After Cambridge

We left Cambridge, Md on Friday October 8th and headed for St. Michaels which is further north. We came out the Choptank river and went north and entered Eastern Bay and then the Miles river. It was about a 42 mile run. I had been to St. Michaels by boat about 15 years ago. Wow, what a change. It has really built up. Most of the places to anchor were either taken over by marinas or had a bunch of other boats in them. We ended up taking a slip at a marina. I think the slips were made out of gold. At least you would think so by the cost. We only stayed one night and really didn't go see anything.

We had planned on St. Michaels being our most northerly port before heading back south. We left Saturday morning and went 48 miles all the way back to Solomon's, Md. We anchored up in St. John's creek for the night. We got up early and went to refuel at Spring Cove marina before heading south to Mill Creek. The cruising guide lists eight Mill Creek's. It seems that you can't throw a stick without hitting either a Mill Creek, Broad Creek or Back Creek. Anyhoo, we were in the Mill Creek that is off Ingram Bay at the mouth of the Great Wicomico river. It is about 5-6 miles south of Reedville, Va. And, no, there was no smell from the fish processing plant.

We stayed two nights in Mill Creek. It was absolutely beautiful and peaceful. The first night there were about eight other boats anchored around us. The second night there was only one other boat and it was around the corner from us.





























We wanted to stay another night but some bad weather and high winds were approaching. We pulled up the anchor on Wednesday about 11 AM and headed for Broad Creek off the Rapahannock river and Deltaville, Va. On the way north we came into Deltaville but came in on the south side into Jackson Creek. We are at the Deltaville location of Zimmerman Marine. We need to get some engine maintenance items done since we are coming up on 600 hours. We liked the work that Chad does and figured this would be a good time to stop before heading way south. We will be here about a week.

Clewie Clip!

Hi everyone, it has been a really long time since I have been able to post. My people keep shoving me away from the computer. It seems that my paws hit the wrong keys and it really messes up the display. I think when I do it the screen is called "Oh Crap" or something like that.

Well, it was a really hot summer. I stayed down in the boat where it was nice and cool. I was getting kind of bored though so it is nice to be back out on the water. Although there were some rough days and I still don't like when that loud motory thing is running. When that happens I just hide under the covers as far away as I can get from it. I don't know how my sister stands it. She just lies in the aft cabin where it is the noisiest. She must be deaf or something. I guess that explains why I can sneak up and pounce on her without her knowing.

It is really neat to be traveling. The inside stays the same but the outside has changed everytime we stop. I'm not allowed outside when we are moving though. When we are stopped I get to run around in the cockpit. When I get close to the edge I keep hearing a loud sound from the people. It sounds like "NO". Not sure what that means. The other day the lady people took me out on the deck. I even got my picture taken.










Now I know how to get out there and run out without the people as soon as they are not looking. You should hear the "NOs" then. I think the people think that I am crazy because now they put a straight jacket on me and I can hardly move. When I first had it on I flopped on my side and laid there like a slug. They would stand me up but I would just fall over. I'm not liking this thing at all. Eventually I was able to get up and stand. It took a long time for me to finally get my legs to move. Now I can walk a little bit with it on. For some reason it just takes the fun out of running out onto the deck.



















I had to go to the doctor and get shots. The people stuck me in this little cage and my sister in another one. We rode in this big red truck that was really noisy. The doctor was nice but I must have not been good because I didn't get a tasty treat. After the shots I probably would have barfed it up anyway.

Today it is really windy and noisy outside so I think I will just stay inside and sleep.

Solomons to Cambridge

We departed Solomons early Wednesday for the 43 nautical mile trip north to Cambridge, Md. The winds were light from the Northwest so we couldn't sail until we got up to the Choptank River and turned Northeast. The Chesapeake waters were somewhat choppy. The wind the previous few days was blowing pretty hard and it was still churned up.

We passed a natural gas storage site along the west coast of the Chesapeake. It is huge with a natural gas platform and huge storage tanks.



















We had to go about 16 miles up the Choptank River to get to Cambridge. They have a cement wall next to the county building that we could tie up to for 48 hours. It is right downtown so getting around was easy. The downtown area was kind of depressed. The guide indicated that there was a lot of shops. It was mostly empty buildings. We spoke to one shop owner who told us that most of the buildings were owned but the bad economy was keeping people from opening there business.

