Weathering the Storm

11/28/11 Afternoon

We left Hampton public docks to fuel up and then went to the yacht club for our free dock only to find out their reciprocal deal is not really free so we went back to the public dock, they are friendlier and more accommodating anyways.  So I borrowed a bike and did some shopping, been many years since I rode a bike any kind of distance and as the saying goes "its like riding a bike" :-)  although returning with a backpack and basket full of groceries was a bit of a challenge.  Had a great meal of sauted smoke pork chops with maple carmelized onions, fried rice with mushrooms, and corn.  Went and invited Wally and Aduana (not Edwina) to a trip to the ice cream parlor for dessert. Note: Aduana is spanish for customs.

Whoopi and Aduana hanging out on the dock.

Turned out the ice cream parlor was closed, we decided we needed to go back tomorrow.

No ice cream? Your kidding right? But you promised.

 11/29/11

Very rainy, miserable day.  Good day to do some projects, like the shower curtain  finally got installed yahoo!!  Trim was put up and Stan changed the oil. As rain abated some in the afternoon, we took up where we left off last night and went to get ice cream with Wally and Aduana.  Stan and I left Whoopi back at the boat and saw Happy Feet Two in 3D at the IMAX theatre, it was great, music was spectacular.  The IMAX is at the Virginia Air and Space Center and we really enjoyed their displays after the movie.  Stan was very decadent and we went out again for dinner, We had the 2 catches of the day, Stan the flounder and I had red snapper, it seems as though I am going to have to get used to hot spicier food than I am used to, the further south we go the spicier it gets and when I am told something is not spicy well to them it isn't, even the french fries are spicy. Anyways it was a great day despite the weather and we are looking forward to heading out tomorrow.
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Hampton, VA

11/25/11

Another beautiful day ahead of us, although the winds are light and on the nose. Headed out around 11:00 am after fueling, pump-out, ice and water.  Had several different thoughts on where we might end up depending upon our progress. Motored most of the way, decided we would be ambitious enough to make it to Mill Creek on the Great Wicomico.  We were able to get the jib up towards the end which helped us a lot with our speed as we kept the motor running as well. The ambition to get to this spot brought us into the river at dusk and darkness soon was on us. I was on the bow looking for those unlit daymarkers, we had our small hand held radios for communication, that yelling thing from the bow to stern under power does not work well and our hand signal in the dark are useless.  We found suitable anchorage (we thought) and Stan motored Whoopi ashore for her business.  What a beautiful clear starry night with no light pollution.  Had enough leftovers from yesterday to repeat that same meal minus the apple pie which we finished for breakfast.

11/26/11

Woke up to find our spot was being shared by a duck hunter, Whoopi was curious about those fake calls being made.  Stan had to quietly get Whoopi in the dinghy and take her across the river so as not to disturb the hunter too much.  Its another gorgeous day, temps supposed to be in the mid 60’s, skies are clear and there is a light breeze.  Doug called us at 7:00am and reported the great sailing conditions in the bay, he got an early start.  

We finally got out about 8:00am put up all our sails and looked forward to a good day of sailing.  Well it turned out to be one of those fluky days where the wind would change direction and speed constantly.  We must of pulled in and out our sails 5 or 6 times gave up later in the day when the wind completely died and motored to our destination.  You can actually tell from the spot gps locator what kind of time we are making based on the distance between each of the 10 minute signals posted on the web site.  We got into Delataville, VA to free dockage at the the Fish Bay Yacht Club as they provide reciprocal privileges and we are members of the Royal Savage Yacht Club (RSYC) at Point Bay Marina, the manager said several VT boats pass through their club and we are likely the last. Came with electricity (yes occasionally we are on the grid), and showers. Happened to meet Wally and his recently acquired dog from Cuba” Edwina”, very active talkative dog, I think she was yelling “I’m Free I’m Free” running circles around Whoopi who did not know what to think of her new friend. Wally is a writer and produced a video First Timers Guide to the ICW   http://www.thesailingchannel.tv/icw/  and since he is from Canada has been able to visit Cuba.  He is running late as we are and will likely cross paths regularly.  He gave us a tip on free dock space in Hamptom, VA which we will check into.

