Month: October 2017 (Page 1 of 2)

We’re here!  We made it!  We’re all settled in for the final stages in the US before we leave for our big off-shore run.

 

Coming into Norfolk was quite the experience.  As we headed south for the Elizabeth River, a Naval warship passed us coming out the York River.  Turns out they were doing a wide swing and then coming into the Navy base in Norfolk.  Though we had no problems crossing the channel before they came down, we didn’t have quite enough speed to get across the smaller channel to the Navy base.  So we dropped into neutral, and drifted while the warship passed us, spun (with the help of three tugs) and backed in/parallel parked to her spot at the base.

 

We had over 10 miles to go down river to get to our final destination and I couldn’t get over the size of the Navy base.   We later found out it’s the largest Naval base anywhere in the world.  Aircraft carrier after warship after supply ship after aircraft carrier, it just kept going.  And if it wasn’t related to the Navy, there were plenty of commercial ports as well, so there were lots of cargo ships passing through too.

 

We made it down to one of the marinas where we were topping off fuel and water.  The fuel dock was not optimally positioned, but we thought we’d be fine.  Then the winds started blowing the boat off the dock before we could properly make the swing and line ourselves up.  I think we made the attempt 3 times, with all the liveaboards in the area watching us like a spectator sport (karma to me – stop making fun of people who can’t anchor).  We finally got tied off, but it was a tiring experience and reminder that we spend almost no time at docks.

 

 

 

We did what we needed and then headed over to our slip for our stay in Norfolk.  Having joined the Ocean Cruising Club (OCC), we were able to contact the Port Commanders in Norfolk.  It turns out they live in condos that come with slips, but most of the condo owners don’t have boats.  For the price of a nice bottle of wine, we were allowed to take a slip in downtown Norfolk!  The best part is that other boats from the OCC were there, and we’re all taking similar routes or have done so in the past, so it’s a great group of people to talk to.  Two boats were even ones that we had visited in Solomons Island, so it’s really nice to see familiar faces as well.

 

 

One of our crew, Lyle, drove up from Savannah with his wife Christine.  They got a B&B on the Portsmouth side of the river, and popped over on the ferry to visit Friday night.  We explored a little bit of the waterside district – bars, restaurants, waterfront marinas – all the craziness.  They came back on Saturday with their car and we were off to do errands.  Christine and I dropped the boys off at a laundromat with 3 big loads (including Trip’s foulweather jacket, which looked grimy enough to stand on its own).  Christine and I headed off to the grocery store.  Having lived on a boat for a few years herself, she was great to have along for different recommendations.  I’ve gotten pretty good at provisioning, but I’m always willing to listen to suggestions from someone else who’s done it before.

 

After errands we headed back to the Portsmouth side to explore things on that side of the river, then we took the ferry back to Norfolk that night.

 

Sunday morning Christine dropped Lyle off and headed for home.  Unfortunately it was a day of solid wind and rain.  It didn’t stop us from wandering out again, though we were a bit waterlogged.  First job of the day was to get Trip’s phone fixed – the battery was losing a complete charge overnight with no apps running.  We were at the Apple store for over three hours while they did diagnostics, determined he needed a new phone (the old ones don’t like the new iOS update which is most likely what caused the drain).  He wasn’t due yet for an upgrade through Verizon so Apple offered to sell the phone directly to us.  But then we got denied because their payment plan comes through as a small loan and we had frozen our credit because of the Equifax breach.  We finally said screw it and bought the phone outright because at least that way it would be unlocked and we could use other SIM cards as we travel for cheaper rates.   But Trip’s phone hadn’t been backed up in months and it was to the desktop at home.  The Apple wireless network was overloaded and we hadn’t even finished the backup when the store closed.  UGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!

 

I went back on my own early Monday morning, and stayed outside the Apple store on a couch in the mall.  Using their wifi with no one else on it, this time the backup ran in 15 minutes.  Rock and roll.  I got into the store when it opened and his new phone was ready to go in another 15 minutes.  Of course the techie handling our case that morning had also lived on a boat and was from New York, so I stayed an extra 45 minutes talking sailing and living aboard……thanks Theresa!

