After starting our Southern Island Tour a day early, we woke up in Newport to light rain and gray skies.
Jamestown is only three miles from Newport – a quick cruise across Narragansett Bay.
We host a lot of guests from out of town who are on a fixed schedule. I think this area – Newport, Jamestown, and the other Gansett ports to the north would provide a nice little 3-4-day cruise in a blow without braving the open ocean.
As one might expect, the short trip was uneventful.
Actually, the trip was uneventful until we reached Jamestown.
Regarding Conanicut Marina
There are a couple of Marinas in Jamestown, but the Conanicut is perfectly located in the center of town. We stayed here five years ago and enjoyed a straight dock tie-up.
Not this time. I hailed the Dockmaster and listened to his complicated instructions on where we’d be docked: “You’ll be on our South Docks, proceed behind the blue sailboat, go three docks in, and we’ll wave you in.”
These are never good instructions. As soon as I saw where we were going I said: “Peggy, start shooting video.”
Here’s what I had to navigate…
NOTE TO SELF: Next time request an outer straight dock!
Jamestown
Despite the short distance, Jamestown had a completely different vibe from Newport. It’s a quaint little village that mostly sits on one main street that begins at the marina.
The dining options in Jamestown are somewhat limited, but there are certainly enough to justify a multi-day visit. When we were here in 2019, we lunched at Charlie Chomptrist, which was the #2 ranked restaurant in town, but it no longer exists.
JB’s On The Water
The new #2 ranked restaurant in Jamestown is called JB’s In The Water. It’s a short walk along the waterfront to the south.
JB’s offers a lot of outdoor and patio dining, but the weather dictated the inside options.
Although it’s obviously a waterfront eatery, the menu is creative with some interesting twists on classic cuisine.
Perhaps the most creative was their Seaweed Salad.
Rare seared ahi tuna, over seaweed salad, dry slaw, cucumbers, avocados, tomatoes, drizzle of teriyaki &cucumber wasabi
Romaine lettuce, hard boiled egg, avocado, tomatoes, cucumbers, bacon crumble, feta crumble, tossed together in parmesan peppercorn
As Jake said, “We need to pace ourselves for a culinary week,” so I joined the Salad-for-Lunch crowd and went with the Special.
It was a Steak Tip Salad set on Arugula with feta, balsamic, and blue cheese. It was very good.
After lunch, we walked to town and did a little shopping in the 4-5 interesting shops on the main street.
South Side Sights
I spent the afternoon on the Skydeck reading and taking in the sites from the south side of Narragansett Bay.
In Newport, the views are very yachty; but in Jamestown, you get to watch the industrial side of Rhode Island shipping.
La Quinta Guests
Our long time California friends Wayne and Carol have a summer house in Warwick, so we always try to connect with them when we are in the area.
They met us on the boat before dinner at Beech.
When we were here in 2019, this was Simpatico. It’s been updated and felt a little more refined.
It’s one of those places you find in the tropics that successfully blurs the line between indoor and outdoor dining.
Being near the RI Calimari Capital, we started with a couple of orders of Beech’s version.
banana peppers, garlic, fresh herbs, tomato aioli
They were perfectly cooked but broke from tradition with assorted olives mixed in. It was a great addition.
chitarra pasta, littlenecks, chopped clams,
white wine, garlic & parsley
roasted tomato pilaf, spinach, mango relish
We got back to the boat just in time to see the moon pop out from the clouds.
Were hoping to have the rain and gray skies move along soon!
Next Up – Watch Hill
You Ned to try Bristol RI in Narragansett Bay
Is there a marina we can fit in?
The Town of Bristol Marina and Maritime Center (on Dockwa) is a very nice recently reconstructed facility with floating concrete docks. They can certainly accommodate you along the outer perimeter. But if they can fit you in the confines of the marina I would suggest that because the marina/harbor is subject to afternoon chop from the prevailing SW winds. On the plus side lots of great restaurants in easy walking distance – including a great breakfast cafe! And the East Bay bike path starts in Bristol and runs 14 miles up to Providence.
Thanks! We’re back in the area the first weekend of October and we may add a Bristol stopover.