The master bathroom has Jacuzzi and shares a fireplace with the master bedroom.

During a fishing trip out of Galilee in the early 1970s, native New Yorker and self-admitted fan of the sea Sanford “Sandy” Bilsky ended the excursion with more than just the catch of day. He found the house of his dreams.

“There was a newspaper on the boat, and I saw an ad for a little summer cabin,” he says of the 30-by-30 dwelling on the shores of Green Hill Pond in South Kingstown. “I asked the captain to take the boat for a drive by, and I realized this is where I want to be.”

Envisioning being the owner of a “personal marina,” he returned the following weekend, and bought the cabin, built in the 1950s. More than 35 years later, he turned his dream into reality on nearly one-half acre of land at 6 Tern Drive.

His tiny marina boasts some 10 boats, two moorings, a 50-foot T-shaped dock (with two chairs bolted to it), a boat launch in the backyard, and a private beach he shares with 80 neighbors. The private beach was purchased about 30 years ago and is a stretch of ocean beach accessible only via boat. (The house’s new owners will receive the deed to the beach as well as a Hobie Cat Bilsky plans to leave behind.)

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“Block Island is a 45-minute boat ride,” he says. “You are in open ocean from here in 12 minutes.”

He and his wife, Anne, plan to split their time between Rhode Island and Florida, and are selling the three-bedroom dwelling, called the Captain’s House, for $1.295 million.

Since the 1970s, Bilsky has more than doubled the living space of the original cabin. Now, at 2,022 square feet, it has grown from a two-bedroom one-story cape into three levels with two living rooms, a sleeping loft, and four decks including a screened-in porch and a widow’s walk accessed via a steep staircase. (Bilsky recommends guests enjoy its spectacular view of the water before cocktails.)

Of note is the master suite with floor-to-ceiling windows on the water-view side of the home’s top level. The Bilskys stand in their bedroom and welcome visitors to what they call the “movie theater.”

“Every hour of everyday the changing light offers something to look at that is new and different,” Anne Bilsky says. “There’s always some action, and you can watch the moon coming up.”

Off the bedroom is the screened-in porch Bilsky calls the “coffee deck.” Also, the room has built-in drawers, shelves and an armoire as well as a pull-down ironing board and additional storage above the room.

One of two working fireplaces is located in the master suite. It’s double-sided with one opening into the bedroom and the other by the Jacuzzi in the master bathroom.

The middle level of the home has a giant all-purpose room with a wood-burning stove, sliding glass doors to a deck, and a loft (via a ladder) big enough for a king-size bed. There are electrical outlets there too. Under the loft, Bilksy has his office.

He positions his desk so he has views of the water as well as the non-water side of the house that includes a tiny strip of land on the other side of Tern Drive. (“The land is big enough for a small cottage,” adds Bilsky.)

The middle level also houses the hot water heater, electrical systems and a tiny den reached by pocket doors.

The ground floor still boasts the original paneling. Bilsky put in new wood floors and added radiant heat. There are two bedrooms, one of which the Bilskys use as a laundry room. There’s a full bath.

The kitchen, which includes a ship-to-shore radio, has been updated too. It includes a closet turned into a pantry with slide-out shelves, and the table and chairs are next to sliding-glass doors that lead to an awning-covered deck.

Bilsky added to the old part of the house, a living room with a vaulted ceiling, sky lights, and the front door. The doorbell, a ship’s “chow” bell, Bilsky says was originally on a freighter.

“We had every room wired for music,” he adds. “I spent two years designing it in my head.”

A flag pole that was once a 100-year-old ship’s mast stands at the edge of the dock. Nearby there are plenty of hammocks, lots of plantings and a hot tub. There’s a one-car garage reached via a breezeway.

“We are at the end of the road, and it’s so quiet at night,” he says. “In the summer, we sit on the dock, and friends drive up in their boats, and we watch the sunset.”

The three-bedroom house at 6 Tern Drive in South Kingstown is for sale for $$1.295 million. It sits on a half acre, and has 2,022 square feet of living space. There’s oil heat, air-conditioning, deeded ocean-front beach and a 50-foot dock with two moorings. Taxes are $10,665. The real estate agent is Jim Duckworth of Windswept Properties, (401) 364-8946 or (401) 965-7293 or www.windprop.com. An Open House is scheduled for today and tomorrow from 11 to 4.How to submit a House of the Week

A different House of the Week appears each Saturday in the projoHomes section of The Providence Journal. The feature tells the story of the house and the people who have lived in it. If you would like us to consider a house for sale as a subject of this news feature, send a photo, information about the house and why it is of interest, to Faye Zuckerman, real estate writer, 75 Fountain St., Providence, RI 02902; fax (401) 277-8250; or e-mail pjhomes@projo.com. For more information, call (401) 277-7333.

fzuckerm@projo.com