Ghouls and Goodbyes

Thursday, October 27

At Tidewater Marina, they are gearing up for a big Halloween Bash on Saturday night.  Some of the boats have already decorated for it!  Ghoulish!

 


 We got up early today, ate breakfast and did the final loads of laundry.  Then, we pumped up the dinghy, emptied the trash, and headed out to the anchorage just outside of the Tidewater Yacht Marina.  No use paying for a marina when we got everything done we needed. We are just putting in time now until we can go to the Ocean Yacht Marina, just up the river, to join the World Cruising Club and start our final preparations for the ARC Caribbean 1500 rally.

We left the dock at 12:05 and anchored in the small bay just out front of Tidewater Marina. The wind is really starting to blow, and the forecast is for gusts up to 20 knots this evening and overnight.  We will stay at the boat to make sure we don't drag anchor.

There is so much boat traffic (tugs, barges, sailboats, power boats, yachts, tankers, Navy ships, etc.) on this river that Carey could sit for hours just watching it all.  The Snowbirds are starting to bunch up here as we all prepare to head south around November first, when the hurricane season officially ends.  Some boats will be going down the ICW (Intracoastal Waterway) while others, like us, will be going offshore.

We decided to eat dinner in the cockpit to watch the show.  It was already dark by that time, so we used our handy little Luci Light.


Friday, October 28

We woke up at 6:15 this morning and looked out our back window to see the Sunshine Carnival Cruise Ship behind us.  It was still dark out so we saw a mass of lights.  Very pretty.  We were so close we could even hear them doing their announcements.

 

Then, we heard a clunking noise.  Never a good sound to hear on a boat.  We jumped out of bed to investigate, and found that we were swinging around so much that we were bobbing over a nearby crab pot marker.  As we swung, it slid under our transom, clunking along, and then bobbed out the other side.  We shortened our anchor rode, which put us out of reach for the pesky pot.

Since we were up, we watched the sun rise over Norfolk.  Lovely.

Today, we did more organizing and preparing.  We have to change the oil, oil filter, and fuel filter before we go, along with a bit more engine maintenance, so we got all of that stuff ready to go for when we're at a dock.  It's easier to do at a dock, because nothing ever goes as planned, and we may need something right in the middle of the job.

Later, we dinghied in to Off Duty II at the marina and went out for dinner.  Dave and Nicki will be starting their journey down the ICW tomorrow, so this is our farewell dinner.  After dinner, we sauntered back to their boat and watched the baseball game (Cleveland Indians vs. Chicago Cubs).  We said our good-byes, but plan to meet up with them in the Bahamas in February or March.  It's sad to say goodbye to our new friends, but we are all excited to start the next step in our adventures.

Big ships, little ships, red ships, blue ships

Monday, October 24

We dinghied over to the York River Yacht Haven this morning to check out their Ship's Store.  The tide was very low.  While we were there, we noticed a sailboat in its slip that was tilted to one side.  It was sitting on the bottom, because the water was too shallow!  How weird that the marina wouldn't make sure that all of their slips were deep enough even during low tide.  There is definitely a different mentality down here.  They're just so used to the differences in depths that they don't worry about it, I guess. 

Water is limited on a boat, so we have to employ many water saving measures.  For example, we never run the water when brushing our teeth, we use as little water as possible when doing dishes and laundry, and we don't wash the outside of the boat with fresh water.  The other way we preserve water is to have what Dave and Nicki call "Navy showers". This means we quickly get wet, turn the water off, suds up hair and body, turn water on and rinse, turn water off.  We, of course, call these Air Force showers, since we are RC Wings.  

Tuesday, October 25

We lifted anchor at 9:00, but waited for Off Duty II to get refuelled before we headed out. Going to Norfolk today!

We had a rolly ride, because there were still waves and swells that had built up from the high winds of the past few days.  Part of our trip put these waves on the beam, but nothing too crazy.  

Coming into the Elizabeth River toward Norfolk, we noticed that there was a definite Navy presence.  The Norfolk Naval Base is here.  A submarine was being towed into the naval yard, five aircraft carriers were at dock just a couple hundred yards away, small Navy patrol boats were buzzing around, and the Navy hospital ship, Comfort, was at dock.  Comfort provides rapid, flexible, and mobile medical and surgical services to the U.S. armed forces. She also provides mobile surgical hospital service in disaster or humanitarian relief.  

There were lots of cranes lining the shore, too, ready to unload container ships.  A huge one went close by us and was escorted in by two tug boats.  We had to wait while the tugs helped the container ship turn around and then they pushed it sideways to the dock.  

We arrived at Tidewater Yacht Marina around 2:30.  They were able to fill our fuel tank right here at our dock because we are so close to the fuel dock. Well, that was handy.  Almost immediately upon arrival, Dave and Nicki had met their new Canadian dock neighbours, Richard and Jeannine, who were from Fergus, Ontario!  Small world.  Richard and Jeannine invited all four of us over for Happy Hour.  Later, all six of us went out for dinner at the marina restaurant.  We had a really nice evening.  