 

Trip and Lyle were across the river back in Portsmouth getting a mini scuba tank filled.  After the Annapolis adventure scraping the keel cooler and knowing that we will have to scrub the bottom of the boat at least once a month in the carribbean, we splurged and bought a unit from Mantus that will give us 30-40 minutes comfortably under the water.   There’s enough dive shops in the islands that we shouldn’t have a problem getting the tank refilled as necessary.

 

The weather was beautiful, so I meandered back to the boat, taking in Nauticus (Naval museum) and the USS Wisconsin, as well as the Pagoda, which is a modified watch tower that was a gift from the government of Taiwan.

Today we’re running errands, steadily ticking off the checklist, and waiting for Lawrence (of ‘chasing Lawrence’ in Maine this summer), our other crew member who’s arriving early evening.

 

 

 

Oh yeah, and we’re spending lots of time at the library – I’ve already blown through 6 GBs to update digital charts, apps, download podcasts, and update the blog.  The library here is gorgeous – completely modern and huge, but beautiful!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The winds finally shifted to the north and we decided to continue pushing south.  With a brisk wind and some lumpy seas, we put a reef in the main and headed off to Mobjack Bay.  Trip particularly likes these days and stayed at the helm most of the time, but I’d take my turn if he needed to plot position or use the head.  The very first time I got on the helm, I was there for no more than 2 minutes when a huge wave came up from behind and swamped (pooped) both me and the deck.  I was drenched from the knees down, but the cockpit emptied fast and we kept moving right along.  Check another thing off the bucket list that I had never added in the first place!

 

While Trip was at the helm I really had a fun time doing some bird watching – particularly terns and pelicans as they fish – what a wild difference!  Terns are so tiny and graceful, you watch them skim the water, locate their prey, then tuck and dive beautifully to make their catch.  Pelicans, on the other hand are about as graceless as it gets.  Though they soar along the water beautifully also looking for prey, they’re a tumbled mess of feathers (most likely due to their size) when they try to tuck and dive.  The splash they create when they hit the water’s surface is hilarious.  More often than not they come up unsuccessful, so we get to watch multiple dives/crashes/water landings.

 

We knew we were getting close to Norfolk based on the radio traffic.  I was rather jealous to hear that a submarine was heading out to sea as multiple warnings were issued to maintain the proper distance (500 yards) as it left the Naval base.  It would have been fun to see.

 

As we were rounding the bend to head up into the bay, I spotted a couple of dolphins.  Next thing we knew they were swimming directly along side of us, jumping out of the water and enjoying the fact that they were winning the race in speed.  I so desperately wanted to take pictures or videos since they were so close, but we both had our hands full with minding the sails since things were still a bit lumpy.

 

We dropped anchor up the East River.  We were a little bit dubious because many of the Active Captain reviews were several years old, but the area was lovely and quiet.  We still had north and northwesterly winds blowing through so the land just off the river provided the perfect protection.  We thought about staying only one night and getting to Norfolk a day early and taking a slip to get organized, but realized we could do alot of the same organizing there in the creek, so sat tight and enjoyed it all for two nights.

When we dropped anchor in the creek in Solomons we quickly noticed that we were close to a boat we had seen at anchor before, in Annapolis. What we also noticed was that they were members of the OCC (Ocean Cruising  Club), a group we just joined a month ago. We wound up meeting one of their neighbors (also OCC members) and got invited aboard for a sundowner – cocktails as the sun goes down.

We had a great night meeting people from 3 different boats at anchor nearby, all heading south just like we are. There seem to be two types of cruisers this year:   The first that’s doing the same as we are, jumping off from the east coast and landing in the Caribbean somewhere to explore for the winter (there’s a subset from here; those that are coming state side again like us next spring and those that are continuing on), and the second type that are hopping down the US coast (many through the intracoastal waterway) to Florida and then over to the Bahamas for the winter before heading north again come spring. Regardless of the intentions, we’re all moving in the same general direction in the next week and have been in many of the same places this summer, so it was fun to chat.

