From Chesapeake Bay to Delaware Bay

Carol, here's an osprey nest you haven't
photographed yet!!  Both mommy & daddy are home!

We spent 3 nights in Rock Hall MD (because if you paid for 2 nights, you got the 3^rd night free) and ended up doing mostly chores around the boat.  Still trying to work down the list from the boatyard.  We didn’t really get out into the town like we did last year.

A Coast Guard buoy tender doing what he does best:
tend buoys !!

It looked like we had a good 2 day weather window to make the trip up the Chesapeake to its end (or its beginning, depending on which way you’re looking), across the C & D Canal (which links the Chesapeake Bay with the Delaware Bay, DUH) and then down the Delaware to Cape May NJ.  But as you know, the weather guessers are one of the few professions where you can be wrong 50% of the time & still have a job.

We departed Rock Hall on Thursday and ran in the cold 52 degrees rain all day.  But we had two good things on our side.  1) The winds and seas were quite calm, and 2) We caught a flood tide (with a tail current as much as 2.5 mph) all the way up the Bay and across the C & D Canal.  It quickened our planned arrival time by more than an hour.  I’ve learned that in this neck of the woods, the tidal current can be your real friend or your worse enemy.

In Delaware City, this is what low tide looks like.
The flat boat on the left is sitting on the mud.

The tides on Delaware Bay were not in our favor, so we diverted north 3 miles to a small marina in the small town of Delaware City DE.  On Friday, the winds on the Delaware Bay were causing 3-5’ waves, so we used our superior executive judgement skills, which we had honed over many many years of real-life working experience, to decide that you’d have to be an idiot to go out in the Bay today!  So we took a stroll into the quaint small town to discover its history, and we’re very glad we did!

As we’re looking at the old lock in town, we strike up a conversation with a nice lady who obviously knows quite a lot of history about this area.  We soon learn that Pat has lived in the area all her life, she used to be an American history teacher and loves the history of this area, and her father originally built the marina we’re staying in!  On top of that, we found that she must be the nicest & friendliest lady in town, as she invites us to ride with her to one of the historic forts across the canal.  And then, she takes us on a 5 hour tour of several nearby historic towns & becomes our personal tour guide.  Both Sue & I were amazed at her generosity and willingness to treat some visiting boaters like royalty.  Thank you, Pat, thank you.

The weather guesser promised us that the winds on the Bay will settle down tomorrow, so we’re getting ready to get underway to New Jersey tomorrow.

B-O-A-T (Break Out Another Thousand)

Crossing the Bay, we see these boats using nets to
catch menhaden (or "pogey" fish to you New Orleans folks)

So, we spent 1-1/2 days with the MARINE service tech aboard (the price doubles any time you hire a MARINE serviceman) and spent another “Boat Unit” of money (a.k.a. $1000), on top of the many many boat units which we spent just 2 weeks ago in the boatyard, but our aft head works even better than when we bought the boat.  That keeps Momma happy, and when Momma is happy, everyone is happy. 



 

 

This is why we come to Crisfield!!

We waited one extra day to let the winds & 4’ seas die down on the Chesapeake Bay, & then departed Deltaville VA on Thursday May 14, heading east across the Bay.  The seas were still 2-3’ with 15-20 mph winds, so there were whitecaps everywhere.  We gave the decks a good wash of sea spray.  Our destination was Crisfield MD, where we had spent 2 weeks last year & really enjoyed ourselves, stuffing ourselves with crab after crab.

Upon arrival, we gave the boat a fresh water washdown & then proceeded to feast on crab cakes & Smith Island cake for dessert (you’ll have to see our blog from last year to learn about Smith Island cakes).  And then the next morning, we had a crab omelet for breakfast.  Ahhh…life just don’t get no betta! 

 

Crisfield obviously has a major parking problem!!

