Log of Nicki May

Stuart, Florida

2012-01-29T21:41:00.000-05:00

After a quick trip to Texas, Lisa is rearmed with a fresh, new and updated drivers licence (I know, that's saying the same thing 3 times--but I just really believe in it). Most of our projects are finished so we will keep our eyes on the weather and think about bidding Stuart farewell. We have decided to skip the Bahamas this year in favor of the Florida Keys and possibly the west coast of Florida. This spring, we plan on pointing the bow back towards Kemah. In the meantime, I'm looking for a community college that teaches a course in braille snorkeling so that I can continue to kill fish in Texan waters.

We had a great time reuniting with Larry and Susan for a couple of days. They made a trip from Texas to the Florida Keys in their RV, then headed north and stopped in Stuart for a couple of days on our behalf. It was really special to spend a couple of days with them. We got a tour of their beautiful RV, and we loved it. We also got a much needed dog fix. Thanks Larry and Susan!

The happily retired couple visits our boat.

OK, so they're a really happy retired couple.

Our next steps are Lake Worth, then Miami, Key Biscayne, Coconut Grove.....maybe, maybe not.

Cocoa to Stuart

2011-12-18T18:27:00.001-05:00

After leaving Cocoa we spent several days at Fort Pierce. Fort Pierce has a class A inlet, so we have anchored there several times, but it's the first time that we took the dink to shore. There is an excellent coffee shop, and a nice park by the water. In general it's a nice town to stroll around, although like nearly every town we stop at, they have many vacant store fronts and office buildings. The "Kinder and Gentler One" is achieving his goal.

We don't like the St. Lucie Inlet, so we stayed inside as we made our way to Stuart. The Stuart mooring field was full when we arrived at the St. Lucie River, so we made our way several miles up the North Fork where we anchored for a couple of days. Our arrival brought with it several days of heavy rain.

The sun tried to make a rare appearance shortly before it's bedtime.

We moved to an anchorage across from the mooring field so that we could keep an eye out for any boat that might vacate a mooring. But mostly we saw more rain and clouds--and a rainbow.

The seas offshore were still high so boats headed to the Bahamas were staying put. Tuesday we walked to a doctor's appointment, then hauled our laundry to town, and were prepared to head to head to the Dinner Key mooring field in Coconut Grove, but as we returned with our clean laundry we spotted an empty mooring. We made record time weighing anchor (I even chucked a very muddy Danforth anchor that game up attached to our anchor) and were soon attached to the mooring without having to shove anyone out of our way.

The fuel injectors on the Yanmar were due to be cleaned and have the spray pattern tested, so I pulled them and then Lisa and I made the 5 mile bike ride to the injector shop. They were ready to be picked up after a couple of days, and we were glad we didn't have to buy new nozzles. We were also relieved that the engine started after I reinstalled them.

The injectors before being serviced. Notice the carbon build up on the nozzles.

Thanksgiving in Daytona

2011-11-30T19:26:00.001-05:00

Warning: Global Warming is back (or is it Global Warming Inc.). Our first three fall seasons away from Texas have been quite cold, but this year has been very pleasant so far.

Our trip from St. Augustine to Daytona Beach was uneventful, other than a little mishap at the Coronado Bridge in New Smyrna Beach. A few minutes before we arrived there, a beautiful 44 foot sailboat knocked over a large "no wake" sign that was right in front of the bridge. The sign ended up under water in our starboard side of the channel. It was not a problem for us, but the bridge tender got a bit excited. We felt bad for the crew that hit it. Of course the Coast Guard had to be involved since one of their signs had been hit. The current is very strong there, and I think the tender faked them out a bit on the opening--told them to proceed, then had them hold up and wait for another boat.

Waiting for the bridge in New Smyrna Beach to open. Close to the bridge on the right, you can see part of the structure that used to hold the "no wake" sign.

We were safely anchored in Daytona Beach, and with Thanksgiving a couple of days away, Lisa thought we should find a Cracker Barrel that was serving the traditional meal. With the magic of Google Maps she found one that was within "walking distance" of our anchorage. It was near the Daytona 500 Speedway--trust me, it takes a while to walk around that complex. From our anchorage, it ended up being 11 miles round trip, but we got to sit down and eat at the halfway point. The Cracker Barrel baked pies through the night for a month to be ready for Thanksgiving. That way they could use all the ovens just for pies after the regular cooks went home. I was very surprised that many people went there for the Thanksgiving meal. They were having a big classic car show at the speedway next door which contributed greatly to the long waiting line.

From Daytona Beach, we made a short 20 mile trek to Cocoa. This was our first time to stop at Cocoa, and we really wanted to check out their famous hardware store. It is really something else. They have countless wrenches as big as motor cycles, and they have many items that I believe have been on their shelves for 20 years. Lisa and I could only think of the nightmare at inventory time--and why would they keep stuff that doesn't move. But it's a cool store, and they have things no place else would stock.

The End. For now.

St. Simons to Daytona Beach

2011-11-23T16:09:00.001-05:00

The sidewalks of the St. Simons area took quite a beating courtesy of my Tevas and Lisa's Keens. They may have suffered more tonnage damage from the Tevas, but were definitely more offended by the Keens. They are turquoise after all.

We debated making a short move to Jekyll Island where we could rent bikes to explore the island, but in the end we settled for a 40 nautical mile jaunt to Fernandina Beach. Since we did this outside, nearly half of the trip was going out the St. Simons Inlet and coming in the St. Marys Inlet, but the water is deeper out there. We like deep water. It also gave us a couple of hours to make water.

Normally, we rent a mooring when in Fernandina, but they were all full, so we anchored in 32 feet of water in a river just outside the mooring field. We weathered a short spell of nasty winds and then moved on towards St. Augustine. Dawn arrived 2 hours before low tide, which would have put us in a very thin part of the ICW at the wrong time. So, we went outside again.

The St. Augustine Inlet is not a class A inlet, and although it is used often by large (not ships) boats, it has claimed it's share of victims over the last couple of years. They have the money to dredge it, but the environmentalists and home owner associations keep fighting the city and making attorneys and study groups rich. Lisa called a Tow Boat US captain for advice on the inlet, and it didn't take him 2 seconds to convince her to use the St. Johns River Inlet (near Jacksonville) instead.

We should have stayed on the ICW. We underestimated the effect of the 5-7 foot swells colliding with the strong ebb in the St. Marys Inlet. We took quite a beating until we were able to leave the channel and bear off to the south. The fog was quite dense as well, and we were thankful that we had radar.

When we reached the shelter of the St. Johns jetties, things smoothed out and our muscles (yeah, we still have a trace of them left) were able to relax. A quick check confirmed we still had all of our teeth. Our plan was to anchor in an ox bow about 13 miles north of St. Augustine and then move on to St. Augustine the following day. We arrived in early afternoon and were the first boat in the anchorage, but we by sunset we had 10 neighbors.

Sunrise at the ox bow. A single hander brought this pretty yawl in just before sunset the previous day.

Fog was forecast for the morning, but not much showed up.

There is no doubt that St. Augustine is a tourist town, but it is fun to walk the streets, look at the shops, and wonder why people would buy any of that junk--except for Kilwins ice cream. It is also amusing to enter the art galleries and watch the attendants stare at the Tevas/Keens, work their eyes past the sunglasses dangling from a shirt button, then past the backpack, then on up to the hats, force a smile and then quickly move on to the next couple with designer clothes and redesigned body parts. But that's only at the galleries. In general,neith Ethan or Billy Ray would not feel out of place in town. It really is a nice town.

A westward view from a coffee shop.

An eastward view from a coffee shop. OK, another slow picture week.

We enjoyed 2 days at St. Augustine, then moved on to Daytona Beach via the ICW. Daytona has the coolest marine store in the whole entire universe.

One Front Plus Two Fronts Equals Two Fronts After Another

2011-11-10T19:50:00.003-05:00

We left Belhaven under sail, and with the exception of motoring through a 12 mile canal, we were able to sail all the way to South River where we would hole up for the next onslaught of bad weather. Broad Creek would have been more convenient, but since it lies so close to the very busy ICW, we thought it might be too crowded for our liking.

After 5 very windy days and nights in South River, we were presented with a small window to make an outside run to Wrightsville Beach. We took advantage of a chilly but beautiful day to make a run to Cape Lookout Bight where we would stage for an early morning departure to Wrightsville Beach the following day.

Unlike our previous visits to the crowded bight, we were the only boat in the anchorage. Our 3:40 departure the following morning, brought terrific sailing for the first 3 hours, then the wind gave way to trawler weather. Fortunately, the forecast of 30 degree morning temps did not appear, and it was a spectacular day even though we had to play trawler for most of it.

As we neared the Masonboro Inlet, we had a strong urge to keep on going. The sea was comfortable and the weather beautiful, but a gale was forecast so we continued through the inlet and on to the refuge of Wrightsville Beach.

As forecast, the gale did arrive and brought with it some excitement, or stress, or angst depending on your disposition. This is a very popular anchorage, which translates into very crowded--especially in the midst of the southerly migration of 150% of all Canadians, and 125% of all Northeasterners. That's NFL math. It really does add up.

Thankfully, for the couple of days of big wind, most of the boaters anchored in a responsible manner, and a surprising number paid attention to the conditions. The few that dragged were on top of the situation pronto. Just before dusk, an unmanned (but not derelict) race boat began dragging through the anchorage. It started out near the bridge and dragged a mile or so until it ended up on an empty dock. One trawler had to weigh anchor and move to avoid being hit, and a catamaran ran one engine to swing over a bit to avoid a collision, but that was the extent of that.

A half hour later an unmanned McGreggor 26 took the same path through the anchorage until it's anchor caught the anchor rode of a trawler that was in his path. The rest of the night was spent on anchor watch until 4 or 5 am when the winds subsided to the mid 20s.

A calm Wrightsville anchorage after the winds laid down and many boats had cleared out.

We waited a couple of more days for the seas to subside (the Coast Guard reported some 28 footers) before making our way to St. Simons Georgia. To avoid a long detour around the Frying Pan Shoals, we took the ICW to Snows Cut, then sped down the Cape Fear River where we passed Southport before entering the Atlantic Ocean. At one point we were registering 10.4 knots with the aid of the ebb on Cape Fear River.

ICW on the way to Snows Cut.

Once again, we were blessed with nippy, but beautiful weather with a nearly full and then full moon lighting our way for the 2 nights "outside". It was rolly with wind waves from the northeast being somewhat affected by the southeast swell from the tropical storm 700 or so miles to the southeast. It was basically a dead run, so we were yawing quite a bit. With the genoa poled out to windward, and the main secured to leeward, we had an exciting wing and wing sail until the late afternoon. At that point the waves were slamming our stern around causing the wind to periodically show up on the wrong side of the sails. Not good. So we took the pole down, dowsed the main and ran with the genoa. At some point the waves persisted in causing the genny to collapse so we reverted to motoring with a reefed staysail. We had tried gybing back and forth for a while, but on the one tack the beam seas were no bueno for our healtho. And we don't have a new genoa in our budget. After a period of motoring, conditions improved and we were able to sail the majority of the way.

Sunset on day one.

Our GPS/Chartplotter crashed at 2 pm yesterday, so I had to revert back to the old fashion way of navigating--I rebooted the chartplotter. I don't know if it was caused by the failed FEMA test or not. But instead of conducting a test, FEMA could save a lot of hassle if they would just get China to show them how our system works.

It's hard to capture a swell in a picture unless you have another sailboat posing in the adjoining trough--which we didn't.

We timed our Wrightsville Beach departure to catch a fair current down the Cape Fear River. The plan was to reenter at St Simons, Fernandina / St Marys, or perhaps St Augustine depending on our speed. It turned out we made very good time, but the word was out that Fernandina was very crowded, and I couldn't convince the Weather Babe to use the St. Augustine Inlet, so...we did my least favorite thing. We slowed down on purpose. Like I said before, our fast is slow, so to slow down from slow makes me crazy. We like St. Simons anyway. An hour after sunrise we were anchored in the Frederica River. Four hours later we had finished 6 loads of laudry, showered and made it back to the mothership before the winds and chop picked up.

We will sit out the next front which has already appeared, before moving on.

Back On The Trail Again

2011-10-27T19:49:00.001-04:00

By Thursday evening, the strong winds had blown themselves out, so we kept our Friday splash schedule. The previous Friday, the 50 ton travel lift blew a hydraulic line while hauling out a 30 ton Tayana 55. The lift has an emergency brake system so the vessel was not dropped, but since it was a Friday afternoon the Tayana along with her Aussie owners spent the weekend in the sling.

The trees trying to change into their fall colors.

The flying dink back where it belongs.

Our new 60lb Manson Supreme gracing the bow. Gracing?? How can an ugly anchor... oh well.

Back to the water. It was a special day, so Lisa let me wear my "big boy" jacket.

A few days earlier, I had repositioned the jack stands so that I could paint under their original position. Those spots are often painted while the vessel is in the sling headed back to the water. This doesn't give the paint much time to dry, but the method supposedly works. The only spots I had to paint while in the sling were where the bottom of the keel was resting on blocks.

Fortunately, our Friday splash was uneventful. After a short motor around the small bay to make sure all systems were working properly, we dropped anchor right in front of the boatyard for the night.

Early the following morning we headed for ICW mile Zero in the city of Portsmouth. It was a good feeling to be back on the water. We left Portsmouth in the dark the next morning with the hope of arriving at the lock before it got too crowded.

But...the previous afternoon a barge damaged the lock, so it was closed until divers could make repairs. Even though you can't see through the water there, the divers had to wait for the sun to come up before they went to work. So much for beating the crowd. Fortunately they had it fixed within an hour of getting wet, but then we had to wait another 1/2 hour for the northbound traffic (1 boat) to be locked through.

Our lock through was very crowded with both sides full of boats including a raft up, and a few had to wait for the next go around. There is a bridge just south of the lock that is supposed to be synchronized with the lock, but the tender wouldn't open it for another 22 minutes after our exit from the lock--was he trained in New Orleans? There is very little room there for that many boats to hold position with the current and wind, but we survived. When an upscale 40 foot sailboat nudged between us and the trawler next to us (with one foot to spare on either side and with the anchor on his bow roller one foot from the trawler in front of him), Lisa did her teacher act--went forward with boat hook in hand. After a short conversation with the man on the foredeck of the sailboat, she learned he was upset because the trawler had passed him exiting the lock. I won't say the teacher shook the boat hook at him, but she did have a very firm grip on it, and informed him he better not hit our boat. I was more worried about him forcing us onto the rocks, but he finally backed off.

