Block Island

Someone once said that Block Island was "one of the last ten greatest places on earth" and while we wouldn't go that far, it is still a place that we look forward to visiting every summer.  This year's cruise was slow due to a mystery problem with our starboard engine that only permitted us a speed of about 10 mph.  That, coupled with a stiff southwest wind that whipped up some nice big swells, kept us steering a lot as we climbed up one side of them and surfed down the other. We broke one of our favorite table lamps and rearranged some furniture but there was never any doubt that we'd get there, and we did.

Once again, we tied up at Payne's Dock, which to us is just the perfect spot. It's on the island's western side in the Great Salt Pond or New Harbor. If you love boats and the ocean as much as we do, this is the place to be.

Lots of people dismiss Payne's because you can't make a reservation or because it's expensive or because everyone is rafted together. The lack of a reservation doesn't mean much since we have never been turned away. It is more expensive than many mainland marinas ($4.00 per ft. plus $20.00 a day for electricity) but it's about the same as the other two marinas in New Harbor. Compare that to a hotel or cottage rental and it's cheap. Finally, rafting up against a pier is half the fun. We've met great people that way every time we have been at Payne's and that was our experience again this year.

If there's a downside for boaters like us, it's the fact that Block Island's tourism advertising has been so successful. Big ferries from Point Judith and New London land on the other side of the island at Old Harbor, which is the Island's shopping area. Ferries disgorge a thousand or more passengers each very frequently and there is hardly enough sidewalk or roadway to accommodate them. The motor scooters don't help either.

Not to sound to high-minded, we always walk across the island to Old Harbor and mix with the tourists. This year, we bought some t-shirts and had a very good lunch at the Mohegan Cafe. Even though the street was crowded, Frances can shop with the best of them.

We also like to get off the boat and walk. One day, we took a walk to the beach and on the way rediscovered the parts of Block Island that we really love.

This house was once a Block Island weather station. Further down the road and up a little nature walk and you can see how beautiful this part of the island really is.

As you can see in the distance, they're building new houses near the beach. Hope they don't ruin the view.

There's a touch of whimsey on Block Island. Here's an outhouse that we see each year. The architecture is really quite original.

On another day, we walked over to Block Island Boat Basin, the marina next to Payne's. Not much special about it but the flowers in the field next to it were worth stopping and admiring.

You can see the mooring field in the background. It's very popular and we know people who complain about not being able to find a mooring.

Here's the deal. When you come into New Harbor, call the Harbormaster on Channel 12. Don't just cruise through the mooring field looking for an open one. The green moorings are rentals and the others are either private or owned by the town of New Shoreham (Block Island's legal name). The Harbormaster will find you either a temporary mooring or one you can rent ($46 per day) if one is available and will direct you to it.

Block Island Boat Basin also has a dingy dock that always seems to be crowded.

There's also a nice little beach between Payne's and Boat Basin that is one hell of a lot easier to use provided you don't mind getting your feet wet.

Pooka, our boat cat, survived the journey with only a couple of minor bouts with seasickness.  Once at BI, he explored the cockpit regularly and found Payne's very restful.

One of the things we really enjoy about Payne's is what Frances calls the "Boat Ballet." This is when the crew moves one boat out from a number of others that are all tied together. This year, there were several good "ballets" and we recorded them on video. We've been part of these movements a number of times over the years and when you're at the helm of the boat being moved, you have to listen carefully to the crew's instructions.  "Bump the right engine" means do it right now. It's amazing how they can squeeze a boat out into the harbor without a scratch.

Catfish Tournament

As Frances got the boat ready for our cruise to Block Island next week, Bill headed off to take care of his annual duties as announcer and photographer at Portland Riverside Marina's annual Connecticut River Catfish Tournament. We helped organize the first tournament 19 years ago and while we've missed a couple, we've been there for most of them.

This year, there were 155 fishermen and the heaviest fish was 14-3/4 lbs. There were three cash prizes for adults with the heaviest fish and three for kids.

We asked the top adult fisherman what bait he used. Seems he tried ells but landed the big one with strips of shed.

All of the fish are kept alive in a large tank and released after the tournament is over. One old fisherman said that he swears that a couple of these big fish have been caught 3-4 times.

Sue Bransfield, Town of Portland's First Selectwoman, shows up every year to give out the prizes and  seems to genuinely love doing it. It's amazing how many of the people in the crowd she knows by name. Guess that's what good about small Connecticut towns.

