Block Island

We left Montauk on Tuesday 1st July and had a lovely sail to Block Island. We knew Block was going to be busy but I don’t think I have ever seen so many boats in one tiny space. If there were no boats in the anchorage I am sure it would look bigger but it was packed with boats of all shapes and sizes. Some were on anchor and some were on mooring balls, and then there were a few who were rafted up together, three or more on one mooring ball!!

Jacqui from Mellow Puff messaged us as we got there and told us there was space near them. We motored around and when we found the space she mentioned, we dropped anchor. It was quite windy and the boats were all bouncing around on their tethers so when we swung around, Andrew wasn’t happy as we were a bit close to the boat behind us. So we upped anchor and found another spot which was a bit less crowded.

Later that day we noticed a big motor boat up against a yacht. We thought they had just dropped anchor but it turned out that they were actually dragging. When the coast guard and towboat US got one boat off the yacht we saw two more boats rafted up with the big one. The people on the boats all around were up on deck, standing by with fenders and engines on. There was nobody on the boats which were dragging. Towboat ended up dragging them off, who knows where?

We went ashore the following day and walked to the town. The dinghy dock was packed!! 

And the town was so busy. People everywhere! One can get a ferry from Newport so I am sure a lot of the people were day trippers. Every restaurant was bursting to capacity and the streets were full of people.

That afternoon we sat on the boat and watched as more boats came into the bay. I was not happy with the boats so close to us and no space to maneuver should anything happen. We were quite close to the shore and would have had no time to do anything should a squall have hit.

It was also 4th of July weekend and clearly Block Island was the place to be. We decided that we didn't want to stay, as there was bad weather predicted for the following afternoon. The last place we wanted to be was there, packed in like sardines!

We woke on Thursday morning to thick mist and had to wait for it to dissipate. We had only planned to leave at around 1pm as the wind was filling in later in the afternoon.

At noon, we had a boat circling us looking for a place to drop anchor. They had just arrived and by the look of what they were wearing (foul weather gear) outside the anchorage didn't seem like it was pleasant. We asked them what the conditions were like. They said it was messy and still quite misty. They told us that we were anchored in the prime spot with the best holding and said they had been here often. Andrew made the mistake of telling the chap that we were leaving in an hour or so.

He continued to circle round us like a vulture. We finally decided that the mist was clear enough and upped anchor. 

I didn’t want to drive in the crowded anchorage so opted to get the anchor up. It was stuck vas with lots of mud and shells stuck to the anchor, which I had to hose off while Andrew was heading out. 

As we were leaving there was a parade of boats coming in to the anchorage, mostly power boats, one after the other. Some of them zooming in so fast, as if it would make a difference to get there first and nab the best spot. 

Mellow Puff left at the same time as us and followed us out.

The seas were really messy and the trip over to Rhode Island was not pleasant. We had so many boats passing us, heading to Block Island, throwing up big waves as they passed. 

As we got closer to Rhode Island the area got busy with all types of sail boats, motor boats and ferries going in all different directions. We had to keep a good lookout before getting to Newport harbour.

 

In the next episode we have that predicted storm pass over us, watch fireworks and explore Newport.

Montauk

We had a lovely sail down to Montauk with good wind and flat-ish seas. We were a bit nervous getting to the anchorage as it is quite a convoluted route which bends sharply from left to right. Andrew had to watch the markers carefully after we had passed all the restaurants and marinas with big fancy boats.

After negotiating the various markers, we found ourselves in a big, beautiful bay. The centre of which is very shallow, hence the need to follow the marker buoys!

Once again it was not at all what we were expecting to find. I thought it would be a small, narrow anchorage.

We found a good spot to anchor behind the mooring balls.

It was quite misty for most of the day with the sun trying to peek out from time to time. The restaurant over the way was having a function and to begin with the music was terrible but then they quieted down and didn’t disturb us for the rest of the evening. By 6pm the mist had fully settled on the bay and we couldn’t see what was next to us.

Sunday morning broke clear and sunny with a slight breeze. I decided to do some washing on the back of the boat. Once I had all the washing in the bucket, Andrew told me it was going to be misty again by 10 and cloudy by 2! I hastily did the washing while the sun was still shining. But lo and behold, the weather was wrong once again. Not only did we have no mist, we also had very little cloud cover.

We stayed on the boat watching as people came and went. It is a beautiful place for small yachts and quite a few people were out in speed boats.