Wednesday, October 26

Since we had planned just a short time at a marina, we needed to get lots of stuff done today.  We started the laundry in the morning, then washed the salt off the boat and the mud off of the anchor, the anchor chain, the windlass, and the fenders, filled the water tanks, vacuumed and cleaned, and emptied the garbage.  

Jeannine had offered to drive us to the grocery store, so Nicki and I met her at 11:00 and we went to the local Food Lion store. I needed to start provisioning for our ocean passage, so I was on a mission.  I filled a large cart full of groceries, and then we had to figure out how to fit everything in the car!  We eventually got everything back to the Marina and Carey met me at the car to help cart everything back to the boat.  Now, came the fun part. I had to take all of the cardboard packaging and labels off of the food items, and pack and label everything in Ziplocs, then try to find a place to stow everything.  

Here is a pic of just some of our provisions.  I will do the rest of our provisioning next week when we will be at the Ocean Yacht Marina with the World Cruising Club.  

We hosted Happy Hour on RC Wings tonight.  We are becoming such social butterflies! 

Crazy Winds and Safe Hideaways

Saturday, October 22

Last night at 5:00, the wind suddenly shifted and we were spun around 180 degrees on our anchor in short order.  I've never seen a wind shift so quickly.  The rain started soon after.

Overnight and all day today, we are getting strong gusts that are giving our anchor a good test. The wind is shoving us around.  When we look out at the scenery, we can see it speeding by as we swing from one side to the other. It makes me dizzy!  We're even heeling somewhat.  We came to this anchorage, because it was supposed to be well outside of the worst winds.  I'm glad we're here, because it must be crazy out on the Bay.  Happily, our anchor is passing the test beautifully.  Ironically, we just bought a new Mantus anchor at the Boat Show to replace this one.  Oh, well, supposedly, it will be even better than our current anchor in the sand of the Caribbean.

Today, we took it easy and just putted around--stranded on the boat, of course, because it's too windy to get the dinghy out.  I baked fresh bread for breakfast.  Carey is getting better acquainted with the chartplotter and our sound system, while I make up menus and a provisioning list for our passage south.


Sunday, October 23

It was really cold last night.  I woke up around 5:00 a.m. and had to put my toque and fleece  sweater on!  By 7:30, though, the sun had begun to warm up our cockpit, so we were able to eat breakfast out there in our enclosure.  It works a bit like a greenhouse, so the sun warms it up while it keeps the cold winds out.

We are on the move again.  We planned to lift anchor at 9:30, but our anchor had other ideas. It was firmly entrenched in the Chesapeake mud. Exactly what we want when we are in strong winds, but it makes it more difficult and time-consuming when we want to leave. Patience won out, though, as we gently and repeatedly tugged straight upward on the chain.  We left our safe harbour around 9:45 and headed for Sarah's Creek in the York River.

When we got out into Mobjack Bay, it was a little bit lumpy.  The waves had built over the past few days due to the high winds and they hadn't flattened out yet.  Nothing terrible, though.  We are still getting gusts of 15 to 19 knots today, but it's supposed to calm down a bit by tomorrow.

Well, by 11:45 the wind has not calmed down.  It has increased to a pretty steady 20 knots and the waves are building.  The wind and waves and bouncing around are grabbing the dinghy and making it tip up a bit on the bow.  It's so windy and the spray is blowing across the boat so we don't want to go out to retrieve it.  Plus, we're riding the waves like a horse, so it's safer to stay inside our cockpit.

We are saltines!  We arrived in Sarah's Creek at 2:00 and RC Wings is covered in salt from the waves splashing up on her the whole trip.  Carey used a spray bottle of fresh water and a squeegee to get most of it off the windows. Worked pretty well.  He also retied the dinghy, so it is secure again.

Later, after everyone had cleaned up, we put our electric motor on Dave and Nicki's dinghy and we went over to the nearby restaurant at the York River Yacht Haven.  Bonus!  It was Happy Hour with drinks and appetizers at half price.  I ordered peel and eat shrimp, and scallops with pork bellies, and Carey ordered a pizza and helped with my meal.  The scallops were as big as jumbo marshmallows.  So delicious!

When we dinghied back, our little Luci Light was hanging in the cockpit guiding us home.  We love our Luci Light.

Pelicans, Mud, and Giving Thanks

Wednesday, October 19

We weighed anchor at 9:00 and headed out to Jackson Creek, just off Mobjack Bay in Virginia.  We have been checking the weather closely lately.  We are due to get quite high winds on Friday, so we have chosen a safe anchorage that is well protected from the winds.  We'll stay there until the winds die down. We have lots of time, because we aren't due to be in Portsmouth until October 29.

All the way through the Chesapeake, we've had mud on the anchor.  It holds really well, but we get mucky every time we pull up the hook and we usually have a nice big clot of it on the anchor at all times.  One of the things we aren't used to is how shallow the water is just off the channel all through the Chesapeake and its tributaries.  We watch the navigational aids (buoys, daymarkers, homemade channel markers, etc.) and our charts and chartplotter carefully.

On our way into Mobjack Bay, we saw a pelican diving for fish.  Here's a video of him flying away, just after he dove in:
https://youtu.be/LK97b0mMJ5U

We arrived at 3:00 and dropped anchor in Blackwater Creek.

