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Columnists
Surrounded by the Sea
Martha Ball
Fri, Nov 18
Category:
Island Notes
We live surrounded by the sea, we hear the sound of it in the dark and feel its dampness on the raw east wind. We smell it when it is filled with sea weed and roiled by a storm passing off to the east, we taste it on our skin when we walk too close to its salty mist. We see more or less of it...
Schoolies
Sol Schwartz
Sat, Nov 12
Category:
Fishing Report
There are a lot of bass out there, folks. The gradual drop in water temperatures has slowed the anticipated arrival of big fish, but there are a
lot
of schoolies all around the island right now. You should definitely get out there and catch some. Squid fishing has been unbelievable lately...
Bruuuuuuce!
J.V. Houlihan Jr.
Fri, Nov 11
Category:
The Ferry Dock Scribbler
“I saw this guy last night at the
Bottom Line
in New York City, and he was
powerful
; never saw anything like him.” These words were spoken by a drummer I once met at Crescent Beach. It was August in ’75. I had a few hours of slack time while working on the
Quonset,
so...
Such great hope
Martha Ball
Fri, Nov 11
Category:
Island Notes
The morning dawned bright after a long dark night, the sky and sea spread with the same rose gold, a vibrant and hopeful color reflected in the flat calm surface of the big pond behind my house, emerged in early November from its cover of summer greenery. I wondered at it for a bit, even thought of...
Bells
Martha Ball
Fri, Nov 4
Category:
Island Notes
W e are in that time in the fall when first morning sun is still too far to the east to spill through the south-facing kitchen windows and provide that flood of sunlight that is the saving grace of those cold winter days when it is warmer when I come downstairs than it is in early November. By noon...
Fall fishing is great!
Sol Schwartz
Fri, Oct 28
Category:
Fishing Report
What a beautiful week for fishing! Perfect fall weather has given anglers plenty of opportunities to go out for the big one. Typically, this is the time of year when we start to see huge numbers of squid showing up in the harbors. There are also large amounts of other bait around the island keeping...
117 and counting
Martha Ball
Fri, Oct 28
Category:
Island Notes
T oday, it is likely more people know — or have some vague familiarity with — the quote “justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream” from the extraordinary speech delivered by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in Washington DC on a hot summer day more than 50 years ago, than from...
Notes on Sailing
J. V. Houlihan, Jr.
Fri, Oct 21
Category:
Columnists
,
The Ferry Dock Scribbler
When a sailboat is moving through the water with a perfectly balanced helm, and all of the parts of the elements of the boat’s design are doing what they are supposed to be doing there is a feeling of balance — it’s a powerful and visceral thing to experience. Synergy by definition: “Is the...
October's Offering
Martha Ball
Fri, Oct 21
Category:
Columnists
,
Island Notes
It is one of those October days that is the reminder that comes every year and every year comes as a blessing. These are days — I am sure I have written other Octobers — of miracle and wonder. By week's end we will have slipped into the darkening world of sunrises after 7 a.m. and sunsets before 6...
Still Time
Capt. Chris Willi and Capt. Hank Hewitt
Sat, Oct 15
Category:
Fishing Report
The report from the beach is still decent for striped bass, with a good numbers of schoolies all around the island and in the harbors. Most fish have been taken on topwater and with metal-lipped Danny-style plugs. Unfortunately, there are a good number of seals coming in, which doesn’t help fishing...
Diver down
J.V. Houlihan Jr.
Fri, Oct 14
Category:
The Ferry Dock Scribbler
“I had a mask on me when I was three years old,” says Dave Robinson. “I love being under water.” Robinson is a scientist at the University of Rhode Island Graduate School of Oceanography. Many years ago, while a student at Narragansett High School, he and a friend became certified scuba divers and...
Storms of Autumn
Martha Ball
Fri, Oct 14
Category:
Island Notes
Three years ago, Autumn was a fluffy puppy and I was acutely attuned to the weather, or more precisely, to the possibility of rain that had not fallen for nearly a month. It stayed warm and dry, open door weather deep into October, even as the inevitable darkness strengthened and with it that sense...
Fallen Butterfly
Martha Ball
Sun, Oct 9
Category:
Island Notes
F or a moment it seemed as though Autumn, my sweet golden dog, had finally come to the realization that the vacuum cleaner is not a beast with its own mind and energies, one bound and determined to attack her. At some point in her growing and shedding youth, I merely pushed it to the side of the...