Xperience on the wall at Cambridge, Md.








Looking at some Condos on the north side of Cambridge Creek.








Looking west up Cambridge Creek thru the bascule bridge.








We walked around the historic area and saw many older large homes and ornate churches.

Solomons Island, Maryland

After leaving Reedville we headed north 42 miles to Solomons Island, Maryland. The route was easy and we were able to sail part of the way. We passed two lighthouses enroute. The Smith Point Light and the Point No Point Light (catchy name).
























It took us about 7 hours for the trip and had the anchor down in St John's creek next to some nice looking homes. We went up the creek further than most boats do so we would have a quiet anchorage. The weather has been nice, temperature in the 70's and sunshine.

Every evening right before dark hundreds of geese would fly over heading from west to east. I am assuming they went ashore to feed and then were heading back out to the bay for the night. We could hear them coming from about 1/2 mile away. Just honking like mad. I wonder what they are saying. Probably giving the leader of the V directions. The leader is probably a male and we know he won't ask directions.

We stayed in the anchorage for six nights. Occasionally taking our dinghy and going around to Back Creek where the marinas are. We would land at Zahniser's marina and walk to the grocery store.

Our fine weather was about to come to an end with the arrival of tropical storm Nicole which was coming straight up the east coast from Florida. We decided to move over to a mooring ball at Zahniser's so we would be closer to going ashore and maybe a little piece of mind being on a secure mooring. However, we have never dragged anchor, yet! I really trust our big Super Max anchor.

Tropical storm Nicole hit on Thursday and the wind and rain lasted for about 40 hours. We had wind gusts to 50 mph with sustained wind around 30. The rain just kept coming down in buckets. We heard reports that some areas nearby had up to 20 inches of rain. Since Nicole has passed we really have only had one nice day or weather.

We took advantage of the nice weather day and borrowed the bikes from the marina and rode to a CVS pharmacy about a mile and 1/2 away. We also stopped at the grocery store and picked up some fresh meat. The Woodburn's grocery is pretty close, you can walk to it or dinghy to the Holiday Inn marina which is right next to it, and they have great produce and meats. We stocked up on some extra and put it in the freezer.

Here in Back Creek there is a lot of boating things going on. There are about five large marinas so it has been a parade of boats coming and going. The mooring is right by the Calvert Marine Museum and they have a tour boat that leaves early and comes back in the afternoon. The people have to sit outside and most were pretty well bundled up. There was a replica Viking boat that came out from the museum. It was small and had eight oars and a single sail. No one was calling the rowing count and it looked like a bunch of drunks trying to row together.










I never did see them put the sail up.

There is a boat race on the Patuxent river just outside the creeks where we are this weekend. The noise from the boats is unbelievable. There are even some jet boats here. They are using the marina right across from us and do the engine revving thing to get warmed up before going out.

Just sitting around watching the boat traffic has been nice and relaxing though. Also there is a clock somewhere that chimes the Winchester chime that we can hear. It reminds me of our den at home. Or at least the home we used to have.

The other night we met a couple, Dave and Peggy, that are living on there Venizia 42 Catamaran sailboat. They invited us over for drinks after dinner. Dave is a retired Coast Guard captain and spent a lot of time on the water. He says it has all been larger ships though and has a lot to learn about his Cat and doing the ICW. They are heading to the Bahama's this winter too so we may run into them down there.

We are planning to leave here soon and head further north to Oxford and Cambridge Maryland. The winds have been strong and out of the north with waves running 2-5 feet in the Chesapeake. We don't really want to head right into that. We have met some people that are already heading south for the winter. We will stick around the Chesapeake for a few more weeks before heading south.

Reedville Virginia

We had a pleasant sail to Reedville Virginia. We entered the Great Wicomico River at Ingram Bay which is just off the West side of the Chesapeake and headed up Cockrell Creek. We went past the Reedville town point about 1/2 mile up the creek to a quiet anchorage by some lovely homes.

Reedville is very historic and well known for the menhaden fishing industry started by Elijah Reed in the late 1800's. There are many beautiful stately turn of the century homes on Millionaire's Row. Many are now B&B's.






































