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by Charlie Cassidy
I finally took a couple of days and made
the trip to Block Island. What a great
destination.
Colleen and I, along with her friend
Jackie, were packed up and on the road
by 8 AM. We easily got down to the
marina by 9:30. I bought a Sevylor Super
Caravelle inflatable dinghy which we
blew up with an AC air pump. Topped off
the electric and water, stowed the gear
and we were underway by 10:30 on our
latest adventure.
Like the trip down to Point Judith,
we took advantage of the weather. The
winds were out of the NW, perfect for a
broad reach down the bay. Unfortunately,
they were lessening as we went,
foretelling the afternoon sea breeze
that
would make the trip to
the Island a tacking exercise. We motor sailed out of the bay
with mainsail only - making good time without too much
engine noise.
As predicted the winds were pretty light when we got to
Rhode Island Sound, so we went with motor alone to about
half way to Point Judith. By then, the reliable summer SW sea
breeze had kicked in. We sailed for about 90 minutes, but it
was getting frustrating with the wind coming from right where
we wanted to go. Time to motor. I had changed the fuel filter
and the motor seemed to be running OK, but then started
acting up again. I think it needs professional help.
 About an hour later, we were at the ‘1BI’ buoy making the turn for
New Harbor. It was funny seeing pe ople walking along the very
thin sand spit that goes out to North
Reef. It almost looks like they are
walking on water. A few minutes later,
we were close in shore for a picture of
North Light. From there the channel
into the Great Salt Pond and New
Harbor was only moments away.
Our original plan was to grab a town mooring. I figured that
midweek would be OK. Little did I know that Rhode Island is the only state that
celebrates VJ Day and that the holiday weekend rivals 4th of July for boating a ctivity.
Lots of people had come early to grab a
mooring. None were available for us, so
we anchored near the dinghy beach.
The bottom was sandy with good holding
for the anchor. The girls went swimming
while I cooked hamburgers on the grill.
They took a shower on deck with the
portable camping shower -- worked great.
After supper, we rowed the dinghy to the beach and crossed the street to check out the
town beach, called “Crescent Beach” on the charts. It is amazing how clear the water is
out in the open ocean -- no algae or sediment from rivers. The beach was relatively
deserted, except for a few cars (they can drive on the beach from 8 PM to 6 AM) and a
group setting up a bonfire for later. The girls enjoyed terrorizing the sea gulls and
stomping the vestiges of sand castles. There was one great big one that we left alone -
the rising tide took care of it though as it wasn’t there the next day. We rowed back to
a wonderful sunset and made an early night of it. While the girls slept, I snuck out the
front hatch and marveled at the how clear the Milky Way appeared several miles
offshore without much light pollution. I could also see the glow from the bonfire on
the beach. I sat for a while, enjoying the peace then went to bed.
We were up early the next morning, to the cries of “Andiamo, Andiamoooooo” from
the Aldo’s Bakery boat selling pastry and coffee. We tried some Cinnamon Twists the
next morning -- highly recommended. We won’t bother bringing bagels next time.
After breakfast, we called the launch to take us into town to go exploring. One tip for
MacGregor owners, don’t anchor too close to the beach if you want the launch. We
were anchored in about 3.5 ft. at low tide -- the laun ch almost couldn’t bring us back.
The chart shows where we were as being a
prohibited anchorage, but there were plenty of
boats around us. Still, next time I’ll be a little
further out.
We got our exercise for the week walking around
the island. Colleen can’t understand why she
couldn’t drive a moped. After all, on Dewee’s she
could drive a golf cart. Many people bring bikes
on their boats, which they lock up to the bridge
near the dinghy beach. We may have to try that,
too. However you do it, get into “island time”. As the sign on Kauai says: “You go fast,
you no got style.” The island has many beautiful ponds that you’ll miss in a car.
