Cathy
07/21/2012, Block Island

Troy woke me up early today. He must know that is is our last day on Block Island and have a full day of acivities scheduled. Ceili and Seaquill left around 8:00 am and there were people circlng them waiting to pick up their mooring. I think one boat circled Seaquill for almost an hour.

After breakfast, we packed up the dinghy with all our fishing gear and headed out of the channel to a beach on the northern part of the island. We quickly found it to rough to fish and our dinghy was getting full of water, so we headed back into the harbor and fished off the shore by the coast guard station. We did not catch anything probably because there were just so many boats coming and going out of the harbor. But it was fun anyway.

Troy was disappointed that we came back with no fish. After dropping off the fishing gear, we left a sleeping Troy and headed to the beach for a long walk. The beach was packed and the waves were great. After that long walk we decided to head to the Oar for lunch. We bumped into Edie and Peter and made plans to go into town with then this evening.

Before heading out we let Troy run around the deck chasing the seagulls. I think they are teasing him, swooping down close to the boat. He goes nuts and jumps up at them. I will have to find him a stuffed seagull to play with when we get home.

Peter and Edie picked us up in their dinghy and we headed to shore for the last time on this trip. We walked up to the Spring House and sat on the porch over looking the water and had pizza and drinks. It is so beautiful there, a perfect place to end our cruise.

Tomorrow we head back to EYC. It has been a great cruise and I hate to see it end. Troy will have to adjust to being back on dry land. He is a house cat and does not go outside when we are home, but on the boat, he can go out on the deck. He loves the wind blowing through his fur and breathing in that fresh sea air.

Another beatiful sunset on our last night on Block Island.

Troy's Island Adventure

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Cathy
07/21/2012, Block Island

Well after 16 straight days of waking up to sunshine, we finally woke to a day of rain. It is predicted to rain all day today, with a few breaks here and there. Ceili and Seaquill were going to leave today, but decided to stay another day because of the high seas and rain.

We spent the morning hanging out with Troy, although he spent the morning curled up on the couch sleeping. We kept an eye on the radar and when we saw a break in the rain, we put on our rain gear and headed to shore. We walked over to the beach, which was deserted and then into town and back to the boat. We boarded just before the rain started again.

The next break came late afternoon, so we took a dinghy ride around the harbor, then over to Seaquill for cocktails. We came back in the rain and stayed on board the rest of the evening. Troy would not go out because he hates walking on the wet rug on the back of the boat, especially when it is saturated.

A lot of boats were coming in looking for moorings today, even in the bad weather. Not all that many people left today. There was a big party at Champlain`s Marina, which we are moored close to, so we got to listen to bad music and noisy people until late into the night.

Tomorrow they are predicting a beautiful sunny day, as well as Sunday. We plan on going out fishing in the morning. No sunset tonight to watch, to overcast.

Troy's Island Adventure

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Cathy
07/20/2012, Block Island

We woke to a beautiful day, not quite as hot as yesterday. Troy spent the early morning out on deck, then curled up in my beach towel on the couch and stayed there until almost 11:00, but just got up and headed to the bed, crawled under his blanket and continued his nap. Denise and Jack came over for a visit and we all watched the daily search for moorings with the new boats coming in. Some boats circled for hours and when they finally got one, they were actually dancing on deck they were so happy.

We left Troy to his nap and headed to the Oar for lunch. The dinghy dock at the Boat Basin was packed. You have to walk over other peoples dinghies to get to the dock. Lunch was great, and then George and I walked around for a few hours and headed back to Wildflower. Troy was up and anxious to get outside. I guess you get a lot of energy from a 6 hour nap.

We called for the launch (wanted to avoid the dinghy dock) and Jack, Denise, Linda, Bill, George and I headed to dinner. We ate at the Manisee Hotel and it was beautiful and the food and drinks were great. We walked back to the harbor, as the night was comfortable and warm. Ceili and Seaquill are leaving tomorrow, but we will be here for another few days.

We sat outside and let Troy frolic around the deck. We plan on going fishing tomorrow. We will take the dinghy out of the channel and then to one of the outside beaches. It does not look like great weather tomorrow, but Saturday and Sunday both look great.

