Here is an interesting photo I took last November of Barlow's Point, Block Island. The eyes of most surf fishermen will immediately notice the wonderful looking water and water front homes - but this photo focuses on the bluff itself and how erosion affects the island. Notice the brush (dark brown area) on the bluff face below the homes - this brush was once the "backyard" of those homes - they lost a good chunk of their property on a rainy night a few years back. When an entire bluff slides it sometimes does so in a big chunk (called mass wasting). This is a perfect example on how a new boulder point begins to form or expand. This area (I nicknamed "The Slide") extended into the ocean but as the loose soil was washed away by the surf the boulders remained forming some new structure that is now home to lobsters, crabs, baitfish, and striped bass. Next time you're fishing in an area - take time to appreciate your surroundings.

Walking several areas of the Block, you will find these "Slides" and just like Denis states, a new point or structure. You sometimes will find a very slippery new tongue of mud & clay so use a little extra caution traversing it :fury::rotf2:

The south side took serious punishment last year during Irene..... Amazed at the changes....

I wonder if some of these houses will eventually become fishable structure? It must be a concern for some home-owners on the island...

I think there's like a 3 acre minimum lot size for the homes that post-date the land conservation movement - that's about $200,000 worth of real estate, down the cliff. Eventually that slide will form a minor point and add a new dynamic to fishing that spot.

If you've got a house on a cliff with a beach below it, I heard the Anderson Window Reps say in about five years the windows will get sand blasted to the point where they distort significantly, unless shuttered in the winter.

You'll notice that around the circumference of the island the shad bushes and trees are all stunted from the wind at about 9 feet, unless protected by a hill. There's lots of very unique natural occurrences on Block Island.

I try to take pictures of the same places every year on the island. Just to see how much it changes. ITs amazing how much it can change over night. Ive fished an area at night and gone back in the morning to see a huge chunk of the bluff on the beach. A couple years ago I was onto a good run of fish at a particular spot and fished it every night and morning for 6 days. A storm kicked up one night. I stumbled down to the waters edge basically sleep walking the same route i had taken for many days. I proceeded to walk off a 4' cut in the sand and land in the surf. That will wake you up better than a cup of coffee any day.

I wonder if some of these houses will eventually become fishable structure? It must be a concern for some home-owners on the island...

Ivan,
They'll probably be moved before that happens but the current foundations will most likely become structure. I've been going to the island since the 1980s and portions of the original road I took from Snake Hole to Black Rock is now cobble on the beaches below. Here is another photo of a run-off gully on the SW corner. Hard to believe this gully was once a road we could drive down to the water.

Ivan,
They'll probably be moved before that happens but the current foundations will most likely become structure. I've been going to the island since the 1980s and portions of the original road I took from Snake Hole to Black Rock is now cobble on the beaches below. Here is another photo of a run-off gully on the SW corner. Hard to believe this gully was once a road we could drive down to the water.

I've always been afraid of that road giving out going around that corner. Especially in the spring in heavy rain.

I know one of the houses up there had finally gotten a permit to build a deck and then his back yard fell off the bluffs.

I just noticed that some things are rapidly sliding UP at block Island...



the ferry fees! Noticeable jump.

Homes on the southside of the Vineyard have been inching closer to the Atlantic too. A walk along Squibnocket heading east can be an illuminating historical jaunt. Looking up at the cliff, one can see shellfish pits left by the Wompanoags, stonewalls tumbling down onto the beach, even pipes from long abandon septic systems dangling out into space from the face of the bluffs.

Mother nature will have her way

wow...how long till all of BI disappears? lol

I just noticed that some things are rapidly sliding UP at block Island...



the ferry fees! Noticeable jump.

Thats why you just take the ferry over and don't come back....
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

hahaha... you are absolutely right!

Ivan,
They'll probably be moved before that happens but the current foundations will most likely become structure. I've been going to the island since the 1980s and portions of the original road I took from Snake Hole to Black Rock is now cobble on the beaches below. Here is another photo of a run-off gully on the SW corner. Hard to believe this gully was once a road we could drive down to the water.

I remember my first surf fishing trip to Block Island.We backed down to Black Rock in a station wagon!!

DZ Talk to RI Rockhound. I remember a trip to BI when I was studying sedimentology at URI under John Boothroyd, eventually it will all be gone.. Chuck

DZ Talk to RI Rockhound. I remember a trip to BI when I was studying sedimentology at URI under John Boothroyd, eventually it will all be gone.. Chuck

Chuck,
I speak with Bryan often. He turned me onto the book titled Block Island Geology by Les Sirkin. Boy did I learn a ton about the porkchop by reading it.

DZ

Castles made of sand, fall to the sea, eventually .. Hendrix ..
Scary stuff Dennis,that big chunk that came down over night ,where we were fishing before . Could easily bury a man alive ..

"Fall mountain,just don't fall on me" Hendrix

"Fall mountain,just don't fall on me" Hendrix

Nice ,, friend ..

Scary stuff Dennis,that big chunk that came down over night ,where we were fishing before . Could easily bury a man alive ..

Yes, I can see it in the distant future. "Newsbreak in the year 2099: Surfcaster found perfectly preserved after 80 years encased in clay - probably from a bluff collapse in 2012. Van Staal Reel still functioning, Super Strike plastic needlefish still attached to his line.
Geologists surmise the angler was casting for striped bass, now extinct, when the bluff collapsed upon him."

DZ

It is amazing how much more clay gets washed into the water during a rain storm than it used to just 5 years ago. I used to take a pretty big rainstorm to muddy up the water on the south side now it seems to take just a half inch of rain. I have not done well when the water is muddy.

It is amazing how much more clay gets washed into the water during a rain storm than it used to just 5 years ago. I used to take a pretty big rainstorm to muddy up the water on the south side now it seems to take just a half inch of rain. I have not done well when the water is muddy.

I've noticed that too .. It's the color of a regular coffee streaming out into the ocean ,. Before you know it ,all out front of you is that color for as far as you can cast . I have zero confidence in those conditions .. I'd move around to the SW or anywhere there aren't those huge bluffs leaching out...

Cool stuff there. It would be interesting to see a side by side comparison of the homes and land when they were first built and now.

I've noticed that too .. It's the color of a regular coffee streaming out into the ocean ,. Before you know it ,all out front of you is that color for as far as you can cast . I have zero confidence in those conditions .. I'd move around to the SW or anywhere there aren't those huge bluffs leaching out...

I have a different approach in those conditions as milky dirty water under the right conditions has proven to be fishy... hence purple flag, 35kt wind and pouring rain..... Its not a given but should never be overlooked....