Around the Block

I’ve always loved Block Island. We’ve been here in good weather and in bad, it doesn’t seem to matter, it’s just so pleasant here.

All of the familiar sights are still in evidence; the tugboat that someone lives on, Aldo the bakery delivery man (with a new spiffy boat), that yellow house on the shore that I love so much. 

This year the Amistad is anchored here in Great Salt Pond and it makes a nice addition to the scenery.

After the two-day offshore trip from Cape May, we are looking for a day off from traveling. On our past two stops here, we rented bikes and explored the island, but it’s exceptionally hot this time around and all we really feel like doing is relaxing out at the boat. We are short of supplies though, so we take a very sweaty walk into town and stock up on a few groceries. We spy a heron in a pretty little pond on the way.

The rest of our time is spent swimming, reading and basically lolling around. Yeah, I know, it’s a hard life. Our next-door neighbor has a very droopy dinghy and it presents a great opportunity for endless saggy dink jokes. I think the boat life has a way of reducing us to adolescence.

We make popcorn and watch the sun go down from the deck of the boat. It’s been a week since we left Baltimore Harbor, and about a month and a half since all of the disasters started happening – the refrigeration meltdown, of course the now infamous bridge/mast episode, and then the annoying hatch debacle. This day on Block Island has helped to put some of that stress and angst behind us, a reminder of what it was all for (saggy dink jokes and all).