Gone Sailing for a Year

We sailed to Block Island from Newport. Not much to report aside from the usual unusual Mike & Kirsten-ism; my over-exaggeration of waves and Mikes sudden awareness that If Gaia is gaining on another vessel…. we can race them (and he goes from a wine and cheese cruising mentality of ‘we get there when we get there’ to barking commands ‘Trim the gennie! Edge up the traveler windward! We got em!’).
There were 4 foot seas and rounding the Northern tip of Block Island was, as always, a welcoming view. There’s a shallow spit of land that curves out like an arm from the Block Island bluffs that are even more beautiful from the top. We anchored in the salt pond, which has a VERY narrow cut of water that funnels into the harbor. It was my third time letting out the anchor, which can be, as I learned, a delicate process of lowering at the right moment and letting the boat rest to get your bearings. Mike tied different colored string on the anchor rode every 10 feet so you can see how much rode you have sitting out. This is a GREAT idea and I highly recommend it to anyone anchoring…. But do note that over time the first 80 feet becomes coated in mud and the old neon colors before are brown. So when Mike asked me how much rode we had out half way through… I dunnno…( I guess I need to practice counting or something).

BI Sat/ Sun
ulia and Amy ventured out to the great BI of RI! Our friends still remember us! And they brought beer!!! Saturday morning meeting Julia & Amy was the first time Mike & I came ashore. I had forgotten how timeless and close everything was for walking distance. A 15 minute walk and we met them from the ferry ride over. Our first order of business was to get some serious boat napping & relaxing in, afterall, they did take the first ferry in to BI. We then had ourselves a classic BI beachday. Frisbee, beer, meandering, beach. The day ended in a wet dinghy adventure to cocktails at the infamous ‘Oar’ and somehow… about 4 hours later… we emerged for another dingy adventure across the great pond.
Sunday we made it our mission to find the maze. The maze is for lack of words, really neat. It’s an intricately woven network of grassy paths that lead you to the BI bluffs, a few ponds, beaches, and always seems to end and begin in private property to some extent. P.S.I have never gone into the maze and not found myself lost at some point. The larger the group, the better the confusion. With a happy go lucky crew of Amy, Julia, Mike, and myself…. This was by far the closest we have ever come to not getting lost. We did, however, manage to miss their expected ferry back home… but nbd. We were all in BI.Read more

As exciting and beautiful a new port can be, sometimes the biggest scores are the little things. But first, let’s back up a little. On the dismal swamp we had access to a grocery store (across the street) whilst tied up to land. We made away like bandits since we went grocery shopping hungry…. A big no no for obvious reasons but it feels so good. We had mighty dreams of stews and extravagant pasta dishes, chicken salads, Mike even had an itch to make cornbeef stew…. We bought just under $200 worth of food. It felt like we bought everything…..everything except for cabbage for the cornbeef stew.

The next few days we searched; no cabbage in sight. We motored over the shallow sound to Roanoke Island and found a 24 hour free dock with some outstandingly fun veteran cruisers filled with all sorts of great tips.

Not only did we refill the tanks we walked to the nearest grocery store called Piggly Wiggly, would they come through…… ??? I know what you’re thinking, ‘with a name like Piggly Wiggly how could they not come through and provide the cabbage!?!

Yes! Of course Piggly Wiggly had the cabbage (did you not read the title of this post?), they also had the bacon, and ham bone…! After our 2 nights, we were kicked off the 24 hour free dock despite us being the only boat. Whatever we had our cabbage.

I’m not sure if you’re familiar with the early history of the United States. If not, listen up because Roanoke should be apart of your Alex Trebek Jeopardy arsenal of answers (or questions since they only accept answers in the form of a question – I hope I haven’t lost you yet).

Firstly, let’s get the time period right.
-Christopher Columbus “discovered” America in 1492…. I say discovered because we all know our favorite Norseman Leif Erikson (son of Erik the Red) discovered America way before him…. But really I’m not a fan of any culture that could discover a land already inhabited by other cultures but that’s my own pet peeve. Anyway.
-Around 1560’s Elizabeth I gives her blessing to Sir Walter Raleigh to colonize the new world.
-1585 Roanoke Island becomes an English settlement
-1607 Jamestown, VA built and established by John Smith.
-1620 Plymouth Rock becomes a refuge for the religious-persecuted pilgrims and their belief they should separate from the Church of England.


It’s believed Roanoke Island is where the first colony was created by a group of 100 or so English. One of the resupply ships never arrived and the next resupply ship reported the settlement….. gone. Had they moved elsewhere, had a local Indian tribe slaughtered the newcomers, did the Spanish remove them? Roanoke Island, also named the ‘Lost Colony’, has few answers to these questions. However, a Jamestown expedition lead by John Smith was reported to search for the lost colony and came back claiming that the Powhatan tribe had massacred the colony for siding with an enemy tribe. Is that the full and honest truth?

The colonists were never found but a recreation of what did stand over 400 years ago is available for the public in the Lost Colony park area. It’s not much, just a series of grassy hills in a square formation; used for food, water, or protection, we’re (*I’M*) not sure. What we are sure of is how the colony started. Sir Walter Raleigh received funding and 100 English men and women arrived in a foreign land not necessarily famers or engineers and not equipped for the struggles of creating a new settlement.Read more