Pretty much everyone in the anchorage upped anchor and got moving before 8 AM this morning (hard to do much earlier with a lack of sunlight given the time of year). We followed the steady parade of sailboats out, then watched as some headed north and others continued south with us. I waved goodbye to the Calvert Cliffs – I would have loved more time to head to the cliffs and pick up first hand some of the fossils we saw in the museum, but we needed to move. Though we’re making good time, we know there’s some sour weather coming this way Monday/Tuesday with 40 knot winds that will force us to sit out a day and so we (along with all the others) wanted to get some miles on.

Once again the wind gods were blasé – not outright against us, but light enough that the best we could do was motor sail with the jib for the day. We aimed for Reedville. The pelicans continue to gain in numbers, so I know we’re heading south, though they remain far enough away in flight or on the water to get a decent picture.

I found myself questioning Reedville as an anchorage as we approached. Though recommended through a women’s sailing group on Facebook, it seemed a bit dubious as we got closer. Fish weirs (sticks sticking straight out of the water, sometimes with fishing nets attached) were everywhere – you had to keep a close watch and maneuver around them when needed. This is not as easy as it sounds when you’re facing directly into the sun.

And then as we turned into the inlet there was the smell. Reedville has one of the biggest processing plants for menhaden (apparently the source for fish oil pills and cat food). Not only were they probably the source of the fish weirs, the plant emitted a ‘fishy’ odor as we passed. We knew about the plant and had never planned on going into Reedville, instead anchoring in a cove to the southwest, but you then have to check if you’re downwind or not. We were downwind as we came in and Trip quickly pointed out this wouldn’t be ideal. I reminded him that 1) the winds were shifting and 2) didn’t it remind him of the Tai’O fishing village with the fermented shrimp paste in Hong Kong? At least it wasn’t 95 degrees……When the wind shifted, it was a very nice anchorage & out of sight from the fish factory.

The anchorage had one other boat already there when we arrived, and after we dropped the hook another three joined us. Trip went for a row for some exercise and some company, and I sat back with a book to enjoy the sunset in peace & quiet.

The next day we moved on again (once again motoring) to Deltaville.  The depths in the rivers approaching from both the south and north make me nervous (6 feet low with a 2 foot tide) so we opted to anchor in Fishing Bay.  A lovely rather large bay had only one other boat at anchor though we were soon joined by 5 others.  Turns out our original neighbor (Baba 40) is friends with another Bob Perry boat owner we know, so we’re very quickly realizing what a small world this is.

The Fishing Bay Marina offers a facilities fee – for $10 per person you can use their marina for the day – trash, laundry, showers, bikes, even the courtesy car.  We jumped in the car this morning to do provisioning and run by West Marine, and are now sitting by the pool freshly showered.  I’m debating whether or not to do laundry – there was one woman in line ahead of me with two loads, when someone else showed up and said she was doing laundry all day and had started at 8:30.  I appreciate that she was the first one here, but I generally have the attitude that you shouldn’t be tying up the machines all day when others need them for smaller amounts & if you’re not there in line to switch loads when one ends, you lose your place in line.  I’m debating right now just how much I want to piss her off.  I don’t need to do laundry but it would be nice.  And as nice as the marina is I don’t want to sit around here all day.  We can’t in fact.  We need to up anchor and move to the south sound at the end of the bay to sit out a small gale tonight (forecast of 40 knot gusts from the south).  You wouldn’t guess the weather coming from the sunrise this morning, but “red sky in the morning, sailor take warning”.

And we continue to head south!    Proof was the pod of pelicans we passed this time – took us by surprise flying in formation like geese and I didn’t even think to grab the camera.

 

We dropped the anchor in Solomons Island.  We had planned on going into Mill Creek which is out of the way of the shops and marinas, and to our surprise found half a dozen boats already there.  We poked in just past all of them and dropped the hook.

