I hitched a ride back home with Natalie as I had to finish my teaching job, and Trip spent the week doing boat projects & trying to fix the pesky fridge. I was back on Kalyra the following Friday.

We had a lovely last day, wandering through town, getting a drink at the local pub and learning even more about the local island community, and then meandering back to The Oar for a final lunch and Paynes for a final mudslide. We even stopped by friends on s/v Blue Highway, who had just sailed up from the Chesapeake and were also on their way to Maine this summer.

Boats poorly anchored and subsequently dragging is a regular phenomenon on Block. I enjoy watching bad anchoring attempts with a coffee or cocktail in hand, especially when those bad anchoring jobs do not jeopardize us. The few boats in the anchorage and the number of experienced cruisers led me to believe that this wouldn’t be an issue this season. Wrong.

A small boat (25 feet or so) came in late afternoon and dropped anchor pretty much where we needed to up anchor. Trip went to the bow to explain the situation and was surprised at how little scope they had out. (We tend to put out 4-5 times the depth we were in; in this case we had 140 feet out for a 30 foot depth). The little boat had maybe a few extra feet out beyond the depth, a sure sign they would drag anchor later on. They upped anchor and re-dropped away from us, but again with the short rode. Sure enough, as the winds picked up and a squall hit us, that boat (now with no one aboard as they were ashore) began dragging through the anchorage toward the mooring field. Trip was able to reach the Harbormaster and he and another boater stayed on the radio until the Harbormaster could get the boat on a mooring (luckily the boat had reanchored itself and did not hit anyone). In the meantime we heard the sickening sound of fiberglass hitting fiberglass and knew other boats were now dragging & colliding with each other. One sailboat dragged and re-anchored much too close to us and was nearly hit by a crazy-expensive power boat driving way too fast through the anchorage in a storm, repeatedly trying to re-anchor. Things finally settled down, and I went to bed while Trip stood watch.

The storm and dragging on Saturday night reminded us that it was definitely time to leave Block Island and head to Bristol.