1700 mile road trip

We decided to visit Sue’s uncle in Ohio sooner, rather than waiting till later this year.  So we rented a car from our friendly Enterprise dealer, checked our maps (to find that we can’t really get there from here), and headed north.  We crossed the mountains in North Carolina, Virginia, & West Virginia and saw all the leaves changing colors.  (I read that West Virginia is actually the biggest state in the country, especially if you flatten out all the mountains.)

With my Aunt (on my mother's side).  I hope I'm
as energetic as she is at 86 years

We spent a couple days in Ashland OH visiting Uncle Dallas, who seems to be doing well – much better than last year.  While in northern Ohio, we also got to see my Aunt Barbara in Huron, who is a spry 86 years young, still living by herself in her home.  We’re looking forward to next summer when we’ll have the boat on Lake Erie, and be able to see all these relatives (and several more) when both Sue & I get back in our old “stomping grounds”.

Bill Bowman's 70 foot Burger yacht.  Burger yachts
are all custom built, and about 20 steps above our boat.

We then pointed the car east, past Washington DC, back to our old marina in Colonial Beach on the Potomac.  We were staying only one night to retrieve our car, so the owner of The Boathouse Marina, Mr. Bill Bowman, invited us to spend the night on his yacht.  We reciprocated by inviting him to one of the better restaurants in town, where he and Sue shared a 3# grilled flounder, which Sue claims was one of the better meals she had ever eaten.  Mr. Bowman has been a prince of a gentleman each time we’ve been to his marina, making us feel very welcome and special.

Sue and Bill Bowman about to devour a perfect
flounder meal

We drove both cars back to Myrtle Beach, watching the changing colors of the tree leaves all the way.  By the time we arrived “home”, we had driven over 1700 miles in less than a week.  Yes, our butts were sore from sitting so much.

We’ll have about 10 days here to do some chores around the boat, and to act like tourists around Myrtle Beach, before we pack up the horses again to head to TN for Thanksgiving and the family reunion.

“Home” for the Winter

Organized chaos waiting for the bridge to open -
boats going every which way

Interesting sights along the ICW

We had a 2-day trip from Morehead City NC down to Southport, and chose to anchor for the night at the edge of the USMC base Camp Lejuene.  There were major exercises going on at the base, and since the weapons range ran right along the southbound ICW, the ICW was closed while the range was “hot”.  This led to another traffic jam of a dozen boats, all waiting for the noontime re-opening of the ICW.  Even after that, the military exercise continued through the night.  The cove where we anchored was filled with USN/USMC river boats, each with several 50 caliber machine guns.  All night, we heard large gun fire, machine gun fire, helicopters, and boat traffic.  Sure gave us a warm fuzzy feeling knowing that the bad guys weren’t going to get us that night!

We made Southport NC the next day, with the continuing northwest wind 15-20 mph.  While there, we interviewed the boatyard where we may haul the boat this winter.  We must have lots of extra money lying around someplace, so we’ll just dump it into our hole in the water.  The surprising thing while in Southport was meeting up with boats whom we had met this past summer.  One was a boat we met in Norfolk a couple weeks ago, and the other was a boat we met in July at Colonial Beach.

Look! She finally let ME drive!

Our final day cruising for this year was the half day trip from Southport to Little River SC and our marina for the winter, Lightkeeper’s Marina.  The trip was mostly uneventful (the best kind of trip to take on a boat), but we still had to plan for slack current at Southport as well as mid-tide or better at two areas of shoaling along the way.  Our marina is a bit north of Myrtle Beach SC, and only 4 miles from the North Carolina border.  We had selected this place back in June when we traveled north from here.



But the Admiral is still the Admiral!

Turning into our marina, right on the ICW.


 

It was a bit melancholy when we docked for the last time this year.  We had a fantastic cruising season through the Chesapeake, eating as much crab as we could, seeing a lot of major towns (and many more smaller ones), and enjoying fabulous weather.  So now we make the transition back to being a landlubber.  One of our first tasks is to retrieve our car which is still at Colonial Beach on the Potomac River.  Then we’ll visit our aging relatives in Ohio and Tennessee.  Then we’ll start working down the project list of boat repair items, which had been growing all by itself this summer.  After visiting with relatives during the coming holidays, it will be time to start planning our adventures for 2015.  Ain’t no tellin’ what’s in store for next year!

