Preparing to Depart from Bristol, Rhode Island

[Maryanne]Yikes, suddenly it was days away; we were leaving, and there was still too much not yet done… It’s amazing how time can pass with a few basic chores, and good company to keep you occupied.

The immediate priority was to be sure the boat was prepared for 10 days away from any provisioning. Our next passage south would only take a few days, but we’d do it slowly, and gunk-hole along the way, making the most of weather windows. So I’d need provisions for 10 days (minimum). Suddenly I had to switch my mind into a planning mode that has decayed from lack of use over the summer. Kyle always laughs that I have enough food aboard for 6 months even before I set foot in the grocery store, but I like to have fresh fruit and veggies, and options, and I also like a big enough variety that I can experiment and dabble with food dishes as the mood takes me.

Lynn and Robin again came to my aid. Along with farmers' markets for fresh local veggies, I was whisked to a warehouse/bulk store (BJs) where I was able to source a year’s supply of such things as giant bottles of Tabasco not normally found in standard supermarkets (along with several $100’s of other items). I even manage to pick up a major off-shore flare kit that I'd been attempting to acquire for some months. I find it hard to rationalize how excited I can get at finding a well-stocked normal supermarket, let alone a warehouse store. The secret, I find, is getting it all stowed away before Kyle realizes just how much I have purchased (much easier than explaining why we need it, and him eventually accepting we do indeed, but worrying the boat may sink). Transferring that kind of shopping expedition from car to dinghy, to boat is quite a workout too.

Transporting, loading and unloading the dinghy - so much easier on a nice calm day!

Eventually I had a plan for groceries, laundry, etc, and realized that I did indeed have time to spare, and the weather actually cooperated too – a day in Bristol to do what I should have done much earlier in our stay – the Herreshoff Museum.

Herreshoff Museum

Non racing-sailors may not have come across the Herreshoff family, but they were boat building legends. An impressive pair of brothers (one blind) who designed and built a rash of sleek, fast, boats at the time when money was no object (row, sail and steam power); including 8 consecutive winning defenders of the highly competitive America’s cup (from 1893 to 1934). They even designed and patented America’s first sailing catamaran in 1876/1877. And they had done all this in Bristol, those very boats launched from a yard in view from our anchored Begonia. The museum houses a host of boats (large and small), a photo time line of the America’s cup story, and a couple of films depicting the boat building history and the America’s cup race history. (Oh, and I also learned that Herreshoff is pronounced Herrers-off, no ‘sh’ sound in there!).

Within Bristol itself, I took time for a last wander around the local stores, have tea in some of the cute little coffee shops, a few more restaurants, and generally enjoy the working waterfront. It is a great little town and I was happy to have spent time there.

[Kyle]For my last “weekend”, which was really just one afternoon and the next morning, we made a point of having a big lunch with Andy, Robin and Lynn at a nice waterfront restaurant. Andy and Robin were in the last stages of replacing one of Sotitio’s digital engine controllers, so they went back home to finish up and Maryanne and I had one last stroll around Bristol.

[Kyle]Bristol is not that big, so we arrived at Sotito to see the last of the day’s work. Sotito’s floorboards were up. Robin was sitting on one of the big engines with a manual and Andy was doing the wrench turning even farther down. Everything was looking good. One of my favorite things about the scene was the juxtaposition of Robins toenail polish with the fuel filters in between. That’s a sure sign of a real catch if I’ve ever seen one.

[Kyle]In no time, Sotito was back in entertainment mode and we were having one last evening aboard before moving on. We ate so much! Robin made one of her delicious dinners, then we had the last of the chowdah from The Black Pearl, then we had dessert, then we had drinks (okay, we were doing that all along). After that, it was time for big, bear hugs all around and wishes of Bon Voyage.

A few 'just in time' fixes and Sotito departs Bristol

[Maryanne]We dined with our friends and said our farewells. It was especially hard to say farewell to Sotito, and to Robin in particular who has become such a wonderful companion. Sotito left Bristol a few days before Begonia, and I was able to join with Lynn at the dock to wave them off on their trip back to Weehawken. They sweetened the departure by offering me use of their car for my final chores – a very nice sweetener indeed.

