Month: June 2017

We’ve been holed up in Onset for 5 days now slogged in by fog.  I’m not complaining, it’s the perfect place to ride out a storm or simply rest for a few days at anchor.  It’s just before the western end of the Cape Cod Canal, whose passage needs to be timed carefully with the tides.

Main Street is pretty small, blink and you’ll miss it.  But they have laundry, a small market, and a few good restaurants all within walking distance of the dinghy dock.  Marc Anthony’s has good pizza, and more importantly wifi (crucial to extending a cruiser’s precious cellular data plan).  Cape Cod Lobster Rolls has a killer lobster mac & cheese as well as bacon chili dogs.

Despite the holdup, we’ve had some great visits with our friend Lawrence, and new friends Daniel & Anna.  The fog is finally beginning to lift, so hopefully we’ll escape tomorrow.  The plan is to anchor tomorrow afternoon just south of Plymouth in Warren Cove, and then sail up to Marblehead to pay homage to one of the great sailing capitals of the world.

Bad things can happen on land or on a boat and tearing the spinnaker on day 1 of our adventure was no different.  But I’m constantly amazed at the happy endings we sometimes find.

A friend from college, Joy, not only happened to read the blog but read through the sailor’s bit and the saga of the torn spinnaker.  Knowing that we were stopping by Onset, MA she and I were already trying to make plans to connect in person.  She also reached out and offered to contact friends of hers at Sperry Sails, just one town over, to inquire about sail repairs.

We traded contact details and next thing I knew we were bundling up the sail to take ashore.  There was a slight complication when the launch announced they were running an hour late and our dinghy decided to get jammed in the davits holding it off the back of the boat.  Shawn from Tow Boat US came along side, said he heard the transport issues on the radio, and offered Trip and the sail a ride to shore.

I still can’t believe how accommodating the folks at Sperry Sails were to our problem.  They not only had the fabric in stock necessary to do the repairs, they dropped other work and got our repair work done by end of the day – I had been convinced they’d need a week at least.

Joy was kind enough to pick up the sail on her way home from work and brought it out to us on the boat in the rainy, windy, sloppy harbor.   We settled for cocktails down below in the cabin where we caught up on life and talked future plans.  Joy – if you’re reading this – you have a permanent offer of a berth on board.  You are a miracle worker!!!!!

Block Island signals the beginning of our annual summer vacation, which is probably why it really hasn’t hit me yet what we’ve decided to do for the next year.

We always anchor in the Great Salt Pond.  It was a complete shock to arrive this year so early in the season and have our pick of places to anchor – mid season there might be hundreds of boats but this time of year there were only a half dozen or so on their hooks.

A visit ashore always starts at The Oar, a bar and restaurant right at the edge of the dinghy docks.  There are actual oars hanging from the ceiling and walls and we always stop to pay homage to two of ours hanging there.  Some of the best sunsets are witnessed over mudslides at the bar here.

I always need one day in town to shop and wander.  By ‘town’ I mean one main street with nearly all the shops, hotels, restaurants and bars that the island has to offer:

• Ballards: good live music every afternoon and fantastic people watching of those on the beach getting drunk and making questionable swim wear decisions.
• Spring House Hotel: lunch at the veranda café is one of the best views on the entire island.  They weren’t yet open for the season but we wandered through the picturesque hotel anyway.
• Abrams Animal Farm and North Light Fibers: I have no idea how a yak, llamas, camels, and land tortoises make it over to the island, but the farm where they landed is fun to visit.  On the same property you can walk through an alpaca pen to the yarn shop which has all sorts of tempting yarns, needle felting supplies, and finished products.
• Wild Flowers Boutique: all the shops are quaint, but this one has fabulous bargains.  I can usually find tops in here that cost $35 as opposed to $135 two shops down.

There’s lots more here I haven’t covered – Mohegan Bluffs, North Light House, Captain Nicks, Three Kittens, Elis – that we simply didn’t have time to visit this year.