RHODE ISLAND - NEWPORT & BLOCK ISLAND

He Said:  Hello from Never-A-Dull-Minute, Rhode Island:  We arrived to Newport, Rhode Island before lunch time on Monday morning as planned. We knew from our earlier trip that Newport is a really cool town and also full of their prices. That afternoon we decided to take the “cliff walk,” it is a really cool 3 mile walk along the cliffs of the ocean with somewhere near 10 mansions to view.  The places were built way, way back and were stunning to look at.  We finished most of the walk but decided not to do the full tour - it would have taken the whole day and we only had 1 in Newport.  We headed back to the boat after a run to the grocery store and of course the liquor store, always 100 bucks or so. We went back into town that nite and found a cool little restaurant for some terrific shrimp and of course a cocktail or two.

 

View along the Cliff Walk

The next morning we headed to Block Island, Rhode Island.  This town also is very cool but the “Old Town” where most of the stuff is at is about a 1.4 mile walk.  This is no big deal unless you got your hands full of stuff as you head back to the boat so we were careful to travel back lightly.  We grabbed a bite at a little outside local place and took the dark walk back to the boat.  At this point(Tuesday) we were anchoring.  This is the easiest way to settle in and the least expensive.  It can also be challenging if the winds create an issue or your anchor decides to drag - this is all bad shit.  You only know what comes next.  You got it, our anchor (after about 24 hours of setting) decided to no longer set. We were at Dingy Beach enjoying the 80 degree weather and the waves when Meant to Be decided to relocate. The good news is that she re-set and nothing bad happened.  The bad news is Mr. HarborMaster was there to not so nicely greet us as we returned.  I thought he was a little tuff on us, but we do understand we could have created bedlam if MTB got loose. Anyhow, after our windlass gave us a pain in the ass and our starboard engine was less than cooperative we got out without anything bad happening.  Oh yea, we also got 69’ed from the anchorage field.  I am certain some of you professional drinkers have been 69’ed a few times -  same result -  like get the hell out. He directed us to the mooring field where we were challenged because I was running on just a single motor.  I never tried it before and hope to never again.  We did get on the ball the 2^nd time but steering this beast with just 1 engine and trying to get to an exact spot is not so much fun, but we made it.

 

The lighthouse marking the entrance to Block Island
 



The Oar's front lawn. 

We found the coolest little bar her at the marina called the Oar Bar.  We seem to land there everynite at least for a drink or 2.  They have a local PBR tasting beer for $2.75, gotta love life! We dropped in on Friday nite at about 7 and we watching some girl get on our dingy and pour my beer that I left on the boat directly into the Atlantic.  Holy Shit, anything but my beer.  Anyhow, she noticed our dingy motor was spitting out fuel and tried to catch some of the gas so it did not go directly into the ocean - not too successful.  I think she accidentally broke my on/off fuel lever.  So guess what.  I am now paddling my ass off anywhere we need to go.  I guess this is good for the cardio but overall I would rather just give it a little more gas and go.  Tried to get it fixed today but the local outboard dude has no parts for it so it will get fixed hopefully in Mystic, Conn.   

 

So Saturday eve Pat and I decided to row my butt off again and head to our favorite little Oar Bar.  Our plans were to eat in but have a drink and some clam chowder at The Oar.  At about the time we were getting our bill Pat’s phone rang and it was our friends Dave and Patty. I told them we had food already out for dinner, and they basically said tuff shit.  So Dave picked us up at the dingy dock, towed the boat back to MTB, and kidnapped us to his beautiful boat for a lovely dinner.  They had their friends Ed and Lee also for dinner.  What a fun nite of good people and good food.