 

 

Crisfield's past glory

We also wanted to buy some fresh crab meat from the hard crab picking house, but we were too early in the season for local crabs.  The watermen were going south to Cape Charles to catch the hard crabs, but they were catching peelers locally to put in the pens for soft shell crabs.  (You need to have read the book “Beautiful Swimmers” to know all about the life & movements of the crabs).

The second night we went to the new brew house in town, which we had read about on a boater’s website.  The Admiral has made a point of finding all the craft breweries along our route, starting in St Augustine FL.  Had some good food & drink as we “chatted up” the owners.  At the end of the night, we bought some lump crab meat from their kitchen for $18/lb!!  Try getting that price at any of your local markets!

Near our anchorage, this little tug boat at right
must be saying "I think I can, I think I can"

After 2 days of constant 15-20 mph winds, we finally departed Crisfield on Sunday May 17, and ran a long day to make almost 80 miles to a beautiful anchorage off the Choptank River.  Again, we had been in this area last year & loved it.  Even though the weather forecast was 40% chance of rain & thunderstorms, we decided to go anyway.  It was a good decision since the weather turned out beautiful, so calm that we let “Otto the Pilot” guide the boat most of the day.

While at anchor that night, we tried to figure out the tides & currents for later in the week, when we will head through the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal, and then down the Delaware Bay to New Jersey.  The currents can run up to 3 knots, so we want them behind us as we crawl along at 9 knots.  And since the times change every day, we need to pick a day of good weather in conjunction with favorable tidal currents to make the transit.  As we’ve traveled up & down the coast, I’m surprised at how much planning it takes, with the navigation charts, weather forecasts, tides & currents forecast, etc, etc.

As we left our anchorage Monday morning and re-entered the Bay, the winds were dead calm & the seas totally flat.  We used that opportunity to “swing” our new magnetic compass to calibrate it to the boat.  For 45 minutes, we kept going in circles, and I’m sure the boats nearby were wondering who the crazy folks were on the yacht.

In the Chesapeake Bay ship channel,
these guys run 25 mph

 

The Navy came to save us!  The twin radio towers in the
background are landmarks just outside Annapolis MD

Monday afternoon we made our marina in Rock Hall MD (due east of Baltimore) for a couple days & to pick up our repair part for our shore power cord.  Since we started cruising just 2 weeks ago (it seems much longer than that), we’ve traveled over 550 miles.  Guess what?  We again had been here last year & really liked it.  And guess what we’re going to do here?  Wait for it……….  Eat crabs, of course!!!

Hey Carol!  I know you needed just ONE more picture of
an osprey nest !!

Underway for 2015

But Mr.Cargo Ship, the best fishing is right here
in the middle of the channel !!!

The boat was only 3 days out of the boatyard and we were still working our long list of things to do to prepare for departure, when a huge beautiful high pressure system created a perfect weather window for cruising.  So on Monday May 4 we cast off the lines from Southport NC & pointed the bow north.

Boy, this salt air sure makes a person tired!

Because the yard period took longer than expected (don’t they always?) we wanted to make up some time & push hard to get to Norfolk.  This meant that the first day, instead of staying in the protected waters of the ICW (and have to time our passage for mid-tide or better through all the shoaling areas), we would go “outside” in the ocean.  It was a good decision since we traveled over 100 miles that day, which would have normally taken us 2 days to travel. 

The seas were pretty calm, with no wind and no wind waves, but we had an irregular sea swell on the beam.  It became a long bouncy trip for our first day, and since we both hadn’t found our sea legs yet, when we went below into the cabin we became queasy.  The nice part was having the water so clear that we could see the dolphins approaching the boat to jump in our wake.

At the marina that night, as we went to bed early, we both heard an unusual dull crackling noise, similar to hot metal which was cooling & contracting, and it came from all along the hull.  After lying awake for an hour trying to figure it out, Sue realized that we had “snapping shrimp” along the bottom of the boat, an event which we experienced once last year.  “We’re not in Kansas any more, Toto.”