Dave and Nicki invited us over for venison burgers.  Although they are from Newcastle (east of Oshawa), Dave comes to Lambton County to hunt.  We have the best venison right in our own backyard in Lambton County.

Unfortunately, the Blue Jays lost so they are out for the year.


Thursday, October 19

This morning, we ate breakfast on deck in the most peaceful setting.  We watched a seagull having a bath in the marsh, a heron gracefully skimming the water, fish jumping, and a crane and an eagle swooping up into the trees.

Then, we started reorganizing, inventorying, and doing all of the little jobs we hadn't done so far.  That took all day, so nothing too exciting to report. Really, really poor cell service here, which is very frustrating.

We are blessed with family members who are helping to keep things going at home--checking our house, picking up and opening mail, running our vehicles, etc., etc.  We couldn't do this trip without them, so I hope they know how much we appreciate them.



Friday, October 21

I made chilled oatmeal with raisins and blueberries and Mom's homemade raisin loaf for breakfast today.  We ate it in the cockpit where we could watch the birds in the marsh.

Nicki cut my hair today!  So awesome!  She is a trained hairdresser, so she did a great job. I sat in the cockpit near the stern while she cut.  We had a wind blowing from the bow, which helped, and later we just whisked the cut hair overboard. Easy peasy.

While we were playing hair salon, Carey and Dave dinghied over to the nearby marina to get rid of our trash.

Later, I cut Carey's hair, too.  Now, we both feel refreshed.  While Carey was getting his hair cut, he noticed tiny, little jellyfish in the water.  I'll add that to my wildlife list.

Sailing, sailing...

This is what our day looked like on Tuesday, October 18.

Happy birthday to my sister, Diny!

We are in Virginia now. We weighed anchor at 9:30 and were off, steering well clear of our grounding spot. No problems today. I took a photo of the fish trap area this morning that we always have to watch for. It looks like a bunch of sticks sticking out of the water. You definitely wouldn't want to run into them, so we always have someone on watch. 

Once we were out of the creek, we put up the sails and turned off the engine. So quiet.  So peaceful.  The wind speed hovered around seven knots with gusts to ten. We weren't going fast, but at least we were sailing. Later, we got a good 10-12 knots and had a great sail all the way to Jackson Creek. 

Carey likes to get out to mess with the sails from time to time, to adjust the cars and the lines, and to feel the wind in his hair. 

So far, this trip hasn't thrown us anything that we haven't already handled in the Great Lakes (except maybe the crab pots, fish stakes, and fishing net markers that are a constant).  I expect that the ocean passage will stretch our capabilities and experiences, and I'm sure we'll learn a few things. 

The further south we get, the cleaner and clearer the water seems. We like that!  

We arrived at Jackson Creek at 2:00. The entry is the narrowest channel we've seen so far; probably no more than 60 feet.  Squishy! We were careful to stay in the very middle of the channel. No grounding for us today!  Once was enough. 

Later, Dave dinghied us into the tiny town of Deltaville.  While there, we visited Latell Sailmakers.  A sailmakers loft is very cool.  Each sailmaker has his/her own put in which they sit to work, while the sail is strewn out on the floor.  See the guy on the left who is partially hidden by his sewing machine?  He's in his pit. 

We walked to West Marine and while we were there we asked about nearby restaurants.  Another customer, Chris, offered to drive us.  Another example of boaters helping boaters.  After dinner, we hurried back to the dinghy, because the sun was setting.  It made such a pretty picture.  

You Are Grounded!

Monday, October 17

We weighed anchor at 10:00, heading toward Antipoison Creek.  (Gotta love that name.) It's a bright, beautiful, sunny day.  The water is sparkling like a million jewels.

By noon we were headed into the Creek.

We've always heard that you either have gone aground, or you will go aground.  We've always been in the latter group.  Today, we joined the former.  While entering Antipoison Creek, we had to skirt around some fish stakes and nets in the water while staying in the narrow channel.  We thought we were doing fine, and we were still in the channel according to our chartplotter.  Unfortunately, the shoaling sand doesn't care what the chartplotter says, it just goes where it wants.  It's a weird feeling when you suddenly slide to a stop.  Fwump.  The bad news was that we were at high tide, so we couldn't wait for the tide to float us off.  Carey was on the helm at the time, so he put it in reverse--no go.  Then, he tried to go forward--no go.  Then, he tried our bowthrusters--a little movement.  Eventually, it was a combination of bowthrusters and forward throttle that got us off.  Woohoo!  We were happy to be un-grounded and moving again.  I'm pretty sure it cleaned some of the sea growth off our keel, but didn't hurt the paint.

The spot we had picked out as our anchorage was strewn with fish net or crab pot markers, so we moved a little further southwest to anchor.  We anchored, then had lunch and launched our dinghy. We dinghied over to walk along the sandy beach, which was quite pretty and made us feel like we were in the Caribbean!  Alas, we are still over 1500 nm from the BVIs.  On the beach, we found sea glass, heron footprints almost as big as my feet, dead crabs (probably the remains of the heron's meals), and tiny minnows.