 

Hopefully we will be on our way to Mystic on Sunday unless the weatherman changes our mind for us.  We are planning on both Sunday and Monday in Mystic then off to New York.  One last thing . . . . . some of you will never guess who is going to be on the Today Show this coming Thursday.  How about James David Buffett (his friends just call him Jimmy).  Hopefully, if all goes well we will be in NY on Wednesday and figure out a way to see Mr. Margaritaville on Thursday.  If you think about it tivo it and you just might see us along with the thousands of other ParrotHeads that will be there. That is about it for now, Take Care, Jack

 

 

She Said:  We have finally left Massachusetts and arrived in Newport, RI.  When we departed Cuttyhunk, the water was a bit rough, but not too bad.  After about 15 minutes it calmed down and it was a pleasant cruise into Newport.  We stopped at Newport on our trip from Cos Cob to Boston with Captain Doug when we moved the boat, so we were somewhat familiar with the lay of the land.  Upon arrival in the harbor, we took the long way around the various marinas to our mooring ball.  We heard one boat captain radio in that he had gone aground.  Things like that always make us a bit nervous.  As we approached the boat launch that was to direct us to our ball, a motor boat pulled out of nowhere right in front of us.  Jack had the right away, but he still had to do some maneuvering to keep us out of harm’s way. 

 

We decided to take the famed Cliff Walk.  This is a walk along the rugged coast line with the mansions one side and the ocean on the other.  It’s a beautiful 3 mile walk.  We passed the church where Jackie and JFK were married, a beautiful beach, and several of the old mansions that can be toured.  Many of the old mansions were donated to the Preservation Society or converted into schools.  Newport is really a very pretty city.

 

The Breakers - Newport, RI
 

We needed to do some grocery shopping.  In Phoenix, we would go to the grocery store about once a day.  Now we’re going about once a week.  We try to have at least enough fresh food for 5 lunches and dinners aboard - we never know when we could be stranded somewhere.  The biggest challenge is getting everything back to the boat.  In this case, it was a good ½ mile walk, then we have to load everything into the dinghy, then onto the swim platform of the big boat, then up the stairs into the cockpit, then down the stairs into the main galley.  It’s really quite a challenge.

 

This was our first “town” in several nights, so we ventured out that evening.  Midtown, a new waterfront restaurant, was recommended and it was great.  We had a great spicy shrimp meal.  After walking around town a bit more, we headed back.  We debated staying another night, but the weather the next day was going to be good, so we wanted to take advantage of the good cruising day.

 

Bridge connecting Jamestown and Newport
 

We set sail for Block Island, RI.  It was a picture perfect day – what a great day on the water.  New Harbor in Block Island is really large and well protected.  We were told to anchor instead of using a mooring ball, but we also read that anchoring could be tricky because of the soft ocean bottom.  So we headed out to the anchoring field which is larger than most the mooring fields.  We thought that if all of these boats were anchoring it’s probably the thing to do.  The hard thing for us was determining where to drop the anchor – you have to take into account the length of the anchor line as well as leave room around the boat for it to swing.  As we so often do, we shouted out to a group of 3 powerboats asking if we were in a good place to anchor.  They pointed out a spot that they thought was better and off we went.  A couple of the guys from those boats came over and checked out our anchor and said it looked good. 

Scenic Point Judith enroute to Block Island
 

 

We took the dinghy out to get a lay of the land.  This is by far the largest mooring/anchorage area we’ve been in, and we were quite a distance from the dingy dock.  So when we went out to dinner that night, we took a compass setting to be sure we could find our way home.  We walked in to the Old Harbor – about 1.5 miles each way – and had a great dinner of shrimp and scallops.  Scallops are caught locally and they were incredible.  We got back to the dinghy around 10pm.  With our flashlight in hand we headed back to Meant To Be.  Well wouldn’t you know it, our big flashlight died on us and we were left with the little flashlight I carried in my purse.  Long story short – we couldn’t find the boat.  We saw a group of 5 boats with lights on and headed over there to see if we could borrow a flashlight.  These boaters have been coming here for years and said they’ve been lost many times.  One guy asked us a few questions and narrowed down where he thought we needed to be.  He gave us his flashlight and directions and said if we didn’t find the boat in 10 minutes to come back.   Following his directions we were back home in a couple of minutes. 

