5.6 mi / 8.7 mph / 264 ft. climbing
Home: Hope’s AirBNB

Two months ago I’d never even heard of Block Island. Martha’s Vineyard? Yes. Nantucket? Of course, I’ve heard dirty limericks. But who knew Rhode Island had its own offshore vacation spot to compete with Massachusetts? It was only when I started considering a ferry-focused route through New England that I noticed an extra dot in the water out past the tip of Long Island, and saw that it can be used as a stepping stone to ferry-hop from Rhode Island to Long Island. Since that discovery, almost every opinion we’ve heard of Block Island has been high praise (especially when compared with Martha’s Vineyard), so we’re now looking at it as more than just an unlikely transit hub.

The ferry terminal was less than two miles from the campground, and, unusually, our boat was just sitting there even though we were the required 45 minutes early. More unusually we were allowed to immediately roll aboard. This was another big vehicle ferry, but still, like the Martha’s Vineyard passenger ferry, the workers took our bikes from us and positioned them on our behalf. Right next to us was the “fast”, passenger-only ferry (vs. our “traditional”). Percentage-wise, their 30 minutes vs. our 55 is pretty significant, but I’m not sure who the people are who decide that the 25-minute absolute difference is worth more than twice the price.

Block Island is significantly smaller than Martha’s Vineyard, and only has a single “town”, New Shoreham. Our attempt to find a supposed food truck in town failed, but we ended up at a free petting zoo instead, where there were many more animals than people to see them. Already we could feel the much quieter atmosphere of Block Island.

We ended up going to a low-key burger joint for lunch, one where locals were eating at the one indoor table, while we watched the harbor from our outdoor table. We then walked our bikes through most of “downtown”. I already felt more relaxed than I had at any time on Martha’s Vineyard, though the huge lots full of bikes and mopeds for rent indicated that it could be a different story here in August, or maybe even on a weekend vs. our quiet Tuesday.

One downside of the small size, however, is the single grocery store’s monopoly allows it to charge pretty insane prices. $16 for a pound of bacon! We continued on to a fish market for our final dinner ingredients, only to frown at their sign saying they’re closed for the season (as of two days ago). That’s a downside to end-of-season travel, though not enough to outweight the upsides. We backtracked to the grocery store, and found that it had barely any seafood for sale itself, and certainly nothing local. A complete inability to acquire seafood is not what we expected on this New England island! Were we going to have to find some dude with a boat to take us out to catch our own? Luckily Rett talked to a local, who pointed out the guy to ask at the deli counter, and he in fact found frozen scallop pieces in the back. Phew, recipe saved! And for a lower per-pound price than the bacon!

Our AirBNB is just about in the center of the island, less than two miles from town. From our above-the-garage room in the hilltop house we could see the ocean out of one window and the sunset out of the other. At least we’re getting a decent value for all the money we’re spending!

Day 2

On our last day, the ferry to Long Island leaves at 5pm, and we need to check out of our AirBNB by 10am, so that will allow a full day of exploration on getaway day. We think only one additional day will be necessary for us to see the entirety of the island, so that meant today could be an off-day, and a way to maximize the usage of our expensive place!