You may recall that last year Mrs. Horne joined a Ryder Cup-style golf tournament that involves a team competition between our club (Bay Club Mattapoisett) and the Mid Ocean Club in Bermuda.

That was the genesis of Boys Week – me, Peter, and Rudy going out for a week on the boat while Mrs. Horne played golf.

This past weekend was also planned to be Mrs. Horne’s Girl’s Weekend, but during golf event on Wednesday, Mrs. Horne slipped and broke her ankle.

No Bermuda for Mrs. Horne, but fortunately, for me and the boys, her sisters Paula and Gail volunteered to help her for a few days so that Boys Week could still happen.

Block Island Bound

When we started cruising aboard Tenacity in 2015, we visited Block Island frequently; even more so with Vigilant. But for some reason, that ended in 2019 and we haven’t been to BI in five years.

It’s 65 miles from Onset to Block Island and nearly a straight line from the Bay Bay NOAA buoy off Cuttyhunk across Rhode Island Sound.

The sea conditions were just short of Small Craft Warnings with a West/Southwest headwind of 15 knots amid chop and 4’, 8-second period waves.

Enough to give us a good bump every few minutes, but not enough to slow us from a full-speed cruise of 27 MPH.

As we left Westport 10 miles off our starboard side, we noticed a sea of massive windmills to the southwest.

It turns out there is a project underway to construct one hundred 500’ tall windmills about fifteen miles offshore that will power 350,000 homes when complete.

Old Harbor

I love staying in Old Harbor. Virtually everything in the village is within a five-minute walk, including the beach.

I like Ballards Marine because it’s the closest to town and offers floating docks, but Mrs. Horne thinks the grounds look dumpy and I have to admit she’s right.

But with her home with a broken leg, it was the perfect venue for Boys Week.

Ballards Marina

This is a micro Marina that holds a dozen 30-45° boats in a modified Mediterranean-style dockage. Boats tie up stern in the floating dock with a single piling on one side and then tie to the boat next to them on the other side.

Amazing Grace measures just under 65’, so they had us dock stern toward shore with our starboard side tied to the floating dock.

We effectively took up four slips but still paid only $4.00/foot. This is the only way a large boat can fit here and it only works for one boat. But it does create an excellent and secure dockage.

Right next door is the Town Marina and it’s also just $4.00/foot. And like Ballards, it had no transient visitors the second week in September, but unlike Ballards, you cannot reserve a slip.

Officially Offseason

I was taken aback by how quiet Block Island was when we arrived on September 9, 2024. Its just two weeks past Labor Day. We’ve only been here in the summer when hundreds of day trippers stream off the Ferris every twenty minutes.

I was hoping for some live music, but there aren’t enough customers to justify it. Other than that, this might be the best time to visit. Captain Nicks and the Beach Head, were the only restaurants closed for the season and you don’t need a reservation anywhere.

Lunch at The Surf

It was a Monday and some places do close on Monday, but the Surf is still open seven days a week.

The Surf is my favorite kind of alfresco venue; open air to the sea, but covered from the direct sun.

The service procedure is a little odd. The hostess shows you to the table and hands you a menu.

Then you go to the bar to order, pay, and give the bartender your table number. Servers then bring you your food.

Everything comes with Potato Salad – no chips, no fries. I’m not a potato salad fan, but since it was there, I took a taste. It was okay, just a waste of a good potato as far as I’m concerned!

The Surf offered a perfect beach vibe, the food was solid. The service procedure was fine, but I would have preferred real plates and glasses. The back bar is one of the best seaside bars to just hang out at.

The temperature was just 70° as we made our way back to the boat.

Amazing Grace was pointed north, so we had sunshine pouring into the Skydeck which created a comfortable environment in the 15-knot wind.

Happy Birthday Peter

September 9 is our dear friend and Chief Engineer Peter’s birthday. After a beverage and a little Salmon Dip and Crackers, we headed to the National Hotel for dinner.

We had reservations but didn’t need them and sat at the bar.

Rudy ordered the Linguini and Clams.

Rudy eats this dish often and when he was done, he proclaimed to the bartender “This is the best Linguini and Clams I’ve ever eaten!”

I decided it was a good time for my annual order of Fish and Chips. I negotiated a swap and got Tots instead of Chips.

Nice flaky Cod with a distinctive crust – not too thick and very crunchy.

After dinner, we watched a very interesting movie – The Stones and Brian Jones.

If you’re a Stones fan like me, this is a must-see. I’m very familiar with the sad tale of the founder of the Rolling Stones but still learned more.