After our outing, we weighed anchor again and moved up the creek to a more protected spot. It's lovely.

The propane for the stove finally ran out.  Our 10 pound tank has lasted since September 8th, and we've been using it everyday, sometimes for every meal. Good to know it lasts so long.  We have a backup 5 pound tank, so we're good for a while.

Time for showers and dinner, and then the Blue Jays game.

Beautiful Anchorages

Saturday, October 15

Today, our plan was to leave at 10:00, because we wanted to do the laundry, a final thorough pump out and rinse, fill the water tanks, empty the trash, and do our engine checks before we left.  We got it all done and left the dock at 10:25, a little later than planned, but not bad.  Carey's back is still sore, so he was on the helm while I did all the work. Haha.

Today, we are heading to an anchorage in Smith Creek which is just inside the mouth of the Potomac River.  The Potomac runs north all the way into Washington, DC. It's about 100 nm all the way from the mouth of the river to DC.  I guess we won't be seeing the White House on this trip, but maybe we'll see the Prez if he's out boating today!

Today we went by Point No Point Light, which is out from St. Jerome Neck. Who comes up with these names?

I lowered the anchor for the first time. Usually, I'm on the helm when we anchor and Carey is up on the bow deploying it.  Due to Carey's sore back, though, we switched.  We've been meaning to practise this, anyway, since we share almost every task on the boat, so it was high time.  All went as planned.

Dave and Nicki came over to listen to the Jays game on my phone. Unfortunately, the Jays lost, which didn't help Carey's back at all.  We had a very quiet night.  So peaceful and pretty here.  We didn't see any deer, as the guide book mentioned, but there was a large blue heron wandering through the marsh, and tons of small fish flashing on the surface. We've seen these schools of fish all over the Chesapeake, and we've often seen the birds diving for them.

Full moon tonight.  So pretty!

Off Duty II in the moonlight.

Around 11:00, we heard gunshots and squealing tires.  Just what we need--young rednecks out on a Saturday night with their hunting rifles.


Sunday, October 16

We woke early and had a lazy morning, then decided to move on around 11:20. Our destination today is Mill Creek, just south of here.  It is 18 nautical miles as the crow flies, but it's more like 24 miles for us, because we have to go around the point and up the creek. (Hmmm, luckily we have a paddle!)

Woohoo, we put both sails up today around noon!  We have very light winds (5 knots true), so we are motorsailing, but we are able to fill the sails, close hauled, and still keep our line.
Boat speed is 7.0; SOG is 6.3; RPMs are 2000.

Around 1:30, we curled the sails again, because the wind was on the nose.

At 2:50, we turned south and had 10-12 knots of wind!  We put up both sails and turned off the engine.  Yahoo, we feel like sailors again.  We sailed for about an hour and then had to furl the sails so that we could turn into Mill Creek.  It's a narrow channel to get in here, so we need to be careful.

Mill Creek is very pretty.  It reminds us of Ontario's cottage country.

Merrily Sailing in Maryland--Oxford to Solomons Island

Wednesday, October 12, 2016

Today, we wandered around Oxford, Maryland. Quiet little town.  Nothing too exciting.

Several more boats squished into our anchorage.  So much for thinking there was only room for two boats. On one boat the kids were swinging around the mast like they were on a trapeze.  Looked like fun!  It was a couple who were "boat-schooling" their four daughters while they cruised south. I guess you have to take your fun wherever you can get it when you're a kid living on a boat.

Although it's a lovely temperature through the day--not too hot and not too cold, just like Baby Bear's porridge--the evenings get quite chilly.  In fact, by about 5 a.m., it's downright cold.  I even had to wear a toque to bed!


Thursday, October 13

We got up and had breakfast and then got ready to go. While I was cleaning up the kitchen, Carey's back suddenly spasmed and he couldn't even stand up.  First time that's ever happened.  Of course, he was doing something very strenuous at the time--tying his shoes.  Hmmmmm.  Eventually, it eased enough that he could go out to raise the anchor, but that was questionable for a while.

We lifted anchor at 9:00 and headed for the fuel dock on our way to Spring Cove Marina in Solomons Island.  Uneventful trip, except we saw our first pelicans!   That made us feel like we were definitely moving south.  Carey tried to keep moving throughout the 6 hour trip to try to keep his back from seizing up again.

We finally got our jib up today.  The winds have not cooperated very often, so we were thrilled to sail today.

(Photo credit: Nicki Ackerman)

Spring Cove Marina is owned by John Kretschmer's sister, Liz Richards, but she isn't here at the moment.  However, we did see Quetzal, John's boat, getting its bottom painted here.  (We sailed a passage in the Caribbean with John last January, so we are well acquainted with his boat.)

We docked on a T dock, stern to stern with Off Duty II.  The marina did a great job of giving us directions to find our way, and to dock.  They had a big yellow flag on the end of the dock, so they were able to tell us to look for the yellow flag.  Brilliant!  So different from Port Annapolis Marina where we couldn't even find a sign that said we were at the right marina!  They also have pump out hoses on every dock, which are free to use, a great Ship's Store, and a pretty picnic area with tall pine trees that make us feel like we're in a Canadian Provincial Park.  We are quite impressed here.