In the Great Bridge Lock with a few other folks
heading north

After spending the first night in Morehead City NC, we stayed on the “inside” along the ICW, and had a calm, almost boring, trip in the smooth water.  That is, until the last hour of travel when the winds suddenly kicked up to 20 gusting to 30 mph.  We had white caps & sea foam everywhere as we threaded our way into the anchorage amid the myriad of crab pots which we almost couldn’t see. I let out all of our 150’ of chain rode that night.  As they saying goes in aviation, “Hour upon hour of complete boredom, interspersed with moments of sheer terror”.

On our 4^th day of travel, passing Coinjock Marina (as the T-shirt says, “Wherethehelliscoinjock?”) and approaching Norfolk, we had to pass through bridges that opened only on a schedule.  We arrived at the first bridge exactly 2 minutes early, after a morning run of 4 hours.  Gee, who does our trip planning?  He must have been an engineer or something!

Leigh & the dachshund lovers........take a look at this!!!

We made it through the 4 bridges and 1 lock (with a whole 2’ lift), before finding our marina for the night.  We fueled up, taking on 200 gallons and costing “only” $2.39/gallon.  When we had stopped here last year, the price was $3.50/gallon & I was then glad to pay it!  This marina has a great restaurant on site, and if you spend $75 for an excellent meal, you don’t have to pay dockage for the night.  So we took advantage of the offer twice!

Passing the USS Dwight Eisenhower (CVA-69)
which has "IKE" on the front of the island

 

Leaving Norfolk on May 9, we had our most challenging day so far.  The first hour went smoothly (they normally do) as we passed the ships and shipyards of Portsmouth & downtown Norfolk.  As we approached the Naval Base (the largest US Navy complex in the world is here in Norfolk) we could see the fog bank ahead.  We turned on the radar, and for the next 3 hours we saw absolutely nothing outside the boat.  Visibility was ¼ mile or less as we ran through Hampton Roads & the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay, dodging all the buoys and other boats & barges, and listening on the VHF radio to the aircraft carrier which was entering the harbor (and hopefully not where we were).  It was very challenging (a.k.a. stressful) to navigate only by radar & chartplotter for so long in a high traffic area.  And then, the crab pots appeared!  The only good thing about seeing the crab pots was knowing that then we were out of the main shipping channel.

This was all we saw for 3 hours!

The fog finally cleared as we approached Mobjack Bay on the western shore of Chesapeake Bay, and tried to anchor in a creek called “Put-in-Creek” (yeah, all you relatives in Put-in-Bay Ohio should grin about this!).  The crab pots were too numerous to allow any swing room at anchor, so we went elsewhere for the night.  After a couple stiff drinks (to calm our nerves, of course), we both fell into bed exhausted.  And this is supposed to be PLEASURE boating!

We had a nice anchorage, as well as a good trip into the marina at Deltaville VA.  We were here last summer by car, when we met some cruising friends who were here for maintenance.  This time, it’s our turn for some minor maintenance.  We have 3 heads on the boat, and two of them need fixin’, which just justifies the saying, “Why do we have 3 heads on the boat?  So that we have ONE that works!” 

The Admiral celebrates her fabulous docking skills

What was really impressive was how Admiral Sue docked the boat today on a face pier, with less than 5 feet clearance on both the bow and the stern.  And in the wind, no less!  When we got to the dock, our bow pulpit and anchor were overhanging the sailboat in front of us.  Talk about “sandwiching” the boat into a tight spot! 

We’ll stay here for 2-3 days to take care of outstanding maintenance issues.  Besides, that little ol’ tropical or sub-tropical or whatever rain shower is supposed to come by & we may as well be in a marina.  And if I need something else to do, Sue will give me the TO DO list from the boatyard.

The Admiral used a shoe horn to squeeze into that space!

“Fruition Departing!”

“Make all necessary preparations for getting underway!”  For all you Navy pukes, those words mean that you’re heading out to sea, real soon.  For us, it means that tomorrow morning will find us underway for this cruising season.  We don’t have everything finished on our work list (we never will), but this 4-day weather window is just too good to pass up.

