The Jaws Bridge of Martha’s Vineyard

This summer day, like all summer days, the ordinarily still waters beneath the American Legion Memorial Bridge on Martha’s Vineyard are alive with the splashes of people hopping off the railing and plunging into the Atlantic Ocean. Primarily adolescents partake of the island tradition of leaping off this little bridge on the road between Edgartown and Oak Bluffs. But sometimes adults like to throw themselves into the ocean as well. The bridge isn’t known only as the popular summertime spot for this decades-old rite of fun. Scenes from the thriller Jaws were filmed here too.

Standing about one story above the water, the first time you poise yourself at the bridge’s railing it can, for some reason, take a while to work up the guts to step off into the air. Once you’re falling, it’s a quick trip into the cold waters beneath, but still a blast. After you hit the soft sandy bottom and then pop yourself back up to the top, you can’t just go home and say “I did it!” Swim over to the jetty, climb up and walk back to the bridge. Then leap again. How many bridges do you get to jump off of in your life, anyway?

Sabina Lohr finds that home is not where the heart is, and a good chunk of her life revolves around plotting her next trip, or traveling. She has a Bachelor of Arts with a major in German which, like many liberal arts degrees, has gotten her nowhere except overseas to study. Unlike so many other travelers, she has never kept track of the number of countries she’s traveled to but knows her continent count stands at only three. The other four are calling.