Block Island, RI Regulations Report 2020

[T. Lee]

Yep, I think the quarantine applies to all RI, not just BI. I suspect the quarantine regulation will be lifted soon with masks and distancing being applied.

[skenn_ie]

Here (Ireland) a harbourmaster has authority over a harbour. The jurisdictional limits of a harbour are defined by the Minister for the Marine, and that rarely extends beyond an actual harbour or esturary of the harbour. The OP states that someone can come ashore if they have a home there. In getting from boat to home, they are not in quarantine. When they go to buy food, they are not in quarantine. That is no different from someone else coming ashore, buying food, then returning to their boat.

[ejjawhite]

At the end of the day, nobody can deny you ‘Safe Harbor’. Only now, you might well be required to stay on your boat for 14 days. I could do that. My wife could not. I don’t know how you would be able to prove the time short of a GPS Track.
Also, I don’t know about other States, but the Massachusetts Riparian Laws permit anyone to land/beach on the shoreline on public and privately owned land. The provision is that you arrive and leave by sea, or shoreline. I do happen to own a piece of waterfront property. Anyone can come onto my shoreline and fish or dig clams, etc..

[Carl-T705]

I guess people who chose to live on a boat failed to realize how badly they may actually need a home on Terra firma. The more people want life to be as it was before this outbreak, the more people that will die. My health insurance provider called me today to see how I am coping with sheltering at home. He also said if I needed I could get a video appointment with a doctor. It's all crazy. If people would do as they are requested we could get through this sooner ...maybe. I'm an essential worker, my job would be a lot easier if people would stay at home and out of the way of others who have to go to work to make others life better. It's comical to hear yacht owners whine about the rich people and what they have. To many, yacht owners appear to be eccentric, with their lifestyle and possessions. A big yacht that can't be put on a trailer and towed with a pickup truck and a rowboat with another engine for it and no job.... Now that's eccentric . Oh yeah, isn't Block Island where a little old lady has an island welfare system where she distributed aid to families that can't afford to feed their families in the Winter months .... That doesn't sound like blue blood rich people Islanders to me.

[ixnax]

Originally Posted by Chotu

Ha ha ha.

Well, one would hope basic civil laws and regulations would at least appear equitable on their face.

Chotu,

The problem is not as you propose. It's not the top 1%, as the current meme goes, that is the problem. The realty is that 1. a lot of cruisers don't "cruise". and 2. a lot of cruisers do not contribute jack to local economies.

Now maybe we can all yearn for a return of those halcyon day's when not having a holding tank and being welcome when we beached our dinks wherever it was convenient was good. Those days are long gone.

Equitable laws and regulations will never give you access to what others own. That comes from expense. Just the way it is.

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by ixnax

Chotu,

The problem is not as you propose. It's not the top 1%, as the current meme goes, that is the problem. The realty is that 1. a lot of cruisers don't "cruise". and 2. a lot of cruisers do not contribute jack to local economies.

Now maybe we can all yearn for a return of those halcyon day's when not having a holding tank and being welcome when we beached our dinks wherever it was convenient was good. Those days are long gone.

Equitable laws and regulations will never give you access to what others own. That comes from expense. Just the way it is.

That’s not the way it is at all.

Exactly what “access to what others own” did I ask for again? Please tell me.

[ixnax]

Originally Posted by Chotu

That’s not the way it is at all.

Exactly what “access to what others own” did I ask for again? Please tell me.

Your words:

Yes, after 14 days you can move. Unless you are wealthy and own property on block island. Then “welcome ashore.”

Same in Newport, except you had better leave if you aren’t wealthy. It’s go to anchor for 2 weeks and we’ll start your 2 week limit in the anchorage the moment your quarantine starts. So, at the end of quarantine, you are kicked out of the anchorage. Fun. LOL. UNLESS you’re wealthy and have a dock in Newport. Then just stay onboard a bit and welcome!

My point is there are 2 different approaches to public policy here depending on your level of wealth.


Having a boat and a desire to go ashore on your own terms is less than nothing.

[Chotu]

So using the public dinghy dock or public beach qualifies as “access to what others own?”

Still trying to figure out this thing others own I’m expecting access to. Last I checked, the dinghy dock, the sidewalk and the public beach were public property just like the highway, etc.

You don’t actually own a boat, do you?

The most basic concepts of boats/cruising seem to be escaping you.






As for it not being about the 1%, did you happen to notice the median vacation home price there? 1 MILLION dollars. So if you own an everyday average price $1,000,000 vacation home there, “welcome ashore.” Otherwise, “no facilities for you.”

Though it’s not nearly as bad as Newport which is the main point of the 1% comment. Block island is more a quarantine situation.

https://www.realtor.com/realestatean...lock-Island_RI

So tell me again, where is this thing other people own I should be paying for access to?

Originally Posted by ixnax

Your words:

Yes, after 14 days you can move. Unless you are wealthy and own property on block island. Then “welcome ashore.”

Same in Newport, except you had better leave if you aren’t wealthy. It’s go to anchor for 2 weeks and we’ll start your 2 week limit in the anchorage the moment your quarantine starts. So, at the end of quarantine, you are kicked out of the anchorage. Fun. LOL. UNLESS you’re wealthy and have a dock in Newport. Then just stay onboard a bit and welcome!

My point is there are 2 different approaches to public policy here depending on your level of wealth.


Having a boat and a desire to go ashore on your own terms is less than nothing.

[Jim Cate]

I guess people who chose to live on a boat failed to realize how badly they may actually need a home on Terra firma.

Yep, you got that right... I have COMPLETELY failed to realize how badly I have needed a home on terra firma... for 34 years now.