Eight or so miles down the way a large go-fast boat got too far to one side and went aground (presumably on a tree stump) at high speed. Another large go-fast boat pulled him off. I'm not sure why he didn't sink.

Our anchorage for the night was at the dreaded mile 61 on the ICW. That's where the midges basically ruined our lives this spring. We took all our enclosure down this time with the hope that the wind would keep them out of the cockpit and thus not messing up our canvass. All was good the following morning. I think the cool weather helped.

After raising anchor we had a fantastic broad reach sail to the Albermarle Sound where we turned more to starboard putting the wind on our stern. We sailed a bit off course with the main and genoa about half way across the Albermarle, then dropped the main so we could go directly downwind with just the genoa. It was a wonderful sail. We kept sailing about half way up the Alligator river before we had to turn the engine on. We made it to Belhaven late in the afternoon. Another long day, but it was beautiful.

We were disappointed to find the Laundromat closed. Irene sent 3+ feet of water into the building which seems to have ruined their machines.

This is our third day in Belhaven. The strong southerlies have subsided and it will turn cold tonight. We plan on leaving in the morning for either Broad Creek or South River. Then we hope to head to Cape Lookout Bight, before leaving for Wrightsville Beach.

Pop The Clutch and Go Already

2011-10-17T23:34:00.001-04:00

Assuming that we have not forgotten anything, our work on the boat is basically done, but we're reluctant to drop her in the water because we know that the first swell will mess up her shine.

There is a storm headed our way in the next few days, so we have decided to push our "splash" day back until Thursday or Friday when we hope the weather will have tired itself out. We should be well on our way south, running from the onset of the cold season, but oh well...we've been plenty cold in Florida too.

For nearly 3 years our 55lb Delta anchor has kept us safe through many storms as well as the normal everyday/night weather that was thrown our way. I like the Delta a lot, but we had 3 instances (no harm done) in a one month period that has caused some uneasiness to creep in. We decided to buy a 60lb Manson Supreme to replace the Delta. The Manson Supreme has had rave reviews, so we hope it performs well. Most problems arise when the wind or tide shifts directions--often after many cycles--and the anchor has trouble resetting. Over all, our Delta has held and reset well, but I feel like George Steinbrenner---when your ace closer blows a few saves, can him and get a younger overpaid stud to get the job done. That is basically what we have done. But I do feel like I've thrown my best friend under the bus.

We have met several interesting people while here in the boatyard. There are a couple of boats from New Zealand, one from Tasmania, Australia, Sweden, Germany and France. I still don't speak Australian, but I have begun to think in Australian.

Peter, the Tasmanian Devil, with his sweet wife Kay.

After touring America and a bit of Canada in a van, they bought this Irwin 38 center cockpit, and are quickly whipping her into shape for their journey back to Oz. They have already made one trip from the US to Australia in a Hunter 34. Peter has many very long passages under his belt, has been around Cape Horn, and well, let's just say he's not uptight. Now I'm going to the mall to buy Rosetta Stone so I can learn to speak Australian.

Hard Aground...in a good sort of way.

2011-10-12T11:37:00.002-04:00

We are still in shock over what was brought up attached to the underside of our boat at haul out. While the memory still gives us the shivers, Nicki May is beginning to look prom ready. As someone once said, "she sure cleans up well."

We have had varying amounts of rain nearly everyday, so the trick is to be ready when the rain stops or nothing will get done.

The topsides (waterline to deck) have been acid washed to get the tannin stains off, then a normal wash, then buffed/polished with Presta Ultra Creme Light, and finally followed by 2 coats of Collinite Fleetwax (the hard paste stuff), with a third coat from the waterline plus 18 inches.

Applying the wax.

The smooth sections of the deck and cabin top got the same treatment, but only one coat of wax. I never saw the Karate Kid, but I did see the ads. I'll take the kid on any day. I can go clockwise, counterclockwise and left or right handed--all day and then some.

I also spent several hours sanding the bottom of the boat by hand. Mostly a waste of time. Plenty of red came off but I couldn't get it smooth. We use a hard paint and I really need to invest in an orbital sander to make any headway.

The dinghy got a good cleaning as well. The fiberglass bottom got an acid wash, buff, and a couple coats of wax. The hypalon was a bear to clean, but it finally looks acceptable. We took advantage of a rare low humidity day, and applied 2 large hypalon reinforcement patches on the tubes where they come into contact with the davits. The 2 part epoxy we used does not tolerate humidity--really should be done in a garage or a shop where conditions can be controlled, but we don't have a garage. Sigh.

I also added 4 new lifting ubolts which are in a slightly different location than the originals. They were installed after this picture was taken.

We installed a new pressure water pump and a new accumulator tank. It was a luxury to have an unlimited water supply while trouble shooting the pressure water system.

Lisa scrubbed the side panels of our enclosure--the sections that hang down from the bimini and dodger. She did the dodger and bimini while at the marina for the hurricane.

I got 1 gallon of Trinidad SR bottom paint on before we sort of shut things down for a mini road trip. I will finish the bottom when the rain takes a break. The bottom paint contains 70% copper (which repels barnacles) and some other smelly stuff in it that repels slime. It really stinks for the first couple of days.

This side of the rudder has not been painted with the new paint yet.

Earlier this summer, Lisa got her Technician's license to be a hammy while in Southold, NY. We thought we were set, but should have read the directions. The Technician's license is only good for a hundred miles or so. Could have bought 2 cans and a string. So, Lisa got the study guide for the General test. While I was working outside the boat she was studying for test number 2.

Test day was October 8th in Davidson, Maryland--about 150 miles northeast of the boatyard. We took advantage of a weekend rate from Enterprise, went to the test site, took the scenic route home through the Blue Ridge Mountains, and of course made the obligatory stops at Walmart and Home Depot.

The testing site was kind of out in the sticks--pretty sticks though. We were glad we left early enough to find an alternate route, as part of the road was washed away not far from our destination.

Lisa exiting the Anne Arundel Amateur Radio Club where she aced her test.

We spent that night in a hotel, then had a beautiful drive through the mountains the following day. Though not in full fall dress, the trees are changing and are quite stunning.

Shower Time

2011-09-18T19:08:00.001-04:00

We have been having problems with our knot meter for nearly 2 years now and are on our third paddle wheel in less than 3 years. The paddle wheel contains a magnet in one of it's 4 blades which enables the knot meter to count the revolutions and thus figure out the speed of the vessel through the water.

When our first one quit working in less than a year, I pulled the knotmeter out of the hull, left the blank plug in the hole, took the wheel off the knotmeter, then left it on the nav table. After several days out of the water, the magnet busted out of it's hard plastic housing making the problem obvious. Somehow saltwater got inside the paddle wheel and caused the magnet to rust, which then caused it to break out.

Our second one didn't work very well either. It always read slow then it got to where it wouldn't read at all. While in the Bahamas, I visually inspected it many times with snorkel and my fish killing fake feet, and all seemed well. We bought our third one when we got up north but were not able to get it to read while under way. With it laying in the bilge, we could flick it with a finger and speed would register, but got nothing underway. Plenty of water would come in through the hull when installing, so that wasn't the problem. I got in the dinghy with my long handled brush and would swipe in it's general direction, and Lisa would see speed readings on the instrument panel.

We decided to wait on buying a whole new knot meter until after our haulout--just in case we saw something obvious obstructing the flow of water in front of the paddle wheel.

Hold off on lunch for a second.

This is not the armpit of an East German female Olympic shot putter, but rather the marlon through hole (with blank installed) for our knotmeter. We are hoping our problem is solved, but no guarantees.

Underneath all that "hair" is a bronze strut. At least the strut won't get cold.

Another disgusting shot of the prop, strut, shaft and zincs. Man, I hate global warming. Or is it cooling...I can't keep it straight. Oh now I remember...it's global fluctuation.

Mike pressure washing the bottom.

Backing up the hill to her parking spot. I wish she backed up this nicely while in the water.

I've spent a couple of days getting the last of the barnacles off, sanding part of the bottom, polishing the prop, and acid washing the tannin stains off the topsides. She's not ready for the prom, but she's getting there. We've had rain the last couple of days, but the next step is a very light compound polish and then a wax job. Our new bottom paint should be here by Monday, but we won't apply that quite yet.

So far we like the boat yard here very much. The folks are very accommodating and friendly. Our fridge/freezer is being used as an ice box (ie buying ice every other day) since it is keel cooled and we are not in the water. There is a washer and dryer here as well as restrooms/showers. It's a bit primitive but better than camping. We have unlimited water for boat projects, but it is not really potable, so we have to use our good water sparingly. They will lone us a truck to get good water from the local fire station.

Port Washington to Deltaville

2011-09-18T02:28:00.003-04:00

After constant consulting with her Kindle, the Weather Babe declared that we had a window to start our journey South. The plan was to go from Port Washington to Atlantic Highlands on Friday, then head down the Jersey coast Monday or Tuesday when the swells from Katia would die down. Because we were concerned about excess debris from Irene and regional flooding, we decided to bypass the Delaware Bay route and enter the Chesapeake from the south end.

The forecast predicted too little wind for sailing, but we were anxious to leave the New York City area before 9/11, and arrive in the Chesapeake before the effects of Maria appeared (she ended up staying well to the east).

We had a beautiful day running with the tide through NYC. The East River was quite busy. Before leaving, Lisa had checked Local Notice to Mariners to make sure the authorities didn't shut down the river because of the fast approaching 9/11. It would be a bummer if they made us turn around into a current that is nearly as fast as our maximum speed.

It wasn't long before we saw some of the effect of the flooding in the Northeast. As soon as we passed the Harlem River, which runs between the Hudson River and the East River, the water turned cafe latte brown.

Although the East River was quite congested, the Lower Bay of New York Harbor was nearly vacant. That, along with the brown water gave us an eerie feeling. As Lisa said, it felt like we were in one of those 1970s movies depicting life after a nuke war. We started to wonder if we had missed something on the news. The nearly empty harbor is still a mystery to us.

A very muddy New York Harbor.

After anchoring in Atlantic Highlands, I had just enough time to run up to the hardware store to fill our propane tanks. We don't like leaving the boat too soon after anchoring, so Lisa stayed with her just to be safe. This is one of the easier locations for us to get propane, so we didn't want to miss that opportunity. There was a chance we would leave the following morning if Weather Underground downgraded the swell alert.

We ended up leaving just before one pm the following day. Our goal was to pass the mouth of the Delaware Bay in daylight the following morning in case there were trees floating around. We also wanted to arrive at the mouth of the Chesapeake at the start of the flood tide.

The water along the New Jersey coast didn't look too good so we decided not to run our watermaker this time around. We saw no trees or debris anywhere near the Delaware.

Our first day and night were very pleasant. We had some pretty decent swells, but they were wide, rounded and far apart--not the washing machine variety. The following day was pleasant as well. Although it was on the nose, we had enough wind to sail slowly. This meant tacking back and forth. In the process we had another bird bum a ride from us. I guess he didn't get the memo.

By this time we were getting Coastguard reports of trees, a telephone pole, and a runaway dock near the entrance to the Chesapeake. At 11 pm the winds picked up to the mid 20s and still on the nose. This made things very uncomfortable the rest of the way to the Chesapeake.

A bridge and tunnel system runs across the mouth of the Chesapeake. There are 3 places for boats larger than small fishing boats to enter/exit. On the western side a small section of the bridge rises to 75 feet. At the other two spots the bridge turns into a tunnel allowing marine traffic to go over instead of under.

We were originally going to drop anchor in the Puquoson River, but decided to carry on to Fishing Bay in Delatville, Va. We dropped anchor, rested up for a day and then headed to Chesapeake Boat Works--a whopping 100 yards from the spot of our anchor. Nicki May was in much need of some out of the water TLC.

We tied up for the night at the dock near the travel lift.

The following morning we guided her around some very sharp steel corners.

Don't eat breakfast just yet.

The keel cooler for our Frigoboat not looking too good.

The same keel cooler after being pressure washed. The sacrificial zincs are in decent shape, but we'll change them before she is splashed.

Invasion

2011-09-06T12:27:00.000-04:00

With the hurricane threat come and gone, I woke up one day to the news that something else was about to hit us--company. Lisa and I took a train to NYC to met Karen and Jessea, saw some city sights, then we all boarded another train and returned to our boat.

We didn't have much time, but we hit Penn Station, Grand Central Station, Times Square, Ground Zero and the highlight of the day-- a stop at a bead store.

I was amused as I watched NYC pedestrians bounce off the sidewalk as the backpack brigade plowed through the city. Give me another month as their tour guide and I think I could convince them not to say hi to everyone they pass on the sidewalk--or maybe not. You can take the girl out of the South, but you can't take the South out of the girl.

Karen, Lisa and Jessea at Times Square. As I said before, it was Jessie, then Jessi, then Jessie again. Now I am informed it is Jessea, but that is not official at this time. So from here on I will use Jess until further confirmation.

The ladies couldn't figure out what a cowboy was doing in the middle of New York City.

Jess and her Aunt Lisa gracing a landing at Grand Central Station.

We took the scenic route on the subway to Ground Zero. Karen wanted to see Harlem right? Something about getting on the northbound instead of the southbound.

Lots of construction going on around Ground Zero.

Hmmm. Karen says this is from a wet dinghy ride. Out of respect, we will take her word for it. The chop was up, and she was the only one sitting on the windward side--somebody had to.

2011-08-30T21:07:00.002-04:00

Relief at last. Lisa back home.

Cool sky.

Believe it or not, this is the low tide following the high tide/surge combo that flooded the road. As you can see, we are very hard aground. The waterline is at the blue stripe just above the maroon bottom paint.

The stain on the lower bow is tannin from the ICW. You can scrub all you want and it won't come off. You need to use a solution that contains muratic acid among other things (On-Off is an off the shelf product most of us use). This has to be followed with a good wash down and then a wax job. We are scheduled to do this in Deltaville where I can do the work myself. I will also do a lite compound and buff job before the wax. We can't stand it when she looks like this.

The reason you may not be able to tell the bottom is maroon, is that the bottom is dirty. I try to control that the best I can wielding a long handle brush/scraper from the dinghy. It's hard work and the growth is back within a few days. New bottom paint will help. In the Bahamas I dive on it with snorkel and fins and use a scrub pad. In New York waters I become germaphobic. I need sensitivity therapy.

You can see the fenders I tied to the dock. On the port side I tied 2 spring lines mid ship, 3 bow lines, and 4 stern lines. The bow and stern lines also double as spring lines to varying degrees. That took up all the room on the port side boat cleats. On the starboard side I had 2 bow lines. There was a very nice Hinckley parked on that side that got hauled out at the last minute, so I was able to get a long breast line and stern line to take the pressure off the fenders and dock if the wind came from the north. All the dock cleats were only screwed down, so I tied the fenders to them. Then I ran the boat lines through holes drilled in the top of the dock so I could tie directly around the structural beam.