Ended up just cooking up a simple but very tasty omelet for supper as we could not use the outside grill at the dock.  The homemade rye and the cranberry chutney added a special touch.  The chutney I made using cranberries, apples, water and Bushee family maple syrup.  Another beautiful evening.

11/27/11

Stan rousted his crew really early as he had plans on a long day to get to Hampton,  Whoopi got an early morning walk in the dark, saw Wally and Edwina as they had the same plan as us.  Enjoyed a spectacular sunrise. Headed out before official sunrise through the very narrow channel where shoals come up very quickly.  We have a depth gauge with an alarm that whines when we get in shallows, it was a very noisy transit out but we did not go aground (this time).  Saw a bald eagle resting on a daymarker on the way and would have made a great photo but I was too late and it was really close to us, I will never get over how majestic they are.  

Eagle on right side of photo

 Winds out of the south around 15 kts, to make time we had the jib out and motored (known to all as motor sailing), the tide was against us so this helped our speed.  Wally was a could distance behind and since he draws only 5 feet could stay in closer to shore than we could, his boat being red we spent some time playing a game “Where’s Wally”.

There's Wally

All in all it was a great day and as we approached Hampton Roads the silhouette of all the big naval ships in Norfolk was pretty impressive.  We got into Hampton Public Piers and tied off around 4:00pm.  Kate the dock master has a golden named Holly another new friend of Whoopi’s, we helped Wally get tied off and all the dogs frolicked around the dock.  There are several other boats there working their way to the ICW as well. Kate has been extremely helpful and the facility includes, showers, laundry, electricity, water and use of bicycles (FREE).  Went to a local pub and had local seafood, excellent crab dip, Stan had a tuna steak sandwich and I had a crab wrap with portobello mushrooms very tasty and all very reasonably priced.

Dream Walker at Hampton public dock

11/28/11

A gray, warm, dead calm day to start, sun came out at noon.  Laundry and catch up on blog day, also installed a few boat parts.  Stan did some boat maintenance and then went to a weather seminar put on by the Seven Seas Assoc. that we are members of, this is a great community of members with many benefits. One of which includes member hosts at locations throughout the world, we have been in contact with members around the Caribbean, mostly with questions concerning getting Whoopi in and out of the various countries.  They are always helpful and respond in a timely fashion.

We will likely move over to the Hampton Yacht club tonight for 2 free nights of dockage and amenities using the reciprocal club agreement.  There is a storm coming in Tuesday and we plan on heading out to the ICW on Wednesday morning.  Kate offered us the use of the bikes if we needed them even though we are moving next door.  Of course I am indicating our advance plans and find the captain to be very wishy washy about our plans on occasion so time will tell where we really end up this evening but where ever it may be it will surely be safe.

Solomons, MD for Thanksgiving

11/24/11

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.  Stan and I had an exciting trip down the Chesapeake yesterday from Herrington North Marina in Deale.  The winds blew hard from the west and northwest moving us swiftly south with just our jib which we had to furl in a little at one point, sustained winds reaching 30 kts with gust as high as 38. Doug came up behind us with full sails and passed us but had to make adjustments as winds grew stronger.  Saw our first pelican today, then we noticed them everywhere, saw a really big bald eagle and several loons.  There are numerous species of birds in the area as I understand the Chesapeake is a confluence for migrating birds from all over the North America.

The past few days at the marina were busy, bad news on the refridgeration though, it was not worth fixing and cost of new is out of our reach at this time, it is cheaper to buy ice for 2 years, and besides if we had that kind of money to invest it would better be spent on a watermaker. Life goes on, did numerous projects and I did some cooking ahead for Thanksgiving.  Gil and Diana came by to vist, drop off some mail from VT and to return a few items, it was great seeing and visiting with them.

Tom and Cheri, who live aboard their boat were kind enough to run me to the hardware store one day and loaned me their smart car to go shopping to re-provision. The West Marine folks spoiled Whoopi with treats and I can not thank Butch enough from Shiver Me Timbers with going through our fridge system and evaluating the costs and considerations (and did not charge us), if your ever in need of boat refridgeration in this area you should contact him.