Striped bass prizes
Sol Schwartz
Sat, Oct 8
Category:
Fishing Report
Water temperatures around the island are finally starting to drop. After this last week’s northeast blow, along with cooler nights, we are definitely set for fall fishing. I’ve noticed the squid in both harbors are a little bit bigger lately, as well as an increased amount of small baitfish such as...
Fall run has begun
Capt. Chris Willi and Capt. Hank Hewitt
Sat, Oct 1
Category:
Fishing Report
Now that we are into October, we are happy to report there is a solid presence of a wide variety of fish in the waters around Block Island. Starting with the beach and surf, stripers and blues are busting on large surface plugs during the light change at sunrise and sunset on both the east side and...
Block Island Beach Cleanup: There is always more to do
Kim Gaffett
Sat, Sep 24
Category:
Ocean Views
International Coastal Cleanup (ICC) is a 30-year project of the Ocean Conservancy that collects information about ocean and shoreline debris from around the world. In 2015, about 18 million pounds of trash was collected by 800,000 volunteers around the globe. The Ocean Conservancy uses the...
Fish at the Channel? Albie there!
Sol Schwartz
Fri, Sep 23
Category:
Fishing Report
S eptember fishing on Block Island can be so rewarding and diverse. The cool nights and warm days make fishing for all different species much better. During the day, if you are anywhere near the Great Salt Pond, you’ll see boaters and surf casters alike chasing the bonito and false albacore (albies...
Autumn Gold
Martha Ball
Fri, Sep 23
Category:
Island Notes
One poor pair of socks wasn’t quite dry when I brought laundry in some time last week. “Tomorrow,” I thought, knowing I’d likely forget. They are there yet, two socks made of material that cannot fade in the sun or be harmed by rounds of heavy rain. My yard is a jungle. At first I try to tell...
Reflections on a delinquent past
Gloria S. Redlich
Sat, Sep 17
Category:
Inactive Columns
Though most of my life has been lived on the straight and narrow, the time has come for me to confess that I have had something of a checkered past. (“And it all has to do with books,” He-Who-shares-everything-with-me blurts out.) As most of my friends know, I have something of a book obsession,...
The little tunny
Capt. Chris Willi
Fri, Sep 16
Category:
Fishing Report
To kick off this week’s report, I’m pleased to report the arrival of false albacore (
Euthynnus alletteratus
) or little tunny. The bonito caught on the leading edge of Tropical Storm Hermine have seemed to move out, being replaced by false albacore showing from the Coast Guard Channel and...
Softer Season
Martha Ball
Fri, Sep 16
Category:
Island Notes
Fifteen years it has been since the towers fell. The sky is as beautiful as it was that terrible week, the blue it so often is in September. It is more the norm than not, cyclical, as is so much in nature, this azure that often returns, a repeat of what we could only call “insidious,” as it was cut...
Hermine doesn't stop the fish
Sol Schwartz
Fri, Sep 9
Category:
Fishing Report
So a hurricane came through and showed its face... big deal! The fish are still swimming the Block Island waters. Being that it was a northeast wind that we had, it will be interesting to see what it does for the fishing these coming weeks. Since our water temps are still up and there is lots of...
So long, and thanks for all the fish
Zoe Estrin-Grele
Fri, Sep 9
Category:
Loose ends
I'm not great at saying goodbye. I never have been. I don't get emotional enough when it happens, so I sort of shut down and distance myself from the experience. I once had to break up with a boy because of "geographical differences" and the best goodbye I could manage when I moved was, "See you...
Storm Fatigue
Martha Ball
Fri, Sep 9
Category:
Island Notes
Suddenly, after days of ever-changing tropical storm advisories and screaming red banners on the weather sites, shifting from one to three to one to four days in length, even the fear-mongering ratings seekers have surrendered. All warnings and watches have been cancelled, the only tag remaining a...
Varieties of fish all over
Capt. Chris Willi and Capt. Hank Hewitt
Sat, Sep 3
Category:
Fishing Report
This week’s shore fishing report shows a slow pack of stripers coming up on the east side sand beaches. At the beginning of this week, however, an offshore swell had big waves pounding the east and south sides of the island. Keeper bass have been taken at night on the east beaches just outside the...