"Fruition" sitting pretty from the boatyard, as seen from
our apartment balcony.

Since the yard period took longer than we had hoped, we’re going to hustle during our travels this week.  We’re going to cram 4 normal travel days into two looooong days. We’ll go for over 100 miles/day, and at our trawler speed (Clint calls us a “crawler”) of 10 mph, it will mean some pretty long days.  Tomorrow we’re going “on the outside” to make a straight shot into Beaufort NC across the ocean (hopefully avoiding the live firing exercises within 15 miles of the coast at Camp Lejeune).  The Intracoastal Waterway has so much shoaling that we couldn’t make it in one day, having to time our passage through many areas for mid-tide or better.  Then Tuesday, we’ll make another 100 miles and anchor somewhere in the middle of nowhere.  If everything goes as planned, we’ll be in Norfolk by Thursday night.

Two events this past week showed us just how quaint and “old-fashioned” this town of Southport NC is.  First, we had to get fingerprinted at the local police station (no, we weren’t being arrested), and the Chief of Police himself was helping us.  That is, until he found that he had run out of fingerprint ink a week or so ago.  I guess that there aren’t many criminals in Southport who need fingerprinting!  Then, we went to a Notary to get some papers witnessed, and the notary did not charge us anything.  She said that, instead, we should make a donation to her project of the week – a local stray pet program!  Some people say that Southport is “stuck in the 1950’s”, but that ain’t necessarily bad.

Imagine hundreds of these B-17's flying bombing
missions over Germany

And then, to provide lots of distraction for me this weekend, the local airport was sponsoring flights on a restored WWII B-17 bomber, and it flew over this marina all weekend.  Every time I heard those four big radial engines coming overhead, I ran to find my camera.  Even though the Navy plane that I flew had only one tiny radial engine, I can still dream, can’t I?

For those who don’t know about our travel plans this summer, we intend to go up the East Coast to NYC, then the Hudson River to the Erie Canal & the Great Lakes, coming south through Chicago & the inland river system eventually to Mobile Bay.  We hope to make New Orleans by mid-November (as long as my credit card holds out!)

Splish Splash…….OOPS!!

The Admiral cleaning the transom, amid the 26" props,
the old paint, and the fiberglass blister repairs.

So today, April 29, we’re finally ready to splash the boat.  All the items on the checklists have been checked (and some of them double-checked), the boatyard has finally completed their work (even though it’s about 7 days later than originally planned), the invoices have been paid (without having to sell my first-born child), the boat is in the slings of the TraveLift, and we set her gently down into the water.

The first coat of new paint, a white to contrast with
the blue topcoat, so we can determine the amount
of wear on the ablative paint.

It is normal procedure that the owner and the workers go aboard immediately to check for leaks, and it was a good thing they did!  We found a through-hull leaking a steady stream of water, in an area where no work was performed.  So, here I am, finally getting the boat back into the water, eagerly awaiting the start of our cruising season, and here’s an unexpected problem that will delay us another day.  What to do?  Do I haul the boat back out of the water (since the boat is still in the slings), or do I ignore the leak, start on a 7 month cruise and hope for the best?  This is an IQ test, children.

We raise her back on the “hard” & begin to repair the through-hull, and plan again for a launch tomorrow.

She's all prettied up with new paint & new anodes & ready to go to town!

Hanging in the slings, ready to get her bottom wet

A fish-eye view looking up the anchor chain

 

View from our apartment, with the double rainbow
after the thunderstorms

We have an excellent weather window coming in 3-4 days that we’d love to take advantage of to begin our cruise, but we’re not sure we can recover from the boatyard activities, move from the apartment back onto the boat, clean the entire boat, provision supplies, and be ready to set sail.  We’re looking at how we can make up for “lost time” based on our original trip plan.  We think we can cruise the 250 miles to Coinjock NC (as the T-shirt says, “Where the hell is Coinjock?”) in just 3 days by cruising 10 hours each day.  We’re also looking at cancelling some planned stops in Chesapeake Bay, but the Admiral is demanding her fill of blue crabs before leaving the Bay.  So, I guess it’s just like anything related to boating; all plans are written in the sand at low tide!