[Kyle]After work, I got the treat of being picked up from the Providence airport by Maryanne in Robin’s powder blue Thunderbird, which she had left behind until there was a convenient time for Lynn to drive it to Weehawken. It was a beautiful day and Maryanne had the top down, and we drove back to Bristol Marina through the beautiful Colt State Park. My life is odd. Sometimes I feel like a homeless waif, spending my time transiting between work and home on foot and through dodgy bus stations. Suddenly, I’m in a convertible on a sunny day. It reminded me of our wedding day, when Carlos lent us his little blue convertible for the trip to our hotel.

Two Cute Blue convertibles that we've been lucky enough to enjoy - thanks folks!

Exploring Rhode Island without Kyle

[Maryanne]In Bristol itself there remain a host of tourist sights I’ve ignored to date but hope to squeeze in before I leave. I did manage to visit Lindon Place, an 1810 mansion in the center of Bristol. It describes itself as the “crown jewel” of Bristol; I’m not so sure about that but it did seem a nice place for a wedding, and was a pleasant distraction for an hour on a sunny day. It has hosted at least four US presidents and has a chandelier in the dining room believed to be originally from Buckingham Palace.

Bristol also has a great library: the Rogers Free Library (with plenty of summer fun activities for kids that I would have loved to join in with; so ageist!)

On the water there are so many pretty coves, and places to stop, swim, relax, but Newport is by far my favorite; there is plenty to do, but also plenty going on if you just sit and watch.

Newport waterfront scenes

I did take a solo trip to Newport, primarily to visit the Museum of Yachting, and walked (voluntarily) 3.5 miles to visit it from the town bus station. Unfortunately this was only to discover the museum had moved. I must have passed by it around mile 1 (oh, well, the exercise won’t do me any harm, but I lost the incentive to seek out the museum after that.). I also ended up walking nearly all the way back (but that is just due to my stubbornness and stupidity, and wanting to walk by some of its famed mansions one more time).

As a respite during all that exercise I did force myself to stop off at Gary’s Handy Lunch diner while in Newport – Oh boy, it’s a classic and I love it (established 1967). They serve simple food at crazy low prices, the décor is retro diner (probably original, but definitely clean and in good order), and the service is FANTASTIC.

A random Dog bar (on one of the wharfs), and scenes from the great Gary's

I am a huge fan of the American Diner scene, and actively seek them out as we travel about America. I did drag Kyle to the diner in Bristol. I didn’t match up to Gary’s, but had it’s own special kind of grumpy, grimy charm (that will make it a one time only visit).

I joined Kyle on one of his his commutes to work, for the bus ride into Providence. I had imagined I’d be a tourist in Providence once Kyle took the train on to Boston, but the weather was questionable so I spent most of my time in the mall (so unlike me) and hidden away in the warm, dry cinema for a movie treat. There was some sunshine while I was there, and I walked along the canal to discover not only a gondola service, but also to find it full of wedding parties snapping photos during a brief spell of sunshine – a happy walk.

Providence Canals with unexpected gondola

Yet again the presence of Sotito is ensuring that we have way more fun that we should expect (the chore list is definitely growing with Sotito as such a wonderful attraction and distraction). I joined them in Newport (along with a new selection of their wonderful friends) – only to experience yet more stunning views and enertainment from her decks (and, of course, more great food). For this visit it was the Jazz festival that dominated the town. Although we had a mooring in the harbor we spent a great few hours anchored right off the fort where the festival sound system seemed to be perfectly setup for us, and there was even a giant screen projecting close-ups of the stage performers; SUPERB!

Great views, Great company and food, and the odd totally unexplainable sighting

Back at the mooring we relaxed and awaited the sunset. As we were assembled on the bow a row boat, with a team of 10 people rowing and a coxswain to coordinate, approached and passed us, they were having fun (their rowing was not that coordinated, so it was great to hear them laughing). They would occasionally just jump in the water to cool off, and they would take plenty of rest breaks. One of the guys just swam up to Sotito to chat with us at the bow and found a place to relax on our mooring can. A big seagull, a seal, a cockroach – there were plenty of friendly nicknames bandied around and when they all climbed back aboard and rowed away it was with a farewell of “Sotito – Salute!”.

The row boat "Savage" entertains us for a while in Newport

We’ll be leaving Bristol shortly and I need to really address some of the items on my growing chore list. However the weather is great, there is still a host of attractions I’ve yet to enjoy; I feel my list will only grow.

