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Columnists

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...
Solstice

Martha Ball

Fri, Jun 24

Category:

News, Island Notes

Today the summer solstice and the full moon coincide, the headlines declare, an event that has not occurred since 1948. Or 1967. Or 1986. It is one of those black holes of Man v. Nature into which I too easily and too often tumble. It is like the calendar, an attempt by man to define...
A case of gender identity

Zoe Estrin-Grele

Fri, Jun 17

Category:

Loose ends

Transgender. It's like a dirty word to a lot of people these days. With all the hullabaloo in South Carolina about who's allowed in what bathroom, the issue has suddenly jumped to the front of popular consciousness. Unfortunately, it seems that education and understanding about the issue is pretty...
On the good ship Currituck

Martha Ball

Fri, Jun 17

Category:

Island Notes

There is something good about hitting one of those “big” birthdays. When the glimmer of an opportunity to go out on the Currituck , the funky dredge with the familiar profile, that has been clearing our harbor channels for years, hit my peripheral vision, I leapt at it. I was at the dock...
Small bass with every cast

Sol Schwartz

Sat, Jun 11

Category:

Fishing Report

The fish are definitely here. The last two weeks we have seen a huge increase in bait around the island, which in turn has brought in the fish. Squid are in New Harbor, but for the most part they are still fairly small. The warming temperatures are most likely the cause for the recent upswing, and...
Green leaves and wavy glass

Martha Ball

Fri, Jun 10

Category:

Island Notes

The season has peaked. The lilacs have turned brown and sere, their glory gone for another year, and tall grass hiding one side of the ever-narrowing lane behind my house is bending under the weight of seed. It is worse, even, at the gate, the turn off Mansion onto my road, a near tunnel these days...
Sports banquet honors student athletes

Cassius Shuman

Fri, Jun 3

Category:

News, Inactive Columns

Student athletes, coaches, and family members packed into Winfield’s Restaurant on Tuesday night, May 31, for the Block Island School’s Annual Sports Banquet. Athletic Director Rob Closter told the crowd of 50 that coaches provide teachable moments that will be remembered by the student athletes...
Fishing Report

Get your fluke on!

Christopher Willi

Fri, Jun 3

Category:

Fishing Report

This week’s report sees the season heating up from the shore, with schoolies to low end-keeper sized bass making things fun for the surf casters. The west and southwest sides of the island are producing most consistently, both for me personally, and from reports we are receiving from night owl...
Words to Remember

Martha Ball

Fri, Jun 3

Category:

Opinion, Island Notes

It is Memorial Day on Block Island, a gray Monday, rainy then foggy then hopeful and back to some form of dampness in the air. It is only by the surfaces of the puddles that I can be certain if there is real precipitation falling from the sky or only the heavy mist that feels like rain on the skin...
The Garden Report: The value of a rain garden

Renée Meyer

Fri, May 27

Category:

Gardening Report

You may have heard the term, but what exactly is a rain garden? After a presentation by Lorraine Joubert of the University of Rhode Island Cooperative Extension Service on storm water runoff, my takeaway was that it is a glorified name for a ditch. Storm water runoff was the subject of a joint...
Trips Abroad: Lathrop Insurance

Michael Schroeder

Fri, May 27

Category:

Trips Abroad

“We love Block Island.” John Lathrop, the owner of Lathrop Insurance Agency in Westerly, is effusive in his praise after years of dealing with island residents and business owners. It all started back in the early ‘70s, when Adrian “Tiny” Sprague and his wife, Barbara, called John’s father about a...
We are all stakeholders

Martha Ball

Fri, May 27

Category:

Island Notes

This coming Saturday, May 28, the newly refurbished 1876 Captain Noah Dodge House, more commonly known since the 1950s as the Doctor’s House, will be open to the public for two hours, from 2 to 4 p.m. It stands as more than a mere renovation of an historic building. The word “murmuration” seems...
Time to fish!

Sol Schwartz

Fri, May 27

Category:

Fishing Report

Hello everyone! The time of year is upon us when we’ve put away the snow shovels and bring out the fishing gear. Some of the more dedicated fishermen have already been at it for weeks, but if you’re just getting back into it, you haven’t missed too much yet. It’s important to have your gear working...
It's go time

Capt. Chris Willi & Capt. Hank Hewitt

Fri, May 20

Category:

Fishing Report

We are extremely pleased to finally report striped bass being caught from the island shores. Once the east winds subsided and the south and west winds arrived, so too did the stripers. The ‘first fish’ honors go to Ricky ‘The Phantom’ Hall who landed the first reported striped bass last Wednesday...
Amazon on the Neck

Martha Ball

Fri, May 20

Category:

Island Notes

Nature in May is dauntless. Spring has waited too long, it is not going to be off-put by cool days and cooler nights. The maple outside the kitchen window, grown from a wind-tossed seed, has unfurled new leaves, red-tinged green. “Amazon on the Neck,” I think, and wonder how many places there are...

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Island Buzz

2013 Subaru Outback

Posted By

- Private group -

1/17

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Coming to or from the island, staying for pleasure or business, visiting the local lighthouses or learning to surf, you’ll...

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