Our dog, M.E., greeting the Block Island cows |
Each morning during the summer months on Block, Aldo's bakery boat drives around the mooring field selling hot coffee and pastries. He yells "Andiamo.....andiamooooo"! It's always very tempting, but we manage to abstain. (See below.)
The dinghy dock at Block Island (with Zoey). Notice how nicely the tenders are lined up! |
Block Island (above) and Cuttyhunk (below) have similar topography |
We enjoyed anchoring out there for one night, with a trip into the village for an after-dinner walk up to Lookout Hill for an incredible view of the harbor.
Thursday morning prior to Labor Day weekend, we took the one hour trip across Vineyard Sound to a wonderful anchorage, Lake Tashmoo, on Martha's Vineyard. It's one of our favorite anchorages due to it's excellent wind protection and good holding (with the right anchor). Since we've been there many times, we knew we had to get there early, before all the weekend boaters arrived. We were glad we did because, by Saturday morning the place was packed! While it was a little cozy, we enjoyed getting acquainted with some of our neighbors, especially those with dogs. There are always dog-boating tales to tell!
By the way, we were the best looking boat there. When you decide to purchase your Krogen Express, be forewarned. People stare. They walk by on the dock and stare. They stare from their boats. They circle us in their dinghy. On occasion they even stop and engage us in conversation. "Wow, that's a good lookin' boat", they'll say. Or, "what is that?" Or "I just read about this boat in the September issue of PassageMaker magazine". Sometimes we feel like we're on display at the zoo! Going into the heavily populated mooring field at Great Salt Pond on Block Island, a couple were relaxing on their aft deck when suddenly they both sat up and stared as we passed by. Children not familiar with boats, especially, are fascinated that "there's a boat on a boat!!". They're talking about the tender, of course.
When we arrived at the Vineyard it was hot, probably 84 or so, but we decided to walk into town with the dogs anyway. It's about a 20-25 minute walk into Vineyard Haven, one of the 3 towns on the Island. We made a stop at the grocery store, and then headed back. The dogs were exhausted by the time we got back to the boat. But they'd had a good walk!
Unlike many boaters we don't have a hauling cart on the boat. Because we are displaying her at boat shows, we don't like to fill up our storage spaces with alot of things we really don't need. Only occasionally does this make grocery shopping a little problematic. Martha's Vineyard is one of those places. I wanted to take advantage of the local Stop and Shop, but I had to really pace my shopping, based on how much things weighed! I know it sounds funny, but when you have to walk almost a mile and a half with your purchase, you think - long and hard - "do I really need this?" and "can I carry it for 25 minutes?" As a result, we made a trip to the grocery store 3 days out of our 5 day visit. Unfortunately, purchasing ice cream was definitely out of the question!
By Monday morning, almost everyone had left. We were the last to depart on Tuesday morning. But, after 7 days away from a marina (either anchored or moored) we were looking forward to washing the boat, washing the dogs, washing our clothes! It was upward and onward to the Falmouth (MA) Marina.
Below is a picture of the dinghy dock at Lake Tashmoo. The tenders are 2-3 deep, which can make getting off quite a challenge.
Zoey enjoying a dinghy ride with her focused captain! |