The menhaden fish is an oily fish and is processed for the oil and by products. There is a fish processing plant just south of the town and the smell from it is overwhelming to say the least. We were to the north and of course had a south wind blowing it right across us. I am still trying to decide which aroma is more pleasant, the fish processing plant or sticking my head in the litter box after a fresh BM and no burial. We were going to go out to dinner at the Crazy Crab restaurant but I was afraid I would barf in my clam chowder. Not that barfing would be embarrassing, it probably happens all the time there, but I would not want to deface a good clam chowder.

Needless to say we highsailed it out of there at first light. We had planned to stay over the weekend, but no way. We were planning to go up the Potomac River a ways but there is bad weather moving into the area and will last about a week so we are going to Solomons Island, Maryland. It is rumored that the air is very fresh smelling there.

By the way, the autopilot hydraulics seem to be working fine. We do have another problem where the pilot will do a Crazy Ivan every now and then, which isn't good. I am tracking that problem down now. If you don't know what a Crazy Ivan is go watch the movie "Hunt for Red October".

Mathews to Deltaville

We finally have all of the maintenance items completed. The list seemed to get longer as the days went on. Our original purpose for going to Zimmerman Marine in Mathews Va. was to get the hydraulic leak fixed on our autopilot. Before we left Hampton I had a diver clean the bottom since we had been sitting for several months. He mentioned that the bottom paint was rubbed off of the bottom of the keel. So I decided to have the boat pulled and touch up the paint also. In the past when I had done this the boat was hauled, bottom paint touched up and relaunched all in about 5 hours. The boat stayed in the travel lift the entire time. At Zimmerman Marine in Mathews they don't have a travel lift. They use a huge trailer with hydraulic arms that are raised after the boat is over them. Then they pull the trailer and boat out of the water. The bottom needed more attention then thought so the boat was blocked on the hard. The work should only take a day and we should be back in the water the next day. Yeah, right! Eight days later we are finally back in the water. The hydraulics on the tractor that pulls the trailer out of the water broke down while they were pulling another boat out. It took a week for that to get fixed. It seems hydraulics and I don't get along. We stayed on the boat on the hard and it was like living in a tree house.










While the boat was out of the water we noticed that the cutlass bearing needed replacement. This is the area where the propeller shaft goes thru the hull. It is a rubber bushing that will wear out with use. This is the first time we have had to replace it in 9 years. Since we are using the boat more now it will most likely last two or three years. I also replaced the stuffing in the stuffing box. That is the part where the shaft log, tube the propeller shaft goes thru, ends inside and keeps the water out. I also replaced all the zincs on the shaft, propeller and week shoe. The zincs keep the other metals from being eaten by electrolysis. I also changed the impellers on the main engine and generator.

We moved from the dock to the Zimmerman mooring buoy out on the East River on Friday the 17th. We had to move at high tide in order to get across the bar that is only 4 feet at low tide. I kept have the song "The tide is high and were moving on" going thru my head. We stayed on the buoy until Sunday morning. At that time we took off and headed for Deltaville Va. about 30 miles north.

East River looking south.








East River looking north.









The trip north to Deltaville was uneventful. We motor sailed since the wind was mostly on the bow with some points moving to starboard and allowing us to sail close hauled. The trip took us 4 and a half hours.

This is the Wolf Trap light house which we used as one of our navigation markers. It is about three miles from the western shore but marks an area of shoaling.






We entered Jackson Creek on the south side of Deltaville. That name has a nice ring to it. The entrance looks wide open coming into the area. However, the opening is very shallow, two feet in some places, and you have to remain in a tight channel coming in. We did see one boat turn too early and run aground. They were able to back off and recognized their mistake. We first stopped at the Deltaville Marina where we were able to pump out our holding tank for free. We then went around to the southern arm of Jackson Creek and anchored in 9 feet of water. This is a very nice creek with lots of protection from all but east winds. There are some very pretty homes along the creek.

Looking west in Jackson Creek.








Home just to the north of where we are anchored.








Looking east out into the Chesapeake Bay.