First thing we needed was a shower and then groceries, so I could cook a stir fry for dinner for all four of us.

Nicki and I took the courtesy car (yes, they offered us a free courtesy car! So nice.) to the grocery store, but had less than an hour, because we had to have it back by 5:00 when the office closed.  We ran around the store like lunatics.  While I was waiting for Nicki to get checked out, I helped a frail, old lady put her groceries in her car and offered to take her cart back.  She was so appreciative that she blessed me!  I can always use a blessing.

On the way back, we missed our turn so I handed my iPhone to Nicki to get directions.  We made it back to the marina right on 5 o'clock, so I ran into the office to hand over the key and then went back to get our groceries out of the vehicle, a Toyota 4Runner.  Unfortunately, I didn't notice that Nicki had put my phone between our seats when we arrived, but an hour later I looked for my phone--no phone!  Yikes!  I went back to the vehicle, which I had dutifully locked, and could see my phone sitting right where she had put it.  Aaaarrrggghhhh!  I knew someone else had signed up to take the car that evening, so I stuck a note on the window in hopes that they would leave the phone right there until I could retrieve it in the morning.  I was trying to be calm, but my whole life is in that phone!!!!  Okay, deep breaths.

Carey had been busy while I was away and had done a pump out for us.  I was quite happy to miss that job.

On a good note, we had a delicious stir fry dinner with a fresh baked baguette.  Yum.


Friday, October 14

We decided to stay put today, because they were predicting high winds.  We had lots of things to do, so it worked out well.  My first task was to see if my phone was still in the vehicle.  Yippee!  I got my life back.  Now, I could concentrate on the laundry.

Carey's back was still quite sore, so we borrowed the courtesy car again to pick up some Robaxacet.  We were also looking for some rigid backing for our solar panels. No luck on that score, but we did get some pain medication, as well as some good deals at the Ace Home Hardware.

Later, I washed the potable water cans that a boater had gifted to us in Annapolis. Generous people are everywhere.  Carey and I had ballpark franks and salad for dinner to get us in the mood for the Blue Jays game tonight--game one of the ALCS against Cleveland.  We are going to the marina lounge where we'll be able to watch it on the TV.  First game we've seen in a while. Go, Jays!

Annapolis Adventure

Tuesday, October 4, 2016

Since we are moored, with no engine running and no shore power, we are relying solely on our solar panels to charge our batteries. We are very curious to see if they will do the job, so we've been checking our battery monitor frequently. So far, so good!  They seem to be keeping up just fine (as long as we have sun). Yahoo!  If it's overcast, we always have the option of running the engine for awhile, but we prefer not to use up our diesel.

Today, we had a pancake breakfast and just puttered around doing odd jobs on the boat. Strange how that list of odd jobs never gets smaller.  In the afternoon, we dinghied in to pick up a few things. I was hoping the Rite Aid store would have some food items, but they only had a limited selection, so I was only able to get a couple things on my list.  We did buy some Super Glue to try to fix the Isokinetics dinghy pump.  We'll try that tomorrow. .

The Jays played their sudden death Wild Card game against the Orioles at 8:00, so I put it on my iPhone so Carey could listen to it.  Oh, happy days, they won!  (But it was a late night--midnight by the time they had finished.). Their next game is on Thursday.


Wednesday, October 5, 2016

We slept in a bit since we had a late night with the Jays.  I figured out a way to toast bread on our stove. Just take the rack from the oven, place it over the burners, and we can toast two slices at a time. Works great, so we had toasted tomato sandwiches for lunch.  (Toast is an important food group for us!)

In the morning, we saw the DNR Pumpout Boat puttering around the anchorage.  It has a big sign on it that says you can call him on VHF 17, so we did. He came right over, tied off to our side with lots of his fenders out to cushion us, and pumped us out for five bucks.  Easy-peasy.  We asked if he would take our trash, too, and he did!  What a great service!

Later, we tried to Super Glue the dinghy pump, but it didn't work. As a last resort, I called the 1-888 number on the side of the pump to see if there was a warranty period.  Luckily, I found the Amazon order number on my phone and the Customer Service person was able to call up our order. She said there was a one-year warranty and she would send us out a new one. Wow, great service!  The only downside is that she can only send it to our home. Hmmmmm, doesn't do us a whole lot of good here, but we'll figure something out.

We would love for our boat to be self-reliable as much as possible--in other words, we don't want to have to go to a marina for anything.  Our constraining factors are: fresh water, fuel, holding tank capacity, and electric power.  Plus, food, of course.  We are working on all of these factors to reduce our reliance on them as much as possible, while still having a comfortable lifestyle (and full bellies).


Thursday, October 6, 2016

It was nice to be in Weem's Creek for a few days as we got lots of little jobs done. We lifted anchor around 10:30 today to move over to Port Annapolis Marina. When we entered Back Creek to go to the marina, no one answered channels 16 or 72, so I called on the cell phone. Unfortunately, Colin, the Harbor aster, wasn't answering. Finally, someone answered, but when we saw where they wanted to put us, we tried to squeeze down the channel and aborted quickly before we got in too far. Then, they assigned us another one.  It was really hard to decipher exactly where we were supposed to go and everything seemed too small, plus the wind was grabbing our bow and giving us the feeling of no control.

