the best of luck with Tengonet and like services; the portal capture technology does not always work well, along with the usual problems of free WiFi, i.e., too small a pipe for the number of users and to weak a signal due to limited antennas.  Cable TV hookups, once a mainstay of RV resorts, has become rarer as more RVers purchase their own satellite TV systems and use WiFi for their video streaming.  Since we don’t have the former and the latter is often constrained, it was nice to have the cable TV rather than rely on the wasteland that is over the air television. 

Despite the drizzle we braved the weather our second day there to explore the general area, finding one incredibly quaint neighborhood after another and getting lots of advice and recommendations from locals for restaurants and the like.  The last full day we drove an hour back to Falmouth in order to catch a ferry over to Martha’s Vineyard.  There were closer ports of departure, but Falmouth had the cheapest rate since it is the closest to the island.  With a $2 military discount, we ended up paying $18 each for a round trip ticket, with multiple return times offered. 

We had really pushed the timing, and not wanting to take a chance on missing the next ferry we settled for the nearest $15 per day lot rather than search around for something more competitive.  Nor had we been able to grab breakfast along the way.  Don’t make that mistake, eat something before you get to the ferry because their snack options were pretty awful, and the prices on Martha’s Vineyard are not exactly cheap! 

Upon arrival we deviated from the standard tourist paths heading to the many boutique stores and restaurants and instead hiked a couple of miles to the nearest lighthouse that we had spotted while sailing in to the port.  The tourist map was a bit deceptive since it was not drawn to scale, and I estimate we did a four mile round trip, but for much of the time we had great views as we walked along the seaside paths and roads.

On the way back we explored a very cute little chocolate and jewelry shop before we stumbled back into town with food and a drink on our minds.  We settled into Nancy’s bar for some beer and an affordable yet fantastic clam chowder.  Had the weather been nicer and the budget bigger we might have stayed longer, but we caught the first of the afternoon ferries back to Falmouth.  Our last enjoyable view of Martha’s Vineyard was watching the Ospreys from the nearby nest taking turns minding the nest and hunting for fish.

We ended our trip with a quick stop at Sundancer’s restaurant, strongly recommended by some locals, where I had my first Lobster Roll in years, but definitely not the last of this New England trip.  It was fantastic, as promised.  We hunkered down for the rest of the night before bidding adieu to Cape Cod late the next morning as we headed back east to Connecticut.