The old photos and video were incredible and a lot of the story was told by Bill Wyman, who does look 100 years- old.

Tuesday

I shot this photo and as soon as I saw it, I was immediately taken back the poster for the 1966 film Endless Summer.

Around 9:00, I proposed a Plan B to the crew. Block Island was wonderful, but rather deserted and all the live music venues had shut down for the season.

I had a bunch of tickets for the Newport Boat Show, so Plan B was to make a short run to Newport on Wednesday and do the Newport Boat Show on Thursday.

All of my favorite marinas are hosting the Boat Show, so this was also an opportunity to explore a new Marina I’ve been thinking about for quite some time.

A few years ago, the Hyatt on Goat Island changed hands and became Gurney’s. Recently, they began a massive renovation, and the idea of a full-scale resort with a yacht Marina caught my eye.

Between Dockwa and a phone call, I had secured two nights on a front-face dock for $670.

Now, back to Block Island

Biking Block Island

Rudy is going in for knee surgery on Monday, but he encouraged Peter and me to go biking. We’d rented mopeds years ago, but never ridden the island on eBikes.

It turns out that eBikes are the perfect way to get around Block Island. First off, there are several substantial hills; hills that were so steep that we saw several fit young bikers walking their bikes uphill.

More importantly (at least to me), the speed limit on all of the roads on Block Island is 15-25 MPH. This means a decent eBike can run with traffic and effectively, all the roads become wide Bike Trails.

We took a left, ran down to the Southeast Light House, drove along the south coast road, over to New Harbor, and then back to Old Harbor and out Beach Road.

We didn’t really explore the north end of the island, but we clocked 12 miles in an hour and a half. We didn’t want to leave Rudy hanging for lunch, so stopped at this classic beach house around 11:45 and headed back to Amazing Grace.

When we were in New Harbor, we noticed that their marinas were also empty, so it seemed like a good day to take a cab to Dead Eyed Dick’s or The Oar for lunch.

Lunch at The Oar

We ate at The Oar on our first visit to Block Island in 2016. It had a great beach vibe, good seafood, and decent sushi.

Much like The Surf, the Oar offers my favorite alfresco dining environment; open air, fully covered, great views, and a constant gentle sea breeze.

As I mentioned earlier, Mrs. Horne doesn’t like Ballards. We talked about trying Champlin’s, but they are really expensive and I’m not sure they offer much beyond the pool.

The Boat Basin does offer floating docks and The Oar, so perhaps it’s the right spot for dockage in New Harbor.

Although it was only Day Two of Boys Week, we were already pacing ourselves and we all ordered light and healthy lunches.

Although we ordered light and healthy, we still needed a fried component, so we shared an order of Onion Rings.

And I’m proud to say we didn’t finish them – well, we left one!

By the way, there is no Uber on Block Island, but plenty of cabs that seem to charge $5/person for a ride from Old Harbor to New Harbor.

We liked these guys…

The winds on Monday were gone and the Skydeck was a sunny 72°. The boys read, and napped while I practiced blues solos on my old Breedlove Dreadnaught.

Ballard’s was listing live music from 6:00 to 10:00, so we headed over around 6:30 for dinner.

It too was deserted and there was no music, so we left and headed to town in search of dinner.

The Mohegan

We ate here in 2018 and it felt like a solid kitchen with cheap(er) prices; well suited for locals.

The place has since expanded in size and the menu is much more that of a Gastro Pub.

We were immediately impressed by our high-energy bartender – Alex.

We’d smelled an order of Pot Roast go by and as we all started contemplating ordering three, Alex popped up and said: “Do you guys like ribs?”

Of course, we did! I immediately went over to the table that had ordered the Pot Roast for a first-hand dining review.

They gave the Pot Roast rave reviews and also pitched the Smoked Wings.

We huddled and came up with a plan for a smorgasbord for grazing.

We often rank our restaurants after longer cruises and the top ranking is “We’d go out of our way to go back here.”

Folks, this is one of those restaurants!

The ribs were plump and perfectly cooked (firm, but falling off the bone). They were probably the best Asian Ribs I’ve ever eaten.

The Blue Cheese and Steak flatbread was absolutely sublime. I will definitely steal this recipe.

The wings and Pot Roast were also first class.

As I was writing this piece Wednesday morning, I received a text from my cousin Sharon, who owns a house near Old Harbor.

We quickly arranged a visit before we left for Newport.

Sharon could only stay for 30-40 minutes, but we had a great conversation catching up on her family, travels, and reminiscing about our grandparents and Canadian cousins.

Next Up: The Newport Boat Show