So here I am cooking a full Thanksgiving dinner, Stan and Whoopi have been banished  from down below, they actually jumped in the dinghy, went and picked up Doug and cruised around for a couple of hours looking at boats, scenery and taking pictures .  I made the cranberry chutney and apple pie with a chedder cheese crust before I left Deale.  The oven is a bit of a challenge based on how the temp was observed cooking the pie.  I did 2 loaves of Heidleburg Rye this morning, came out good except bottom burned, I believe with a cookie sheet almost the size of the rack makes air circulation difficult, need to try rack up as high as possible maybe. I precooked just now the acorn squash baked with maple syrup and butter.  Turkey is stuffed and in the oven I am sure it will be great, sure do miss the charcoal webber for this.  Doug is comming for dinner and bringing wine beer and ice cream, yea!!

Nice break today, warm and sunny,  tomorrow we will head out for ports unknown so stay tuned.

 Elizabeth

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Pictures

Doug from "Kite" sent some photos he took of us when he caught us en route.

On the mooring in Castleton, NY

Dream Walker headed north on Delaware River

Ready to anchor at Reedy Island

Dwarfed by Nuclear Plant on Delaware

OK your power is big but ours is free :-)

C&D Canal

OK is this a race?

You Win

Your at anchor and you win too!

C&D Canal

Headed into Chesapeake City

Dream Walker, Kite and unnamed lobster boat headed to Florida docked at Chesapeake City

Herrington Harbour North, Deale, MD

11/18/11

Very cool morning, with a light breeze from the west. Did the walk Whoopi thing and headed out, stopped to fuel, pump out and water. Once out in the Bay we flew the jib and sailed much of the way to Herrington Harbour North in Deale, MD., wind died and motored the last 3 miles or so. It was a beautiful day and a great sail but very cold, windchill was about 22 degrees. Passed by this very neat light house:


Thanks to Gil and Diana for making the slip and services availble to us for FREE (this is a key word for us low budget cruisers). Getting into the slip was a grounding experience as we furrowed our way through the mud at low tide, we definitely will need to depart when the tide is high. Gil and Diana watched us on the web cam coming in.

http://www.herringtonharbour.com/hhnwebcam.html
We are located on the first set of docks you can see on the 2nd webcam on the webcam page.

Once settled in it appeared Whoopi would have a problem gettting off the boat due to safety lines, short finger dock and height of boat to dock, she was humiliated by being picked up like a sack of potatoes and passed across the lines to me on the dock, tomorrow I will drop the safety lines to spare her any more humiliation. Went ahore to take advantage of a nice long hot shower, although we have the ability to shower on board it is not like a real shower with great pressure, use of our shower water conservation is key which means you get wet, shut the valve off on the shower head to soap up then rinse off. Until Stan mounts the shower curtain our proedure is a little dysfunctional, hope he gets to that while we are here. There is still a large list of boat projects each of which have a different level of priority between Stan and myself.

Had a great meal of sauted mushrooms, onions, pepers, garlic resulting in a sauce using wine, teriyaki sauce and other condiments poured over medallion of pork and a large salad with a chipolte chedder dressing ( a little bit spicy for me but still good).

11/19/11

Woke up to a beautiful sunrise, nice day, temperatures up into the lower 50's. Today is a project day, a couple of loads of laundry, pulled everything out of the forward v-berth as the condensation had taken its toll and dried things out. Dropped the safety lines which made Whoopi very happy. Stan did some needed woodworking projects, its great having access to 110 power so he could use his tools. He also worked on setting up the reefing system for the main sail which will make shortening the sail in high winds much easier.

Tonight I'll be roasting a chicken with all the fixings. Unfortunately no outdoor grilling is allowed on board docked vessels.
Thats all for now.
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Back Creek, Eastport, MD

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11/15/11 Afternoon

Turner Creek is a tricky spot to get into and yes you really do need to keep the green cans to port when entering, its kind like when all else fails follow the directions. Clearly a nice spot if you have the local knowledge to continue after those 2 green cans, we on the other hand ducked back out before we got into anymore trouble. Nice spot just outside the creek. Took Whoopi in for a walk at the local launch/park area, very quiet place. There were numerous areas netted in like they were storage for some kind resource in the back areas of the creek. Turns out they are for catfish caught by local fisherman. Had a couple of grilled steaks for dinner and a large salad, although some of that catfish would have been good.