Troy's Island Adventure

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Cathy
07/20/2012, Block Island

Today is a real hot one, very humid. Even Troy did not spend much time outside. We did boat chores, then headed to the Manisee Farmers Market. I was drenched by the time we got there. We did a little shopping downtown, but it was even too hot for shopping (can you believe that). We headed back to the boat to jump in the water. The water was cold, but refreshing. Troy was hanging over the edge wondering why I was in the water. I think he was contemplating joining me, but decided against it.

There are still a lot of boats coming in looking for moorings. They are circling the mooring field like vultures just waiting for someone to drop off. You have to be in the right spot at the right time. There was a dinghy attached to a mooring next to us even though the boat had not dropped and left yet. He sat in his dingy reading for an hour or more until they finally left.

We had planned on going to the beach for a walk, but the weather started to get bad. The wind picked up and was blowing about 35 miles per hour. Troy looked funny with the wind blowing through his fur. I was afraid he would get blown overboard. We added another line from the boat to the mooring ball and secured all loose items. We watched the radar, and it did show that the worst of the storm was north of us. It got really black and we were prepared for the worse, but then the wind died completely and the sun even came out. But then later on, it started thundering and lightening and pouring rain.

No beautiful sunset today, to cloudy.

Troy's Island Adventure

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Cathy
07/19/2012, Block Island

We left Cuttyhunk at 5:40 am, as all three of us over slept. Seaquill and Ceili were already gone, but we had no trouble catching up and passing them. Troy slept the entire trip, under my beach towel. The trip was long but the seas were calm and it made for a nice ride.

We arrived at Block Island at 10:30 am and there were no moorings available. We circled the mooring field many times, but it did not look like anyone was ready to leave. Ceili, Seaquill and Django all arrived and were doing the same thing. George anchored Wildflower and got in the dinghy and started searching for a mooring. He found one, and Seaqull picked it up. He and Jack continued the search and came up with another one, that Ceili hooked up to. We then rafted with Seaquill and Django rafted with Ceili. Shortly after rafting, it appeared that someone behind us was getting ready to leave. George went over and confirmed they were leaving and called Bill to come over and grab it as soon as they dropped off. We then unrafted and picked up our own mooring. Django did not get their own mooring until the next day.

The fact that you cannot reserve a mooring at Block Island Harbor, makes for an entertaining performance of boats racing around trying to grab mooring as soon as they are dropped. It is crazy and stressfull, but once you have one, you can then relax and enjoy watching others doing the same thing.

Once we were all settled, we headed for the Oar for calamari and beer. It is kind of a tradition that this is the first thing we do when we arrive at Block Island. After going back to the boat the wind began to pick up and we were glad to be on a mooring and not in the anchorage field, where there would be a possibility of dragging.

Another beautiful sunset and 14 straight days of sunny warm weather. I could do this forever.

Troy's Island Adventure

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Cathy
07/17/2012, Cuttyhunk

We rose early to try and be the first ones on the water dock to fill our water tanks before heading to Cuttyhunk. When we got there shortly after 6:00 am, Django was already there. We filled up (much faster than Django as we have a much smaller water tank) and headed back to our mooring to get ready to leave and say goodbye to our fellow cruisers. I found out that Troy is not the only cat on the cruise. Star, a sailboat that joined us on Saturday also has a cat on board.

The trip to Cuttyhunk was bumpy and not a pleasant ride. There was also a lot of boat traffic in Vineyard Sound. Troy wanted nothing to do with his cat tent and sat with me huddled under his blanket. Once we went through Quick's Hole, it calmed down. Cuttyhunk harbor was practically empty when we arrived, and we had no trouble picking up a mooring, nor did Seaquill or Ceili. As early evening approached the wind picked up and the harbor filled up. The people on the boat to our starboard side also had a cat on board, a very large cat, but Troy was not the least bit interested. The girls on the boat behind us were feeding the geese and gulls and that Troy was interested in. He sat on the back steps and watched, but I wonder what he would actually do if he came face to face with one of them. I bet he would run and hide. My cat is neither brave nor aggressive.

We went over to Seaquill for a cocktail party and heard more about Ceili's trip south. It sounds like a lot of planning went into the trip, something we should start doing now if we are to make that long trip on Wildflower. I wonder how Troy would like being on the boat for almost a year. I think that as long as he is with us, he is happy.

We are leaving for Block Island at 5:00 am, so it is early to bed. It should take us about 5 hours to get there. The weather is calling for a nice day, so the trip should be a good one.

Troy's Island Adventure

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