Potter Cove, RI

We raised the anchor on Saturday as we prepared to leave Newport and head to Potter Cove on Prudence Island.  More commonly known as Potters Cove, it’s a very popular spot in the summer.  It was wonderfully quiet on a cloudy post-Labor Day weekend, however, where we had a planned meet-up with fellow Bristol owners Eric and Jeanette of s/v Delta-T.

We had discovered upon arriving in Newport that we needed to settle on a set of hand signals when anchoring.  Hollering at each other, repeatedly yelling, “What?  What???” drove that point home – not to mention the poor guy next to us watching nervously as we raised the anchor after the Harbormaster had told us to move!  This time, if anyone had been watching us they would have thought we had done it a million times (instead of less than ten).  No need to say anything at all, let alone holler at each other!  

With the wind on the nose we resigned ourselves to motoring, but fortunately it was a short trip at only 11 1/2 nautical miles. 

Arriving at the cove just a few minutes before Delta-T (who used our track on the inReach map to determine when they should head over), all we could see were erratically spaced mooring balls so we weren’t really sure where we should anchor.  

We had decided to pick up a ball when Delta-T arrived, so we followed them.  Eric let us know where we should drop the anchor, and we proceeded to anchor more tightly than we ever had.  All was well with his guidance, however, and within a few hours almost everyone had left anyway.

We had met Eric and Jeanette four years ago when we vacationed in Narragansett Bay with Little Bristol, and we were pleased that we would finally be able to see them again.  Earlier in the week when we firmed up our plans to meet, Eric and Jeannette had kindly offered to make dinner for Saturday night.  We tend to shy away from those offers given Jeff’s low-sodium restrictions, but Jeanette assured me it wouldn’t be any trouble at all.  We all ended up enjoying a feast of low-sodium vegetable lasagna, bowtie salad, green salad and brownies.  Everything was fantastic!  Eric had let out more line so we could raft up for dinner (rafting is when multiple boats are tied together – another first for us), and it was easy for him to hop back and forth between our boats, checking on the lasagna as it warmed up on their grill. 

For post-dinner entertainment Eric and Jeanette had brought wood for a bonfire on the spit of land making up part of the cove, along with the fixings for s’mores.  We had a great evening hanging out by the fire, listening to good music, roasting marshmallows, getting some tips from Eric for bringing the dinghy to and from shore without having to get our feet wet, and generally chilling.  It was a lot of fun, and I told Jeff that we needed to make sure that we make occasional bonfires as we (eventually) travel south.  

Sunday was cloudy and windy with Delta-T heading back home while we stuck around to wait out the rain that was coming on Monday.  We were planning on movies and music, but unfortunately we found out that we no longer seemed to have the 12 volt charger for our portable speaker, nor did we have the proper cable to charge the laptop off of the Mophie battery pack.  Now what?  What followed instead was two days of reading, napping, relaxing, and a rousing game of Cribbage that Jeff won after battling his way back from a distant second.  Thanks for teaching us how to play, Deb!  After the craziness of getting Pegu Club ready during the entire month of August, I think we both needed a few days of real down time.

Our Rocna anchor didn’t move an inch throughout the windy weather, even with the 25+ knot gusts we experienced at 4:00 a.m. on Monday morning (no surprise that we slept in on Monday).  We were planning to make the very short hop to Bristol next, but first we took the dinghy over to the cove to walk around a bit and take in the views. 

A cool red rock and crystal clear water.

It felt good to get off the boat after a few days, and we had the cove all to ourselves.  It was starting to feel like we were actually cruising.  

Next up, Bristol.