In town, the first order of business was getting me a pair of socks. Never hike in new
boat shoes. We also cooled off with some Del’s
Frozen Lemonade -- another reason to love Rhode
Island. While there, we saw that a ferry was due in
momentarily. My sister-in-law, Jane, was visiting
the island with some high school friends that same
weekend. We watched the disembarking
passengers and, sure enough, we got the right ferry. Some quick hellos and plans to
meet for dinner, then off on more adventure.
We headed south, toward Mohegan Bluff and the Southeast lighthouse. The walk was
about 45 minutes along a twisty, somewhat hilly road.  Along the way, we stopped to
admire a small salt pond with some herons and
egrets. A couple asked us to snap a picture of
them and reciprocated for us. The husband,
manning the camera, threw us a look as his
talkative wife barked “Honey, make sure you get
their feet. Don’t get too far away. Watch out, there
is a car coming. Don’t get that bike in the picture.”
He looked like he needed a vacation. We let them
get out of ear shot before we continued.
After resting a bit under the shade of a tree on a
well-placed bench, we finally made it to the
lighthouse. It was moved back from the cliff in 1993 to save it from the erosion. It is a
beautiful building that has seen better days,  but is in the process of restoration. They
give tours every half hour, but Colleen wasn’t up
for a stair climb. So we grabbed a cab back to the
New Harbor boat basin for lunch and a swim.
As we were pulling into the basin, Colleen started
pounding on the car windows. She was trying to
get Jane’s attention. Turns out that the women
had come over to the boat basin for lunch. You’d
think they were following us around. So we all
had lunch together. They were telling us how the
taxi driver had ripped them off getting to the B&B.
Turns out, it was the same driver as ours -- had charged them more than us for half
the distance. It is a small island.
After lunch, we rode the launch back to the Seven C’s, then took the dinghy to the
beach. We swam and played in the waves for a while -- what a gorgeous beach. We
then went to the beach house for some showers. Hint -- the signs all say “$2 for 2
minutes”, but you don’t have to put the whole $2 in right away. Use a buck to get wet,
then lather and use the second to rinse off.
Back on the Seven C’s, we relaxed with snacks and “cocktails”. I tried to convince the
girls to work on their summer reading for school -- didn’t work. Colleen asked me
every 5 minutes to call Jane about supper. I finally called Cathy to report in, and Jane
beeped in moments later.
We met the women at the Beachhead Tavern for supper -- great place for a nice, casual
meal and convenient to the dinghy beach. We got extra exercise because we walked all
the way to town and had to walk half way back to find it. During dinner, I regaled
Jane’s friends with stories of her childhood (ordering shrimp cocktail like a proper lady
at age 8) and got caught up on the latest Chappaqua gossip (the ugly house). We said
our goodbyes to Jane and her friends, then hoofed it back to the boat basin. The walk
back though was perfect to let the meal settle and burn off Colleen’s sugar high. We all
sat up for a while looking at the stars and an occasional shooting star foretelling the
upcoming Perseid meteor shower.
The next morning, after Aldo’s terrific pastry, we were off to the gas docks to fuel up
for the way home. Colleen and Jackie flicked the crabs off the anchor line as we
motored through the mooring field. We got a little MOB practice retrieving the
throwable PFD that Colleen had knocked into the water. After fueling, we joined the
steady stream of boats leaving the pond. We tried sailing, but the wind hadn’t picked
up enough yet so we motor sailed, then just motored to abeam of Point Judith.
I pulled the kids on the tube for a while under sail. The ocean swell was running pretty
good, which made the downwind run a little uncomforable. 3.5 knots going up the
swell and 6 knots surfing down. Over and over again. The outgoing tide made the
ocean a mix of swell and chop, so I decided to motor sail a bit to get through it
quicker. Had an accidental gybe as an idiot in a powerboat powered by too close,
adding his wake to the chop. Had another one as I concentrated more on the boat
traffic then where the wind was coming from. I need to rig the boom vang with a
shackle to make it easy to use it as a preventer. I had promised the girls that I would
pull them in the tube under power past the bridge anyway, so we took the sails down
early and motored for home.
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