5/1/16          Sunday           Cape May, NY            


Happy May Day!!! Seems as if it should be spring and warm and sunny an flowers.

Rain.

Chilly. A small boat project, since we were hanging on the hook (aka anchored), to add heat when the engine runs. We'll see of our success when we run the engine again.

Watching the weather. Consulting our boating buddies. The computer models disagree.

We're anxious to move, to get home, AND to be safe.

Ho hum. We'll consult again tomorrow and make a decision. "Love the life you're living, Live the life you love"

4/30/16            Saturday            Cape May, NJ

Somehow NJ feels as if it is almost home....uh, that we are almost home to Maine. Not that NJ feels like home. No. But the Coast Guard station anchorage at Cape May is VERY familiar. We are within feet of where we dragged anchor last fall. BUT, we have a bigger better anchor and captain and mate...and mascot. So, thinking "all good."

Posting early as this has been a looooooong day - 4 AM - anchoring at 3:30 PM and that was all travel in between. The first hour + was in the dark, in a well lighted canal but dark nevertheless. Then lighter and lighter until full daylight by the time we exited the C&D Canal and entered Delaware Bay. The travel was mostly smooth and we had our companion boats in pretty close quarters 75% of the way. Dream Catcher ( Jayne and Gary) lead us out of the harbor and into the Bay. Opotamus (Bruce from Toronto) lead us down much of the bay. Grace took the lead when the current turned against us (bigger engine) and the wind was too much on our noses. And then along came Kindred Spirit (big engine trawler) to lead us all into the Cape May Canal...except Dream Catcher had to go around the point because her mast is too tall for bridges in the canal.

Seems as if we're all bedded/anchored down for the night even though it is not even 4: PM. Scotch is poured. Beans are cooking. Amelia as appeared for food, water and company.

Enough for this day.........except the photos.

Opotamus and her captain, Bruce

Dream Catcher

Pinaple ship

another version of a pink tree from
yesterday in Chesapeake City

this fuzzy lighthouse in Delaware Bay
reminds me of a Christmas ornament

view from David's office window

4/29/16         Friday              Chesapeake City, MD



What to do on a rainy day in port??? We decided against leaving this morning after all. Boats US said the Del. Bay was "a mess."  Now who in their right mind would want to be in a messy bay? Not I, or David or the other several boats we're hanging with in Chesapeake City.

I got a hair cut, made lasagna, went for a walk w/David, forced Amelia to stand in the wet grass for a few minutes, toured the C&D Canal Museum (wonderful, amazing history and engineering feat) AND we plugged in so that we had HEAT! Hurrah!!! And, and, and.....we watched two families of geese/goslings - one pair w/8 young uns and one pair w/7.

spring geese

Other folks we'd met during the wait out Joaquin event in Port Washington last fall are in our same port here. They (Shannon and Larry on EmmaJean) stopped by to chat about our adventures and plan of departure. Lovely to re-meet them. I'm loving this sense of full circle with people we are in touch with through travel.

same family

Oh, and David took photos:

Bridge at Chesapeake City

Lighthouse, C&D Canal Museum

Grace at Chesapeake City dock

And a couple of photos from weeks ago:

Tug disguised as a lighthouse - somewhere in NC or VA

Heron from Jacksonville

4/28/16        Thursday             Chesapeake City, MD


Stayed in bed w while this morning. Too cold to get up with no particular reason to get up early.....except to feed Amelia....but then back to bed with my book about expats in Asia. I've read several books either by  authors from other countries or about living in other countries. Another form of travel and seeing from another perspective. Out of bed and trying to get warm by around 8:00 AM - coffee, dishes, breakfast and I turned on our propane heater which is at the top of the saloon so it heats our heads very well if we are standing. Feet. Cold.

spring tree

blossoms on pavement

Took a trip of about 100 yards up to the Town Hall and got important info - recycling is single source, hair cut is possible at the corner, Harbor Master might be able to take you to the food store. Score on all accounts but hair cut. The Harbor Master, Buddy Shepherd, was totally charming and very generous with his time. Jayne, from Dream Catcher in front of us and I went to do shopping while our men talked of weather and researched possible leavings. Mr Shepherd was a bit shy with us but warmed up as the trip went on. We invited him for coffee or wine - "We both bought cheap box wine."  No, but "I've never seen a catamaran." "oh, Jayne would probably invite you on a tour of their boat," I offered with Jayne in the back seat. So, the invitation was made for him to come after his work.