 

We got up bright and early the next morning and returned the flashlight.  Then we got in line for donuts – a little place that’s been around for 50 years.  Back on the boat we made a temporary repair to our broken windshield until we can get it replaced in Annapolis.  Then it was off to the beach.  On our way back from the beach we stopped and visited with the guys that helped us anchor.  When we finally got back to the boat it looked liked she’d moved - we were swinging over the anchor line of a neighboring boat.  The anchor apparently let loose and reset itself, but we were in a bad spot.  We went to get help and were checking out the anchor line when the Harbormaster came speeding over with his lights flashing.  He started yelling at us to get the anchor up, the engines started and move the boat.  I’m pulling the anchor up and windlass starts acting up.  Jack’s starting the engines and the starboard one won’t start. 

The harbormaster jumps onboard and helps me pull up the anchor and tells Jack he’ll have to drive with one engine.  He leads us to a mooring ball, and Jack can’t get me to it because the wind’s blowing and he’s only got one engine.  We make a second attempt and I just barely got the ball.  The Harbormaster apologized for “being so direct” with us, but then complimented us on staying calm and not yelling.  He said people usually start yelling in these situations and that only makes it worse.  The good news is we have a place for the night, the bad news is we have to vacate the ball the next morning.

 

The next morning the weather is getting kind of funky out and most boats are staying put.  That meant finding a vacant mooring ball would be a bit more difficult.  We got in the dinghy and started cruising the mooring field looking for a boat that was leaving.  We found a couple that were getting ready to leave and they said they’d hold their ball for us if we could be back in 15 minutes.  So we raced back to the boat as fast as our 3.5 HP could take us and got on to a permanent ball.  We had the rest of the day free to enjoy this unique destination.

 

Block Island is approx 10 square miles with a big body of water – Great Salt Pond – in the middle.  That’s where we’re staying.  It reminds me of a big campground.  There are lots of families and groups of people tied up together.  There are little stores that carry a little of everything at exorbitant prices, a big restaurant/bar with lawn games set up, and a short walk into a quaint town.  There are boats that deliver pastries in the morning, ice all day, and appetizers at happy hours.  It’s the perfect getaway where you can lay low and relax, but when you need a little activity there’s a place to go.  For people without a boat, you can take a ferry over and stay at a B&B or local, non-chain motels.  I can see why it’s so popular.

 

To announce their arrival, the bakers shout out, "Adiamo"
 

We planned on staying 3 nights, but the weather said we’re staying 5 nights.  On day 4 a wicked, bad storm blew in and we weren’t going anywhere.  The winds were awful and the boat would pivot 100 degrees.  Our temporary repair of the windshield held like a charm – we were quite proud of ourselves.  We spent most of the day roughing out our next 3 week itinerary.  By about 7pm the winds finally calmed down a bit and we started to see people peaking their heads out of their boats.  We had a bad case of cabin fever so went up to The Oar Restaurant/Bar for some human interaction and a cocktail.  While the bartender was drawing Jack’s beer we saw a lady on our dingy playing with the motor.  I went down to see what was going on.  She said she saw gas dripping from the motor – the fuel on/off switch was broken.  We motored home until we ran out of gas, then Jacked rowed the rest of the way in.  I don’t think Block Island is our friend.

 

View of the dinghy dock from The Oar
 

The weather was supposed to improve, but not enough for us to venture out.  There was a small-craft advisory out until 11am, so we decided to stay for night 5.  We spent a good part of the day trying to get the dinghy fixed.  The part that’s broken wasn’t available and the mechanic’s attempt to by-pass the switch didn’t work, so we’ll have to wait until we get to Mystic.  Since it was our last night on Block Island we decided to go in to The Oar for one last cocktail then back to the boat for burgers.  While we were enjoying happy hour we got a phone call from Dave and Patty – one of the couples we met in Hadley’s Harbor a week earlier.  They just arrived in Block Island and wondered if we were still there.  We joined them, along with Lee and Ed, for dinner on “Crazy Couple” – their 38’ catamaran.  It was a wonderful night.  We hope to connect up with them in the Chesapeake in September or October.

 

I’m sure some of you are thinking that we’re either inept or crazy – maybe both.  We are so hard on ourselves when we get into some of these situations.  Then we talk with people who have more experience than we do and have similar (or worse) stories than ours.  We’ve come to understand that everything that we are experiencing has already been experienced by every other boater out there.  We feel so much better when we hear other people’s stories.  We’re not inept or crazy – we’re just another couple of boaters having the time of our lives.