Cruising Close to Home

In Rhode Island where I live, the governor, Gina Ramundo, has done a good job leading the state through the pandemic and has been pretty strict about people from other states or other countries having to quarantine for 14 days if they come to visit. That also applies to people on their boats. In Newport, Block Island and other ports, if you sail in from another state or country you have to quarantine. How long this edict will be in place is anybody’s guess but its beginning to feel like this crackdown may well be with us through the summer.
What to do about summer sailing plans? For us, it means cruising close to home, very close. The nearby famous islands of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket are favorite destinations as are the Elizabeth Islands and Buzzard’s Bay. But these are all in Massachusetts so if we cruise there we’ll have to quarantine when we get home. Umm. Heading west from Newport, we often sail into Long Island Sound…but that’s Connecticut and the dreaded center of the pandemic, New York. Same problem but worse.
So, it looks like Narragansett Bay and the Sakonnet River will be our sailing grounds this summer. There’s the charming old town of Bristol and the Herreshoff Museum, hopefully open. There’s the village of Wickford where there’s a great ice cream shop, hopefully open. There’s Mackerel Cove,  Dutch Harbor, Third Beach, Fogland and the Kickemuit River for secluded and quiet anchorages away from town. And, there’s always Newport, which is an awesome sailing town in its own right. Five miles will be a long day sail but at least we’ll be sailing and cruising and getting reacquainted with our home waters.
What about you? If you want to share your summer-of-the-pandemic sailing plans, email me at george@bwsailing.com.
Stay and healthy.