Block Island before the crowds.

Brenda headed home on Wednesday night and my younger son Chris and his friend Dan joined me in Mystic to spend a few days on Pandora. On Thursday morning we headed out to Block Island off the coast of Rhode Island. Block is a great spot and while it feels like a world away, it's just 15 miles from Watch Hill Passage at the most eastern end of Long Island Sound.

I have mentioned my solar panels in past postings and here's a shot of them in action. I am getting up to 20amps mid day and nearly 10amps even in the early AM hours. This is terrific as it is allowing me to be much more liberal with my electrical consumption. I could probably leave the cooler on when I am away from the boat for a week but I am not willing to try that out quite yet.

We had a really great trip over on a beam reach in about 18kts of wind. Pandora raced along in moderate seas at 7.5 to 8+kts. With the tide pushing us along a bit faster, we made it in about 1.5hrs from Watch Hill Passage. By the time we got to Block it was blowing about 20 from the southwest but was still a really nice day. The guys and I rented bikes and rode all over the island and came back in time for dinner I have to say that I did OK for a guy of my relative maturity against a few 22+ year olds. Having said that I felt a bit of pain in the rear when I eased myself onto the bike seat again today.

Now, here's something that you don't see every day, a Llama and an Emu. And, to top it off, a sign that says "don't feed the camels". I guess that means that it's OK to feed the Emu but what do they eat?

Today we biked out to the North Light which marks the most northern part of the island, while the rest of the island is fairly built up, this area is still quite wild and protected as a bird nesting place. And given the fact that we visited so early in the season gave us a first hand look at nesting gulls. I have never seen a baby gull and just assumed that they popped out fully grown or at least grew up from rats that turned into gulls when they got big, a sort of metamorphosis like a butterfly, if not quite so pleasant as the caterpillar to butterfly thing. It was quite amazing as there were gull nests everywhere including some places that were right on the path to the lighthouse which suggests that there hasn't been much in the way of foot traffic lately.

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I have been coming to Block for nearly 30 years and have never been there so early in the
season as my visits usually are in July and August when things are really hopping. I was just stunned when we entered the New Harbor to see that there were less than 5 boats. It was just amazing to see a harbor where you usually have to standby with your dink to race toward a mooring when a boat leaves. With moorings first come, first served, that's the only way to get one in the busy season. For those of you who have been there, this shot will surely strike you as abnormal and very vacant. While I normally anchor I decided to get a mooring close to shore given the Strong winds when we arrived yesterday. While it's not yet busy it wasn't too early for the harbor master to come and get his fee first thing on Friday morning. Our original plan was to head back on Sunday afternoon but with the weather forecast calling for rain and thunderstorms all day Saturday we decided to just head back to Mystic on Friday and catch a train on Saturday morning, rain or not. As much as I like the boat I am not inclined to spend a day on board in the rain if I can avoid it.

As I write this we are headed over toward Watch Hill Passage under power as the forecast of 10-15kts from the southwest has not materialized. The Sound is a glassy calm with just a hint of a breeze. The wind ultimately picked up and we had a great sail back to Mystic.

It's now Saturday and it is indeed raining but we are headed back to Norwalk and our car via train.

Well, no time on Pandora for two weeks. Our next trip will be over to Shelter Island for a Corinthians rendezvous and on to New Bedford MA.