Sunset the day that the storm passed through. Not long after we returned to the boat the winds picked back up and stayed in the mid thirty knot range with gusts in the mid 40s. This lasted past midnight and then the wind died giving way to a beautiful sunny Monday.

We begin the process of putting her back together.

Since the canvas was down, we polished the stainless on the bimini and dodger and Lisa worked really hard scrubbing the canvas on the dock. When we put the canvas back up we sprayed it with 303 to make sure it stayed waterproof. It looks new again. It's amazing what you can do when you have unlimited fresh water.

The Return Home

2011-08-30T01:23:00.002-04:00

Before leaving the shelter, I was able to talk to a police officer who gave us hope that our marina did well in the storm. At this point we were still unaware that a tropical storm hit us and not a cat 1 or possibly 2 hurricane. We left the gym late morning.

A Slovakian lady we met at the gym was kind enough to give us a ride to Shore Road which was still flooded when we got there.

After being dropped off, we headed back up the hill to try and get around the flooded sections of Shore Road.

More flooding. This was close to high tide one day before a new moon. At this point the tide had begun to recede, so we knew the worst was over.

That must be Geraldo Rivera ignoring the officer ordering him over his loud speaker to "get out of the water". What would we do without brave men willing to step in the water, against all odds, to show viewers it's wet?

As we made our way to the boat, there was very little wind, and on and off very light sprinkles.

This is a view of our boat (just to the left of the middle of the picture) when we left her, hoping it wasn't for the last time. You can see that the poles on our side are longer than the ones on the other side and in the rest of the marina.

This is a shot on our way back--the moment we knew for sure that she was OK. Our number one concern had been that the water wouldn't rise above the poles on our dock causing the floating piers to float away with boats attached. Our number 2 concern was that the piers on the otherside of us would not float over their pilings, then bash into our dock and break it up. At this point, the water had already dropped a couple of feet. So, the poles on our side had a few feet to spare even at peak tide/surge, but some of the ones on the other side were within 10" from the top. The worst part of the storm hit within an hour of high tide. With the new moon a day away the tidal range was close to 10 feet, plus the 5 foot surge.

Bad Girl

2011-08-29T23:53:00.001-04:00

We were in Oyster Bay, NY when Irene decided to schedule an appearance with the mid and upper east coast of the US. Our plan was to make the short trip to Port Washington on Manhasset Bay, restock with food and supplies then return to Oyster Bay and sit out the storm.

After a lot of back and forth we decided to get a slip at Manhasset Bay Marina for a week. There are no good choices. We thought about a mooring ball, but in storm conditions the short scope of the mooring ball system generates huge shock loads on your cleats and snubbers. Also, you can't see the gear that is under water to see how it has been maintained--and then what happens when the ball and pendant goes under with high tide and a surge? You are also a target for any upwind boat that breaks free (this is true with almost any choice).

We inquired about getting hauled out, but the yard was not going to haul out boats for this storm. They later changed their minds and did continuous haulouts for 3 1/2 days. I did not press them on it because I have mixed feelings about haulouts for hurricanes where boats can get blown over on top of each other like dominoes. I also observed the yard was not chaining the jack stands together. After seeing the havoc Ike left in Texas, we were first hand witnesses to what happens to boats on the hard when the water gets up to their level. Not pretty.

My first choice would be floating docks, but only if designed by the same firm that did the docks at Waterford Harbor in Kemah, Texas. That's the only marina dock system I've seen that is designed properly to withstand storms with lots of surge. When I become Marina Czar I will mandate that this design be followed by all marinas. Only marina owners that are "friendly" to me will qualify to be grandfathered in with their sub par standards.

We spent a couple and a half days of securing the boat, dealing with fenders, stripping her of her canvas, solar panels, sails, and in general reducing her windage, removing and capping the dorades, taping the covers on the exterior instruments, taping around the hinges on the hatches (which tend to leak when the canvas covers are off), taping the main hatch boards together etc. With this done and front end of Irene only hours away, the time had come to bid our fair but robust lady adieu. It wasn't easy to turn our back on her, but we made the decision to prepare her well then leave if the winds were forecast to be hurricane force.

Our destination was the gym at the local high school. We were fortunate to get a break from the rain as we made our way up the long hill. The temperature was nice, but the humidity was 100%.

I'm about to offer the owner of this van a trade--everything in my bags, plus all the money in my wallet for his rusty old van. If he were to refuse, I would throw in a sailboat along with the 4 days we had left at the marina. Alas, he was nowhere to be found.

Let's go Vikings!! Lisa, the refugee. Sounds like a Tom Petty song.

We were surprised to see the Red Cross was coordinating this event. I assumed we would be talking to the principal, a nurse and maybe a librarian who would make us all hush. Then we saw all these army type cots. The Red Cross folks really did shine. We were very impressed. They worked hard all through the night and were Texas nice--though not from Texas.

They took my basketball away and made me sit in the corner and read a book. Why do old people hold the book so far away even when they wear glasses? Answer: need an armrest.

They called the gym a dormitory and lights were supposed to be out by 10 pm. So, with the lights out, you see the reflection of several hundred iPods bouncing off the ceiling, little boys running around with flashlights, stomping on roaches that dared to come out at night, large families with young kids competing to see who could cry the loudest and most often--with their parents either urging them on, or just doing the ignore them thing that only the parents can do. Where's the librarian when you need her?

Then there was the lady who for many years has never missed a meal, or dessert, or snack. It must have been hot because she insisted on sleeping on her back with her arms above her head. Since her dress was sleeveless, it was obvious to all that her razor budget got transferred to the food budget. The scissor budget as well, because she was waaay into scissor territory. The shear budget as w---oh, never mind. OK, all this could describe me, but I don't go sleeveless and I try to keep my pits closed in public. She was on the cot next to Lisa. Lisa spent most of the night in the cafeteria or roaming the halls.

Actually, it was amazing how well things went with so many people in such close quarters. And if you were a parent with the ability to tune out the constant screaming of some youngsters, it would have been somewhat amusing. We lost power at 2 am, but the maintenance guy and the Red Cross soon had a generator running so they could keep the fans going.

When we left the boat, we thought she had a decent chance to survive if the surge didn't exceed what was forecast on the weather sites we study. After arriving at the gym, the locals put the angst in us with "assurances" that the surge is always bad in Manhasset Bay. We had not heard that before and had deduced the opposite. Needless to say, I spent most of the night going through the different possibilities. What to do if the boat gets totaled. And worst case scenario, what to do if she's badly damaged but not totaled (very likely because she is built like a tank and not cheap enough for the insurance company to flippantly write off).

Throughout the night we were getting conflicting reports about the storm. As it turned out, Irene hit us as a tropical storm and not a hurricane. As far as I know, the mooring fields and the marinas all survived just fine. But we didn't know any of this until we got back to the boat.

These are MREs (meals ready to eat).

Inside these bags are 2 small cardboard boxes and another plastic bag. One box contains the meat--like a hamburger or chicken dumplings. The other contains rice or similar. Then there is a packet of crackers with jam and a cookie or similar. They even have a packet of red dye that is raspberry flavoring you put in water. It will stain a cafateria table for sure. We didn't open ours.

The last bag is the magic. It's hydrogen something. You put a little water in it to activate the bomb, stick your meal in it, wait 5 or 10 minutes and you have a hot meal.

You can see smoke coming out of the top of the box.

Lisa made me taste one of the meals. She said I needed to get into the spirit of things. I just wanted my Greens Plus bar and peanut butter crackers.

The Big Day

2011-08-21T10:44:00.003-04:00

The wedding was beautiful--and this coming from a guy who doesn't like weddings much. We are very proud of Robert (OK now he's called Rob) and Rachel, and are confident they will have a wonderful life together.

Shortly before the wedding. Robert (the groom), Ruth (the proud mom), Ryan (best man and best MC) and a bottle of water.

A spy snuck in to catch Amy in the off-limits paint room.

Amy looking pretty in her bridesmaid dress after the ceremony.

Rachel and her dad.

The Bride and the Groom on their way to the limo.

Planes, Trains and Automobiles

2011-08-20T22:19:00.000-04:00

Actually, make that dinghy, train, airtrain, plane, and automobile. With the boat safely anchored in Oyster Bay, Lisa waved good-bye to me from the platform at the train station as I made my way to Texas. I took credit for bringing with me the first day in 30 something that Dallas failed to hit the 100 degree mark. My sisters and Mom made it in earlier that day so maybe it wasn't all me. Anyway, I was thrilled that it only made it to 99.

The following evening was the wedding rehearsal and the rehearsal dinner. It was dressy casual affair. Normally this would mean my good flip flops, but in this case it involved hard shoes, long pants and a shirt that buttons all the way top to bottom.

Ryan was having a hard time knowing what socks would go with his outfit. Since he just had one from each pair, and they were both sort of black, the only question was which foot to put the puma on. Never mind that they were 6 or 8 inches too low.

Part of the army of men charged with escorting the ELEVEN bridesmaids. Not a typo.

Some of the bridesmaids

Ryan, Rachel, Robert and Amy.

The happy couple--smiling because they knew this would all be over soon.

One Small Step...

2011-08-09T18:34:00.001-04:00

After a short stay in Manhasset Bay, we made brief stops in Oyster Bay and Port Jefferson before settling in at the Fish Tail.

Two years ago, while in Oyster Bay, I stopped at a barber shop and inquired how much for a haircut. Turned out the barber was a Russian, and he did not answer my question, but in his best KGB accent told me to sit down. I sat down. He cut my hair. He told me to buy a bottle of shampoo with garlic in it. I bought the shampoo. I don't know how much the haircut or the shampoo cost because it was a package deal. I'm certain it was a good deal He told me so. He did a good job on my hair, but I was just happy to still be alive as I walked out the door.

Here it was, 2 years later, and I was desperate for a haircut. My friend has apparently done well, because his shop has been nicely remodeled, his brother is now working with him, the KGB attitude has toned down significantly, there's no garlic shampoo stacked on the walls and there seems to be plenty of customers. After another excellent job on my hair he even bid me farewell and hoped to see me again soon. Whaaaat a country. Anybody need some 2 year old garlic shampoo?

We had a nice sail to Port Jefferson where we anchored north of the large mooring field. Although the guides make it sound like a good spot to anchor, we think the harbor bottom is full of trash. Our first time through we witnessed a large sailboat bring up a tire that was wrapped around his anchor. Our second time through the same thing happened to us. On this occasion we brought up a 6 foot long piece of 2 1/2 inch diameter stainless steel cable. Almost broke our boat hook in the process of getting it off the anchor. Next time we will anchor in the Setauket area a bit to the west.

The forecast looked good for a nice 50 + mile sail to Orient Harbor. The winds were supposed to turn SW at 10 to 15 in the afternoon which would be OK until we exited Plum Gut at the 40 mile mark. Then we would have to turn SW for the last 10 miles. Plum Gut is only a mile or so long but can have currents over 5 knots--although they are normally in the 3 to 4 knot range.

We shot through Plum Gut with no problema-- but after hanging a right we had muchas problemas. The wind was indeed from the SW, but it was blowing 25 to 35 and with a strong contrary current, the waves were very square. We have seen more than our fair share of square waves, but these were the squarest waves we've seen and they were less than a boat length apart. The combination of wind, closely spaced square waves and strong current knocked our speed down close to zero--and we were getting beat up. We tried several different strategies and sail combinations, and ended up tacking back and forth with a reefed staysail and motor. For a while, we were doing well to achieve 2 knots of speed before the next wall of water met the bow and effectively brought us to a halt. To make matters worse, we were dodging lobster pots which were very difficult to see and avoid in those conditions. As we pounded our way closer to land our speed gradually picked up to 3 knots and then eventually 5. Our ordeal mercifully came to and end as we rounded the lighthouse and anchored in the lee of it's spit. The wind continued to blow in the mid 20s through the night but we were safe and secure.

This has been a terrible year for flies. Do they sense a dying country? I think not. Their eyes are too big to have room for brains. Or maybe their brains are in their eyes. Anyway, we thought about buying a horse tail that we could operate with batteries, but couldn't find one. So we thought we would try a weapon from yesteryear.

They were not very productive. We killed 100 times more with the swatter. We actually planted some flies on the tape with the hope they would attract their friends. We watched some of them work their way off of the fly tape and fly away. Did they do that in the old days or is this tape kinder and gentler--more humane?

After a stop in Sag Harbor we moved a few miles to a bay near the town of Southold. It was time for the big test. We couldn't find a place to leave the dinghy, so I dropped Lisa off with her map in hand.

Our handicapped parking space.

One small step for... One giant step for... OK, a bit dramatic. But a HAMMY is a HAMMY. I'm proud to say Lisa aced her test. She is officially a geek! Not that there's anything wrong with that...Now I feel worthless. I need some chocolate.

Hiding under a cloud in Sag Harbor.

We moved on to Three Mile Harbor and made several treks into East Hampton from there. Walking down the side walk, I overheard 1 old codger say to an other "we can't even go into most of these stores". Right there with you buddy. Lots of stretched faces in this neck of the woods.

Annapolis to.....

2011-07-17T13:26:00.000-04:00

There was no wind in the forecast for the foreseeable future and it was way past time to leave Maryland. This meant that our hard earned carbon credits would take a hit as we made our way to New York.

We headed up the Chesapeake with a pit stop on the Sassafras River, then continued on through the C and D Canal with another stop behind Reedy Island. Crossing the cut from Delaware Bay to the back side of Reedy Island is always a bit unnerving. It is very narrow with a wicked current smack dab on the beam. There is supposed to be plenty of depth, but we are always relieved to make it across without touching bottom.

The weather started to deteriorate just before arriving at the cut. It was another one of those afternoon thunderstorms that can be quite violent. A half an hour after we were anchored, 2 French boats (from France, not Canada) anchored fairly close to us. This was not a problem until the storm hit us with it's full force. Very strong winds against a five knot current meant all 3 of us were sailing around on our anchors. We all had our engines on as a precaution. The winds eventually died without incident. Then we got mucho inches of rain over the next couple of hours. The nice kind of rain with no wind and no lightening.

Taking advantage of "free" water to soap and scrub our Sporta Seats.

It would take a full day to make the Harbor of Refuge at Cape Henlopen at the south end of the Delaware Bay. We left about an hour before the current would turn in our favor. Going south, you can't ride a fair tide the whole way, so you try to at least get the full 3 1/2 hours that it gives you with the emphasis on the northern section where the currents are strongest. Going north we have been able to ride it longer. It's all about the tide actually being a wave blah blah blah.

