Block Island may be the most dog friendly place I have ever been. Seriously. Every store has a dog bowl out front, and it seems as if everyone you pass on the street has at least one cute pooch in tow. In our first trek out east in Chancelot, we headed straight for Block Island. Well, we were really heading for Newport but made a game time decision to go to Block instead.
After cruising in the Caribbean, I’m typically not a fan of taking a mooring and would much rather anchor, but up north, moorings are pretty much the way it is. All the good anchorages have been replaced with moorings so if you want to go somewhere fun, you have to suck it up and grab a mooring. The difference between the mooring fields up North is these things are kept up! Lines are continually inspected and every ball has the lines already installed on them. It is so easy to pick up a line and hook up your boat. Some even have little floats with a 4 ft stick on one edge you just grab – it really doesn’t get any easier! The bad news is that they are way more expensive than the Caribbean – on average $45 – $55 a night. Pretty steep if you are cruising on a budget.
One thing that is pretty nice is that most of the mooring fields have launches. You just hail the launch on your radio and they come right over to take you to shore. Dogs included. The launch in Block Island wasn’t included in the price, so the next time we’ll be sure to bring our dinghy. Four dollars per person adds up when you have to take the dogs out multiple times a day.
The first place we headed once we got to shore was the beach. Crescent Beach was easily walkable from the launch, and after a long sail we all wanted to stretch our legs. The “season” started about a week after we arrived, so the beach was pretty much empty. A beautiful private beach for four please! It was a little too cold for lounging around in a bikini, but there was enough space to let the dogs run around in the sand again. They seem to miss cruising as much as we do.
The launch picks up at the Block Island Boat Basin which happens to be right next door to The Oar restaurant. This spot has the best outdoor seating. There are about 50 Adirondack chairs and 15 picnic tables set up looking over the mooring field. Everyone there seemed to have their dog lounging at their feet while they were sipping on a cocktail. It was perfect.
We get great sunsets nearly every night at the dock, but there is something truly magical about a sunset at anchor. We open a bottle of wine, cuddle up in the cockpit and watch the show. Block Island’s sunset did not disappoint. The sky was on FIRE.
We woke up and decided to break in the kayak we got for Christmas. We weren’t sure if we’d like it so we only have one for now. Turns out we love it. We will definitely be investing multiple water toys next go around. The dogs even like it! Jason took each one of them out separately to literally test the waters and see how they responded. Dewey absolutely loved it. She jumped right up on the bow and was watching everything as Jason rowed to shore. Riley was a bit more hesitant. He put up with it, but I think he was more excited about jumping off the kayak to swim than the actual kayak ride.
We all loved Block Island. I can’t wait to come back.