We got to the marina just in time for Trick-or-Treat.
These cute kids lived on a sailboat next door.
I wonder if they filled up that basket?

Norfolk & the AICW Southbound

In downtown Norfolk, go west down the street
until you run into a big grey battleship
(part of the Nauticus museum)

We stayed in Norfolk for 3 days, which was one day longer than we wanted.  The winds from yet ANOTHER cold front kicked up to 25 mph gusting to 30 and there were continuous whitecaps on the waves in the harbor.  At our marina, we were tied at a fixed concrete dock, and the 3’ tides coupled with the winds, did some minor damage to the side of the boat.  Oh well, something else to fix.



Our tourist day in Norfolk was spent visiting the Douglas MacArthur museum & memorial, and the Nauticus.  Your history lesson for today, children, is that MacArthur served in WWI as a general, and had already made a name for himself by the time he became a 5-star General during WWII.  When he was young, he lived in the Philippines when his father (also an Army General) was stationed there, and MacArthur was considered an expert on the people & politics of the Philippines.



USS Jesse L. Brown, my home away from home
in 1974.  I flew a helicopter from the tiny back deck
as it pitched and rolled.

At the Nauticus, we toured two museums, and saw mostly the typical marine/Navy stuff.  My big surprise at one of the museums was the selection of free postcards of Navy ships at the front desk, one of which had the picture of good ol’ DE 1089 – the ship that I was on in 1974!  The ship had been decommissioned 10-15 years ago, so how they still had a postcard of it, I’ll never know.

Norfolk has mermaids throughout the city.  I'm taking
the good-looking one home with me!

 

 

 

 

 

 



This mermaid has spent too much
time at sea!

 

  

One other day, we took the harbor ferry over to Portsmouth to see more museums, and to go to the Commodore Theater.  This theater, which was recommended to us by boater friends from New Orleans, shows first run movies inside a restored art deco building, in addition to serving a lunch or dinner prior to the show.  Rather unique.

 

The long parade of boats heading south down the ICW

Along the ICW, as the bridge finally opens, out comes
a tug & barge.  Makes things interesting when the
canal is already too narrow.

We were finally able to depart Norfolk on October 24, when the winds “died down” to only 15-20 mph.  We were entering the Atlantic Intercoastal Waterway again, where winds are not as important as in open waters.  Just south of Norfolk are an “obstacle course” of bridges and locks, most with scheduled openings.  With the large number of southbound boats having been held up by bad weather, we now had a virtual caravan of boats going through each bridge opening.  At times, we were number 10 in the long line of southbound boats.  It seemed like organized mayhem as we all “marked time” waiting for the next bridge to open.

We tried to avoid the crowds by bypassing the common marinas, and anchoring in coves on the way south.  However, even the coves had 3 other boats in them.  I’m amazed at how many boats make the trek north and south each year. 

Some parts of the ICW are deserted & boring

The winds were a constant 15-20 out of the northwest for about 3 days.  It caught us on the starboard beam most of the way, and because our boat has so much canvas enclosures, the wind made us heel over to port just like a sailboat.  I think that our boat will have a permanent heel because of all the wind.  And all the sea spray made the decks crusty with salt.  The first thing we did when we got to a marina was to give the boat a fresh water washdown.

 

 

 

 

Our anchorages for the nights were peaceful & pretty

 

The spacious dining salon aboard Lagniappe

We made Morehead City three days after leaving Norfolk and put in to a marina.  Just an hour later, our friends Greg & LizAnn aboard “Lagniappe” pulled in the marina right across from us.  These are our Power Squadron friend from New Orleans, whom we have been chasing south ever since the Potomac River.  We consider ourselves the Atlantic Fleet of the New Orleans Power Squadron.  We were able to break bread together & tell lots of lies – er, I mean sea stories.  You should have heard all the different ways other boaters tried to say “Lagniappe” on the VHF radio!

We spent two nights in Morehead City to do some Christmas shopping and to clean up the boat.  We were then ready for the final jaunt down the ICW to our marina for the winter.