As usual, once we neared Cape Henlopen, we decided to just keep going. By that time the tide had turned on us, so strategically it was not a great move, but we wanted to get the overnighter over with. It turned out to be a beautiful night, although it seemed we fought a foul current all the way to NY Harbor. We had not experienced a foul current on the New Jersey coast before, so I'm not sure what's up with that.

The other negative was we got bombarded with killer flies from Reedy Island all the way to Atlantic Highlands. We swatted and tossed full time. At one point I had a stare down with one and I watched him spit on his "hands" and then rub his eyes. We need to understand this behavior. I need stimulus money to study why flies wash their eyes with spit.

For any newbies out there, here's a couple of pointers. When you swat a fly and it appears to be dead, if there are no spilled guts, it is not dead. It is only stunned. Give it a few seconds or minutes and it will fly off. So you have to dispose of it immediately or he'll come back for seconds. On another subject...when you are at a Laundromat and you see all the out of order signs on the machines, it is really how the attendants save the machines for their side business. No more free advice.

As we approached Atlantic Highlands/NYC on a beautiful weekend day, New York Harbor was a buzz. One might get the impression that a lot of people live in the New York City area. I want some stimulus money to do a study--I can do several studies at once. Oh, I guess I need to belong to a union. In addition to the commercial shipping, everyone who lives in NYC owns a boat and anchors in the middle of channels. It really is quite an experience. Many high speed ferries, ships, tugs, sport fishers, commercial fishers, pleasure boats of all sizes vying for flounder--even with calm weather the harbour is rockin and rollin. It's like the first shot in pool, except the balls keep scattering.

They added new channel markers in the middle of the anchorage at Atlantic Highlands, so there is a bit less room to anchor, but at least they didn't add mooring balls. As I've said before, we love this stop. There are beautiful places to take long walks, pretty trees, and nice hills. They also have a laundry, propane, grocery store, and a very good farmers market on Fridays. Like many of the towns we pass through, businesses here are finding it hard to survive.

We basically motored the whole way from Annapolis to Atlantic Highlands, so I'm looking for a group that I can give a Green seminar to. I hear this will build our carbon credits back up at light speed. I can tell them we only use recycled paper towels, don't drive an SUV, don't use soap that works, don't use bottom paint that works, use gas that clogs up our dinghy engine, use environmentally friendly jerry jugs that only spill liquid when the cap is on tight causing the liquid (gas) to make it's way down our deck then topsides and then safely into the water. Not only will I accrue carbon credits, but people will bow down to me and know that I am good.

Walking trail. The first time I've ever owned black tennis shoes. Lisa tells me they look fine, then she laughs at me.

Lisa walks too.

View from the bridge overlooking the Shrewsbury River and the town of Highlands.

Late one afternoon, we had some unexpected strong winds blow through. We didn't have our instruments on, but the gusts were really high. Lisa turned the engine on as we realized we were dragging. We came within a boat length or so of dragging into another boat, but were able to motor out of trouble, weigh anchor, and then reanchor in another spot. This still has us a bit puzzled because we had set our anchor well, and it was our third day in the same spot. We take our anchoring process seriously and are not used to dragging, so it was quite humiliating. When I pulled the anchor up the area between the shank and the plow was full of big green leaves (that grow under water) which prevented it from resetting.

After observing the dynamics of the anchor and chain in the clear waters of the Bahamas (in my fish killing uniform), I'm convinced that the anchor resets every time the wind or current changes unless both are benign. The beauty of the plow type anchors (as opposed to say a Danforth or Fortress) is that they reset easily and well. The only thing I can figure is that when our anchor turned around it caught a mouthful of leafy growth which stopped it from resetting. I'm glad we were on the boat.

Friday we took advantage of the excellent Farmers Market, returned to the boat, then decided to go ahead and make our run through NYC, the East River and on to Manhasset Bay on Long Island Sound. The tide called for a late start--we needed to arrive at the Battery (Manhattan) somewhere between 4:15 and 5:15. This entails a foul current through NY Harbor then a fair current through Hell Gate and the East River.

As we passed under the Verrazano Bridge, we looked up at the cars above and marvelled at the voters that let the politicians charge them $10 a pop to creep across that bridge. Then we refocused our attention on the container ship and the tanker behind us. As you pass under the bridge you enter the Narrows--yes it narrows. Lots of ships are anchored here in addition to coming and going. A lot of high speed ferries are darting all around and numerous helicopters are taking off and landing . It's usually a bit rough because of the "narrowing" effect in addition to all the traffic, wind against current etc.

Once you exit the Buttermilk Channel and hang a right onto the East River, the turbulence dissipates somewhat. While there are still many high speed ferries to deal with, they can't come at you from as many different angles as they can in the harbor.

When you pass under the Brooklyn Bridge, the sleigh ride begins. After bashing up the harbor, the East River is fun--assuming you paid due attention to the tides. If not, you will have a bad day.

We rode the current all the way to Manhasset Bay and had the anchor down at 8:15--in time to watch the sun set.

We plan on being in the Fish Tail near the end of the month so that Lisa can take her HAM Radio license test. Yep. She wants to be a HAMMY. This will allow us to have free text email through our SSB when not in the US. More importantly, Lisa tells me she will be able to talk to the Space Station. I'm thinking she better learn Russian, Chinese, or Arabic if she wants to do that. In the mean time we're in the market for a good pocket protector.

Annapolis

2011-07-05T19:46:00.002-04:00

We spent a lot longer in Annapolis than intended. As a matter of fact, we are still here. A doctor's appointment, waiting on results, then a follow up appointment coupled with waiting the arrival of materials needed for boat maintenance, just kept adding to our time in the area.

June brought July/August temperatures to us, the only problem being, we don't like July/August temperatures in the Chesapeake. We had hoped to be north a lot sooner, but that was not to be.

The train ride home to the marina. These are very young kids in their Optimists, being towed back after their time on the water.

A big project we have planned for this summer is to haul the boat out and to compound and wax the topsides (the area between the deck and the water), and to paint the bottom (boaters call this a bottom job. Also, if we refer to a dirty bottom, we are talking about a section on our boat that has marine growth on it). Our current plan is to do this at Chesapeake Boat Works in Deltaville since they have reasonable rates and allow you to do your own work. I would really like to get that done now, but we will probably wait until late summer/early fall when the temps are more agreeable.

The pumpout boats here normally make you give them your boat's documentation number, port of call, size of holding tank, length of boat, cell phone number etc. During one of our pumpouts while anchored in Weems Creek, the harbormaster's assistant (who drives the pumpout boat) asked for all that info, then handed us a sheet of paper from the harbor master on which he had written down our latitude and longitude. We were to fill out the remainder of the sheet of paper and take it to the harbormasters office at the city marina. They want to know our address, phone number, length of boat, last port, how long we plan to stay in our present spot, our next port, our next of kin, if we have any physical ailments, boat registration/documentation number, dinghy registration number, a photo ID (passport or drivers license). All of the above is NONE of their business. Somebody has to stop these people. OK, so they are trying to encourage people to pump out?

Reminds me of gun laws--only made for the honest people. Criminals don't care about laws and disregard them. When they get caught, the same people who want more gun laws fight to set the criminal free--making the gun laws an obstacle only for the law abiders. 1 + 1 = 2. 2 + 2 = 4. It's not rocket science.

We threw the sheet of paper away.

We almost made it 3 years before having a "security" issue on the boat. On July 5th at 4:15 am, Lisa, who had been reading in bed, opened the companionway in a not so quiet manner. Then I hear her talking to someone. It took me a moment to realize she was using her "I'm in charge, don't mess with me, you're in BIG trouble" teacher voice. As I made my way onto the deck, Lisa is demanding answers from 2 teenage boys (16-19 year olds) who are in the water next to an overturned kayak. They had been trying to board our boat from the kayak which had flipped over in the process. They shattered one of our cockpit anchor lights which was mounted on the rail near the cockpit. They either broke it so it wouldn't shine on them, or they accidentally hit it with the paddle when the kayak flipped over. Either way, we are minus one light.

Here's an example of the conversation.

LISA What are you doing on my boat?!!!! (said with emphasis and deep feeling)

Boy # 1 "I need a cell phone to call my mom" (said with a smooth, slick, and innocent tone). Then after an extended pause "Where's the closest shore?"

They had no chance of emptying the kayak, righting it, and getting in so they used it as a life jacket (one boy said he couldn't swim) as they made their way to the north shore (not very far at all--we were in a creek not an ocean),

I kept our million candle power spot light trained on them and Lisa kept her glare trained on them until we were sure they made it safely onto a pier and scrambled up the hill. Is it wrong to wish that they ran through poison ivy on their way up the brush to the road? OK, we didn't wish that, we only thought it might happen.

We think they stole the kayak from one of the waterfront houses and planned to rob our boat. They left one of those flashlights with the big honkin rectangle batteries on our deck.

For their benefit, Lisa yelled for me to call the police. We knew not to do that (once again--we're the ones that would be put through the wringer not the kids--been there done that). We decided that next time, I will yell for Lisa to get my shotgun.

The Skin Nazi is done, we have one more package to pickup tomorrow, 2 faxes to send, then we hope to be outta here. The plan is the Sassafras River, then the C&D Canal, down the Delaware perhaps to Henlopen Harbor then on north.

Back in The Ditch and Then Some

2011-06-17T00:12:00.005-04:00

The Holiday weekend at the Cape Lookout Bight was like a water version of Times Square. Fascinating, but you wouldn't want it 24/7. Lots of fishing boats and water skiers buzzing around.

After leaving The Bight it was 81 miles to Belhaven and then another long day to the North River at ICW mile 60. Our last day on the ICW saw us through a very nasty and shoaling Currituck Sound with winds in the mid 20s, then 9 restricted bridges and a lock before settling down in Portsmouth at ICW mile 0. The channel in the Currituck Sound had enough depth, it just didn't always follow the markers with precision.

While anchored at mile 60, we were attacked by midges. We are talking plague proportions. As we entered the cockpit just after 5 am, it sounded like someone was running a chainsaw. It was well before sunup, but we had to don our sunglasses to have any chance to keep our eyes open without having midge pupils.

The term midge is somewhat generic, but we will call ours Martian Midges. That's because they secrete a green dye that will not wash off of gel coat. They are basically lazy mosquitoes without a needle to suck your blood. While a mosquito stands upright, these guys sort of rest on their bellies--like I said, lazy. Because they don't eat they only live a few days. They don't even care enough to try to escape certain death, they just lay there with a kill me sign on their back. Their duty is done already anyway--collectively, they've left green all over the boat with millions of smelly corpses.

They were inside our rolled up enclosure, on top of our cushions, under our cushions, the floor was completely covered, the bimini and dodger were covered, the dinghy was totally covered. We are talking millions.

Apparently they are males and they arrive in swarms. No duh. Next time we will anchor next to other boats with the hope of spreading them around more fairly--might even raft up. Naw.

With our sunglasses on and our mouths closed, we got underway as soon as was possible. While I helmed, Lisa spent 4 1/2 hours just to get the cockpit sort of clean. We threw the rolled up sections of our enclosure into the dinghy and would deal with them later. Sailboats can't afford much in the way of delays on this section of the ICW because of all the restricted bridges and the lock. At the end of the day one of the bridges stays closed for 2 hours for rush hour, so you don't want to be late.

When we arrived at Portsmouth, I dropped the dinghy in the water and took off with our rolled up sections of enclosure. It was like a Saturday Night Live skit. Me going in circles hoping no one is seeing the ten million midges swarming out of the dinghy while I bang on it to encourage their departure. It took me 2 hours to clean the inside of the dinghy and to rid the enclosure of midges. Lisa and I spent most of the following day cleaning the rest of the boat and the canvas. A couple of days of sun took the stain off the gel coat.

Lisa would rather go around Cape Hatteras, Cape Horn, and the Cape of Good Hope on consecutive days than to see another Martian Midge.

On Sunday, the Gay Pride bunch had their amps turned all the way up so that Norfolk, Portsmouth and surrounding areas would be sure to hear how proud they are.

Our next stop was Fishing Bay in Deltaville, Va. We spent a few very hot and humid days there with the temperatures approaching 100.

Deltaville was hit by a tornado on April 16th of this year, taking with it 28 homes and cutting this church in half. It also snapped off and uprooted many trees.

After leaving Deltaville, we anchored on the beautiful Mill Creek off of the Great Wicomico River, then anchored on St. Leonard's Creek 10 miles up the Patuxent River past Solomons. During the week the latter is quite beautiful and restful, but we arrived on a Saturday. Not just any Saturday, but Poker Run Saturday for Cigarette boats.

Unlike most sailors, I don't hate those guys. If they can afford the fuel, more power to them. I'm sure they've saved up their carbon credits.

I'm a bit surprised they are allowed their high speed thrills on narrow creeks teeming with water skiers and other innocents. It kind of feels like Russian Roulette except the gun has 5 bullets and only one blank.

While we were on Lake Texoma, a similar venue saw 2 boats collide when the hydraulic steering malfunctioned on one, causing it to T-bone the other boat, killing 2. These were pros with their semi trucks painted to match their hot rod boats.

We stayed one night at Solomons so that we could stop at Food Lion. The very convenient Woodburns grocery store is a casualty of the economy and out of business. They weren't part of the stimulus package.

The first half of our sail from Solomons to Annapolis was miserable. We were expecting light 5 knot winds and an easy motor trip against the tide. Instead it was 20 + on the nose. After making painful gains upwind, I needed to reef the genoa, but the furler jammed. We had to pull a U turn and run down wind to get it unjammed. When it's rough out, sailing down wind is sweet. Being a gentlemen has it's advantages. But by the time I got the furler unjammed we were below our start point at the mouth of the Patuxent. So we had to start all over.

The last half of the day, the winds died and the tide finally had mercy on us. We anchored in front of the Naval Academy and had a front row seat of several sailboat races.

This is the wooden sailing vessel Bear. It's twin is called Bull.

After picking up a lot of supplies we had shipped to a mail service, we moved up the Severn River to Weems Creek which offers more protection. I get to see a skin doctor for the first time since leaving Texas. I'm so excited.

Chartleston to Cape Lookout

2011-05-29T19:15:00.001-04:00

The Cruiser Babe is ready to go. Blue, pink, yellow, and orange do match, so long as you wear a man watch. Isn't she cute?

At midnight, on the eve of our departure from Charleston, we changed our destination from Cape Lookout to the Poquoson River just inside the mouth of the Chesapeake. Our route would be just under 500 NM and take 4 days and 3 nights give or take. Rounding Hatteras and a Friday departure sounded like a good combination. The forecast looked good and we knew we could always bail out so long as we did it before passing Cape Lookout.

