Lovely Block Island

Lovely Block Island

Our next port of call was an anchorage in Great Salt Pond on Block Island, RI. While this is a spacious anchorage, the room is also essential since it is very deep. We ended up moving several times during our stay to find plenty of swing room in the designated anchorage to allow for our 250 feet of chain and the shifting wind direction.  The few stormy days gave us a chance to work on more puzzles. 

Between the frontal systems that rocked us around the harbor we walked to town and enjoyed the easily accessible provisioning and restaurants. Even though there were a lot more visitors than on our last short stop here, we managed to find a spot on the dink dock and the payoff for stopping in the high season was some unique Block Island events.

One of our favorite onshore activities included a night of bingo at the firehouse – a raucous fundraiser for the Ladies Auxiliary of the Volunteer Fire Department.  We paid a mere 5 dollars for three reusable bingo boards and then the fun began.  The announcer led the action with gusto and entertaining jokes not to mention the call and response. The folks next to us were old pros – as most in attendance were regulars who knew the routine. They told us at the start we would find this like no other bingo experience.  That was easy for us since we had no other – but then this was not even like any we had heard about.  Interspersed with the regular games we paid additional dollars for the “specials” for the really big prizes like air tickets and cash. One game was played as stand up Bingo.  We all started standing and only sat when we had covered a tile on all our cards. The winner was the player left standing – with none of her tiles covered. The two-hour show ended with a black out game.  Our big moment came earlier when Steve had a bingo, but sadly there were three others at the same time and he did not win the tie breaker.  He did get a t-shirt that was worth more than we donated! The evening was a huge success for us as we made friends with local cruisers and enjoyed a unique Block Island tradition.

getting his prize

The next night we met Bingo buddies, Bonnie and Austin at the Blues on Block free beach concert.  While listening to the country music they continued to educate us on fun cruising destinations in the area and generally provided an experienced perspective for us southerners.  It is easy to see why folks we met have visited 40+ years in a row.

like their sense of humor here too