On Monday we launched the dinghy so we could go into town. We landed at the public pier which is only about 100 yards from where we are anchored. The main road is about 1/2 mile from the public pier. All of the stores are spread across about two miles along the main road coming into the marina area. We wanted to go to the grocery store which is about another mile away. Right when we got to the main road a guy in a pickup truck asked if we were off of a boat. We talked to him and he offered to give us a ride to the grocery. He also told us about the area and what restaurants to go to that are good. We spent about 30 minutes in the grocery and started walking the mile and a half back to the pier. We walked about a eighth of a mile when a lady stopped and asked if we were off a boat. She gave us a ride all the way back to the public pier. These two individuals were absolutely wonderful to give us the assistance they did. Everyone we have met on this entire trip so far have been wonderful.

We plan to leave tomorrow, Wednesday, and head for Reedville Va. about another 30 miles north.

On the move again

We left Salt Ponds Marina in Hampton Va. today and motored up to Zimmerman Marine. It is up the East River in Mobjack Bay on the weatern shore of the Chesapeake Bay. It was about a 25 mile trip up from Hampton. It took us 3 hours and 40 minutes. We were not able to sail at all. What wind we had was very light and on the nose. We will be here for a few days having some items done on the boat. Still having auto pilot problems, now a hydraulic leak. Also need an engine maintenance item and we think we will touch up the bottom paint where, as Sandy states it, I (Jeff) ran aground and also replace our Maxprop zinc.

We stored our vehicle in Hampton at an American Classic Storage facility. I think that was the hardest part of leaving. It sure was a luxury to have the SUV to visit places and get supplies. We want to keep the Expedition because that is our link to land. It may be in storage now until next summer but it gives us something to come back for.

It looks like hurricane Earl will get pretty close to the coast and will give us some high winds this Thursday so we are not in a hurry to leave. This place is really protected being back in a nice little cove. We had to have the service manager, whom I know from Cedar Mills on Texoma, come out in a little skiff and lead us in. At one point the channel is no wider than the beam of the boat and that is where a shallow spot is. We arrived right at high tide and had about 6 inches of water under our keel. The tides here run about a foot and a half. I guess we will be leaving at high tide also. Not much choice in the matter.

Back from Hatteras

We are back on the boat at Salt Ponds Marina after spending a week in a beach house on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. The house is located at the south end of Hatteras Island right across from the Ocracoke Island ferry terminal and the U.S. Coast Guard station. Sandy's brother, two sisters and their spouses were all there. The ocean beach was beautiful with soft clean sand. The surf was up most of the days as the wind was blowing 15-20 every day. We mainly swam in the pool at the house but did long walks on the beach. We ate lots of seafood at Dinky's and Teach's restaurants. On the nights we didn't go out to dinner each couple cooked the meal for all the others. Needless to say we ate really good. The house has a karaoke machine so we had a karaoke night. It was pretty wild. We all agreed that what happens at Hatteras stays at Hatteras.

There are historical markers along the island drive. One of them at the south end of Hatteras is about the U.S.S Monitor, the Union Civil War iron clad boat. It sunk in a storm just 16 miles off the coast from where we were staying. We wanted to learn more about the Monitor so when we returned to Hampton we went to the Mariners Museum in Newport News where the remains of the Monitor are being saved. The Monitor's resting place was discovered in 1974, 112 years after it's sinking in 1862 on New Years Eve. It was not salvaged until 2002. The ship was upside down on the bottom in 250 feet of water. The gun turret was the largest piece salvaged and is resting in a bath of solution to keep it from rusting anymore than it is. Both of the guns were recovered, the anchor and some chain, 100's of other smaller items, the steam engine and the remains of two sailors. We spent almost 4 hours just touring the Monitor section of the museum. You walk thru a timeline from when the Monitor was first designed and constructed, the battle of Hampton Roads where she battles the Confederate iron clad the Virginia, thru the sinking, the discovery of her resting place and the recovery. There was much more to see but we didn't spend a lot of time on the other areas.

Here are some photos of the house on Hatteras.

Boat Chores

We have been in Hampton Virginia at the Salt Ponds Marina for about five weeks now. It seems like all we have done is boat chores. It is almost like we went back to work. So far this is what we have accomplished:

Refinished all the exterior wood. We had to take some down to bare wood and reapply the Cetol Natural Teak finish. Other parts we just cleaned and recoated. We now have four coats on all of the wood surfaces.

Oiled the interior wood. The interior of the boat is mostly teak wood. Over time it dries out so we had to apply teak oil. It looks much better now. Just like new.