 

We slept in a bit (snuggled deep under that Hudson Bay wool blanket) and I had perfectly ripe bananas and pecans to use up in pancakes – and just a bit of our favorite smoked maple syrup.  Not a bad way to start the morning in the cockpit as the great blue herons and hawks fly by and the shad jump out of the water.

 

We got a bit more diesel as we’ve unfortunately had to do quite a bit of motoring, then headed into town.  After a fabulous lunch of local rockfish at the CD Café we wandered up to the Calvert Marine Museum.  Though there was a little overlap of the local boat building, most of the museum instead is dedicated to the marine environment.  The display of fossils from nearby Calvert Cliffs is unbelievable.  Just one small collection from a local woman totaled more than 150,000 sharks teeth and a nearby whale’s head is simply remarkable.  They’ve also got what I’d call a partial aquarium going with dogfish, turtles, snakes, otters, lionfish (I had no idea invasive species like that had made it that far north) and others.

 

We’re back at the marina finishing up some work on wifi, then heading back to the boat so we can move south yet again tomorrow before some big winds blow through.

 

 

 

Breakfast:  banana pecan pancakes w/ smoked maple syrup

Lunch:  rockfish souvlaki style at the CD Cafe

Dinner:  leftover jambalaya & quesadillas

 

 

 

 

St Michaels is a little bit out of the way as you head south down the Chesapeake, but we decided to stop because it sounded really cool and Trip has a childhood friend living close by.  On our sail over we saw our first pelican, so we decided this was the sign that we really were heading south.  Unfortunately they’re a bit skittish so I don’t have any photos to share.

 

Anchoring seems to be a contact sport in the Chesapeake based on the reviews I read in Active Captain (yelp for boaters).  We came into St Michaels and looked at the anchorages that were described as good for 6 boats – we didn’t think so,  and we moved elsewhere.  Luckily there was another anchorage in a spot called Parrot Point with only one other boat and plenty of room.  (The owner of the other boat later told us that 10 boats had been in that exact anchorage just days before and I realized I’m much too spoiled from anchoring in Maine now, where 100 feet to another boat can feel much too close).

 

Since we were ‘downtown’ we opted to row the dinghy over to the marina to pick up diesel (recognizing that the coming days were bringing light or no winds so we’d be motoring).  Then we headed over to the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum.  They have a huge piece of property with multiple buildings and all sorts of exhibits.  Everything from a boatbuilding school (where people can come and apprentice to learn older boat building techniques), to a salvaged screwpile light house (unique to the Chesapeake, the screw-in sitting pilings were supposed to be resistant to ice in the winter – only 3 of 45 remain so I’m guessing not so successful), to exhibits on the oyster industry and modern day boating.  They even have docks where they have historic boats.  My personal favorite is the skipjack, or bugeye, which was a beautiful sailboat with very little draft and huge sails used to harvest oysters while under sail (still boggles the mind).

 

What saddened me most about the exhibits is the future of the Chesapeake.  We had already heard in Annapolis that the front part of town is steadily sinking.  The flooding that happened only 4 days a year now happens 40.   Oyster beds are being over fished.  Excessive farming is dumping pollution openly into the water.  Recreational boating, especially power boats are eroding shorelines.  Invasive species.  Over development of the shoreline.   I could go on….I’m just glad we’re getting a chance to visit while it still exists.

 

The museum was almost overwhelming so we took a break and wandered the streets of St Michaels – it’s a very cute place.  Because it’s the end of the season the stores are having clearance sales and I’m regularly reminding Trip how lucky he is that we can’t fit anything else on the boat, because if I were going home I probably would have packed a U Haul and towed it happily.

 

We met up later with the sister of one of Trip’s high school friends and her husband.  Karen and Bill retired to the Chesapeake after years in New Jersey and they kindly gave us the local tour.  We got to see both Easton with its thriving art community and Oxford, a throwback in time that looks like it’s still living out of the 1950’s.  Then they took us home for a home cooked meal of crabcakes (yum, can’t get much more local than that!), asparagus,  and wild rice.  Though the local ice cream shop had shut down for the season the week before, Karen had picked up a container of butter pecan which was so ridiculously rich and delicious I think I’m still digesting it!