Speaking of the crowd, these folks get into the beer quite early, well before the fishing ends at the sound of a canon. We know the guy who provides the canon and he really enjoys packing in the black powder.

The video shows the "bang" better than this photo.

Once the prizes are given out, there is a giant cookout. Featured each year is a side of beef cooked in a home-made fire pit and cranked over by a crazy, belt-powered spit. But it works surprisingly well.

This year, there was a second spit sporting what the guys called "Miss Piggy."  Is pork good for the heart?

We usually leave after the awarding of the prizes. We'd love to dig into some of that meat but somehow, it's probably better to head home and sort through the video and get our stuff together for our trip to Block Island.

Frances takes the helm

While a cormorant dried its wings on a nearby dock (with a duck fast asleep next to him), we tackled a few things before we take off for Block Island.

We've had a tiny leak from around our new Bomar hatch for some time so this weekend we examined it carefully and added some sealant that appears to have done the trick. We also washed the entire boat, something we should do more often. We scrubbed off a lot of grime and now it looks fairly presentable.

Shrimp Scampi

Anyone who can cook can make scampi, right? Making it in the confined space of our galley makes it a little more work but Frances carries enough equipment on the boat to cater a wedding so on Saturday night, Shrimp Scampi it was.

This particular version comes from a recipe in The New York Times and it's remarkably easy, even on a boat. Even with the windows and hatches open, the boat smelled like an Italian restaurant as the cooking got underway and that's fine with us. The result was an excellent dinner that we heatedly enjoyed.

Frances takes the helm

For some time, we've planned to have Frances get some helm time, especially in close quarters. She regularly drives the boat out in open water but she wanted some practice in and around places like our harbor and gas dock. On Sunday afternoon, out we went with dock mate John H. riding shotgun.  Once Frances became at ease with using just the transmissions to steer the boat, she did okay and we expect to have more lessons in the future.  We've included some video of Frances at the helm. Listen carefully and you'll hear some of her comments.

Pooka on the fly bridge

Pooka, the Boat Cat has lived his entire life inside but he has taken to the boat very well over the last few summers. He's grown more and more confident to the point of actually climbing the ladder to our bridge. Frances finally recorded one of his climbs and we've included that in the video, as well.

Sunday visitors

On Sunday, we got a chance to meet some friends developed though the Silverton Owner's Club. Ed and Dana are experiencing their first summer on a 40 ft. Silverton convertible. They keep their boat in Niantic and had visited Montauk over the weekend. On the way back, they wanted to pickup some family members at our marina and give them a ride back to Niantic.

We had a chance to tour their boat and it is certainly the nicest big Silverton we have ever seen. It was a lot of fun finally meeting them and see how much more room they have than we do on our 34 footer. Their boat has an interesting back story, which at least partially explains why the boat is a beautiful and well-equipped as it is. We got a chance to sit in the boat's Stidd Helm Chairs, which cost more than both of our engines combined.

We included some video of Ed and Dana arriving and leaving. We hope to see them again soon.

Rainy weekend at the marina

Well, all summer weekends can't be great weather and this one was just proof of that. Our planned cruise down the Thames to check out our new carb didn't seem like a really good, dry idea. It rained a couple of times on Saturday and we spent the day puttering around the boat.

We also bought some local corn and tomatoes and on Saturday evening, fired up our electric grill. The menu was to be roasted corn and burgers stuffed with cheese. After a great deal of discussion, we decided to wrap the corn in aluminum foil. Frances wanted to roast the corn with the husks on but she was convinced, eventually, to try the foil. What a great dinner that was!  The burgers were a bit rare but the corn was perfect. We think the smell of the burgers cooking and our appetites made us take the burgers off just a little too soon, but they were still fine.

On Sunday morning, it was raining again. But, we've been through this before and for us on any Sunday morning when we're on the boat, a great breakfast and the Sunday New York Times make it a great day.

One side note that we always laugh about. The Sunday New York Times costs $6.00 outside of New York City. It says so, right on page one, but we've found a Norwich convenience store where they charge only $5.00. Each Sunday when we are at our marina, Bill picks up one of the two copies of the Times this convenience store has. The teenager behind the counter looks at the old sucker who pays so much for a newspaper and always sneers, "Five bucks." He usually has to look up from his phone to say it.

Well, the "old sucker" has saved about $10.00 so far this season buying The Times and getting a dollar discount from some kid who has probably never read a newspaper is really a forbidden pleasure. Hey, we tried pointing out the price difference once but he had no interest.