Quite a few boats had left the anchorage early that morning, and we were thinking we would be the only ones here for the night. Nope, we had a couple of power boats come in, one anchoring quite close to us. They then got their fenders out and another one rafted up next to them. We thought it would be okay, until a third smaller one rafter up as well. They turned out to be day trippers and all left by sunset.

On Monday morning we decided we would walk to the town. It was about a 4km walk there on what looked like a highway. There was a space on the side of the road to walk so we were ok. There were also a lot of runners and people on bicycles going in both directions so we presumed this was the only road into town. 

The town was lovely with a very Plettenberg Bay type vibe. We stopped at a restaurant to look at the prices and a chap who was sitting on a nearby bench told us it is a very good one. Then he got chatting to Andrew (Laura and I went ahead and looked at the shops). He said that Andy Warrhol had a house there and Elizabeth Taylor used to stay with him. She would walk down the street and go to the pub. He told Andrew we need to write a book and he would publish it for us.

We had to stop off at the beach to look at the sea. It was a lovely, long beach. The water looked very inviting after our long walk, but sadly we hadn't thought to bring our cozzies!

I don't think we have walked quite that far in ages and walking on the tar road was exhausting. It was a relief to get back to the dinghy and Calypso.

Our next stop on our journey was Block Island. We left Montauk on 1 July, with beautiful clear skies and good wind.

Sag Harbour

We had a very sporty sail over to Sag Harbour and the entrance was the worst. The wind picked up and it was very rough, but we had reefed the head sail early and we were fine. 

We are never really sure what to expect when arriving in a new place but we were surprised to find a large bay. There were a lot of mooring balls but also enough space to anchor behind them. We found a spot in which we thought was fine, however a few days later the water police came to our boat and told us to move. Apparently we were in the recreation zone.

The following day we woke to clear skies and flat water. Amazing what a difference a few hours makes in the weather.

We dropped the dinghy and went ashore for an explore. The supermarket was small but well stocked.

That afternoon the little boats came out again. It must have been a sailing school as there were instructors on the little boats. 

Andrew and I went to fill our Jerries with water from the dock. When he was lifting the heavy jerry onto the deck, Andrew tweaked his back. He had back problems last year and he was trying to be so careful! So frustrating!

The weather wasn’t great for most of our stay in Sag Harbour, so we spent those days on the boat.

The water here is so much cleaner than we have had in ages so we decided to flash up the water maker. It had a problem! It wasn’t holding the pressure once Andrew switched it over to the making of the water part.  It seemed to be getting air in the pipe. He looked at everything to see if there could be a hole somewhere. Eventually we realized that the sea though hull wasn’t letting much water in. He stuck a screw driver down it and cleaned it out. And voila! The pressure was back correctly and we could make water.

We went across to Mellow Puff for sundowners and a chat. And then met their friends from Siren’s Call when they popped over as well. Mellow Puff are a family of three from New Zealand. Siren's Call are a family of five, with three boys on board. 

The following day, Wednesday,  we went ashore to go to the Whaling museum. I had downloaded a wonderful app that has various walking tours of the town. We started one and it narrates all the stops as you get to them. 

Unfortunately, quite a few of the places were not open.

The Whaling Museum was interesting but quite sad. The life of the people of Sag Harbour was hard and whaling was even harder! But thinking of those poor whales…

We continued our stroll around the town finding the Sailors church and graveyard.

It was quite funny because when we got to the museum we were the only ones there but were told that a tour group was arriving. So we had to wait for them before watching the video. Then when we left they had all boarded a bus which took them round the corner to the church which was our next stop.

Happy 30th birthday, Matt

Thursday 26 June was Matt’s 30th birthday and it was terrible weather again. We spent the day on devices. Matt phoned us at around 1pm when they were ready to do cake, sing and open presents.

I was sad not to be there, missing out on the celebrations. It doesn’t get any easier no matter how many we miss.

We had to do some provisioning before we left, so Andrew and I bombed across on Friday morning. The weather wasn’t great again and after shopping we got a bit wet getting back to the boat. Thank goodness we got wet going back to the boat and not to the shops! It is not pleasant at all.

On Saturday 28 June we waited for the rain squalls to stop before upping anchor and heading off, setting sail for Montauk. We always seem to leave a place in the rain!