Friday morning we tried to listen to Chris Parker on the SSB one last time, but propagation was terrible as it had been all week, so we got no help from him. We checked Passage Weather and Sail Flow and the forecast still looked good, however hints of possible scattered squalls started to surface.

Prior to our departure, we had endured a couple of bouncy nights at anchor but it didn't get any better after weighing anchor. We waited until 9:30 am to up anchor to ensure a daytime arrival at the Chesapeake. We can run the ship channels in the Chesapeake at night, but the bay is infested with crab pots, so we prefer to have daylight.

With the wind against tide, leaving the Charleston Inlet was quite rough. We thought conditions would improve once we left the channel, but it turned out to be a rough passage. All the models predicted 2 to 4 foot seas but it was not to be.

We sailed until 3 the following morning with all 3 sails and the main slightly reefed. The wind was more from the east than was forecast, which put us on a close reach (wind forward of the beam) instead of a broad reach (wind aft of the beam) or a run (behind the boat). In our lake sailing days, I loved close reaching or close hauled sailing, but with 5 to 6 foot swells on the beam it's not so much fun.

At 3 the wind died, so it was motor sailing for the rest of the trip. With the swells on our beam we were like a Grandfather Clock sans cuckoo bird for the whole trip.

We enter our latitude and longitude into our log every hour on the hour like they did in the old days. That way, when the Chinese finally decide to shoot down our satellites, we have a reference to plot our position on our paper charts. It will also be helpful if lightning knocks out our GPSs.

Nightfall brought with it a spectacular view of the stars. It didn't take long before lightening started to chase us from behind, then on both sides, and eventually appeared in front of us as well. It was still clear above us with the stars as beautiful as ever. As I've said before, with our 57 foot mast, I'm mucho scardo of lightening, but it did not pounce on us.

Sunrise exposed the clouds to our east that threatened all night.

A tad bit of instability.

We found some shade. Who needs a bimini?

After rocking and rolling all day and night, and with the unstable atmosphere, we easily convinced ourselves to not round Hatteras this time around. So, after checking weather again, we decided to alter course and head for Cape Lookout.

A little birdie told me... OK, what's with these birds? This guy did not die on us. He flew off after a couple hours of rest. We could not offer him water because it was too rough. The picture looks calm, but the swells were knocking us around pretty good.

We had another one stay with us on our way from Ft. Pierce to Charleston. That trip was calm, and he bathed in the water we provided him, then flew off. Lisa thinks she can restore her baby bird sitting resume to good standing. Hard to do when one died on you though.

When we finally made it to our anchorage, our worst fears were realized---holiday weekend + nice anchorage + close to several cities = lots of boats. I know my consumer math. But it is a large anchorage, and our anchor was down at 11:30 pm.

Stuart to Charlestson

2011-05-25T21:09:00.000-04:00

Nasty wind and rain greeted us upon our arrival back at the marina. Our rental car was full of Costco purchases, so we were relieved that the rain let up just long enough for me to coax the marina manager to shuttle me to our boat so that I could retrieve our dingy. By the time I made it back to the dinghy dock it was raining again, so we killed several hours in town to give the weather a chance to move out. This made for a late night, but we were thankful that the rain finally did move on.

On Monday morning we dropped off a weathered Stars and Stripes at the local Ace Hardware store, returned the rental car, made one last stop at Publix, dropped the mooring line and headed for Fort Pierce.

The forecast called for a week of perfect trawler weather--beautiful with light winds. We wanted to go straight from Ft Pierce to Cape Lookout (which is just a few miles past the inlet at Beaufort, NC ) and in fact started out on that route, but then thought better of it and headed to Charleston, SC instead.

The problem was fuel. Our large tank was nearly empty and the smaller one was only half full (the last time we fueled up was early December in Daytona--how about that one stink potters. Remember that when you leave us in your wake).

Fuel prices vary widely on the East Coast now. Sometimes there's an 80 cent per gallon difference. Florida has recently added an extra 7 or 8 cent per gallon tax for pleasure boats, so we determined we would fuel up somewhere else since we could. That and the lack of wind in the forecast (no sailing) forced us to hang a left at Charleston.

The anchor was up at first light Wednesday and we had delightful weather throughout. The first night, the wind made an unexpected appearance for 8 hours and we enjoyed a lively 8-9 knot sail--with a little help from the Gulf Stream. At 2 am the wind died, but we picked up speed as we moved closer to the center of the stream. With the engine running at low rpms, we were doing 10 and 11 knots. The center of the GS is not in the same place everyday, so unless you have access to a forecast that gives you up to date latts and longs of it's current position, you are only guessing at it's speed and location.

Because we caught more of the stream than anticipated, we had to slow down our slow boat for the final 18 hours. We needed to keep our average speed at 5 1/2 knots or less for the remainder of the trip. This was so we didn't arrive at the Charleston Inlet before first light, although I won't worry about that in the future. It's a very easy inlet and channel. Plus, if you anchor when everyone else is asleep, you don't have to endure their "don't anchor too close to me" glares.

On our second afternoon out, we were in the process of making water (actually converting very salty water into delicious much much less salty water--the best tasting water there is, by the way) when Lisa reported the alarm on the watermaker was blinking. After a couple of attempts to restart it failed, Lisa noticed our bilge pump was spitting water out to the sea. After checking the engine room, I could see the leak was coming from somewhere behind the engine and stuffing box (where the prop shaft comes into the boat). Of course, that's where the main part of our watermaker is located, so it was time to empty the lazzerette so that I could crawl down there and investigate. It was nice that the conditions were calm.

I assumed that a hose on the watermaker had burst open, but it ended up being the end cap to the tube that holds the membrane (where the high pressure pump blows the sea water and the membrane stops most of the salt, which is then flushed overboard). A chunk of the hard plastic had literally blown off the tube. After calling the watermaker company, they said there was a batch of bad end caps around the time ours was made, so they are shipping us 2 new end caps since the other side may be defective as well.

With the help of a mirror, you can see the hole where the high density plastic blew out.

I don't think we were ever in any danger. The water stopped flowing when the watermaker shut down (and after we quit trying to restart it), but we shut the intake through hole, reloaded the lazzarette, and continued on our way.

Lisa woke me from an afternoon nap to watch a large pod of dolphins playing off our bow. It was sunny and calm with clear water so it was a treat to watch them dart around. They made several appearances over the 2 days and nights we were out.

Now, that is calm water.

Steeple in Charleston.

While in the Charleston anchorage, we were reunited with fellow Texans Rick and Linda. It was good to see them again. They just sold their Catalina and purchased a catamaran. We got to be the first dinner guests on their new boat.

Day one at the city anchorage was uneventful. Day two was not. Charleston has a 6 foot tide, and the anchorage has a very strong current. In calm weather this is not a problem--the holding is very good. When the wind pipes up and goes across the current, it gets interesting. That's when boats start doing a white man dance--all out of sinc.

In a normal anchorage, boats generally swing together--more or less. In anchorages with strong currents, skippers need to allow for more room. The total scope of your boat's rode and the rode of any boat around you plus maybe another million feet.

On our second day, a boat anchored too close to us, and then the wind piped up. We ended up fending them off several times. Turns out he had a fuel pump he was trying to fix. It became apparent that would not happen soon enough, so we weighed anchor, and moved a couple of miles south away from other boats.

We reanchored at the city a couple days later so that we could do laundry and pick up our watermaker parts, but then returned to our more secluded anchorage for the night.

We had the watermaker parts overnighted from California. Since we needed them pronto, they had us pay shipping, but not for the parts. After a day of bending every which way, and basically hurting all of my muscles and bones, the water maker is operational again--at least it passed a 6 minute test. We won't know for sure until we run it for a few hours.

When the weather settles, we will head to Cape Lookout. If the weather is nice, we may go around Hatteras and up into the Chesapeake.

Adios Bahamas

2011-05-09T03:16:00.002-04:00

Marsh Harbor has by far the best grocery store we have seen anywhere in the Bahamas. It is very much like most grocery stores you would find in the US of A, except they are sorely lacking in the chocolate department. While the prices are higher than the US, they are much more reasonable than anywhere else we've been in the Bahamas.

While leaving Maxwells, we could see some pretty serious smoke coming from a nearby neighborhood. It turned out to be a tragic day for many, as 25 homes were lost to the fire.

A view of the smoke from the anchorage.

At 6:30 pm, we upped anchor and headed for Matt Lowes Cay. Lisa and I had spent a good part of this very warm day hiking around and past Marsh Harbor. We kind of over did it in the heat and we desperately wanted to swim to cool down. But it was well into shark dinner time so we settled on showers instead.

HEE HEE. For those of you from Rio Linda, that is signature Michael Jackson. Lisa claimed to be doing yoga on the beach, but sure looks more like MJ to me.

Lisa made me do this. Men have no business doing yoga.

After a couple of nights at Powell Cay we spent most of a day sailing to Double Breasted Cays. This is our favorite spot in the Abacos. It's far enough off the beaten path that it doesn't get too crowded. The guide books say the area is known for shark sightings (what area in the Bahamas isn't?). But if you can work up the nerve to jump in it is a great place to snorkel and spear fish. I finally got a grouper there.

Our plan was to make the jump to Florida from here, and my intent was to scrub the prop and clean the bottom one last time before our crossing. The only problem was that a 4 foot barracuda was hanging around under our boat. We were there for 3 days and so was he.

We have swum around a lot of barracudas, and generally they don't bother you. The books say most attacks involve spear fishing (why else would you snorkel?) or if they mistake shiny clothing or jewelry for a fish. Like a shark mistaking a surfboard for a seal. I love how they always say the animal didn't mean to do it. They don't get fat because they didn't mean to. They are predators. The books also say if you try to spear a barracuda or a shark they will attack you. Better not miss. That takes them off my target list.

Another thing the books say is that barracudas chop larger fish in half and then eat the pieces. So I didn't do a final scrub on the prop or bottom of our boat.

It was time to head back to Florida because we were out of chocolate. I was reduced to inhaling chocolate milk mix out of the packet (the only reason we had that was to mix it with an absolutely horrible vitamin mix we had to drink--only way I could get it down).

We left Double Breast Cays at 11 am on a Friday. We had a wonderful sail across the bank, first on a dead run with just the genoa, then with the wind just aft of a beam reach with all 3 sails up. The light wind was supposed to clock slowly from the east through south and then finally west (on the nose) right before arriving at the Ft. Pierce inlet. We are too yellow to enter St. Lucie Inlet--shifting bars and too shoal for our comfort.

For whatever reason, the banks have hazards on their edges, so you can't just exit wherever you want. We were originally going to exit at Mantanilla Shoals, but decided to go another 11 1/2 miles south to the White Sand Shoals to get a better wind angle for when we approached the Florida coast.

Near the edge of the bank. Our last Bahama sunset as we bid the turquoise waters adios.

30 seconds later.

We had a wonderful sail nearly all the way to Florida with all 3 sails up. The winds were supposed to be too light for sailing, but that was not the case. The big problem was they clocked to the west far sooner than forecast. This forced us to sail further north than we wanted. The Gulf Stream makes that a double whamny because it makes you go really fast and thus further in the wrong direction. You can't tack south into the stream unless you like hove to speed. So we ended up almost 20 miles north of Ft. Pierce at which point I had hoped we would be out of the Gulf Stream and could tack back southwest for a normal sail. By that time we were still in the stream and about to run into thunderstorms to the north, so we went ahead and tacked to the southwest. We don't like hove to speed so we turned on the motor and motorsailed due west straight into the wind until we got out of the river. Then we were able to turn southwest and head for the inlet. The water temp in the stream was 81 degrees, and it was 72 degrees when we got out of it near the coast.

It would have been faster and easier to motorsail as soon as the wind went west and just do the rumb line, but we really wanted to sail the whole way. Then we got tired and I really missed my chocolate.

This is the sixth time we've crossed the Gulf Stream, and we've gone a different route each time. None of them are my favorite. I would just as soon have a Jeanie blink us back and forth. I do prefer crossing in the daytime.

After entering the inlet at Ft. Pierce, we headed south on the ICW another 30 miles or so to Stuart where we will leave the boat for a few days to visit Mom and Carol.

Hopetown

2011-05-09T00:47:00.000-04:00

We had a good time sailing in the Abacos. To the east, you have several cays which protect you from the swells, waves and the long fetch of the Atlantic Ocean. It can get a bit squirrelly in between the cays, but no big deal. To the west you have Great Abaco and Little Abaco to keep the waters from that direction quiet. So for the most part, it's like sailing on a big lake with the benefit of the wind and protection from the waves.

To get from the Central Abacos to the Southern Abacos (no great distance involved) you have to go outside into the Atlantic, get around Whale Cay, and then reenter just north of Great Guana Cay. Everyone freaks out about this section. Basically, the very deep Atlantic suddenly becomes relatively shallow near Whale Cay. When the waves and swells hit this shelf big rollers develop. Even if the wind is calm locally, this area can become untenable (the locals call it a rage). With the very long fetch, this area can suffer the aeffects of storms from a couple thousand miles away. We passed through this area in nice weather 3 or 4 times with no problems, but it was always a bit sloppy.

A fuel barge at Orchid Bay Marina on Great Guana Cay.

The Queens Highway in Hopetown.

My queen on The Queens Highway on Man of War Cay.

Back at Hope Town, Lisa nearing the intersection of Lady Di Blvd and Prince Phillip Ave.

The famous Hopetown Lighthouse.

Back to Man of War and

2011-05-08T23:53:00.000-04:00

Lisa and I were prepared to make an offer on this beach house until we saw it's name. That's when we remembered we don't have any money. So I guess we won't be living on Man Of War Cay.

After hiking most of Man of War Cay, we came upon this cage. Not exactly a zoo, but perhaps with a few more subjects....

OK. If you think about it, they are correct.

Watching a baseball game by the Atlantic Ocean.

The clouds in this sunset look like a UFO is about to land. This was while at anchor near Powell Cay.

Man of War and Green Turtle

2011-04-16T12:49:00.000-04:00

Dock at Man of War Cay.

More Abacos

2011-04-16T11:51:00.000-04:00

In early 50s, Randolph Johnstone grew tired of his position of assistant professor at Smith College in Massachusetts. He ended up at Man of War Cay where he spent several months converting a 47 foot working schooner into a floating home for his family.

With Langosta complete, they set out to cruise the Caribbean with an eye towards the South Pacific. After passing through Little Harbor and Nassau, they got as far as the Exumas when they realized that Little Harbor afforded them all they were looking for in a permanent home.

Subsequently, Randolph Johnstone became a world renowned sculptor. With Randolphs passing, his son Pete has taken over the foundry.

