Jumper and Couldn't Stand the Weather

On the Fourth of July (ancient history, but that's how this blog rolls sometimes), I didn't have to work until 5 p.m. I made sure I took advantage of the day by getting some sun (it had just showed up the day before after a month hiatus) and doing something out of my usual routine.

I jumped off a bridge.

State Beach, a long strip of beach bordering the isolated causeway between Oak Bluffs and Martha's Vineyard, has two bridges -- the first and second bridge. I'm not sure if those should be capitalized, but I'd wager that Vineyarders would say yes. The second bridge is long and sits above an isolated bit of ocean, lined with rocks on both sides. It's not much more than a ten-foot jump, but it's a blast. On any given warm day, the bridge is packed with kids and adults alike tossing themselves into the ocean. And as with any jump-off-able structure, there was a gaggle of small children who initially wanted to jump and found themselves weeping and sobbing to be let down. There was an equally large quotient of parents and friends in the water, beckoning fiercely for these scaredy cats to jump. Click here for a panoramic of the whole scene.




I jumped twice -- my first time swimming after seven weeks on the Vineyard -- and took a handful of photos and videos. Happy to have taken part in what seems to be a Vineyard tradition.



Don't forget to scroll over photos for captions, and check out a video I took of the jumpers below.



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Even ancienter (ancienter? ancienter.) history is a video I took of the absurd weather on July 2. Check it out. Below the video is a set of before and after photos proving the old maxim, "If you don't like the weather, wait 15 minutes." I don't know where that saying originated -- New England, some think -- but it absolutely holds for this island.