“Sailors & Dogs, keep off the grass”

That’s what the yard signs said the first time I was in Norfolk, way back in 1968 (you know, back when the dinosaurs roamed the earth!).  But we came back anyway, arriving yesterday after a 4-day trip from the Potomac River.

I was in Norfolk in the summer of 1968 for 3 weeks as part of my summer training with the Navy ROTC college program.  I spent 3 weeks at Little Creek VA with the US Marines and Navy Seals.  What I really learned is that you want all these guys on YOUR side during a war!  Anyhow, it was serendipity that the Navy destroyer which my older brother was on, got back to Norfolk after a 6-month Med cruise during those 3 weeks, and we were able to meet up in Norfolk.  All I remember about Granby Street is being the place where all the sailors got caught up on all their drinking.  And where all the yard signs were.

Our last evening at Colonial Beach, the swans
came over for dinne

We left Colonial Beach on the Potomac River under beautiful calm conditions & had a good trip the 40-some miles to the mouth of the river.  As we turned south around Smith Point, the wind picked up to 20 mph & the seas increased to 2’ trying to go to 3’, right on our bow.  The weather forecast for the next couple days showed even more increasing winds & waves, so we ran a couple extra hours that first day to reduce the trip the next day.

Departing the anchorage at zero-dark-thirty & 47 degrees!

The next day gave us the same 20 mph winds with 2-3’ seas, which made for an uncomfortable ride (I thought this was “pleasure” boating, not “walking like a drunken sailor”).  We made lots of sea spray as we hit the waves & the weather decks were crusty with salt.  We hit a couple waves when the sea spray came all the way up into the open helm window.  We stayed at our protected anchorage for 2 nights while the cold front came through & made winds 25 mph gusting to 30, with 3-4’ seas out on the Bay. 

Entering Hampton Roads, different size ships going
in all different directions.

I’ve heard people ask, “How long in the fall can you go boating on the Chesapeake?”  I’ve found the answer is “Until the cold fronts start coming every 3 to 4 days, and the seas turn snotty.”  And the butter gets too hard.

Lots of traffic past our marina



We entered Hampton Roads (where the USS Monitor and the CSS Virginia fought an ironclad battle), where vessel traffic was surprisingly heavy.  We passed 5 Navy destroyers heading outbound, plus commercial ships, tows with barges, and lots of smaller boats.  We knew that Greg & LizAnn, fellow boaters aboard “Lagniappe” from New Orleans, were in the area, and we actually talked to them on the VHF radio, but they were ahead of us & continuing south past Norfolk.

 

Big grey boats everywhere!


 

We made Waterside Marina where we found some easy dockside space to tie to in these 15 mph winds.  We’re at Mile Mark 0.0 (the official end of the Chesapeake Bay and the beginning of the Atlantic Intercoastal Waterway).  We’re surrounded by grey Navy ships.  There must be more grey paint sold in this town than in any other place in the world!  After a couple days acting like tourists, we’ll continue our southbound journey.





Harbor cruise boat which ties at our marina


 

 

Looking through the 3-masted schooner, the typical
clouds of a high pressure system, just prior to the
next low pressure, just prior to the next high pressure

The Butter is Getting Hard

Our special waitress with her chief cook

We spent our 3 weeks ashore & now we’re getting antsy to get back on the water.  We took care of personal matters in Chattanooga and in New Orleans, which all turned out well.  The Executive Summary:

We owe another huge debt of gratitude to our very good friends in Chattanooga, John & Susan.  Their hospitality in sharing their home with us was definitely “above and beyond”.  They recently enjoyed their own cruise, taking their boat down the TN River and the TennTom to Mobile AL.

We enjoyed our two short visits to New Orleans, and our visits to our son & his family.  We thoroughly spoiled our granddaughter before returning her to her parents as we were leaving town.

Back in TN, we got to visit our special boating buddies, Leigh and Clint, for a couple days.  We find that they may be planning to take their big new yacht all the way south to Key West.  Yes, we’re jealous.

With our niece's two sons in front of Monticello.
I want my picture on the back of all the nickels!