Pete's Pub was fashioned from the deck house of their schooner Langosta. The Johnstone family lived in a cave in the harbor while they built their house. Lisa and I split a mango Grouper sandwich .here that was to die for.

Annnnnnnd...action!!! Lisa on Queens Highway at Little Harbor.

If you ship wreck in the Bahamas, it would be a good idea to wash up on a beach with sand on it. If you had to walk across this stuff barefoot you would be 2 feet shorter for every 100 feet of progress.

I just can't help myself. I love this water. On a windlass day we drifted with the tide past our anchor. As you can, see the anchor is well buried in sand and grass.

Abacos

2011-04-14T17:23:00.002-04:00

Smile.

Looking for water.

First Internet Cafe. The power went out for a couple of ours, but then we were back in business.

A couple of baby Eagle Rays.

I am a hunter. Fish fear me. Like Arnold fears Pee Wee Herman, like terrorists fear Obama...

Ahhh

2011-04-14T17:10:00.000-04:00

Clouds before the squall.

A couple of days before leaving Stuart a squall blew through the anchorage bringing winds in the mid 30 knot range with gusts in the mid 40s. It didn't last long, but when it was through a 40 something foot sailboat was on the rocks. I dinghied over to see if I could help and then was joined by 4 other dinghies. The group tow didn't work, so 2 dinghies tied up to the halyard that is led to the top of the mast. At full throttle, they were able to heal the sailboat over far enough so that the 3 remaining dinghies were able to pull him off the rocks.into deeper water. We were all pretty sure the boat would start to sink, but the hull was intact.

The captain had us tow him to his original spot where he reanchored, with the shaft of his Danforth anchor now bent at an 80 degree angle. Oh well... We basically pulled him off so that he could drag into other boats when the wind piped up again.

Sunset on our last night in Stuart.

On Saturday morning we left Stuart headed for Lake Worth where we dropped the anchor in early afternoon. After installing the jacklines and properly securing the dinghy, we tried to catch some sleep. Lisa was successful, I was not.

At 11 pm we were headed out the inlet headed for the Abacos. We should have waited another day to let the seas die down some more (the wind had been blowing hard against the Gulf Stream for several days), but we were tired of waiting and the forecast didn't sound too bad.

It was a miserable crossing. The seas were only 5 or 6 feet, but once again they were square and very close together. Without any wind in the sails to help stabilize the boat it was very uncomfortable. Once again, in a washing machine with the gentle cycle busted.

We entered the Little Bahama bank just after sunrise and were anchored at Great Sale Cay by late afternoon. The following morning we headed for Green Turtle Cay where we paid our money and got legal with Customs and Immigration.

Customs, Immigration, Post Office.

The Bahamas are mostly limestone with very little dirt (I believe that's why the water is perfect), so large trees are not common, but they have some very beautiful flowers. If you have your camera ready, you catch a beautiful woman in front of them.

The Calaboose.

Weeee'rrrre Ready

2011-03-03T19:20:00.004-05:00

When we left Delray Beach a long long time ago, our intent was to make our way to Key Biscayne then take a left to the turquoise waters of the Bahamas. Like I said, that was a long time ago.

Then it became, when a pig flies, we will leave Stuart.

Our "final" provisioning was done, our freezer was full of meat, then the following day our Frigoboat (refrigerator/freezer) malfunctioned.

I was able to trace the problem to the SSC (Smart Speed Control) system which varies the speed of the compressor to make it efficient in terms of energy used.

I was able to temporarily bypass the SSC by running 2 wires from the thermostat in the galley through the companionway, then through the lazerette to the controller on the compressor. Although this didn't look too good, it saved our meat. While this set up allows us to keep using the fridge, the compressor will only run on it's lowest speed without the Smart Speed Control. So we still have SSC, but now it means Stupid Speed Control.

The next day I tore the boat apart just enough to do a permanent wiring job. Turns out Frigoboat doesn't make the SSC anymore, and they have replaced it with something that looks like a mid-seventies era 8 track player. We are holding out on that option for now.

As soon as we set our 2ND departure date, our ships batteries crashed. I had been nursing them along for a while, but thought we could stretch them out for a bit longer. We have AGM (absorbed glass matt) batteries which on the surface, are ideal for sailboats. Among other things they aren't wet cells, they are sealed so don't release corrosive gasses during charging, they are maintenance free and they accept a faster charge rate. But they are expensive and the failure rate on them is all over the board (that's with captains that understand the complexities of battery maintenance better than I ever will).

Because they are sealed, many engineers do not recommend equalizing AGMs (a controlled overcharge which ticks off the guts of the batteries enough to make the voltage in each battery within a bank equal). Now, some manufacturers allow it so long as it's tightly controlled (monitoring the battery temperature, charge voltage and time).

Anyway, I did this shortly before leaving for Delray a long long time ago. This did improve the battery performance, and it looked like we would get another half year or so out of them. But that was not to be.

I had been contemplating switching to the highly regarded Trojan T105s which are wet cell 6 volt golf cart batteries, but when push came to shove I went back with 3 of the 131 pound 4D AGMs. The 131 lbs each is another reason to go with the golf cart batteries, but oh well.

At 4:30 pm I bought new batteries from an outfit in Ft. Lauderdale. It just so happened a friend of the salesman was on his way to Stuart and he offered to deliver the new and pick up the old. He would be in Stuart by 6:00. So I put it into high gear, emptied the lazerette, unscrewed some wood, disconnected and extracted the batteries dinghied them to the dinghy dock, then dollied them up the ramp with 10 minutes to spare.

We have this light weight aluminum folding hand truck rated for 220 lbs, which I got specifically in case we needed to move batteries. It only worked by going totally horizontal, me pulling and Lisa pushing up the ramp. Otherwise the aluminum handle would have bent in half. The wheels did work, though it was iffy.

Installing the new batteries the following morning.

This shot is through the engine room. You can't see the engine. There is normally a partition where my left arm is, closing off the back of the engine room. The big hose is the exhaust hose which spits out a mixture of water and exhaust through the stern. The other hose is a conduit for air for the engine.

OK, it's a slow picture day. Two batteries are in with one patiently waiting.

The back of my head is pressed up against something pointy and sharp--why? Because it's a boat.

Our batteries were shut down for 24 hours, and when I got them hooked back up our freezer was right at 32 degrees, so our meat was saved for a second time.

Our battery monitoring system was acting weird, which ended up being a melted fuse. Oops, I forgot to turn the battery switch off before reconnecting the batteries. Thank you fuse. Mind you, this took a day to figure out and replace + a 4 mile round trip walk.

With that done, our autopilot smacked us a good one. What should have been a tedious but uncomplicated task of getting some air out of our hydraulic system, ended up being mucho frustrationo.

To make a very long ordeal sound short, we bled and bled and bled some more. We had no oil leaks, and couldn't figure out how air could get in without hydraulic fluid leaking out. I pulled the cylinder and had it resealed at a hydraulic shop, reinstalled it, still no luck. Changed the bleed nipples, still no luck. I took the cylinder off again, pulled the bleed tees off (there is one on each end of the cylinder) and put new ones on. Then pulled the fitting off the top of the pump, put a new o ring on it, then the next day everything worked. Trust me, that's the short version. Very short version.

Part of our problem was not knowing how long it should take to bleed the system. Another problem was spending a lot of time trying to bleed air out of the wrong tee (as per Teleflex), but I suspect we had been getting air through the fitting on the top of the pump. We have declared it fixed. It works at the mooring, we really hope it works in the real world.

This is the cylinder part of the autopilot hooked up to the rudder post. The autopilot motor, the pump, the hoses and the bypass valve are out of sight behind the wall on the left.

The cylinder looks better here than it did sticking out of the top of my backpack on my 5 mile bike ride to the hydraulic shop.

The pig has flown. It's time to go.

Still in Delray

2011-02-01T12:31:00.002-05:00

And the clear winner is....

Wendy and son.

Reason number one for having a little sister---what a great armrest.

Whas uuuuup?

We found out that 30 seconds of watching Utube does not a surfer make.

More Scenes From the Holidays

2011-01-29T16:25:00.003-05:00

Rachael and Robert. They like each other.

Rachael, Robert (OK, they love each other), Ryan and Amy. Hey Ryan, how about them Cowboys???

Amy and Ashley tearing up Miami.

Lisa with my cousin Janet.

Jonathan with his Aunt Ruth. We can never get Ruth to act normal for a picture.

Christmas Visit and John G's

2011-01-29T15:08:00.004-05:00

Wendy and Larry in line waiting for breakfast at John G's.

Pink pants rocker Rod Stewart and family were there for breakfast as well, but we holstered our cameras as he made his exit.

Michael and Jonathan. Finally on the inside of the walls.

Carol and Ashley making this rose look attractive.

Jonathan and Lisa. Jonathan was the only one who wasn't cold.

When Ruth arrived in Florida with her family, we made another appearance, and you guessed it--another line.

Mom and Lisa were grateful for a beautiful day this time around.

Lisa to Texas and Back

2011-01-24T18:20:00.006-05:00

Shortly after New Years, Lisa made her way to Texas to visit family. Although I was not there, Lisa brought back a few photos to document her trip.

For one of the big events, Lisa and Karen took Jessie to Austin for a few days to visit her friends.

Ms. T, better known as Jessie, and her friend Jennifer at a slumber party in Austin.

Karen on the left, Carla in the middle, and Lisa on the right.

Randy and Carla Hooton showed up one evening, so that Carla could lecture on the finer points of a slumber party. Thankfully Randy was able to watch a football game.

Zak with 3 old ladies and one unidentified man.

It was cold and rainy for most of Lisa's stay in Texas.

Lisa, Kent, Nicki, and Karen in West Palm Beach. Lisa's mom and dad are about to board a cruise ship headed for the Bahamas.

Back at the marina. Two rocking chairs. Two cups of coffee. All is well.

St. Augustine with the Hooooooootons

2010-11-30T14:55:00.007-05:00

Randy, Lisa and Carla guarding the inlet from their perch at the fort.

Randy and Carla Hooooooton took us to a drive-in church in Daytona in their Hootmobil.

Beauty and the Beach.

Is this a great shot of the surf or what?

The Hootons weren't happy with the first angle. Try and try again. The people just wouldn't get out of the way.

Here's a much better view. Carla, Randy, Lisa. For 5 bucks you can drive on the beach at Daytona.

We had a great time with the Hootons, and it was sad to see them leave--all the way back to Texas.

St. Marys, Fernandina Beach, St. Augustine

2010-11-30T14:06:00.003-05:00

We stayed in St. Marys for a week or so soaking in the quiet laid back pace of life of the locals.

Foggy morning at anchor. The birds were not bothered.

At typical street complete with moss covered oak trees and the sounds of silence.

From St. Marys we made the short hop to Fernadina Beach, where we spent another week. The next leg was to the historic city of St. Augustine. This was a day trip down the ICW. The only hitch was when we got to the Bridge of Lions in St. Augustine, the tender could not get the bridge to lift up. But this was not New Orleans, so they had it working within 30 minutes.

St. Augustine recently installed a mooring field, which in effect eliminated most of the available anchorages. We rented a mooring for the week of Thanksgiving.

Randy and Carla did it again. They made the long drive from Texas to Florida to spend Thanksgiving with us. How great is that?

Lisa and Carla making the pier look good.

When with Carla, act like Carla...

Not the oldest teacher in America--the oldest schoolhouse in America.

Wrightsville Beach, Norht Carolina to St. Marys, Georgia

2010-11-09T15:42:00.009-05:00

We ended up staying in Wrightsville Beach for a week or so and enjoyed our stay. There is a nice and very long beach where we took several long walks. We also made numerous ventures to the not so close grocery store and surrounding shopping centers.

The sailing vessel Serena showed up at the anchorage for a couple of days, and we were able to spend an evening with them. It was nice to see George and Terry again.

We witnessed an incredible number of boats pass through the area on their way to warmer weather. This can cause a bit of stress on a daily (afternoonly) basis, as some boats tend to get a bit too cuddly. Strong currents and wind make boats do funny things at anchor and the spacing needs to be a bit more generous than if you are just laying to the wind.

Our plan was to go offshore to Charleston and spend a few days there. The anchorage in Charleston isn't the greatest (we have passed through but not anchored there yet), and after witnessing the heavy traffic heading south, we decided to try Charleston on our way north when the traffic is a bit thinned out.

So we made a last minute decision to go offshore to St. Simons Island, Georgia. This would involve 2 nights at sea. The forecast was for winds 15 to 25 knots off our stern, and gave us 48 hours before it would clock around to our nose.

So like all good sailors, we weighed anchor on a Friday--once again. We left a little after 10 am to take advantage of a fair current through Snows Cut (we went 9 knots through the cut), and had minimal foul current down Cape Fear River.

Our boat is not named Noah's Ark, but for the second offshore in a row we had a visitor. This was a baby and totally exhausted. He toured our boat several times from bow to stern. He would walk over my feet and even hopped into my hand.

Three times he did head stands inside the cockpit drains and I had to pull him out by his tail.

When Lisa came up from her off watch, she brought a lid with water in it, but like Confucius said "you can lead a bird to water, but you can't make it drink."

It was windy and rolly and the bird had a hard time staying in place, so Lisa got one of her hats and put a rag in it. Then we got the bird to settle down in his new luxury home, complete with cracker crumbs. We couldn't find any worms or bird seed on the boat. That's a good thing...

This global warming has to stop. It's confusing the birds, and now they are flying north in the winter instead of south.

If this poor thing had missed us, his next chance would have been that floating block of ice with the marooned polar bear on it.

The following morning when I came up to relieve Lisa from her watch, I was informed that the bird almost made it through her watch, but not quite. We are now minus a bird, a hat, a rag and a cracker.

While Lisa has my full support, I have to admit this doesn't look good on her babysitting resume.

For estimating arrival time at the inlet of our destination, I jot down possible arrival times based on half knot increments from 5 knots to 7 1/2 knots of speed. Then we time our departure to ensure we don't arrive while it's still dark. If we go slower, we have the rest of the day to arrive. This time we left a bit earlier than normal so that we didn't have to fight the very strong currents in Snows Cut and the Cape Fear River. We had to transit these to gain access to the Atlantic.

We had another incredible sail all through the first day and night then into the following day. We were able to sail faster and longer than expected. When dusk approached on the second day, the wind finally died down to nothing and we resorted to the engine. It was just as well, because we needed to slow down anyway--we should have left Wrightsville later than we did. Motoring slowly (I'm talking slowly for a sailboat) through the second night was agony.