To Newport (during the Folk Festival)

[Kyle]The next weekend was the Newport Folk Festival. Sotito was keen to go and invited Maryanne and me to come along. Since the winds were forecast to be favorable both ways, we decided instead to take Begonia down and meet up with them. That way, they’d have more room for their other visitors and they wouldn’t have to modify their plans to accommodate my commute to work.

We had intended to have dinner ashore in Bristol the night before setting off, but then the sky opened up and none of us felt like a wet, miserable dinghy ride across the harbor. Instead, we stayed aboard and had dinner at one of the best restaurants in the area: Sotito.

We went home during a break in the rain, but it resumed soon afterward and we spent the rest of the night sleeping fitfully, listening to the rain pelt the cabin top, and hoping it would be done by morning.

It wasn’t. We stalled around a bit with inside jobs, but the rain kept coming. It was hard to get motivated. The wind was just perfect, though. We reminded ourselves that we were offshore sailors, dammit. We had all of the gear, so we put it on and went out for a sail in the rain.

It was great! We left early hoping Sotito would leave well after us so they could pass us along the way. We would each then be able to get photos of the other boat underway. In fact, we left even earlier than planned and the wind was great. We decided to use the extra time to go to Newport the long way. Instead of the 11-mile direct route, when we left Bristol, we tacked up the Providence River, rounded the northern end of Prudence Island, sailed down the West Passage into Rhode Island Sound Then we re-entered Newport from sea. Our route ended up being about 35 miles, almost all of it fun, fast sailing.

Along route we kept tabs on one another by texting screen shots back and forth of our respective positions on our navigation apps. Today's technology really is amazing. It took all of the ambiguity out of just saying we were in such and such channel kinda by this buoy or the other.

As Begonia reached Rhode Island Sound, it was looking like it was going to be a pretty close race to see who would get to Newport first. We seemed to have a slight advantage, so we planned to tack up the channel until intercepting Sotito, take photos, and then turn downwind to follow them in.

When we got into the wind shadow of Conanicut Island, we slowed way down. A storm came overhead and gave us one last, windless dumping. We spotted Sotito in the distance racing into Newport at the leading edge of the rain.

When we entered Newport Harbor, it was clearing up. We searched for a place to anchor, but the harbor was pretty full for the festival. All of the boats in the main anchorage had out two anchors to limit their swing and allow more boats to fit in and enjoy the festival.

If we were staying longer, we would have gone to the trouble, but two anchors is at least four times the work both to deploy and to retrieve. Maryanne called around and eventually found someone who had an available mooring for a boat of Begonia’s size.

{Maryanne: Safely at a mooring and with marginal weather, it was time to set to work on the engines - both engines needed an exhaust elbow replaced - it was NOT a fun job. Poor Kyle got stuck into the tight workspace and got on with it... I read a book, made some comfort food, and encouraged him temporarily put his tools down and to poke his head out in time to see the amazing sunset.}

Critical engine work makes it hard to enjoy the surroundings

Since the weather was still pretty gloomy, our engine work had run late, and it had been a long day, we called it a night. In the morning, Andy and Robin picked us up in Sotito’s dinghy for the trip to their boat. Robin’s son Chris was also there, along with a couple of his friends and we were to meet up ashore later with her young grandson, Connor.

We all piled into a launch and headed ashore. We split up, Maryanne, Robin and my first stop was a waterfront bar that was in a building where the big commercial fishing boats used to unload their catch. We knew this because Robin had worked on one of the big boats and they used to unload their catch in this very warehouse. She had lots of good memories about it and was able to describe how different it had all been back then and which things they kept the same.

A trip ashore with Robin, and drinks at the Aquidneck Lobster Co.

At the bar, there was an intriguing looking glass jug with a bunch of pineapple floating in it. Maryanne asked the bartender and he said it was vodka. We all wanted a taste, but it seemed a bit early for vodka, so he offered to give us a little taster shot to go with the ordinary beers we ordered as time-passers. The vodka was good, but we all agreed it was a bit strong to be getting a full-sized glass of it.

We finished our beers and headed out for a late lunch. I stopped to use the restroom on the way out, and when I emerged, nobody I recognized was in sight. I figured they must be making use of the facilities as well. I waited seven minutes and was still all by myself. I figured they must’ve thought I went ahead and left, so I went to try to catch up with them. By then, I was feeling much tipsier than I should have been after only 1¼ drinks. I staggered into the tourist crowds in a fog feeling somewhat anxious. The shorts I was wearing didn’t have good pockets, so Maryanne was carrying my phone and my wallet.