Finally, Colin suggested they bring their tow boat out, grab onto us and slide us backwards down the channel and into our slip.  This means easy out for us when we leave.  Whew!  Like stress-free valet parking for boats.  Love it.

Once we got in and settled, we realized that the Port Annapolis Marina is quite nice.  We had lunch at their cafe, and did our laundry in their onsite laundromat. They also have bikes to borrow, a free shuttle to go to the Boat Show, nice, clean (and air conditioned) washrooms and showers, and very helpful staff.

At 4:00, we caught an Uber cab to take us to the Annapolis Smokehouse where we watched the Blue Jays smoke the Texas Rangers, 10-1!  Good game, but we couldn't cheer too loudly since the Jays had just beaten the Baltimore Orioles out of the wild card spot (and we are very close to Baltimore right now).


Friday, October 7, 2016

As part of our World Cruising Club participation, we were offered a free rigging inspection, so we scheduled the guys to come over this morning.  Dan and Mike inspected everything.  Dan went up the mast to tighten the upper diagonal stay wires and even reconnected our TV antenna while he was up there.  Mike crawled down into our anchor locker and tightened our push pit bolts, adjusted the back stays, and checked the lifelines.  Of course, the inspection was free, but we were charged for the time they worked at making adjustments to our rigging.  We agreed to that because it's really important for us to have our rigging in good shape before going offshore.

Finally, we could go to the Boat Show.  Dennis, a crusty old sailor, shuttled us over, and we started our search for the many things on our list. We met up with Shawn and Steve, the guys from NavyPoint in Port Credit who had sold us our boat.  Shawn said, "You guys are living the dream!  You're doing what we want to be doing."

We spent the whole afternoon wandering around, talking to vendors, and buying things.  However, we didn't check many things off of our list.

Dennis picked us up at 4:30 (crustier than ever), and took us back to the marina.  At 6:00, we walked to a nearby sailmaker's loft for a social evening with the World Cruising Club group.  It was fun to meet some new people (Barrie and Kath from the UK) as well as talk to some people we had met in Annapolis in March.


Saturday, October 8, 2016

We are Uberites!  We have discovered the simple transportation method of Uber cabs.  So easy and inexpensive, and we can even track them on a map on my iPhone so we know when they are close.

This morning we took an Uber cab to O'Callaghan's Hotel for a World Cruising Club seminar on ocean sailing.  It was very interesting and informative. They gave us a free Boat Show ticket, which was great and saved us $36 U.S.  Awesome!  More money to spend at the show.

It rained all day as we wended our way from tent to tent and stall to stall, and tried to avoid puddles.  We bought lots of stuff on our list and made some decisions about our next big purchases.  By 5:00, we were soaked, chilled, and tired, so we went inside to Pussers Restaurant to have dinner and warm up.  Later, we called an Uber cab to take us back to the boat where we changed into our thick socks and warm clothes.


Sunday, October 9, 2016

It rained and howled all night, but we were nice and cozy in our boat. In the morning, we had breakfast onboard and did some odd jobs while we waited for the rain to quit.  We are going back to the Boat Show again today to buy a few more things.  The Mantus anchor lady gave us free passes for today, so we are going back to talk to them, as well as a few more vendors.

We have had no Thanksgiving turkey yet, so that may be our quest for today.

No luck.  We ordered pizza and listened to the Jays game.

Woohoo, the Blue Jays won and clinched the ALDS (American League Division Series) over the Texas Rangers.  Now they move onto the ALCS (American League Championship Series) and will play the Cleveland Indians on Friday. (Yes, we are still avid Blue Jays fans, even from here.)



Monday, October 10, 2016

Oh, my, we've had a busy day again today. The canvas guy came at 8:30 to measure for our weather guards (i.e., sun skirts, side shields, etc.). Then, we did the laundry, paid our marina and rigging bills, biked to Fawcett's for nuts and bolts for the new anchor, then biked to McDonald's and the grocery store for provisions, and back to the marina.

The marina bikes were quite a treat. The chains fell off at least twice for each of us, there was a rubbing on mine that made it twice as hard to pedal, and Carey's only had first gear.  Quite an energy sapper when you're going up and down the hills to Baybridge Road.  Needless to say, we needed to take showers before we left the marina.  Sue, in the marina office, invited us back next year when they'd have a brand new fleet of bikes.  Hmmm, only a year too late for us.

At about 3:30, we motored back over to Weem's Creek and anchored.  On the way, we had to go under a bridge that looked way too low for us. (See the video at https://youtu.be/2ozXMNpmTos ). Yikes!  In reality, we had about 7 feet to spare. Doesn't look it!

Later, while Dave and Nicki were visiting they pointed out a sailboat that was very low in the water.  As we watched, it seemed to be sinking lower all the time.  They had seen the Harbourmaster and the Police in the anchorage earlier that day and they seemed to be checking it out, so we assumed someone was going to take care of it before it sank.  Fingers crossed!