Jayne & Gray on Dream Catcher

Meanwhile, Jayne and I had decided on cocktails at 4:30, hoping Mr Shepherd would be off work by then, and shared dinner at 6:00 PM. We did our part of dividing the food labor and menu. David and I got a brief nap in before prep time.

Then, there was Bruce on Opodamus who we'd met in NYC and been sort of in touch with until early January and reconnected with a week or two ago. He was anchored in the pond just beyond the dock where we'd anchored last fall. He dinghied over, we invited him to join us for drinks, stayed for dinner. Mr. Shepherd didn't come so I called him. He showed up about the time we were going to eat. We delayed. He stayed and chatted and chatted. Really interesting man of 80 who was in Air Force, owned several businesses and now is part owner of a government contract business. On the ride from the food store I joked w/him about not being able to tell us much about his business because if he did he'd have to kill us. It was a fun interaction and exchange. He told us all more at dinner. Such a delight and very smart man.

Enjoyed the evening with new and older friends and spoke of going to the museum tomorrow before we depart. I suspect we won't make it.

4/27/16         Wednesday               Chesapeake City, MD   middle of C&D Canal




A gentle seas day. Phew, what a relief. Amelia still slept under the covers all day. It was, still is, chilly.

William P Lane Bridge

This bridge just outside Annapolis is an engineering beauty. It was two bridges, I assume one going east the other west. It had such sweeping beauty. Even in the rain and chill.

Another view

We shared the helms-person responsibilities pretty equally today and I did some suggesting about navigating. Realized that David does the long view planning navigating and I'm good at following his lead AND/but finding our way in the up close arena. Since I consult the paper charts more than he does I noticed that a diagonal course, between two major shipping channels, was on the paper chart. "Hey, why not go the paper chart route already laid out rather than trying to devise our own?" "Well, okay, maybe. What's the heading?" "028 degrees." "looks good" So we had only to look out for crab pots (not many) fishing boats (several) and other uncharted obstructions.

I have to remind myself to look near as well as look far. I have the look far (scan the distance front, side, back side) for vessels on the horizon. Have to remind myself to look near - those crab pots! I've two memories about look far which might cause my preference for that. When my dad was teaching me to drive (after driver's education in high school) he noticed that I was watching the car exactly in front of or exactly behind me. He suggested that I scan several cars away so that I could plan ahead and avoid  surprises that could cause emergency action rather than more cautious planned action...always anticipate what other drivers might do, he advised. Not bad advice in boating, either, or life to some extent. The other look far was a fantasy book that David and I read aloud to each other early in our marriage, maybe before - The Earth Sea Trilogy, by Ursala LeGuin."Look Far" was the name of the young magician's boat.

Other obstructions to look far for included Metis Leader. So glad this vessel got through the C&D before we entered! Think again the theme music from Jaws.

Metis Leader, we think a car carrier

as close as we want to be

Not soooo large in the distance but up close and personal....YIKES! I was feeling our boat was a bit diminutive around all the other boats in anchorages and harbors we've visited and hung out with but now this! Don't know the depth or tonnage but it is 658' long and 105' wide - LARGE!




We're definitely in red dirt territory again, yesterday, too. No more the black dirt or sandy loam.

Another oddity coming into the top of Chesapeake Bay just before the C&D Canal was this packed to the gills RV camp. Could not tell how many but most had these large looking screened porches across most of one side of the vehicle. Most looked as if they weren't going to move...more like a suburban trailer park.  Hard to imagine living this close or even vacationing this close, to others.