North Port and Port Jefferson

We left Oyster Bay on Saturday morning in the pouring rain. The sail over to North Port was rough with us bashing into the waves. It wasn’t far, thank goodness, only 12 nm so the unpleasantness didn’t last for long. We dropped anchor, in the rain and settled down to a quieter afternoon.

On Sunday we headed ashore to meet Dave who had invited us to his house for a braai. He took us on a guided tour all around North Port and Center Port before taking us to his home.

Dave and his wife, Fiona, really spoilt us. The food was delicious and we had a really lovely afternoon. They have a lovely home with a nice outside area and swimming pool. Sadly, it was still too cold to swim.

Somehow Fiona manages to avoid the camera!

We spent Monday on the boat as it was raining again. 

When we woke up on Tuesday it was very misty, so we waited until noon and then went ashore. We started walking to the shop which was only 2.5km away and should have been an easy trip. However, we ran out of pavements about 1km away from the shop. The road was very busy so we decided to call an Uber. The Uber came from the direction we needed to go and he went on a roundabout way before getting back to the place he picked us up from. Extra cash for him, I suppose. 

Laura's favourite aisle

Once the shopping was finished we called another Uber and watched as he went round the block three times before finally turning into the parking area. He spoke no English but got us back to the boat safely enough. We did wonder if he had a drivers license as he exited the parking area where it was clearly marked with a no exit sign and he also made a few errors on the road, causing much frustration and hooting from passing cars.

While Andrew was sitting in the cockpit that evening, a chap from the cat next to us came over to introduce himself. He said he saw the South African flag and wanted to say hi. He is American but he said he likes meeting people from around the world.

He had just bought the cat and was doing some work on the steering which wasn’t working properly. His name is Kyle. He is getting married on Block Island on 25 July!

We offered him a beer and he came aboard for a chat. Just before he was leaving he said we should get together for a meal at the yacht club. We agreed and after exchanging numbers he set off back to his boat.

The next day he messaged Andrew to suggest we got together on Thursday night. As it was Laura’s birthday that day she had to approve before we agreed. 

Life went on with boat work, cleaning and going ashore for walks. We ran out of gas for the stove, so Dave took Andrew to the place to refill it on Wednesday morning. 

Kyle then messaged to say the yacht club had a nice menu option on Wednesday evening, could we make it then. That suited us better, so we agreed.

On Wednesday evening we put on our best shorts and least stained and unholy shirts and went ashore to meet Kyle, his fiancee, Carly, and their friends Angus and Charlie.

We had a fantastic time, delicious food and good company. Kyle organized a slice of cake and a candle for Laura so that we could sing happy birthday to her. So kind of him!

We took Laura out for breakfast on her birthday, Thursday 19 June to the place that Dave said was a good place to buy pastries, Copenhagen. It was very busy and clearly very popular!

After a walk around the town, we went back to the boat, where Laura opened her presents. She got a few nice things, including a hard drive which she had been looking forward to getting. While Andrew was copying her files on to it for her something went wrong and it stopped working! Shame, poor Lau. She was not happy. But she is happy with her light! Thanks Dave Oppermann for the recommendation!

As you all know we watch the weather carefully. Later that afternoon we were watching the sky as it got darker and darker. Eventually the storm hit with high winds gusting 46 knots. Thank goodness we had agreed to dinner the previous night.

The storms never last long and before we knew it the sun was out again!

We had a lovely steak dinner and watched Only Murders in the Building, which is one of Laura's favourite shows.

We left North Port on Saturday morning in conditions very different to when we arrived. Fiona could even see us from her verandah and took pics and video of us.

That's us!

We had a 4 hour motor sail to Port Jefferson and dropped anchor amongst the day trippers and other sailing boats. We hadn’t planned to stay for long, so didn’t even drop the dinghy. There were so many people and boats with some boats rafted up - three or four on one ball!. The balls here are expensive clocking in at $35 a night.

Putting a foot up

We got a message from Jaqui on Mellow Puff that evening. They were leaving at midnight and doing an overnight sail to Sag Harbour. They were buddy boating with another family on Siren’s Call.

We woke early on Sunday morning and had the anchor up just after 6am. We motored for the first 4 hours before the wind really filled in. After that we had what I would call a sporty sail with winds reaching 30 knots as we were coming in to the cut in Sag Harbour. 

In the next episode we visit Sag Harbour and formally meet the crew on Mellow Puff.