Standby
J. V. Houlihan, Jr
Fri, Sep 2
Category:
The Ferry Dock Scribbler
“Morning, I’d like to go on standby, what are my chances?” says the smiling customer. If you’re the guy or gal asking that question — in the summertime — you are speaking to Dave Martin, Bill Shepard, or me. It’s a loaded question filled with hope, anticipation, and veiled defeat. It’s a question...
Hat on a Hydrant
Martha Ball
Fri, Sep 2
Category:
Island Notes
There was a gentle breeze this morning, the east wind that blows harsh and heavy in the winter bringing a welcome cooling change in late August. The sun has come around, I realized a few days ago when my house was unseasonably warm, more than it had been, when I came home as afternoon wound to...
Monster blues
Sol Schwartz
Sat, Aug 27
Category:
Fishing Report
Late summer fishing on Block Island is a time for changes. Striped bass fishing begins its lull before the fall and we start looking out for other species to show up. When our waters reach their warmest, the bigger stripers typically stay in deeper waters until the temperature drops near the shore...
Tipping
Martha Ball
Fri, Aug 26
Category:
Island Notes
Yesterday, Monday, was not a good day on “my” corner in town. I went out the door of the gallery I tend just after noon, absolutely sure of the time as I was running close to the edge of being two hours parked in the little lot below the church, the green spot named not for the great-great...
Last week, this week
Martha Ball
Fri, Aug 19
Category:
Island Notes
It is August hot on Block Island, the weather cycle everyone seems to forget exists. I forgot, until several years ago, going back through August columns, I found a recurring thread of hot, muggy, foggy, damp, doors swollen by the moisture in the air, coming back from the morning beach dripping wet...
No bones about it
Capt. Chris Willi
Fri, Aug 19
Category:
Fishing Report
Starting off this week’s fishing report: the stripers are seen daily by bathers from Mansion Beach all the way into town, as far south as the Beachead Restaurant. Catching them during the day is quite tricky, but the best bet is with a fly rod and crab patterns — fished behind the breaking waves...
Royal Weed
Martha Ball
Fri, Aug 12
Category:
Island Notes
Today the sun shone and people thronged to the beach. There are but a few days a year traffic is so crazily busy on the Mansion Road, and the upper and lower lots are almost impassable for all the cars parked in whatever way they can fit. This was one of those days, I realized when part way to Corn...
The search for little tuna has begun
Sol Schwartz
Fri, Aug 12
Category:
Fishing Report
In the next few weeks, Block Island will see its highest water temperatures for the whole season. The warm water is definitely primed for baitfish, which in turn keeps the big fish around. Already, for the beginning of August, we are seeing great catches from both boat and shore. One thing to keep...
Fishing Report: It’s All Happening
Capt. Chris Willi and Capt. Hank
Fri, Aug 5
Category:
Fishing Report
The shore report this week stays strong with many of the surfcasters reporting stripers being caught around the island from dawn to dusk. The North Light, Scotch to Mansion Beach, Southeast Light, and Black Rock have all been producing fish. The Coast Guard Station still has large scup and small...
Day Is Done
Martha Ball
Fri, Aug 5
Category:
News
,
Island Notes
There is but a band of pink above a line of white clouds in the blue sky to the east, a remnant of the sunset, but it is after eight and it is August. The big high speed flies by, seeming to move faster than in full light, as though there is nothing left for it to do but zip back to the mainland...
Peaks and valleys
Sol Schwartz
Sat, Jul 30
Category:
Fishing Report
Mid-summer is when we see fishing around Block Island go into a peak and valley pattern. Certain days it’s red hot and everyone is catching, other days very few fish are caught. The upside is that more bait seem to be around from last year, so the fish are here. Shore fishing has been very good...
Summer Weekend
Martha Ball
Fri, Jul 29
Category:
Island Notes
The week preceding the fourth Saturday of July, the long-standing date of the Harbor Church Fair and Auction, is always one of conflicting schedules and heated humidity and time racing even faster than its usual summer pace. Friday night I was hot and tired and, knowing I had to be up especially...
Docks Redux, ramping up for the future
J.V. Houlihan, Jr.
Fri, Jul 29
Category:
The Ferry Dock Scribbler
After the cables and hook were attached to the boom, the crane lifted the gray slab of diamond plate steel. Then, the usual suspects, Josh Linda, John Tally, Gary Champlin, and Joel and Liam Kenneway guided the mass to the place where they could begin working. After the crane left, out came the...