Even if it's raining, our boat is comfortable. While we finish the last few sections of The Times, CBS "Sunday Morning" is good watching. We understand (from The Times) that bow ties are in. Maybe Bill should buy a couple and try them at business meetings. Charles Osgood looks pretty good wearing his.

Eventually, we had to go outside and clean our electric grill. Frances found out that pouring hot water (from our new water heater) flushed the grease out very thoroughly.

As the rain started again on Sunday, Pooka, the boat cat, looked out a little wistfully. No problem, Pooka. There is still a lot of summer left and we're going places!

Just 60 seconds of video of our marina in the rain. Skip it if you've been here before. All marinas look a little sad in the rain.

How we spent our summer vacation...not!

On Thursday, we were slated to take off for our annual week at Block Island.  We've done this many times before and we went through the usual ritual of gathering up clothes, loading the cooler and fridge and checking the weather.  At about 11 a.m. on Thursday, we were set and we fired up the engines.

Thinking back, the starboard engine sounded a little different, not smooth as it usually does. But, off we went to the gas dock, the least pleasant part of any trip on our boat.

$629 later, we got ready to leave, but now, the starboard engine refused to start. Starting our engines has never been a problem but this time that one engine would only occasionally fart. We checked all the usual things and we did note that the engine was flooded. A dock mate came along and offered assistance. We checked ignition and everything seemed to be working accept that strong smell of gas. Eventually, we ran the boat on just the port engine back to our slip. Luckily, our dock mate Mike came along and with his help and with a lot of fending off and tossing lines, we got the boat back into the slip.

Scratch Block Island for today.

As we began double checking everything, others on our dock gathered around to offer help and advice. Nothing draws a crowd like an open engine hatch. Actually, we appreciate the extra help.

Another dock mate, John, who is an accomplished mechanic, got interested in our problem.  Working together, we systematically began swapping ignition parts between the two engines. That included the cap, rotor, ballast resistor and finally, even the ignition modules inside the Mallory YLM distributors.

We couldn't have swapped the ignition modules at all except for the fact that our pal John produced two beautiful sets of connectors to replace the original Mallory connectors that we had to cut off.

Did we mention that it was hot and humid?

 However, each time we swapped a part, we'd try to start the port engine and each time, it started perfectly.

It seems that our problem wasn't ignition related at all. Was this a fuel problem? Hard to believe on a four year old carb but with Ethanol, who knows?

The consensus opinion was that we should should try one more time to start the starboard engine. We held the choke open, advanced the throttle all the way and after some cranking, the engine fired and ran, but very poorly. We quickly accumulated quite a gas slick on the water. Stuck float? No amount of tapping seemed to have helped. Eventually, we shut the engine down. In five or so minutes of sputtering, the carb has accumulated about 3/4" of gas in the base. Time to have the carb rebuilt.

We got some references to local re-builders but it soon became apparent that none of them moved quickly or were even available when we called, or in one case, actually visited his shop.

With our summer quickly passing, we decided on Friday morning to see if we could buy a new Mallory 1409 carb. This is a popular 600 cfm marine carb and in an Internet search, we found that they were readily available. We zeroed in on Advance Auto Parts, whose site seemed to say that a new carb could be delivered the next day to one of their stores near us. Even better, if we purchased it through their web site, they would offer us a 15% discount.

At this point, Frances, the Master Shopper, took over. Forget the Internet.  Frances got on the phone and drilled some poor soul at Advance Auto Parts on every aspect of the transaction. Amazing to watch that woman work. Once she hung up, the carb transaction was going to be quite different from what was described on the Advance Auto Parts website.

Advance Auto Parts would move a 1409 carb from wherever they keep them to their store in Colchester, Conn., that night without us ever really ordering it. The next morning, we were to go on line and place the order, specifying their Colchester store as the pickup point. Once we placed that order, we could go to Colchester and pick up the new carb. That exactly what we did and it was there waiting for us. Frances crowning touch was to obtain a 20% discount rather than the 15% shown on their website.

Saturday afternoon, we installed the new carb and the engine started instantly and ran perfectly. We'll have the old carb rebuilt and keep it as a space but with our luck, will probably never need it.

This engine problem stole three days from our Block Island visit so we decided to try again in a week or two when we again can get away from work obligations.

Road Food

On Friday, while waiting for our Edelbrock carb to arrive, we felt the need for a good off-boat lunch. We don't eat out often when we're on the boat but today looked like a good time to take a drive and take a break from the boat. But where? 