And as an anchored out liveaboard couple, Ann and I have far more completely complied with quarantine and stay home regs than most dirt dwellers. It is true that we have moved our home (under sail mostly) from Port Cygnet to Hobart (~30 miles) and half way back during the past two months, but we've complied to the letter with local rules and exposed no one to possible contagion during those moves. We have gone ashore for groceries and diesel roughly on a 10 day schedule... or to be more accurate, I have done so... one person wandering the isles of the Woolies and servo, then back to the dinghy and thence the boat. And two trips to the optho for intraocular injections, a service only available in Hobart, thus the movements.

Yep, we sure need a dirt home...

Jim

[Chotu]

Exactly what Jim said. I have went to the store once since March 1st. I can make it until July without going again. Easily.

I’ve been aboard since April 1st without leaving the boat at all. Only launched the dinghy to test the outboard. Other than that, it’s been in the davits.

The reason I chose to go on the boat to isolate from the virus is the total and utter quarantine/isolation capabilities it has that far exceed any dirt based living space.

Ixnax, I think you just may be on the wrong forum here. You want a house forum, not a boat forum. Your anti boating sentiment isn’t going to have a warm welcome here.

[Auspicious]

Originally Posted by ejjawhite

At the end of the day, nobody can deny you ‘Safe Harbor’.

Sure they can. There is no law that I am aware of that guarantees you safe harbor. It is a custom. A tradition. I'd like to think it is one that is respected and observed, but can certainly be denied. Not the cruise ships with nowhere to go in the early days of the pandemic.

Originally Posted by Chotu

So using the public dinghy dock or public beach qualifies as “access to what others own?”

Yes, as a matter of fact it is. Those are owned by a community of which you are not a member. As an analogy consider parks that have one entrance fee for city/county residents and a higher one for those from "away."

Personally I think Block Island and Newport are unnecessarily restrictive but I also think they are entirely within their rights.

The Newport anchorage restrictions gall me greatly but unless you are willing to be the test case in court, state and Federal authorities are not sufficiently motivated to step in. That is what courts are for. Hint - don't use safe harbor as a base of action as you will lose. Consider freedom of navigation. That has worked in Maryland and Florida.

Originally Posted by Chotu

The reason I chose to go on the boat to isolate from the virus is the total and utter quarantine/isolation capabilities it has that far exceed any dirt based living space.

Now you are just being silly. Responsible quarantine has nothing to do with being on a boat or in a house. Both can be totally isolated. Either can be abused. There is nothing "better" about quarantine on a boat. Perfectly acceptable either way, but not better.

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by Auspicious

Sure they can. There is no law that I am aware of that guarantees you safe harbor. It is a custom. A tradition. I'd like to think it is one that is respected and observed, but can certainly be denied. Not the cruise ships with nowhere to go in the early days of the pandemic.



Yes, as a matter of fact it is. Those are owned by a community of which you are not a member. As an analogy consider parks that have one entrance fee for city/county residents and a higher one for those from "away."

Personally I think Block Island and Newport are unnecessarily restrictive but I also think they are entirely within their rights.

The Newport anchorage restrictions gall me greatly but unless you are willing to be the test case in court, state and Federal authorities are not sufficiently motivated to step in. That is what courts are for. Hint - don't use safe harbor as a base of action as you will lose. Consider freedom of navigation. That has worked in Maryland and Florida.



Now you are just being silly. Responsible quarantine has nothing to do with being on a boat or in a house. Both can be totally isolated. Either can be abused. There is nothing "better" about quarantine on a boat. Perfectly acceptable either way, but not better.

Public property is public property. The point you glided by was this: The other poster said I’m trying to gain access to something private and should be paying. The PUBLIC landing is PUBLIC property. The PUBLIC beach is a PUBLIC beach. Yes, these can be closed, just like a public road can, but what private property is that other poster saying I am trying to get on and should be paying for? Name it.



Responsible quarantine is WAY easier on a boat. If you’re really on the boat. Doing deliveries isn’t quarantining at all. So your perspective is off.

I haven’t went to the store or fuel dock since March 1st. I don’t need to go again until July. And not a soul has been within 200’ of this boat. Absolutely zero covid transmission possible. Try that in a house.

When’s the last time you we to a store or gas station?

And can you tell us again how you got pulled over 3x going from CT Maryland when I drove from south Florida to nyc without so much as seeing a cop pull anyone over?

We’re living opposite lives. Don’t tell me I’m silly for saying a boat (or mountain cabin on an inaccessible road with the same off grid capabilities) is better than your garden variety house for self isolating. There’s no contest.

[rslifkin]

My interpretation of the thing for people that have houses on the island is basically that they can go sit in that house they own for 2 weeks, but until the 2 weeks is up, they're not supposed to touch anything else. So they don't get any more use of the public spaces on the island than someone who doesn't own property.

[Belezar]

And to slightly pile on, I live on a good sized farm, with freezers full of food. I hate not being able to be on my boat, but this is probably a better and safer place for my health than a boat. I can easily exercise. I have solar and a big tank of diesel. But they’re all good. It is just life.

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by Belezar

And to slightly pile on, I live on a good sized farm, with freezers full of food. I hate not being able to be on my boat, but this is probably a better and safer place for my health than a boat. I can easily exercise. I have solar and a big tank of diesel. But they’re all good. It is just life.

Exactly. Yours is a HUGE exception to the rule. If you have a gate at the end of the driveway, it's better than a boat for quarantine. Plus you never have to go for food if the farm is running well. I'm quite familiar with this type of place. Not your garden variety house.