Walk the Walls
Wed, Jul 27
Category:
Columnists
Come experience the topography of the agricultural fields that almost completely covered Block Island from the late 1600’s to the early 20th century. Meet at the corner of West Side Road and Old Mill Road. Co-sponsored by Block Island Conservancy and The Nature Conservancy.
Quality over quantity
Capt. Chris Willi and Capt. Hank
Fri, Jul 22
Category:
Fishing Report
This week’s fishing report sees the catching remaining good. From the beach, striped bass have filled in with both numbers and to a good size. For the heavy-duty surf caster, and wet suiter, the south and southeast sides of the island are producing numbers of teen class weight fish, with reports of...
Green Light Still Gone
Martha Ball
Fri, Jul 22
Category:
Island Notes
It is a lovely night, cool and still; the only sound when I lean out the open window is of crickets in the tall grass. The moon is big and round and white after climbing up from behind layers of clouds in the east. Autumn will surely arise, as she has been doing the past few nights, and rouse me...
School's out for summer!
Sol Schwartz
Fri, Jul 15
Category:
Fishing Report
It's a great time to be on Block Island! This week has seen some really successful numbers from both shore and boat. The mild temperatures have kept the water temperature at an even level, which has kept production at a good rate. A few days of strong east winds have dirtied up the waters a little...
Back in the 60s
Martha Ball
Fri, Jul 15
Category:
Island Notes
Sunday morning, listening to the latest terrible news, it seemed years since July 4th, then not even a full seven days past. This time the sensationalist headlines did not need padding to scream; it had been a week of bloodshed. I thought in passing it was feeling more and more like the 1960s. A...
Time to catch
Capt. Chris Willi & Capt. Hank Hewitt
Fri, Jul 8
Category:
Fishing Report
Starting off this week’s beach and surf report, we are pleased to say the bite on good-sized stripers is solid with good numbers as well. The venerable needlefish lure design, a legendary staple for Block Island surfcasters, has been the best producer over the latter part of last week. Some of the...
On the Other Side
Martha Ball
Fri, Jul 8
Category:
Island Notes
We’ve come out on the other side of another Fourth of July holiday, fallen on a Monday by coincidence this year. We became a Fourth of July “destination” long ago. The harbors begin filling with largely white boats jockeying for position days before the holiday. I watch the Salt Pond from the Neck...
Ladybugs & moths: A double hitter
Kim Gaffett
Fri, Jul 1
Category:
Ocean Views
Join Ocean View Foundation and Rhode Island Natural History Survey for two unique programs on Thursday, July 7 at 1 p.m., and again at 9 p.m., on Corn Neck Road near the trail to the Labyrinth. The Lost Ladybug The Rhode Island Natural History Survey wants help looking for ladybugs on Block Island...
Boomers and Bikes
J.V. Houlihan, Jr.
Fri, Jul 1
Category:
The Ferry Dock Scribbler
In 1972, I spent a summer in Arlington, Virginia and worked at National Airport ― I was a cook. I was staying near the Pentagon and would ride my Schwinn Varsity 10-speed to work at 6 a.m. It was a downhill scoot to the airport. After an eight-hour trick, I’d pedal home, play my guitar, take a...
Fishing report: Fish have arrived!
Sol Schwartz
Fri, Jul 1
Category:
Fishing Report
Happy summer, everyone! The good news along with the arrival of the summer is that the fish are here, as well. All of the common species of fish and bait have found their seasonal home and the boaters, as well as shore fishermen, are catching them up. From boat, eels are already being used for the...
Miles to go
Martha Ball
Fri, Jul 1
Category:
Island Notes
There are many more miles to go before anyone involved in the Deepwater Wind project sleeps, but major milestones have been reached. A week ago I was watching the progress of
Big Max
, the cable laying barge, creeping offshore, from the gap south of Clay Head to disappear behind the low...
A beach report
Capt. Chris Willi
Fri, Jun 24
Category:
Fishing Report
Steady and consistent striped bass action highlights this week’s beach and shore report. The past week, strong northwest winds made it pretty hard fishing, but those who put their time in at the surf zone found fish — most over 30 inches. Monday evening offered up solid bites of keeper-sized fish...
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Posted By
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3/27
Check out this weeks Nature Conservancy Schedule at https://www.nature.org
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Posted By
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3/27
Spring is officially here and we are ready to open for another great season here at Highland Farm. Our mulch is REAL BARK,...
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Island Religion
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