Our dock has a special resource in that area: our friends Sue and Ron. They love boats and road trips and know their way around New England. They also know good food and where to find it (and cook it) so we asked Sue what she'd recommend.

It took Sue about five seconds to recommend the Riverview Inn in Moosup, Conn. She described their last meal there and could probably recite much of the menu. She also gave us directions that would put Google Maps to shame.

Off we went to Moosup and although we would never have noticed it otherwise, there was Riverview exactly where we were told it would be. Understand that this isn't fancy or expensive. It's really an old strip shopping center that Riverview's owners have combined the four storefronts into one restaurant. Inside, it's a little dark but immaculately clean. The menu was vast but we knew what to order and it was easily as good as Sue had described.

Later that afternoon, Ron stopped by to see if we had enjoyed Riverview. We told him that we had and he went on to tell us about other places that he and Sue enjoy.

Sometimes having fun on your boat is more than cruising away for someplace else. Sometimes, the best times are right on your dock.

Invasion of the kayaks

This weekend, we took some time to get things ready for our cruise to Block Island next week. The Saturday weather, which was predicted to be warm and sunny, was gray and cool with a sprinkling of rain. No matter, we made a few modifications to our troublesome starboard engine and finally proclaimed it ready to the cruise. We also checked the engine fluids (everything looked fine) and even played around with the shower sump pump and found that it actually still worked. We checked all the storage spaces to make sure we had enough stuff on board to survive a week on Block.

We can assure you that we definitely have enough stuff to make it through a month on Block Island!

Will the dock flowers make it through our absence? They will if someone waters them.

On Sunday, we spent a lazy morning reading the New York Times and enjoying a great breakfast, courtesy of Frances, the world's best omelet maker. We did our usual tour of the marina and sadly, found many open transient slips. We did find one major transient visitor, a boat called "XOXO." It's a Mangusto 105 (think we have that spelling right) that, while fairly unattractive,  is a welcome addition, we're sure, for the marina management.

Early in the afternoon we heard a banging on the hull and went outside to find our old friends, Stu and Lauren, in their kayaks along side. They were looking for some directions as to where to paddle in the "three rivers" area and we provided it.

Once they had paddled themselves out, they came back to our boat and came aboard for a chat.

Stu and Bill go back a long way in boating. We won't bore you with the war stories, but there were many.

No sooner had Stu and Lauren left, when dock mates John and Jodi Lynn showed up in Kayaks. They were exploring the area but wanted to pick up their dachshund "Dino" to join them. It is amazing how this little dog (we'd guess he has four-inch legs) can chase ducks off the dock and is really anxious to join his parents in an afternoon cruise.



Boat dogs and boat cats. Good stuff.

Watch Hill Weekend

We thought it was time to get out of the marina and many of our dock mates thought the same thing. The plan was to raft up at Watch Hill or more commonly, Napatree Point. The weather looked good so off we all went on Saturday morning. There were seven boats from our marina in two rafts.

We were close to the last ones to cast off and we had a wonderful ride down the Thames, east into Fisher's Island Sound as far as Stonington, Connecticut then through the very narrow channel that ends at Napatree Point or east into the Pawcatuck River and Westerly, Rhode Island. The two mile long entrance is quite shallow and there were lots of boats anchored just out of the channel on a long sandy spit of land. Frances took some pictures as we danced over the shallow spots.

Looks like deep water, but it isn't.

You can see the sandbar in this photo. When we went over it, our depth sounder indicated 2.8 feet.

But, like just about everyone else, we got into the anchoring area behind Napatree Point just fine.  After a couple of calls on the radio, we found out raft-up mates. We doubt the accuracy of that depth reading because there were boats in there a lot bigger than ours.

The weather was perfect and Frances took the opportunity to photograph one of her favorite subjects: clouds

By Saturday afternoon there were lots of boats anchored on the sandy bottom close to the beach. Here's another Silverton setting anchor near us.

It's a short ride by dingy to Watch Hill where literally thousands of people come by car to visit the beach. Watch Hill has never impressed us but the beach is great if sitting on sand is of interest. Frankly, we prefer boats.

We rafted with two couples who really know how to set an anchor and have fun.

Pooka the boat cat settled in nicely. As you can see, he was almost overcome with excitement.

We shot some video of our trip in on Saturday that shows how nice an anchorage this really is. The sunsets aren't bad either.