Still no turkey, unless you can count the turkey meatballs I put in the spaghetti.


Tuesday, October 11, 2016

OMG!  Do you see anything a little strange about this picture?

Look to the left of Carey and Dave in the dinghy.  Yup, that's a mast sticking out of the water.  No boat visible.  The sinking boat from yesterday had totally sunk and was sitting on the bottom.  Terrible.  I guess the officials weren't able to find the owners to get permission to break in to run the bilge pump or to tow it to safety.  Without permission they were probably worried about liability issues.  I called the Coast Guard to report it, and they asked a lot of questions (e.g., a description of the boat--well, it looks like an aluminum stick at the moment).  Now, it is definitely a danger to mariners. Imagine going into that anchorage at night and running into a mast!  Yikes!  We did hear the Coast Guard announce a "Securite" about the submerged sailboat later that morning.  (Note: When a Coast Guard announcement begins with "Securite" it usually means it is important safety information.)

At 9:15, Carey and Dave went to meet Greg, the Mantus dealer, at the boat ramp to pick up our new Mantus anchor.  Greg, very kindly, agreed to deliver it to us, since we didn't have a car.  When they returned, Carey took it all apart and had to stow it.  It's 55 pounds, so it could do a lot of damage if we left it loose while we were sailing.  We will install it on our bow when we get to Portsmouth.

At 11:30, we decided to lift anchor.  Unfortunately, our anchor had other ideas.  We think it must have been hooked on an underwater cable or an old chain.  Whatever it was, it wasn't letting go.  We tried several tactics--going forward, reversing, pulling up, letting more chain out--to no avail.  Finally, we let out all of our chain that is connected to the anchor (150 feet) and some of our rope so that we could turn right around to the other side of the anchor without the chain rubbing against the boat.  This time when we pulled it up, it pulled free. Yea!   By now it was 12:15!  Phew!  I did not want to go diving, and I knew for sure that Carey would never go in that water.

We left Weem's Creek and followed the Severn River to the Chesapeake Bay.  Today, our destination is Oxford, a historic town and one of Maryland's oldest.  It was a colonial port of entry and home to several heroes of the American Revolution.  The guidebooks say it's a charming town to wander through.

Here we are at anchor in Oxford, Maryland. Yup, that's RC Wings.  So beautiful.

 Here's a map to show exactly where we are. See the little boat on the east shore of the Chesapeake about a third of the way down?  That's us.

Last night, we celebrated our thousand nautical mile mark. We have now traveled 1,029 nautical miles from home over 33 days. Woohoo!  We are toasting reaching  our milestone with the wine that Kathy and Alex gave us when we left our home dock. 

(Photo credit: Nicki Ackerman)

Annapolis, Here We Come!

Sunday, October 2, 2016

I got up at 6:30 to bake my homemade bread.  We lifted anchor at 8:00, so we ate our warm bread with honey and peanut butter on the go.

Today, we are headed for an anchorage on Weem's Creek in Annapolis. There are mooring balls there that are owned by the Annapolis Naval Academy, but they let boaters use them.  The only catch is that if there is a named storm they will kick us out so they can put their own boats there. Hmmmm, I think we can take that chance.

It is grey, grey, grey again!  Grey sky, grey water, grey clouds.  Ugh. I'm even wearing my grey jacket. As soon as I get to Annapolis I'm changing into something sunny yellow. Maybe it will influence Mother Nature. Haha.

On the way, a huge power boat passed us. It was silver--yes, like a silver bullet--and 115 feet long. Wow, quite impressive!  He did slow down when he approached, but he still left a HUGE wake. We watched a small fishing boat just about get swamped, but they didn't go over. Phew!
Everyone drives their boats as fast as possible around here, with no thought whatsoever about their wake.  It's weird how oblivious they seem.

We arrived at the Weem's Creek anchorage around noon, but it was 1:00 by the time we found a good place for the night. There were no more US Navy mooring balls, so we tried to anchor.  However, the first spot we tried, we didn't have good holding, and there were too many boats nearby.  So, we moved further northeast, closer to the mouth of the creek and dropped the hook there.  This is quite a pretty anchorage, with lots of boats, both moored and anchored.

As it turned out, the boat that was tied to a mooring ball beside us decided to leave at 4:00. Score!  We picked up our very first mooring ball.  Nothing to it when the wind isn't blowing and there's no current.  Hmmmm, I think those two factors just might change things.  We'll see. In the meantime, we are basking in our success. Plus, the sun just came out!  Bonus!

One of our first tasks is to pull the dinghy out of its bag and inflate it.  Ugh, mold!  Apparently, the dinghy bag isn't waterproof and the dinghy got wet inside. No wonder with all of the waves coming over our bow during our travels from New York City to Delaware City. Now, our first task is to wipe the dinghy down, then inflate it, and then clean it again (because there are too many wrinkles and crevasses when it's deflated). By sunset, we had it set up and ready to launch.  Time for dinner.

Monday, October 3, 2016

This morning we launched the dinghy (all nice and white again), cleaned the inside of the boat (finally, clean again!), hoisted the US courtesy flag after getting some clips for the flag, and re-organized all of the lines in the rope locker.

