September 15, 2009... Block Island, RI

We started the day again with a paddle on the Great Salt Pond. Part of it is a wildlife refuge, and we enjoyed seeing the birds feeding at low tide this morning -- especially the oyster catchers with their huge orange bills. On another wildlife note, a couple of fish have adopted us and swim around our anchor chain. Research in our fish books and on the internet seem to indicate that they are juvenile black drum. Cool, huh? Today we decided to walk north to the Block Island North Light. On our kayak trek we figured out where to beach our dinghy so that we could save a couple of miles of walking. The road north, like the road south yesterday, has lots of wonderful houses along the way. It is pretty unusual to be a walker here -- most of the other tourists seem to favor the rental mopeds, screaming up and down the hills. The brave visitors that rent bikes are huffing and puffing as the roads can be pretty steep at times. Yet, for a place that is supposed to attract hikers, we find we are the only ones walking around. The northern shore of island was also gorgeous, though the beach was much rockier than the eastern shore. Interesting new sound of the water ‘crackling’ as it returns to the sea after breaking on the rocky shore. Wish there was a way to bottle that sound.