 

 

 

 

Breakfast:  leftover shrimp & grits with poached eggs

Lunch:  burgers & shrimp at the Carpenter Street Saloon

Dinner:  crab cakes, asparagus & wild rice, butter pecan ice cream (thanks Karen!)

If we’d had our choice we would have gotten to Annapolis a week earlier for the sailboat show.  Instead we arrived during the powerboat show.  Either way there was a lot of boat traffic.  We ducked into Back Creek to see if we could find a spot to anchor, but things looked really tight.  Instead we chose the south anchorage just off of Spa Creek and the Naval Academy.  We were serenaded every morning by reveille, got to listen to artillery practice, and watched midshipmen make all their first mistakes with really big naval boats.  We even got to sit front and center for a college regatta over the weekend (I was disappointed to see Wisconsin second to last pretty much every lap – there’s plenty of sailing in Madison!).

 

Unfortunately we’ve been having refrigerator problems (compressor is always running which sucks on the batteries) and battery problems (we thought we solved back in Maine but acting up again).  Lucky for us pretty much all the same exhibitors stay on from the sailboat show to the powerboat show so we bought tickets and hunted down those we needed to talk to.  Trip later dove on the bottom  (even though we were a little exposed to boat traffic this was a great place to dive with water moving so we didn’t have to worry about what Trip might be swallowing) and scraped the keel cooler for the fridge which did have some growth on it.  (The growth prevents the exchange of the cold water for cooling which forces the draw on the batteries).

 

We took a break from the problems and dinghied back into Back Creek to run errands where we ran into two sets of fellow cruisers who we had met in Marion, MA and Portland, ME.  We also found our way to Davis’ Pub for crab dip topped tater tots (OMG) and pulled pork nachos – a very satisfying way to finish the day.

 

Cleaning the keel cooler (and adding refrigerant) definitely helped the fridge issue, but we were still stuck with batteries that were barely holding a charge despite solar panels (admittedly it had been overcast for a few days) and a wind generator.  One of the vendors Trip talked to at the boat show pointed out that batteries only have a lifespan of 6-8 years (we’re on year 7) and that they had a warehouse in downtown Annapolis with our exact replacement.  Rather than face the thought of paying double in the Caribbean when they die we decided to bite the bullet and replace them now.  Wow, am I glad we are still relatively young and healthy.  Pulling out four batteries, loading them into the dinghy, getting them to shore, getting them to a corner for the cab pickup – and all that again in reverse with the new ones was a bit exhausting.

 

We wrapped up the day with a heaping plateful of chicken quesadillas (perfectly seasoned with Rubarama – thanks to Deb & Rama) in front of a movie with our new batteries.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Breakfast:  cereal

Lunch:  shrimp & grits, waffle burger (Iron Rooster)

Dinner:  chicken quesadillas

We left Lewes just after sunrise (7 AM at this time a year, not an unreasonable time) to head up the Delaware Bay and through the C&D (Chesapeake and Delaware) canal. It was a sunny day with light winds from the north so we put up the main and motor sailed. Quite a difference from the run down the coast of New Jersey – no seas to speak of and a nice easy ride.

It’s 50 miles up the bay to the canal and another 19 through the canal. We were undecided as to whether to try to split it up or do both (remember my thing about not anchoring in the dark somewhere new?) so we picked out an anchorage just before the canal as a potential stopping point.

You really want to time the tides of both the bay and the C&D canal as it can mean 2 knots of current in your favor or against you. Power boats don’t care about this but when you have a max speed of 6 knots it makes a difference. By noon we were doing 7 knots consistently so we were making great time. Such great time in fact that we easily passed by the possible anchorage and got into the canal just after 3pm.

The C&D canal is considered to be one of the busiest canals in the world. It shaves 275 miles that would be required to go around Delaware and gets a lot of commercial traffic. We sailed through one of the commercial anchorages where boats wait for pilots (small local boats required for transiting) and it reminded me of New York City Harbor – big boys sitting and waiting to move.