When we initially left Colonial Beach, we noted that our southbound trek took us right through Charlottesville VA, so we decided to act like tourists and stop to visit Jefferson’s Monticello, as well as James Monroe’s Ashlawn-Highland (located adjacent to Monticello).  For your history trivia for today, you should know that Jefferson was the mentor for both James Madison (4^th President) and James Monroe (5^th President).  Since each of the 3 served 8 years as President, Jefferson’s Republican policies and beliefs became infused in the new country’s government and Congress.

Shenandoah Mountains, about 3300' MSL.  We'll
stay at Mean Sea Level for the next month.

As we finally drove back to our boat on the Potomac River, we saw that the tree leaves had started to change to their fall colors.  We took a small detour from the interstate highway to drive along the Blue Ridge Parkway through the Shenandoah Mountains.  The mountains all in color were impressive, especially since we’ll be right at sea level for the next couple weeks.

I heard several years ago another boater describe how he determines when to head north for the spring, or to head south for the winter.  He puts a stick of butter on a dish on his boat.  If the butter gets too soft, he heads north.  If the butter gets too hard, he heads south.  Our butter is getting too hard.

All good things come to an end

We had an excellent time cruising these past 5 weeks.  The Chesapeake Bay is just filled with nice rivers to cruise, tucked-away places to anchor, quaint towns to visit, crab traps everywhere in the water to dodge, and thousands of blue crab to eat!

Another quiet anchorage in a beautiful cove

We’re back at Colonial Beach VA at the same marina we stayed 2 months ago.  We’ll put the boat in the slip for 2-3 weeks while we become landlubbers again, driving first to Chattanooga, then to New Orleans, then back to Chattanooga, then back to New Orleans, then back again to Chattanooga, and finally back to the boat.  By mid-October, we’ll be ready to start heading south to our winter home.

A few miscellaneous thoughts and observations for the past 2 months.  Since the weather this month has finally turned cool, we can shut down the air conditioning and genset when we anchor for the night.  We’ve refined our electrical load management on the boat to extend our battery life and the use of our inverter, and found that we can go about 6-7 days on our own before we need to head to a marina.  The overall weather this summer on the Bay has been relatively cool, with only 4-5 days over 90 degrees.  Quite a difference from our past couple summers in Florida and in New Orleans.

When we were in Baltimore Harbor, the wakes from all the boats were serious.  Anchoring, as well as traveling, was uncomfortable.  Many Loopers complain about the same problem when transiting New York Harbor.  Something we can look forward to next year.  I was reminded of the song by the group Kiss, “I-I-I want to rock and roll, all night…”

Another hard day at work!

We thoroughly enjoyed learning all the history along the Chesapeake, especially that of the War of 1812.  But I found it interesting that the park ranger at Ft McHenry said that nearly every British tourist visiting the area had never heard of “The War of 1812” and did not know that Britain was fighting those pesky Americans!  Thinking it through, it makes sense that British history students don’t bother with a trivial war on the other side of the world, when Britain was fighting the Napoleonic Wars from 1803 to about 1814 in Europe (remember that short Frenchman named Mr Bonaparte?).  Remember also (as I’m sure you do) that the composer Tchaikovsky wrote the “1812 Overture” to commemorate Russia’s victory over Napoleon on the eastern European front.  So in the light of world events, our “War of 1812” in America and Canada was almost a non-event.

All in all, it was a very memorable summer.  But isn’t that what cruising is all about – “Making Memories”.

More Fireworks than you ain’t never seen!

Just outside our marina, at the cruise ship terminal

The last day and a half have been even better than we could have hoped for.  It started with the marina holding an already-scheduled picnic/cookout for the boat owners.  Who ever said that there ain’t no free lunch?

Baltimore’s Celebration this entire week commemorates two major events.  One, the Battle of Baltimore (British attacks by both land and sea) on September 13, 1814, and two, the creation of the Star Spangled Banner by Key, who watched the assault on Ft McHenry.  So a lot of the events were “over the top” to make them special.

The rain and low ceilings started lifting Saturday afternoon about the time for the air show, and wouldn’t you know it, the NAVY Blue Angels showed up right on schedule to put on their low-level show (those NAVY guys always come through when needed!).  Again, our location at the marina was perfect to hear the scream of the jet engines, only 1000 feet above our heads!