Once the sun decided to appear on the 3rd morning, we made our way through the inlet and on up to the Frederica River. Like most anchorages in the region, big tides and strong currents are the rule. Strong currents aren't that big a deal if the weather is calm, but when the wind pipes up it's not so much fun. While the wind will more or less blow from one direction, the current does a 180 every 6 hours or so. When the wind and the current are in harmony it's not bad, but when they oppose each other...like I said, not fun.

We had a couple of beautiful, calm days after arrival, and we took full advantage of that to explore the southern part of St. Simons Island. Though small, we really liked the town, and it was well worth the 3 mile walk (one way) under the moss laden oak trees which provided a canopy for a good portion of the way.

You get a good view of this lighthouse when entering St. Simons Inlet.

Anchor Babe.

Our boat boat is not aground, it really is in water. This was taken from the bridge on the way to the island. Much of this region has numerous rivers and creeks surrounded by this grass. At high tide the water is well above the bottom of the grass.

After our beautiful days, we had some cold,windy and nasty days, but that's all part of it. When the forecast was favorable, we made an outlet out of the St. Simons Inlet and made our way to St. Marys, Georgia. It was cold, but we had a very nice day sail (with lots of dolphins) until we reached the St. Marys Inlet, then we turned on the motor for the short trek up the river. No birds this time. Our hats are safe.

We are right at the Georgia/Florida border---a seasoned redneck could spit on Fernandina Beach, but a southern belle would want a car. If the wind is right, everyone can benefit from the aroma the near by pulp plants emit.

The people of St. Marys are some of the nicest you will ever meet. This is our second visit to this quiet, friendly town and it is a poster for southern hospitality.

Belhaven to Wrightsville Beach

2010-10-28T09:36:00.002-04:00

On our approach to Belhaven, we discovered that our dripless shaft seal was about as dripless as our stainless steel is stainless. The shaft seal is the thingy that is supposed to keep water from intruding into the boat through the hole where the shaft enters the boat from the propeller on the outside on it's way to the engine on the inside.

This would involve hauling the boat out of the water, pulling the shaft partially out, sliding a new seal (and also a spare) onto the shaft, then reattaching the shaft, realigning the engine, putting it back in the water, and paying the bill with a smile.

We ordered the seals and set up an appointment with Bock Marine which is not far from Beaufort, NC. After leaving Belhaven, we anchored for the night in Back Creek , a tad north of Oriental.

The following morning our anchor was up by 5, very dark...and it was foggy. The entrance to the creek has several sharp turns to avoid shoals and we would not have attempted it in the dark and fog without radar and a chartplotter. Once we got out into the Neuse River the fog got thicker. We were going slow and on the verge of turning around to reanchor in the creek, but we decided to proceed past South River before giving up on the day. We did not want to enter the Adams Creek part of the ICW with thick fog. After passing South River the fog lifted and it turned into a beautiful day.

Fishing boat on Adams Creek ICW.

We arrived at Bock Marine just before 9 am, and we were out of there by 2:15. They seemed to do good work, but it's the first time we have ever been charged 42 feet for our 40 foot boat.

We like the town of Beaufort, but the anchorage is waaaay too crowded for us and the marina is very expensive with 3rd world quality restrooms and showers. So we continued on out the inlet, hung a left and made our way to Cape Lookout Bight. Our anchor was down before 5 pm. Cape Lookout Bight is an easy place to make a departure in the dark which suited us well. Our next stop was Wrightsville Beach which would be a long summer day sail--but this wasn't summer, so we would need to leave in the dark.

Pretty boat anchored next to us at Cape Lookout Bight. Notice the bike on deck.

We stayed put for a day waiting for the wind to change direction and to take advantage of a cold front which would bring brisk but favorable winds. We were underway by 4 am with 20 to 25 knot true wind just off our stern. The winds were supposed to abate through the day--which they did, but they stayed brisker than the forecast which enabled us to sail more and make a fast passage.

Sometime late morning, we picked up this very tired passenger.

We made good time and were anchored near the bridge at Wrightsville Beach by early afternoon.

The Motor Vessel Mi T Mo anchored behind us. Notice the car and the carport on the foredeck.

Portsmouth to Belhaven

2010-10-12T13:34:00.005-04:00

We were weighing anchor by 5 o'clock Saturday morning ready to take on mucho restricted bridges and a lock. Half way through the weighing anchor process our chain brought up a 5 foot long pipe off the bottom of the Elizabeth River. A couple of days worth of reversing currents had wrapped our chain around the pipe, tying a pretty good knot around it. Of course that section of chain and the pipe were caked with yucky mucky gross mud--and I had been feeling all nice and clean and ready to go. Ten minutes later I wasn't feeling so clean anymore and neither was the front deck of the boat. But we were on our way.

We had left early in hopes of beating the crowd to the lock, but got held up a long time waiting for a train. That gave everyone a chance to catch up, so we basically got up early for nothing, but the weather was perfect.

Bow Babe on duty at the lock.

We wear our life jackets at the lock so that we don't get yelled at in case we have to get off the boat to secure it.

These boats are tied up at the town of Great Bridge, which is just after passing through the lock. There is good provisioning here, but we have yet to stop. We are usually stocked up at this point and it tends to get very crowded here.

Later in the day we sensed that something had passed us. We couldn't see this man and his dog, so we know you can't either. We thought we were all alone, but then we noticed a wake.

Last year we had 25 to 30 knot winds while on the Alligator River--quite nasty.

This year it was dead calm--wonderful.

Near the end of our second day we passed under the Wilkenson Bridge on the Alligator/Pungo River Canal. The clearance from water to the bottom of the bridge was only 63.5 feet. Our mast with wind instruments and antennas is about 58 feet above the water so no problem for us.

High Priority, a 40 foot Catalina, drew 64 feet in the air.

So he stuck his wife out on the end of the boom to tilt the boat over. You might want to blow this picture up.

OK... Maybe your brother, or a couple of water jugs, maybe the dinghy with water in it--but your wife?? Bad move dude.

He said there were only a couple of scrapes on the bottom of the bridge--could of used a fatter wife (he didn't say the last part).

Annapolis to Portsmouth

2010-10-12T13:28:00.004-04:00

I called the galvanizing place on the appointed day and they reassured me that our chain and anchor would be shiny and new, ready to be picked up at noon the following day. Because the process involved a 3 mile walk, then renting a car and driving 120 miles each way, I asked for, and was granted, assurance that it would be ready by noon.

You win the prize for guessing right. When we got there, they had not started on our stuff--it was sitting on a pallet looking lonely in the middle of the yard.

When I walked in and they realized their goof, they went into panic mode. They assured us they could get it done by closing late that day, and that quality of job would not suffer. We returned shortly before closing time and waited until they finished up, then loaded our treasure into the car.

These guys are good people, and really stepped up for us after initially dropping the ball. I suspect our business is sort of "nuisance business" to them (they do tons of big commercial jobs), but they treated us like we were important and made things happen.

Major thunderstorms with big time lightning and wind hit Annapolis shortly after we got back, so Lisa with her better judgement, decided we needed to go to a 7-Eleven and hide out until it blew through. After things cleared up somewhat, we went through the process of transferring the chain from the car to our floating car, and then to the mothership. It is wonderful not to have rusty chain anymore.

With the chain back on the boat we were ready to head south. A big front with lots of wind and rain was due to arrive in 2 days, so we hightailed it to the Patuxent River, passed Solomons and wound our way up to the beautiful St. Leonard Creek. This is one of our favorite spots--and a good thing too, because we would be there for a few days. The creek offers good protection and a front row seat to watch bald eagles show why they are our national bird.

The wind and rain came. We got 13 inches of rain in 2 days. One of the days had over 10 inches.

Real men make French toast.

After the bad weather cleared, we made the 2 1/2 hour trip to Solomons. We saw the crew of Voyageur, the Island Packet that had been struck by lightening on our way up the Chesapeake. They just got their boat back after several months of repairs and all new electronics. We enjoyed spending an evening with them.

After leaving Solomons, we had a lively sail to Mill Creek off the Great Wicomico River. That was followed by a windless day and the use of the motor to Chisman Creek.

We passed this dudet that was heading north on the Chesapeake.

The trip from Chisman Creek to Portsmouth would be our last day on the Chesapeake this year.

As you can see, Nicki May put the fear in this aircraft carrier. We followed her to her berth in Norfolk.

She may not be pretty, but can't get much more practical. All unpainted aluminum. We saw her in the Bahamas 2 years ago.

Now, she IS pretty. A bit sad because her coffee is gone.

East River to Sassafrass River

2010-09-19T15:58:00.009-04:00

This tanker (with a tow pushing it) passed us under the Brooklyn Bridge. Tows normally push barges until they go offshore, where they pull them with very long cables.

Lots of helicopters in and out of Manhattan. Mostly sight seeing tours.

After passing under the Brooklyn Bridge, we made a left and shot through the Buttermilk Channel, passed the large ship anchorage, went under the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, through NY Harbor and on to Atlantic Highlands.

We did get a good view of Lady Liberty, and were pleased to verify that The Kinder and Gentler One has not yet placed a burka over her face. We can only hope he doesn't stone her for not wearing one.

We made it to Atlantic Highlands by mid afternoon. For all the bad rap New Jersey gets, this area is quite beautiful.

After some long beautiful walks, getting some chores done, sitting through some bad weather and monitoring the forecast closely, we decided on a 3:00 am departure for the 9th of September. Our destination would be Atlantic City, then a day hop to Cape May, then either Reedy Island or somewhere in the Chesapeake.

When we got up to leave at three, the winds were still blowing in the mid to upper 20s, so we rolled over and went back to sleep. If we are out there in those winds it's no big deal (so long as it's not on the nose), but we tend not to leave in those conditions.

We ended up leaving on the following day a little after 10:00 am. By this time we had changed plans with the intent of doing an overnighter with the options of stopping at Cape Henlopen (in Delaware at the mouth of the Delaware Bay), Reedy Island, or continuing through the C&D Canal and on to the Sassafras River which is off the Chesapeake.

The forecast was for 15 to 20 knot winds aft of our beam, which was just about perfect. The departure time was predicated on arriving at Delaware Bay right at the start of a flood tide. We ended up getting there a bit late because the winds were a lot lighter than the forecast. It was still pretty good sailing, but not as fast as anticipated.

It was a beautiful night with some wonderful sailing. The only nagging issue was the knowledge we would arrive at Delaware Bay a bit late in the tide cycle.

The bay was very rough with wind against tide for the first couple of hours. We should have ducked in at Cape Henlopen, but after 2 hours of bashing I was too stubborn to turn around and lose that hard earned ground. OK, water. Then, like magic, things smoothed out and we made great time with perfect weather.

Another shot of the cooler at the nuke plant. On 9/11 no less.

We still had the current with us so we passed Reedy Island, went through the canal, and were anchored about 3 miles up the Sassafras River by late afternoon.

The following day was foggy and drizzly, so we decided to stay put, rest up, and do odds and ends.

This trawler showed up on our second day in the anchorage. They were in Atlantic Highlands when we left.

Amel sailboat at anchor.

Georgetown is a few miles up the Sassafras, and we want to check it out at some point, but that would have to wait.

Among other things, we desperately needed to get our chain regalvanized, so it was off to West Annapolis.

Shortly after going under the Bay Bridge the shackle for the outhaul on the main blew out sending the shackle and the rubber doughnut to the bottom of the bay. When it happened there was a Cabo Rico, also under full sail, about 8 feet off our starboard side. We'll never know if the shackle broke, or if the pin got loose and came out.

After getting settled in, we rented a car, loaded it with 300 feet of chain and a 55 pound anchor, then drove 120 miles to Ashland, Virginia where we dropped off our goods. We really hope we get it back. There is a minimum weight requirement to have this done which is why we included the anchor.

They acid wash the chain first, then dip it in the magic stuff, then either turn it in a drum or put it in a shaker of some sort so that the links don't weld themselves together.

We have Acco High Test chain which is supposed to use the preferred method of galvanizing, but we did not expect to have to redo it this soon. I actually think the galvanizing had mostly disappeared shortly after we arrived in the Chesapeake last year (less than a year old), but it didn't start rusting until this year. Hopefully this time around it will last a lot longer since you're not supposed to regalvanize high test more than once or twice--plus it's expensive.

Oyster Bay to East River

2010-09-19T14:46:00.002-04:00

Upon leaving Oyster Bay, we decided to bypass Port Washington and head straight to Atlantic Highlands.

We arrived at the East River right on time to take advantage of the ebb tide. The East River has an amusement park feel to it as the boat shoots through at speeds it's not accustomed to.

Land Ho. Who you callin...

United Nations buildings where we give them lots of money to destroy us.

Gotta be New York City.

More New York City.

One more shot. This has the UN buildings in it.

Narragansett Bay to Oyster Bay

2010-09-18T10:56:00.006-04:00

After 3 days of very strong winds and rain, we made a quick return trip to Wickford for cheaper groceries(very close), then back to Jamestown to do laundry before heading to Long Island Sound.

Further south, the hurricanes were line dancing. Earl was in the lead, getting a bit frisky with the East Coast, while Rhode Island, Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard had big "hit me" signs on them.

This mama and her babies are adorable. But everything they eat comes back out in semi liquid form--likely on your boat. Only newbie boaters feed water fowl.

We weighed anchor early Saturday morning and headed to the Fish Tail on the eastern end of Long Island, NY. Had it not been for the approaching hurricanes, we would have waited for wind. Although the wind only appeared long enough for 30 minutes of sailing, it was a gorgeous day with perfect temps. The good part of no wind was smooth seas.

We left our anchorage at Long Beach early the following morning and headed for Port Jefferson--also on Long Island. The winds were forecast to be on our nose, but light at 5 to 10 knots. So we shot through Plum Gut and entered Long Island Sound with true wind in the upper teens. This made the apparent wind (wind over the boat) in the 20s.

Early on, we tacked back and forth across the sound which added quite a few miles to the day. We ended up motoring the last bit on a rhumb line to ensure we made it in before dark--although it's an easy port to enter at night. We were just tired and used the dark thing as an excuse. The wind against the tide made most of the day lean toward the miserable side of the scale.

Our plan was to spend a couple of days in Port Jefferson before seeking the shelter of Oyster Bay. Our first day we spent exploring the town of Setauket. This is where we learned to tell the difference between a male and a female crab from a local expert.

House in Setauket.

We met an older local couple at the dinghy dock, where the man was netting crabs that got too close to the dock for their own good. Harvesting females was not allowed at the time, so when the lady asked how you know, the man had the obvious answer. If it's screaming when you pull it out of the water, it's a girl. Men always have an answer. Just ask us.

We had planned on one more day in the harbor so that we could peruse the town of Port Jefferson, but Earl was making better progress than anticipated, and being the nervous type, we headed for Oyster Bay the following morning.