11/16/11

Up very early in hopes of making it to Deale, MD Gil and Diana Edwards have a slip they said was available to us. Stan had taken Whoopi ashore and ended up talking to a fisherman for some time, hence we started an hour late. No wind and lots of fog so we motored all day, our radar which is really important for days like this failed us, something else to figure out. As we proceeded it was apparent that we were not going to make Deale and the fog was a bit of a strain, many times both of us on watch as other vessels can appear quickly out of the fog. We decided to go into Back Creek in Eastport just south and considered the working stepsister to Annapolis. Dropped anchor and walked Whoopi in a small park nearby, she flushed out 2 white tail deer, kind of took us by surprise. Cooked up a couple of delicious sizzle burgers, needed to use up a bunch of veggies, food management is important and we are diligent concerning reducing any waste.

Well, the winds are kicking up for the night and are supposed to remain high through tomorrow night so we decided to hunker down heer and leave for Deale on Friday.

11/17/11

Cold, windy, rainy day, I walked to a shopping center for provisions, I was disappointed in the seafood counter, we offer much better variety in VT. Did boat chores and some reading, made arrangements to have the refrigeration system worked on while at the slip in Deale, also a good friend of Gil and Diana’s, Butch truly seems to understand our system I have confidence he will be able solve our problem, ice could be costly especially when we get to a warm climate where ice does not last as long. Took some time out to motor around the harbor looking a boats this afternoon, a lot of beautiful boats here. Cooked up some omelets (Mushroom, bacon, cheese and tomato) for lunch. Cooking up a spaghetti sauce with sweet Italian sausage for dinner.

Thats all for now, should have good wifi where we are headed for the next few days.

Elizabeth

Chesapeake City

Last mate on watch
Last Mate off watch, which is more often than not.

11/13/11

Beautiful sunrise, winds supposed to be 15-25 kts out of the southeast. We left Cape May early as we figured a long day of sailing to Reedy island. We got out into the Delaware and put up just the jib as the winds were so strong and we did not want to fight with reefing the main since we have not got the reefing system set up yet. This was not an issue as we sailed averaging 7 kts with just the jib, it was a great day of sailing, one single tack right up the river to Reedy island. Dropped anchor, winds still strong wave action was ok, the current was so strong that the boat had wind to stern. Could not get motor on dinghy so could not get Whoopi ashore which resulted in her peeing on board which is good since some dogs are known to be to stubborn, glad she is coming around. Had an issue with our water system all 70 gallons were lost to the bilge, ended up a fitting popped loose, fortunately we care extra water in gallon jugs and a 5 gallon plastic container.

I cooked up that monk fish by boiling it as it was referred to poor mans lobster, it was very good and would go well in a fish stew, very ugly looking fish though. Had a huge ceasar salad with dinner.

11/14/11

Winds and waves calmed down enough to get motor on dinghy and got Whoopi ashore. Fixed the pipe in the water system and look forward to filling tanks as I really wanted a shower. Headed out around 11:00 for Cheasapeake City, arrived around 3:30, saw several blad eagles enroute.. Free dock yea!! Water was $10 which was worth it because Stan and I both had a nice hot shower, water system seems tight again. Chesapeake City is a very quaint village with lots of antique shops, restaurants and the C&D Canal Museum. Enjoyed a long walk to the Museum and then went to a nice little pub for dinner with Doug who also took up dock space with us. We all ordered shrimp and steak quesadilla, Stan and Doug ordered the spicy and I ordered the mild, mine ended up be very spicy and the orders came through backwards undiscovered until they tasted mine, oh well it was still good and the bartender bought us a round. Very fun evening a lot of sailing stories shared.

11/15/11

Nice quiet morning, no wind temperature around mid 50's, its been nice not to have to have the heat going for the past few days. Plan is to push out of here around 11:00 am and head for an anchorage in the Sassafras River to Turner Creek. Supposed to be some weather coming in and Turner looks to be a safe place be, but we shall see.

Kite and Dream Walker on the town dock:

View of Chesapeake City from the dock