Ironically we saw no major traffic once in the canal. I read somewhere that most of the commercial traffic moves through at night, which made me feel a bit more comfortable. The canal is only 450 feet wide and the thought of sharing it with a container ship was intimidating. Instead all we saw were a few power boats and some sailboats coming back north from the Annapolis boat show.

We exited the canal and ran a bit further down the river, then dropped anchor just before sunset at Fort Landing, near the mouth of the Bohemia River. Nice anchorage for resting after the canal – easy in, easy out. The only odd thing was noting the effects of the current vs the winds. Even with 10 knot winds, the current at times had us spun so that the winds were hitting us beam side or even from the stern. Nothing to be concerned about as we were resting comfortably, but odd to watch from the water’s edge.

The next day we upped anchor and continued sailing down the river. I knew there were some high winds and storms coming, so we aimed for Worton Creek. Much too shallow to get inside (the Chesapeake was really made for 4 foot or shallower draft boats) but plenty of room to anchor outside with protection from both winds and seas.

It was slow going at first. With the jib out, we were doing a steady 0.6 knots (a toddler could walk faster). Of course it didn’t help that we had a hair of current against us. But I knew Trip was jonesing to sail and we only had to make 17 miles in 6 hours. After an hour we finally picked up some wind and had a lovely ride down the river. My favorite kind of day – sun and clouds out, winds at 10 knots, us cruising along at 4 knots, no seas. There were dark skies in the distance but that all held off. We anchored comfortably and settled in for the night. I made one of Trip’s favorite meals, Pesto Tortellini with Kielbasa.

We anchored off of Lewes to recover from our sail down the coast of New Jersey and to use as a launching point for our run up the Delaware Bay to the C&D canal to enter the Chesapeake. We picked up some high winds along the way so decided to sit and wait a couple more days until conditions were favorable to make the run.

The anchorage was great, just off of Cape Henlopen State Park. There were 3 other sailboats there and room for over a hundred so we had plenty of privacy. The ferry going in and out was far enough away not to be an issue. We’d see small fishing boats go by every once in a while, but we really had the anchorage to ourselves. To us and the dolphins anyway. The anchorage seemed to be just well protected enough that we’d see pods swimming around multiple times a day – we even watched one leap out of the water to provide some entertainment.

 

Though it was a long dinghy ride, we decided to head into Lewes for one day. It’s over a mile into town, but the inlet is lined with condos and every square inch of shore is lined with slips. It’s more of a motor boat town (lots of small power boats for fishing charters), but there were a fair number of sailboats too. There’s a nice new dinghy dock in a newly renovated park just 2 blocks from the center of town.

 

Lewes (pronounced like ‘Lewis’) was founded by the Dutch as a whaling station in the 1600’s. There’s a fair amount of history remaining despite the fact that the settlement didn’t last long and a local native tribe of Lenni Lenape massacred the bunch. The town was later rebuilt and given to the British, before bad luck struck again and Captain Kidd visited at the end of the 1600’s. And then there was the bombing during the War of 1812. The ‘cannonball house’ still proudly bears the scar from a cannonball that struck it. Through the years it never lost its seafaring touch, though now it looks to be aimed more at tourists (not complaining).

We wandered through the usual few blocks of cute shops full of clothes I can no longer afford, & then walked to the Zwaanendael Museum. The museum was built in 1931 in memory of the original Dutch settlement. It’s part of a lovely park that also includes one of the original houses from the town. Built in 1730, it looks not all that dissimilar to our house back in New Jersey.

 

 

 

 

We continued to wander through town enjoying the architecture – lots of small cottages, all well preserved. A few blocks north was a small but well stocked market so I did some provisioning. Then we headed back downtown. The local Mexican restaurant, Agave, opened for lunch at 3. We got there 5 minutes early to find a line from the door around the corner and down the block. Luckily when the doors opened there was room for everyone. We grabbed seats at the bar for a margarita and a beer, and really tasty food. The portions were huge – big enough to be leftovers for dinner the following night.