Weatherman, Chris Parker, was predicting (if the hurricane came close) that instead of a surge, the bays on the sound would have water sucked out lowering the depth somewhat. So we made sure we anchored in water that was deep enough to compensate for a bit of a drop.

We secured everything we could but left the solar panels, bimini, dodger etc. on until we were sure we would get hit. Lisa had all our important papers ready to put in a ditch bag--we would have left the boat to fend for herself had Earl decided to confound the experts by hanging a left instead of a right. We seemed to be the only ones in the area that were a bit anxious.

God was watching over us as Earl weakend and stayed on his proper track. We got no wind from Earl, but once he passed a cold front brought us a couple of days of sustained winds in the mid 20s with higher gusts. Thirty knot winds sound sweet when you've had hurricane winds on your mind for a week or so.

Clouds from the front that passed a day or so after the hurricane fizzled.

Bristol, Wickford, Woods Hole

2010-08-28T15:24:00.006-04:00

While we were walking around Bristol, Lisa brought my attention to these 2 boats. Me thinks they are owned by the same person. You have to blow up the picture to get it.

OK Karen, look at the names.

Next on our list was a visit to Wickford, RI which is only a only a 2 hour sail from Bristol. The winds were very light, but we were able to sail wing and wing (front sail on the opposite side of the mainsail) and still manage to dodge the lobster pots on the east side of Prudence Island. Sojourner left for Wickford the previous day, so Rick and Linda were waiting for us when we arrived. We ate lunch together, walked the town, and did some grocery shopping. Then Sojourner had us over for Rick's special spicy spaghetti. Very good.

Wickford is another very charming RI town with lots of pretty trees and old houses. The town is very small and it doesn't take too long to exhaust the shops and eateries.

Pretty house in Wickford.

This house stands guard over the main mooring field as you enter the harbor.

While in Bristol, Claire and Paul inspired us to get into the spirit of New England. The seafood they served us was so good that we knew we needed to try our hand at it. So we stopped at the fresh seafood place that Claire recommended (in Wickford) and got a couple of lobsters and a couple pounds of mussels.

The lobster is giving us the L sign for "Luke warm water please".

Note to PETA. Some mean person had put him on ice. We were only trying to help.

The meal was great. I think boaters should get a discount on lobster considering the constant stress their traps put on us. Maybe I could be the Lobster Czar. We need more Czars.

It was time to move on. Our goal was sail to Buzzards Bay and check out Woods Hole, Mass., then go to Martha's Vineyard and possibly Nantucket. The Kinder and Gentler One (man, Bush was a meanie) was taking his freak show and campaign to Martha's Vineyard at the same time we had planned to be there (he did the same thing last year). This was not good, but we decided to go ahead anyway.

On the way out, we decided to stop at Dutch Harbor for a day to do laundry, and I was able to do a good scrubbing of the topsides of the boat as well.

Dutch Harbor the night before heading to Woods Hole. Sometimes I can't believe we have to suffer in these kind of surroundings. To make it worse, the temperature was perfect.

The following day we had a wonderful sail to Hadley Harbor, near Woods Hole. This is a very busy destination for pleasure boaters, and we knew Friday was not the best day to show up. But we couldn't name it Tuesday because it was Friday. No new math involved.

Hadley Harbor is beautiful, but like most of the northeast, the main harbor is filled with mooring balls. There is room to anchor, just not with good all round protection. Forbes owns the main island, and a lot of well known politicians frequent these harbors.

On Saturday we took the mile or so dinghy ride to Woods Hole and enjoyed the day exploring the town and it's surrounding area. We were glad we were able to visit Woods Hole, because weather was on it's way. The forecast was now calling for a Nor'easter with gale force winds to arrive Sunday night and linger on through Wednesday.

With the Kinder and Gentler One disrupting the normal flow of Marthas Vineyard and some extended bad weather, with limited bad weather anchorage, we decided to high tail it back to Dutch Harbor. So we took a left on Buzzards Bay and headed back to the little state.

It was another spectacular sail with some light rain in the mix. When we got to the mouth of Narragansett, things got a bit dicey. The winds were mostly in the mid twenties gusting over 30 knots, then a squall hit us. The tidal currents of Rhode Island Sound and Block Island Sound sort of collide near the mouth of Narragansett Bay--then the currents join together in harmony and shoot north or south depending on the tide cycle. All of this made the seas quite large and square and close together. The large square waves assisted us as we tangled up the genoa around the forestay while we tried to roll it in. But we were able to untangle it all by ourselves without any help from the waves. Once we entered the bay everything laid down in an orderly fashion.

We were anchored by early afternoon with good protection and the knowledge that we would get a lot of reading done in the next few days.

Bristol

2010-08-23T09:35:00.006-04:00

A visit to Bristol, RI was next on our agenda. By sail, Bristol is only a couple of hours north of Dutch Harbor but Lisa and I decided to take the long way. We headed south and tacked down the West Passage, went about 3 miles offshore, then sailed back north on a broad reach up the East Passage past Newport, Jamestown, Prudence Island and on to Bristol. It was another day with perfect weather.

In the Chesapeake, the crab pots are not normally in the deep water, but here the lobster pots are often placed in water 90--100 feet deep. Any kind of pots are a constant worry. Rope and props don't go well together.

When we arrived in Bristol, Sojourner was already there, with Our Turn due to arrive the following day. When Our Turn showed up, they brought with them some wonderful fresh seafood--lobster, mussels, clams. Paul and Claire were kind enough to invite Sojourner and Nicki May over for a most excellent seafood feast. It was a fun evening with good people.

The following day we strolled the town soaking in the sites and in general, admiring old buildings. Bristol is a really pretty town with lots of well kept old buildings. After lunch, Claire and the boys went to the Herroshoff Museum, where we admired many of the boats designed and built by John and Nathaniel Herroshoff from days gone by. Lisa and Linda passed on the museum and went for a long walk.

Nice view from someone's yard.

The ladies.

An old, very cool stone building.

Bristol is known for their 4th of July celebrations. Apparently it's a very big deal and they put a lot of effort into it. One street even has the centerline painted red, white and blue (if you're Japanese it's blue, white and red).

If it looks like a drug deal...

Jamestown, RI

2010-08-19T10:19:00.006-04:00

Our time was up in Newport, so the following morning we slowly sailed around the north side of Conanicut Island and then made our way back down to Dutch Harbor. From our anchorage the town of Jamestown is a short, pleasant walk.

Rather expensive condos overlooking the harbor in Jamestown.

Rather beautiful lady overlooking the harbor in Jamestown.

We spent a couple of days walking through the beautiful neighborhoods. The town boasts a grocery store, Laundromat, hardware store and a good marine store.

Circle driveway with view of the bridge.

We hiked to a cove where we saw many fisherman/women and a good shot of our potential future home. There's something like a 100 year warranty on the roof.

One morning we woke up to find the S/V Sojourner anchored right behind us. We met Rick and Linda last fall while we were in St. Marys, Georgia. In a prior life, Rick was a police officer in Mesquite, Texas--where Lisa and I bought our first house.

Later that morning Rick and Linda introduced us to Paul and Claire who were also anchored nearby on their Island Packet 445. After their laundry was done, we joined them for lunch.

Lisa's arm, Claire, Rick, me, Paul and Linda. It was good to see Rick and Linda again, and to meet Paul and Claire for the first time.

Newport II

2010-08-13T18:43:00.004-04:00

The Americas Cup 12 Meter Columbia docked close to our mooring.

After putting many miles on Lisa's Keens and my flip flops, we began our search for the town park that was to play host to the band "Forever Young".

Stone house on Bellevue Avenue.

After asking directions, we finally found the park and the concert for that night. Forever Young's gig is all about the anti establishment music of Neil Young (Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young). They are very good. There's no doubt the lead singer can carry a tune better than his hero.

Concert by the bay. Finally got to sit down.

After the concert was over, we got directions back to our boat from an American General with a French name.

Newport

2010-08-07T10:56:00.006-04:00

As you might imagine, Newport is an active town. The summers are pleasant and the sidewalks are filled with both locals and non locals looking for new ways to spend their money.

Our first evening in town we chanced upon the Navy band "Rhode Island Sound" which was giving a free concert in one of the city parks. They were actually quite good.

This is a way cool swing--modelled by a way lovely lady. If our yard had grass on it we would own this swing by now--I should have checked the price before I said that.

The seat is carved out of a tree trunk and branches make up the rest of the parts. Daniel Boone would be proud.

This had us looking for the perfect tree to make our own swing from.

Our second day in town we walked to "the other side" and walked a large portion of the Cliff Walk trail. This trail meanders around the shoreline offering spectacular views of the Sakonnet River and Rhode Island Sound. Turn your head 180 degrees and you see some quite impressive homes.

I think this guy had a good job.

At this point we are getting nervous about what that bird ate for lunch.

We kept thinking of our jogging days, and how awesome it would have been to have a trail like this to jog on.

Note to editor: I am aware that this segment has 2 sentences that end with a preposition. If Americans can take the u out of colour and harbour, can we not change the preposition rule as well. It would fit my speech pattern better. Or we could do a tea party or something.

Sag Harbor, NY to Newport, RI

2010-08-04T16:10:00.005-04:00

Sag Harbor is not difficult to maneuver in, but there are some hazards that demand the skipper's attention. We were witness to a 40 something foot sailboat that went aground on a submerged rockpile near the entrance to the mooring field. He picked a bad day to go aground because the winds were strong the entire day and evening. As the tide continued to fall he kept going more horizontal. High tide was in the wee hours of the following morning, and by the time we got up he was gone. I don't know how his boat survived the rocks with that wind, but I guess he made it out OK.

Lisa talking to one of her many fans.

Our last evening in Sag Harbor before departing for Narragansett Bay in RI.

Narragansett Bay has an East Passage and a West Passage, with Conanicut Island and Prudence Island acting as the dividing line.

Newport lies in the East Passage and is the major (along with Fort Lauderdale) yachting center of the East Coast. Boats of all sizes, both power and sail ply these waters in large numbers--you gots to have your head up.

We didn't like our chances of finding a place to anchor on a weekend in Newport, so instead we decided to head for the less traveled West Passage and Dutch Harbor.

At 5:15 am the anchor was up and we were on our way. It was a beautiful day but the morning forgot to bring some wind with it. We motored until Block Island was to our starboard, then hung a left, pulled out the sails, cut the engine and had a spectacular sail the rest of the way to Dutch Harbor. Our introduction to Narragansett Bay was picture perfect.

The following day we took the southerly route around Conanicut Island and then on to Newport. There is only one tiny pie shaped area in the harbor where you are permitted to anchor--all the "designated" anchorages are filled up with moorings. We motored around the anchorage but we didn't like what we saw, so we paid the $45 mooring fee (no showers, bathrooms, lounge etc.--just the mooring) and were relieved we wouldn't have to worry about poorly anchored boats crashing into us.

Lighthouse on Beavertail Point--south side of Conanicut Island.

Where do they walk the dog?

Pretty steeple in Newport.

The 12 meter Columbia from America's Cup fame was berthed right across from our mooring. The harbor is home to several of America's Cup 12 meter racers from days gone by. You can now hitch a 2 hour ride on one for $68 per person. Let's take the family for a half a day.

Atlantic Highlands to Sag Harbor

2010-07-29T14:28:00.005-04:00

Our first day in Atlantic Highlands was hot and humid, so we decided to spend it hiking and getting dehydrated. The following day, with an eye to an overcast and threatening sky, we threw a backpack full of dirty laundry in the dinghy and headed to the Laundromat. We should have stayed aboard.

Before the wash cycle was complete extremely strong winds (which shifted direction 180 degrees) and heavy rain swept through the town and anchorage. A power boat and a sailboat capsized out on the bay, so emergency crews were racing to the scene. No one was injured.

We take great care to set our anchor well, but storms like that still make us nervous. I made my way about 3/4 mile through town where I could get a visual on our boat and make sure it had stayed put and that no other boats had dragged into us. Everything was fine. As I made my way back to the dinghy dock through horizontal rain I got cold for the first time since the Bahamas--how great is that. Life is good. The front brought with it much appreciated cool temperatures.

The anchorage and mooring field at Atlantic Highlands.

The cool night gave way to a splendid morning with perfect temperatures. Our plan was to make our way to the East River, which would take us through NYC and spit us out in Long Island Sound. Because of extremely strong currents through most of the East River, especially Hell Gate, we needed to arrive at the Battery (which is in Lower Manhattan) at around 4:30 pm so that we could ride the tide all the way to the Sound.

We decided to leave early enough to exit New York Harbor and go the necessary 3 miles offshore to empty the holding tank, then pull a U-turn, head for NYC and arrive at the Battery on schedule. This would allow us to be anchored in Manhasset Bay (off LIS) before dark.

Like I said it was an incredible day weatherwise, and once we passed the 3 mile mark we just wanted to keep going--so we did. While Lisa double checked the weather forecast, I replotted our course which would take us offshore down the south side of Long Island, around Montauk Point, then into the Fish Tale and on to Sag Harbor. This would require an overnight trip with perfect weather and a full moon--poor us.

My one regret was that I wanted to sail past Lady Liberty again just to make sure The Kinder and Gentler One hadn't draped a burqa over her face yet. I suspect that might be delayed until the next stimulus package.

Speaking of stimulus money...on our return from Dallas, we took the scenic route on the Blue Ridge Parkway starting in Asheville, NC then through the Shenandoah National Park. Very pretty. Every so many miles there were signs with 2 posts on them informing us that this was our stimulus money at work. I haven't looked it up, but I'm quite certain that road was built long before The Kinder and Gentler One appeared on the scene. If the signs are referring to maintenance, I wonder how they managed to keep the road up all those years before the Kinder and Gentler One showed up. Is the stimulus money tax deductible since it's being used for the reelection campaign? Aren't you glad you were able to contribute?

Oh the bunny trails....

We passed through a large ship anchorage near the Ambrose shipping lane.

The tonnage rule. If he's big enough to squash you and send you to the bottom without him realizing he hit you, he most definitely has the right of way.

It was beautiful weather the whole way. We passed the Endeavor Shoals off of Montauk at 6:40 the following morning. Then it took us forever to tack back and forth around the north side of Gardiners Island and then the south side of Shelter Island, before our final approach to Sag Harbor.

Rounding Cedar Point.

Around 2:30 pm we dropped anchor next to Billy Joel's boat (one of many) again. Almost the same spot as last year.

Sag Harbor is a town with $14 hamburgers, so if we want to eat out it's pizza by the slice.

As of this year the city started charging a daily rate to land the dinghy. But they do have a grocery store and a Laundromat.