October 03, 2002 - Block Island: a perfect getawayThe Suffolk Times • October 3, 2002
Block Island:
a perfect
etawa
Times /Review photo by Paul Stoutenburgh
This great egret doesn't miss much as it stalks the marsh edges. We see It
most often in the spring and again In the fall as it passes through on Its
CAME FLY WITH 13ARBARA and me
out to Block Island. We had a fabulous
offer to fly out and stay on a boat for a
couple of days. Then to top it all off,
there would be a car at our disposal,
and a convertible at that. Now, no one
could refuse that offer. We
took off from.Mattituck
Airbase in a brisk southwest
wind. It reminded me of days FOCUS
gone by when in my youth I
flew out of there under the ON
GI Bill. NATURE
by Paul
Stoutenburgh
We no sooner were up in
the air than we took a long
sweeping turn to the left and
headed east, leaving the familiar
teardrop of Robins Island behind. All
along the way were familiar landmarks
now being seen from above: Nassau
Point, Paradise Point, Greenport,
Orient Harbor, Shelter Island with its
huge undeveloped preserve, Plum
Island, Fishers Island and, of course,
that gem of them all, Gardiners Island.
rrom ine air you couia reaauy see
how far out Montauk puts its nose into
the ocean in comparison to Orient
Point. It wasn't long after we passed
Montauk that way, way off in the dis-
tance, in the haze, we could see the
great cliffs of Block Island, our destina-
tion.
The trip was as smooth as sailing on
some calm airborne sea. It was a per-
fect day. We floated down to the long
east -west landing strip (a perfect
three - point. landing) 45 minutes from
Mattituck and we were on Block
Island. Our pilot now brought the car
up and proceeded to take us around
some of the back hills and roads of th
island. Everywhere boundaries were
lined with the island's famous stone
walls. What energies must have gone
into Bra ging the stones out of the
fields and then building the
walls.
The roadsides were lined
with goldenrod. We even
went.by a pasture that had
belted cows peacefully graz-
ing, reminding us of our own
belted Galloway back home.
They are an interesting
breed of cattle that originat-
ed m rugged highlands of Scotland
They have a double coat of fur, mak-
ing them a very hardy breed. They
need no protection from the cold and
can get by on submarginal land. I'm
told they rank second in hardiness to
the buffalo. The name belted cow
comes from the wide white belt that
circles the midsection of this otherwise
black animal. This is where they get
the comical name "Oreo cows."
After seeing a bit of the island, we
drove up to The Oar Restaurant that
overlooks New Harbor and had a
delightful lunch. My, how beautiful the
area is. Only a smattering of boats
were still moored among the many
empty buoys and pilings that told of a
busy harbor this past summer. The pil-
ings stood alone, as all the floating
docks had been taken away for winter
storage. We finished our leisurely
lunch and regretfully took our pilot
back to-his plane. He left, wings dip-
What we were
seeing was
nature in its
rawest, wildest'
feeding frenzy.
ping, as we waved goodbye, knowing
that one of our wonderful mini- adven-
tures had just begun.
We. now had the car to ourselves
and, like true vacationers, we took our
time and leisurely drove along the
winding roads, passing the many fresh-
water ponds that dot this windblown
island. (It's said there are 365 freshwa-
ter ponds.) We couldn't help taking
time to admire the lovely weathered
homes and little gentleman farms
along the way. We finally headed
toward our boat, where we would .
spend the night.. We found it snug and
comfortable. After we opened it up
and got our gear settled, we decided to
take a walk down to
Payne's dock and watch
the sun go down. This
being the off season, we
had the dock practically t
Out in the harbor was a
group of sailboats having
a race. We watched them
For a while and as the sun "�wne
itself in the west, we decided it was
time to head back to the boat. For an
hour or so we lounged about, watching
a perfect moon climb out of the sea to
flood the world with its wonder. When
we were thoroughly saturated with
moonglow, we went to bed and slept
with the gentle lapping of water on the
We awoke about 7 a.m. to a dew -
laden world, with screaming gulls and
the sound of thrashing fish just beyond
where we were docked. We couldn't
believe our ears and eyes. The water
was alive with tiny baitfish that were
being driven to the surface by raven-
ous fish below. As they charged
through the schools of milling bunkers,
we sometimes could see, for just a sec-
ond, their charging bodies half out of
the churning water.
Cormorants, those dark duck -like
birds with long necks and long bills,
were working like a panzer division
through the schools of what are called
"peanut bunkers." These are the little
one -inch, silver -sided bunkers or men-
haden that are part of the food chain
for the bigger fish that were now rav-
aeinp —the waten hound, And;a ry.>
without a pole. What we were
was nature in its rawest, wildest feed-
ing frenzy.
We got off the boat and walked ove
to where some young people were up
early trying to catch the fish breaking
all around them. Sorry to say, the feed
ing fish weren't interested in anything
but live bait. We walked out to the en(
of one of the docks, and in- between
the pilings and the boats were myriad
tiny, shiny fish swimming in great for-
mations or schools. Every once in a
while the water would explode as
some predator from below charged up
through them. This kept up for a half -
hour until someone in a powerboat,
Oblivious to what was
happening, went through
the middle of them and
spooked them all. Later
they would return, but in
lesser numbers What a
sight to wake up to!
When we got back to
the boat we found our
biggest white egret fishing just behin
us on the rocky bulkhead. It was
stalking its breakfast meal of little
fish. I can see why more and more
permits for bulkheads are requiring
they be made out of rocks. The one
behind where we were docked was
draped in rockweed and afforded
protection for many kinds of fish and
shellfish. It was so much more com-
patible with a natural way of life than
some treated timber bulkhead, but
that's another story.
Our days on Block Island were
spent in beautiful fall weather. It was
great to get away for just a bit. We
spent time just wandering around and
enjoying the views. We had breakfast
at a lovely little spot along the high-
way and later had chowder on the
porch of one of the hotels overlooking
Old Harbor, watching the ferries come
and go.
Among the cargo were truckloads of
beautifully colored chrysanthemums.
Passengers came and went as they, too,
Nere enjoying Block Island's end -of-
:he- season weather. Let's all get out
ind enjoy the lovely fall days ahead.
I's the changing seasons that make
iro up north so rewardine. -