Block Island

We are now sitting in Block Island topside listening to the crazy radio. All radio traffic for the various launches (there are about 400 boats in here), all radio traffic for the marina, all radio traffic for Aldo, which we gather is some sort of food delivery service, and all radio traffic for the local fishing tournament is transmitted on one single channel – channel 68. We are getting a huge kick out of the horrible (but amusing) radio etiquette, people talking over each other etc. For example, we just heard “Champlin’s, I need a pickup” on the radio. The water taxi came back and said, “What is your location and type of vessel” (there are a TON of boats here all in different locations, mind you.) The woman came back on the radio and said, “We are a sailboat.” Ummm…. Could you be a little more specific? We have heard all about Aldo’s pepperoni bread (he doesn’t have any left, but you can still get spinach), the rules for the children’s class for the fishing tournament, and a 26 foot motorboat Orion that still cannot find the channel into the marina. And all of the people on the radio sound like they are characters out of the Sopranos. It has been a very amusing way to spend the early evening.

So… why are we sitting listening to the radio? Well, we got to Block Island around 3:00. When we called for our slip assignment and tie up instructions, the marina did not have our reservation. Now, to their credit, we changed our reservation a few days ago because we were delayed in Nantucket because of the weather. Apparently they did not update the change in their system and thought we were no shows when they expected us last night. So…. We were told to standby. And we did. For about 40 minutes. They had no room for us, so they were trying to find a boat that we could raft up to. The marina actually tried to negotiate our draft (from the waterline to the bottom of the keel, which is the deepest part of the boat) – are you sure you aren’t 5 ½ feet? Nope, we are 6 (well, not really, but we always round up just a little). Well, another ½ an hour later (and after phone calls to three other marinas and the harbormaster for any available moorings [nope]) we were still hovering in the channel. The dock manager decided to get into the launch and come out to look at our boat for himself before making a decision whether we could safely fit and raft up with another boat. WHAT? Was he going to take his tape measure to the boat?

Anyway, all parties involved decided that we will wait on a private mooring with the harbormaster’s approval (and hope the owner doesn’t show up) until they can move a few boats around and put us on the fuel dock (oh, and after the ferry leaves). So, it is 6:00 and we are still waiting. We are assured we are going to get a slip eventually…. In the meantime, we have heard two other boats where the reservation has been “mixed up” so we don’t feel as bad.

On a better note, Block Island looks like it is going to be a lot of fun and we are both looking forward to exploring tomorrow.