The only thing I had going for me was that Robin had pointed out the lunch place as we walked by it before so I knew where they were going. I went in and there was no sign of them. Uh, oh.

I went back outside and there they were. They had been in the office at the warehouse, seen me the whole time and decided to follow me when I wandered off. Sheesh!

We had a quick lunch of clam chowder. Wow! So far, the best New England clam chowder I’ve ever had in my life was from Fisherman’s Grotto in Monterey, California. Yes, California. That stuff is amazing! I have been all up and down the east coast since then. I’ve had lots of good chowdah, but none of them has been close. This stuff – the stuff at The Black Pearl in Newport – is really close. It’s been so long since I’ve been to The Fisherman’s Grotto that I can’t definitively say which is better, but they’re really close. I’ll have to go back to Monterey to check. At any rate, the chowdah at The Black Pearl is definitely worth a hundred-mile detour to get. We got a hot quart to eat then and there and a frozen one to take home for later. Nobody should leave The Black Pearl without at least two take-home quarts.

Excellent chowder at the renowned (and ancient) Black Pearl - yummy!

With full bellies and our heads clearing rapidly, we decided to spend the nice day wandering around the town while Robin went to collect her grandson. Along the way, I actually shopped for things: A nice shirt and two pair of trousers made out of lightweight, quick drying cruiser-friendly fabric.

{Maryanne: During our tour of Thames street (pronounced Thaimes, a strong 'th' and an aimes), I was especially taken by a pair of entrepreneurial young ladies selling Lemonade - just SO American, I love it. I also managed to pick up a whole bunch of new books to devour from the beautiful Maritime Center - a great resource for visiting boaters with showers, laundry, etc}

No sooner had I bought the pants, than I lost the shirt. I knew I shouldn’t shop. That was the most expensive thing. Maryanne conducted a heroic phone search and was able to get reunited with it three days later. Time to head back to Sotito.

We spent most of the rest of the afternoon swimming and talking. At one point, Andy got restless, so I joined him in the dinghy to go check out the Folk Festival. It wasn’t the festival, per se that was entertaining, but the enormous collection of overloaded, rafted up boats anchored nearby, their decks covered with people dancing and having fun. On the way back, we saw a guy crossing the main channel on a paddleboard, going right through the boat traffic. What was he thinking?

Dinner came with a show. Sotito was right at the edge of the main traffic lane, so all of the pretty boats in the harbor came right past us while we ate, talked and watched the sun go down.

Sailboats and Sunsets - The best of Newport

It was a few hours later that it came time for us to go home. Robin was going to take us and then pick us up in the morning when Andy suggested we just take the dinghy ourselves and bring it back in the morning. Sotito’s dinghy is a RIB with a 60hp motor (i.e. their dinghy is more powerful than our 2 main boat engines combined). We were home in no time.

We were up early for Sunday breakfast at the Fisherman’s Church Institute. The institute was designed to serve seafarers of all kinds. They have showers, laundry, rooms and a kitchen that serves a full breakfast on Sunday. Well, They used to serve a full breakfast. We didn’t know that. The full breakfast of the past has been pared down to a pick-up-your-order-at-the-counter breakfast, which is eaten in the main dining room. It wasn’t the experience we were hoping for, but it was a good, cheap breakfast. Also we took the time to explore the facilities. The 'church' part is a beautifully painted room, very peaceful, an there is also a fantastic library (and even accommodation available).

After breakfast it was time to get launches to our respective boats in order to get off of the moorings by checkout time. Sotito takes less to get going and she was gone by the time we unzipped Begonia’s sail cover.

We tacked through the Newport Bridge before we were becalmed at the big ship anchorage. The lull was short-lived, though, and we were soon headed north in a building wind.

Great skies and great sailing home.

Bristol appeared much too quickly. I was tempted to pass by and enjoy fine sailing to a new place, but I needed to be up for work in the wee hours, so we pulled down the sails and we anchored in our old spot. The nice weather of the day before left and it started to rain again. Perhaps we stopped at the right time after all. Once again, and perhaps not surprisingly, Sotito beat us home.