Looking down the harbor, each red burst was from
a separate fireworks barge!

The cold front came through, the winds shifted north, and the skies cleared for the evening fireworks.  We decided to walk about 2 miles to the Inner Harbor to a spot we found when we were in town a week or two ago.  We had read from the USCG Notice to Mariners that there were to be SIX fireworks barges within the 2-1/2 mile long Inner Harbor, plus 4 barges right next to Ft McHenry.  We got our position right next to one barge, and could see 4 others from our vantage point.  They started at 9:30 and went continuously for 20 minutes from all 6+ barges SIMULTANEOUSLY.  Each barge was shooting the same fireworks at the same time, all coordinated to music.  I was able to take videos looking down the harbor & it was impressive to see the harbor just filled with fireworks, and having them reflected off the windows of the tall city buildings.  There were so many fireworks that I ain’t never seen so many!

 

The cream on the cake was Sunday morning as we were leaving our marina, passing Ft McHenry.  All the visiting tall sailing ships, some at full sail, were outside the harbor, re-enacting the British fleet in 1814, and the Fort was shooting cannon at the ships.  It was a fantastic photo-op that we just happened to find.  It really completed a special two days in Baltimore to enjoy their celebration.

 

 

 

So now we’re headed south, eventually ending up in Myrtle Beach SC for the winter.  The cold fronts up here are now coming every 3 days, and the temp tonight will go down to 49F.   We’re finding our jackets buried in the closets, and it looks like we can put away our shorts & sandals.  We’ll anchor all week on our way back to the Potomac River, and enjoy the cool weather.

September 13, 1812

The parade of ships into Baltimore Harbor.  This is
a NOAA research vessel.

That’s the date of the Battle of Baltimore near the end of the War of 1812, when some Washington DC attorney and part-time poet was kept on a ship in Baltimore Harbor, watching “the bombs bursting in air”.  And now, Baltimore is holding a week-long Celebration, exactly 200 years later, and we’re in the middle of it!



A Marine landing ship.  Note Harbor Pilot boat alongside.
Note huge H-53 and USMC uniforms "manning the rails"

As we were leaving Rock Hall MD a couple days ago, I get a phone call from a Baltimore marina where my name was on a waiting list, offering us a space to tie up for the weekend.  All the marinas in the area had filled their reservations way back in March for this Celebration week.  We had planned to just anchor in the outer harbor (and rock and roll all day and night in the waves and boat wake), but this was much mo’ betta.



A huge aluminum catamaran.  Have to look this one up.

So on Wednesday the 10^th, we head west to anchor for the day just outside the Baltimore Harbor, to watch the tall sailing ships and the military ships entering the harbor as part of the Celebration.  We were real close to the painted buoy where Key saw “by the dawn’s early light”.  We were just outside the shipping channel, so we got some excellent pictures as the ships paraded by.  But alas, no tall ships.  They had either come earlier or were scheduled for tomorrow arrival.  So we headed to the nearby Maryland Yacht Club marina to stay for 2 days until our space was available in Baltimore.

Foreign Navy frigate with 2 harbor pilot boats.
Helicopter on aft deck resembles what I did in Navy
when I "defied death" for a couple years. (You can
click on the photo to enlarge it)

As part of the Celebration, the Blue Angels were scheduled to practice and perform in the outer harbor.  The Coast Guard had set up a safety zone under the airspace, and stopped all boating traffic from 10 AM until 4 PM when the airspace could be active.  This safety zone was so extensive that it prohibited all boats from transiting to their marinas or just wandering about.  We heard one boat call the USCG at 10:30 requesting passage through the zone, and being told to sit still until 4 PM.  This safety zone restriction meant that we had to get to our marina prior to 10 AM on Friday morning.

Passing yet another ship on our way to our marina.

Friday was a beautiful clear day, though windy, as we joined the flotilla of boats entering the harbor prior to the time restriction.  We made our marina, just west of Ft McHenry, in the outer harbor.  We’re in the shadows of two huge Roll-on/Roll-off Military Sealift Command ships and just past the cruise ship terminal.  But we have a clear straight view of the outer harbor for 5 miles, all the way to the Key Bridge.  So when the Blue Angels showed up for their practice time Friday afternoon, we had one of the best seats in the house as we climbed up our boat to the dinghy deck & took all the pictures we could.