RV Park

We arrived in Chesapeake City, where we visited last fall, around 4 PM, no rain but still a chill. There was a large catamaran on the dock and a trawler leaving...just in time for us to arrive...the trawler leaving. We docked. Met Jane and Gary on Dream Catcher. Enjoyed them and promised to check weather together after we got settled. Then as we were settling a scruffy man with a camera came and stood on the raised dock near our door. "David, there is a man outside our door that wants to talk about our boat." Turns out he was with a "family" of folks, all who came over to chat, who were from Bremen, ME. The two men and child were helping the woman bring her boat from VA back to ME. We visited and talked. The young person, not a child really, maybe 12, wanted to meet Amelia. I suggested that all of us come aboard and get out of the cold. All did. We had a delightful time talking....boats, weather, pathways down and up the state of New Jersey. They left (Gordon, Theo, Al and Brenda on Sidera) and we went to check in with Jane and Gary. Chat, chat, chat.  They think they will leave around 2 AM to catch a good tide. We think we'll stay another day and leave on Friday.

Try to get a haircut and do some provisioning tomorrow.

4/26/16      Tuesday          Annapolis, MD


A pretty uneventful day. I'm not complaining. We left Solomon early, knowing it was a long haul to Annapolis.

Solomon anchorage and mooring field

Last fall we got that white dot of a mooring. This year we just anchored at the edge of the mooring field. I totally did not recognize from last fall to this spring until David told me we were in the same place. Oh well.

So, left early. Easy, easy beginning with very few lumps and even those diminished as the day went on. The only trauma was bringing the sail back in. We had to let it flog to take the pressure off it so David could haul the line in. The flogging, the whap, whap, whap freaked Amelia and she took off for the bed covers. Didn't see her again until we went to wake her just before we turned into the Annapolis Harbor turn. She just really hates loud noises, especially unknown and unexpected ones. She mostly stayed under-cover today, after the flogging noise.

Arrived into Annapolis Harbor and mooring field around 3:00 PM. Gathered our laundry and bath soap and off we went to the Harbor Master's hut. "So sorry to be so late." and I paid for our mooring. Then, off to the laundry room, laundry washed and dried and folded! Ta Da!!!!!

We were scheduled to dine with Lynda and Jeff but no good. They were too busy at the end of this day. So we came home, chatted about the day and about out trip, in specifics and general. David cooked dinner and I'm ready to hit the water bed. Hoping to get to Chesapeake City tomorrow.

4/25/16         Monday             Solomon Island, MD

Well THAT was HARD!  Leaving Deltaville was easy. Pretty morning sky, lovely wind fro the south/ south east. Gentle seas. Until we got into the Bay again. HA! As we continued on our way we had WAVES. These waves were predicted at about 20", 1/2 meter. But, they were more like 1.5 meters. The only good thing was that they were sustained waves rather than sharp ones. The entire day was waves. Four little waves from the stern. Then a BIG wave from the stern quarter causing us to plunge and roll and waddle and lift. then back to little waves, stern and stern quarter.

Grace  is amazing. She just kept taking the waves, rounding up, re-pointing and plowing or wallowing on. Steady.  I never felt in danger just really uncomfortable with the constant up, down, side, up, side, down motion that was often unpredictable. David and I shared the helm responsibilities and navigation responsibilities. One of us working while the other read or took cat naps.

Amelia, speaking of cats, was really uncomfortable and sometimes just frightened. She lay close to the thigh of whoever was seated. Once after a particularly rough patch she slunk (past tense of slink) fro the bed to the settee toward us at the helm. I was managing a sail so David scooped her up and held her while he steered and I conquered the sail. Then I took her to the settee to settle down. She was better with human companionship rather than crawling under the covers.

Crossing the Potomac River was horrible. How did Washington do it? David says that when we came south it was totally calm. I don't remember.

We've anchored for the night in a place that we moored on the way south. I totally did not recognize it until David insisted we were "right here." With more trained eyes I do remember this place. We came in cold and nearly dark after a long day, not rough but one of our first 8 hour days back then. We picked up a mooring in a vacant field about 200 yards from where we are now. A bigger boat tan we was moored a little to our port bow and another boat was anchored about where we are now. I remember thinking, coming in last year, how twisty and narrow this route was. Now, in the daylight and with 7 months of boating experience, this is a football field.

We've had a beer and chips on the aft deck. A boat, Shine, that we met last year in Port Washington is on one of the moorings that we didn't pick up last year. I don't remember the people but they are from Castine. Probably will not contact them tonight but might say hello tomorrow as we leave. Seems as if a number of us are heading north and back home.

Dinner soon. Annapolis tomorrow if all goes according to plan.