But one thing is for sure.  In less than 7 days, we’ll be underway!

Almost Gonna Start to get Closer to Starting

We’re slowly, but surely, getting closer to cruising!

We’ve been traveling for the past 2-1/2 weeks, away from the boatyard, but we’re headed back tomorrow.  And the best news is that the boat may be ready to splash next Tuesday.

We’ve basically been living out of our car for the past 2-1/2 weeks.  It was packed tightly with our winter coats & clothes & heaters, which we left in Birmingham AL a couple days ago at our storage locker, in exchange for our summer clothes.

We left Southport over 2 weeks ago to first spend a week at a resort in Florida for a lot of R & R.  It was a very relaxing week, and I only got wrapped up in boatyard issues for one day.  Sue thought I had forgotten how to relax and do nothing, but I quickly showed her that old dogs can learn new tricks!

Then we drove our poor little car (now pushing 220,000 miles) to New Orleans, where I had some more MOHS microsurgery to remove 2 spots on my head.  They were not stitched closed, so I now literally have 2 holes in my head, covered tightly in bandages so my brains won’t fall out.  In New Orleans, we also spent time with our son & his family, and our wonderful ideal perfect can-do-no-wrong granddaughter.  Their new house is looking really nice, and may be ready for its new occupants in June.

After stopping in Birmingham to trade clothes, we continued north to Lynchburg TN (a.k.a. “Mecca” for all you Jack Daniels folks) to visit our boating friends Leigh & Clint.  We traded sea stories (most of which were true), and made plans to get together with our boats around October when we’ll be heading south down the inland rivers from Chicago.

The next stop was Chattanooga TN to visit Sue’s mother, who is still holding her own.  We again were invited to stay at Susan & John’s home, even though they were not at home.  Instead, they were traveling in Europe on a long, well-earned vacation.  But John still left me a list of chores to do around the house!

When we get back to North Carolina, it will be Sue’s turn to see the dermatologist in Wilmington for removal of 2 spots of potential skin cancer.  So, as we start cruising, we both will have to change bandages or remove stitches on the other.

It’s been a significant effort to plan our upcoming trip around the eastern half of the US, especially through Canada with their charts, rock-strewn waterways, dollar exchange rates, and Canadian/US Customs.  I can’t imagine how some of these “Loopers” travel the entire loop in less than a year.  I don’t think that I could learn so quickly all the information about charts, navigation, marinas to stay, anchorages to visit, lock operations, water levels, weather patterns, customs requirements, etc, etc  to the point where I’m comfortable heading out each morning.  But by now, we know the boat’s capabilities and our own, and we’re ready to start heading north.

10 Days on the hard so far

10 days since we hauled out the boat, and the yard is pretty slow to get going.  Sue & I have gone from our apartment to the boat nearly every day to work on our list of chores.  Kinda like having a J-O-B all over again! 

We've accomplished nearly all of our chores, while the yard has only spent 1-1/2 days doing their list of tasks.  I reiterated to the manager that we wanted to "splash" the boat about April 23 (only 3 weeks away), so we'll see if they can prioritize any better.

In the meantime, we've decided to drive to Florida for a week to visit friends and for some R & R.  Then we make the "pilgrimage" back to New Orleans for more of my skin cancer surgery; and then to Birmingham AL to our storage locker to trade winter clothes for summer clothes; and then to Chattanooga to spend a couple days with Sue's mother (who is a feisty 92 years young); and then finally back to Southport NC.

We're planning about 7 days to clean the boat from the yard period, move back aboard, and finally provision the boat for our cruising.  Planning to make the Great Lakes this summer, coming back south via Chicago and the river system.  If we make it, we'll complete the "Great Loop" when we get back to the Tennessee River & meet up with our old cruising buddies from several years ago.