Around 11:30, we puttered over to pick up Dave and Nicki to go into town. We pulled up on a beach and tied the dinghy to a pole.  We walked into town, which is approximately 4.5 miles, and had a delicious lunch at O'Brien's.  Then, we decided to go to Fawcett's Marine (which sells everything under the sun for boats), so we caught the bus.  The driver offered us the 'Seniors Rate' which was $2 each for the whole day!  What a deal!  Sometimes, it pays to be old!  Haha.  We bought a few things, but figured they may have better deals at the Boat Show, so we caught the bus back and dinghied back to our boats.  (People on busses are very helpful and friendly.  They told us where to get off and when to switch to other busses.  So nice.)  It was hot and sunny today, so we were glad to get back to get cleaned up and cooled off.

We had Dave and Nicki over for a barbecue and had a lovely evening with them, as usual.

C&R on the C&D

Friday, September 30, 2016

While we were at Dave and Nicki's last night we planned our next steps.  The plan is that we will wait here until the weather improves, i.e., more manageable wind speeds.  Then, we'll travel about 40 nm to an anchorage in Middle River at Galloway Creek, which is on the western side of the Chesapeake.  It gets dark early, so if we don't make it that far before sunset, our backup plan is to anchor at Still Pond on the eastern side of the Chesapeake, which is only about 30 nm away.  Like good little Boy (and Girl) Scouts, we try to be prepared for everything.  We always try to have a Plan B, no matter what we are doing.

It rained and blew all night--enough that our boat was actually heeling over at the dock. Weird feeling. After several days of high winds and torrential downpours, Carey thinks we should rename our boat RC's Ark. They even have a flood advisory here.  No worries for us, though, since we'll just rise with the water levels.

This is one of the first cool mornings we've had. It's 14 degrees, but it'll warm up a bit later to 19 degrees.

We continued with our 'to do' list today and were able to check a lot of stuff off that list. Gotta love that!  When we went in to pay for another night's marina fees, Tim gave us a half price deal. Nice!

One of the items on my list was to reprovision. Unfortunately there is no grocery store near here. They have a convenience store, much like a Mac's Milk, but they didn't carry the fresh veggies and other stuff we needed. The closest grocery store was Food Lion about 8 km away.  I had resigned myself to making do with what we had until we got to Annapolis, but then I bumped into Matthew from Kinship. He said they had hired an Uber cab to take them to the grocery store and invited me along.  Woohoo!  So nice. I jumped at the chance. They were leaving in five minutes and I was ready.

I only needed a few things, so my two bags should have been fine.  Haha.  Five bags later, I carried everything out to the cab (with some help from Shannon, who is crewing on Kinship).  Matthew and Kathleen wouldn't even let me chip in on the cost of the cab. Once again I am blown away by the kindness and generosity of others.

We had a roast beef and mashed potato dinner with garlic bread onboard, thanks to my fresh provisions.  Yummy!

For dessert, we were invited over to Kinship (along with Dave and Nicki) for some delicious apple cake and ice cream. Ice cream is rare on boats, because few of us have freezer space for it (except Off Duty II, of course), but Kathleen bought some today and wanted us to eat it all up.  Well, okay.

While we were there, we talked about our different experiences along this shared journey, and also our upcoming plans and preparations. So interesting.  My special talent is picking brains, so I gathered lots of information from Matthew and Kathleen, e.g., what storm sails and drogues they have for the passage, passage meal planning, etc.

Tomorrow we will go through the Chesapeake & Delaware (C&D) Canal into Chesapeake Bay. Tim, the dock master, says we should arrive at the mouth of the canal one hour before high tide. Tomorrow's high tide is at 12:10 pm, so if we leave here by 10:30 we should time it just right.  The tides here are huge--6 feet!  Strangely, though, when we get into the Chesapeake there are only 1 foot tides. Weird, but much less complicated for us.


Saturday, October 1, 2016

It was cool overnight, but it was just right for sleeping. We are checking a few more jobs off our list this morning and then will be on our by 10:30.

We left the dock at 10:30 and were into the C&D Canal by 11:00.  We caught the tide just right, I guess, because we were getting 8 to 10 knots SOG!  Love that.  The canal is nothing special--just a mostly straight river with several bridges (6 in 14 miles).  It turns into the Elk River which empties into the Chesapeake Bay. That was the easy part.

Yikes!  Crab pot minefield!  I took a shortcut to our anchorage (out of the main channel) and we had to wend our way through hundreds of crab pots. We both had our eyes peeled.  I guess that's a good reminder that we are in Chesapeake Bay.

By the time we arrived in the Galloway Creek anchorage we were tired out and hungry.  I made a most delicious penne dish with pesto sauce, asparagus, bacon, tomatoes, spinach and chicken. It looked and tasted like a gourmet meal (Carey actually said that)!  I stole the idea from the Penne Rustico they serve at Crabby Joe's in Petrolia. I had doubts that I could replicate it, but I did!  I was thrilled.

After cleaning up, I grabbed a book and Carey listened to the Blue Jays. They actually won!  Happy days.