One of the MSC RO-RO ships next to our marina.
Their survival capsule really stands out (reminds me
of the "Captain Phillips" movie

Afterwards, we walked a mile or so to find the nearest brew pub, so the Admiral could sample some more beers.  We also started scouting out our position to watch the fireworks show Saturday night, if it doesn’t rain.  The rain forecast for Saturday will probably cut the Blue Angels show to their low-level show, so we’re glad we saw the complete show on Friday.  Then on Sunday, we’ll have an early departure to pass through the safety zone prior to 10 AM.  At that point, we’ll be heading south back to the Potomac River to store the boat again as we become land-lubbers for a couple weeks.  Our crab-eating days in the Bay are coming to a close.

The Quiet Eastern Shore

Sandy Point Lighthouse, just north of Annapolis. The
Bay is full of these abandoned lighthouses.

We departed Maryland Yacht Club on Tuesday September 2 for a week of quiet anchoring along the Eastern Shore.  We’ve found that we can anchor out for about 6-7 nights before we need to get to a marina for a pumpout and fresh water.

One of our sunsets at anchor on the Wye River

We headed over to the Wye River, which we had heard so much about.  The sea stories turned out to be true (which doesn’t happen often) that the river was filled with small quiet coves to spend a night or to ride out a storm.  Sue found a cove nearly at the end of the river, where we spent three nights watching a gorgeous sunset followed by a huge lightening show as the cold front approached.  The next day, with a cool northerly breeze, we opened up the boat to enjoy the weather.  Having been in Florida and New Orleans the past few years, we never had the chance to turn off the air conditioning and open up the boat to the breeze.

After a couple days here, watching the fish jump, watching the sea nettles (jellyfish) float by, and observing the watermen setting their crab trot lines, we moved north to the next river, the Chester River.  To get there, we had to “run the gauntlet” through Kent Island Narrows.  We tried to time our passage for high slack tide, but still found that narrows to be the trickiest, most hazardous path that we’ve ever encountered.  With the high current reversing every 6 hours, and the narrow single-lane waterway under the draw bridge (which you have to wait to open), I just cringe to think about passing here on a holiday weekend with hundreds of boaters (half of them drunk and the other half stupid) trying to make some order out of the mayhem.

Once on the Chester River, the afternoon temps went to about 94F, and the temps in my engine room went to 125F.  My poor little Caterpillars down there had a hard time breathing!  We found our anchorage on the Corsica River, got the hook to set the first try, shut down the engines & jumped into the water to cool off.

We stayed at this anchorage for two nights, so we went swimming the next day with a scrub brush to clean the waterline of the boat.  We found a nice ¼” thick rug of algae all along the transom and on the trim tabs.  Surprised me that so much algae would grow in this salt water, only 6 weeks since I had the bottom cleaned by a diver.

"Winning Drive" at anchor

We were greeted the second day by one of the “big boys” of motor yachts – a 130’ Westport “Winning Drive” owned by the owner of the Baltimore Ravens NFL team, with a net worth of $2.0+ billion (with a "B").  We did an internet search to find this out, using the yacht name, and also found that he was here because his son was getting married that evening (it’s amazing what information you can find on the internet!)  After the wedding, the yacht anchored for the night close to us, showing a couple purple night lights (the Ravens color).

 

At Rock Hall, this is what we found as we walked back
from eating more crab

So now we’re spending 3 nights at a marina in Rock Hall MD, a quiet waterman community due east of Baltimore.  Sue was having withdrawal symptoms & needed to eat some more crab. Rock Hall is the type of place where the church bells sound every 15 minutes.  It has no taxi service, so we took a tram to the grocery store.   We’ll leave tomorrow to go back to the Baltimore area.  If the weather holds for us, we’re planning to stick our noses right into the thick of things this weekend as Baltimore holds a huge celebration of the end of the War of 1812.

 

Rock Hall, looking across the Bay towards Baltimore

In downtown Rock Hall, the library puts out little boxes
along the street with free book exchange

A shop in downtown Rock Hall MD

This is why we came to the Chesapeake Bay!

Yet another glorious sunset at Rock Hall