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.