The Cove is shown in the SW corner of the chart in the last post, the one about Bristol. We sailed the 3.5 miles under genoa alone on two very broad reaches in about an hour with only one gybe. We were on port tack heading south out of Bristol and starboard going west to the Cove. The cruising guide warns that there is a $100 fine for using a mooring without authorization, a markedly unfriendly attitude compared to most places. There are about 40 moorings, only two of which was occupied and sufficient room for us and many others to anchor. In the morning the Cove was glassy, north, south, east and west.
The first four picks are from I
LENE, with the fourth showing the beachy spit that protects the cove, except from Southeasterlies. And the last of the five shows our dink at the dock with I
LENE in the background. A big place. But the dock has a sign threatening fines if you stay more than 10 minutes. I don't recall there being such an unwelcoming attitude when the Harlem put in here 20 years ago. Lene went back to I
LENE for some "alone time" while I walked about 2.5 miles south, exploring the island.
My first time here was on the USS Hammerberg; we loaded ammo from the munitions depot at the island's southern tip after a long period in the shipyard. We were on the long pier and each man carried one three inch diameter shell from the depot to our magazines. (The depot is now a nature sanctuary as is much of the island.) From the loading process Hammerberg set directly out to sea -- into a hurricane -- before we had gotten our sea legs. So I cannot say that I have "never" suffered a bout of "mal de mar".
I saw three deer -- big females -- who saw me and crashed off into the woods. I heard birds singing. I was passed by four trucks before I reached the town. The two lane road has a name but no road signs tell that name and it is not paved, but well graded. Various named trails led off from the main road, but to where? So I did not explore them.
Wildflowers abound at its sides. The island's population is less than 100 in winter, several times that in summer. No real stores so one has to bring one's own.
The folks here are into fishing. Here clamming:
The island is about six miles long and looks to be between 1.1 miles wide in the fat southern part to only .25 miles wide at its throat, the isthmus connecting the north and south. But in fact this isthmus is cut by salt marshes from both sides, and has only a hundred yards of solid land.
One reality I had never thought of before my little walk was how central Prudence Island is to Narragansett Bay. You can see so many of the places we have been or will be, including Bristol, Providence and Quonset Point from across the salt marshes.
Folks here are really into their island:
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