BI, RI

What a perfect day! We got up early and decided to take the scooter around the rest of the island after our tour was cut short yesterday by bad weather. First we went to Mohegan Bluffs – which was absolutely incredible. We walked down a huge flight of stairs onto the beach and watched the surf for awhile. It was as pretty as anything we have seen in the Caribbean – huge waves and boulders, lots of green shrubbery, huge cliffs. There were lots of people on the beach – including kids who decided to give themselves a mud bath. We learned that the sand is black because of iron deposits. Bill took this picture of a family enjoying the sand! Hey people pay big money at spas for mud wraps. These kids are onto something.

We hopped back onto the scooters (after a long trek back UP the stairs) and went to the Southeast Lighthouse, back through town, and then onto North Reef Light. We stopped and had hotdogs and brats on the rocks at North Reef and then went to a “Labyrinth”, which turned out to be more creepy than anything (we were thinking large shrubs and / or cornstalks but it was more like a weird shrine.) We had to return the scooter at 2:00 so we headed back to town to the rental place and then walked back to the marina.

Bill washed down the sides of the boat and we had a visit from Jeremy who is in Block Island captaining a charter with sv Splendido. We are now enjoying the late afternoon sun on the boat. We are planning on a sunset dinghy ride, dinner at the Oar, and the Red Sox tonight. Tomorrow we leave for Mystic, CT, another place we are both looking forward to seeing.

Block Island has been fun. It is a neat place – only 10 square miles. And we found out today that most of the Island is protected. Lots of people vacation here (on boats, at the hotel where the marina we are staying is, or in several beautiful B & Bs we saw).

For WAY more pictures of Block Island, click HERE.

OR

Watch the slideshow below.

We moved off the ferry / fuel dock around 10:45. Bill and I dropped off our laundry and then finished filling the tanks, etc. We then decided to take a walk and explore.

We walked about 30 minutes into town (which is very small, really just one main drag with ten or fifteen stores). We found a place to rent scooters and off we went. Since it was lunch time, we drove around for a bit and then stopped at a restaurant on the water.

All morning we watched the thunderstorm clouds but each time they missed us. We knew that there was bad weather around Block Island from listening to the marine forecast. As we were eating, the sky got progressively darker. Bill got calls from both Dave and Tommy (it is nice to know there are people looking out for us!) saying the skies were about to open up. So... we got our check and high tailed it back to the marina. Watching the storm roll in was absolutely amazing. The skies were stunning, the lightning beautiful, the thunder LOUD. The wind wasn't so bad (30 kts max), but it poured!! And it hasn't stopped. We basically stayed in on the boat for the rest of the day watching movies and hanging out. Hopefully tomorrow the sun will come out again. We have the scooter until the afternoon. Here are some pictures of the storm.

Well, we finally got on the fuel dock around 6:30 or so. We hung out for awhile, and then had some (much needed) cocktails at the tiki bar. As we were walking up to dinner, we saw the dockmaster again, who told us that a sailboat would be rafted up next to us. This marina is crazy. They have managed to squeeze a boat into every possible location. And it is the most expensive place we have stayed so far. Bill managed to "negotiate" so our stay on the fuel dock is free.

This morning we got up early because we were told we would have to vacate in order to make room for the ferry. It is 10:30 and we are still waiting to find out where they are going to move us to. There was a mass exodous this morning of big powerboats, so we should be fine. We are filling the water tanks, etc. now. Before last night, we had been on a mooring for 20 days. We did a good job of managing our power (especially since the generator is still not working) and water (we have made water off and on for the past couple of weeks). But it was really, really nice to have AC last night, to blowdry my hair, to take really hot showers, to turn on all the lights and not care!!!

Today, after we get our new slip assignment, we are going to explore a little. It is a nice day!

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.