Replaced six house batteries. Our Lifeline AGM batteries were almost nine years old. We got plenty of use out of them but it was time to change them because they were not holding the charge. We replaced with six new Lifeline AGM group 27 100 amp hour batteries. Those suckers are heavy so we used the spare main halyard and a winch to lift them out onto the dock. We took the old ones to a auto parts store and they will dispose of them.

The light bulbs in both cockpit lazerettes were burned out so they got replaced.

The lug cover on the alternator had melted during our overheating do to the corrosion on the lug. We replaced the rubber cover. While I was doing this I accidentally touch one of the battery leads to a ground and it blew a 150 amp fuse. It took me two hours to find where the fuse was, behind the house battery switch, which had to be unscrewed and removed to see it.

My SSB radio was not transmitting as well as I would have liked so I added additional ground plane.

My anchor roller, which is made of a hard rubber, was split open. I ordered a new one and installed it.

My main anchor chain has painted marks so I can gauge how much chain is put out. The paint was coming off so we repainted it.

The fan in the head gave up so it was replaced.

I replaced the topping lift on the whisker pole with a larger line. The previous line was too small for proper handling.

We made a support to mount to the port forward stanchions in order to strap fuel jugs to. When we go over to the Bahamas we will carry additional gasoline and diesel fuel.

My Garmin chart platter accepts SD cards that have additional chart information and photos. I had two of them, one for the Florida and Bahamas area and one for Georgia to New Jersey. The Florida/Bahamas SD card was not working properly. I sent them both back to Garmin and will receive free updates for both.

Our list of work items is slowly getting whittled down. Next week we are taking off from boat life and spending the week in a beachfront house on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. When we get back we will be taking the boat up to Zimmerman Marine in Cardinal Virginia, about 24 miles north to get help with a hydraulic leak on my W-H auto pilot. I know the service manager there and have a lot of confidence that they can find the leak.

We did take a few days off from work when the temperature outside was really hot. It has reached 100 degrees with the THI up around 108. We went to tour some of the historical sites in the area. We have been to Historic Jamestowne, where the first colonists landed in 1607 and to Yorktown and the Yorktown battlefield where George Washington and the American and French armies defeated the British which was the end of colonialism. In the weeks to come we will be returning to the retirement life and be doing more touring. Although living on a boat and cruising is just fixing boat things in exotic places.

Oriental to Hampton

Most of you knew that we were heading to Salt Ponds marina in Hampton to stay at least through July. We left Oriental on Sunday May 30th. There are two routes to get to the Chesapeake Bay. The Virginia Cut route or the Dismal Swamp Canal route. Everyone we talked to said that you have to do the Dismal Swamp at least once so we decided to go that way.

Our first leg from Oriental took us to Dowry Creek marina near Belhaven NC. We needed to get fuel and pump out our holding tank and this was a recommended marina from another Island Packet owner, thanks Hayden. This leg took us up the Neuse River towards Pamlico Sound. Rather than continuing up Pamlico Sound the ICW cuts off to the west and north up Bay River and into Goose Creek. That creek is mostly a small canal and it spills out into the Pamlicao River. The Pamlico River was about five miles wide. We crossed it and headed up the Pungo River to the marina. The passage was without incident and we had enough wind to sail part of the way. We stayed overnight at Dowry Creek.

On Monday, Memorial Day, we headed into the Alligator River-Pungo River canal. This canal is very narrow, about 150-200 feet wide, and has tree stumps lining the banks. We had to keep a close eye out because every once and a while there would be a tree stump right in the center of the canal. There were other boaters ahead of us and they were nice enough to call them out.

This canal exits into the Alligator River, we didn't see any, which is a pretty good size river. We continued north to a small marina which is right next to route 64. I remember from a 2005 car trip to the Outer Banks going right by this marina before we crossed the Route 64 bridge. The marina wasn't anything to brag about. However, we ended up staying there two nights do to bad weather. There were four other sail boats and eight motor trawlers waiting for good weather also.

We left the Alligator River marina on Wednesday and headed for Elizabeth City NC. This leg took us across the Albemarle Sound. We left the marina around 7:00 AM in order to cross the Sound early as the weather forecast was calling for afternoon winds around 25 knots. We were able to sail across the sound with beam winds around 12-15 knots. A perfect sailing set up. The waves in the sound were 1-2 feet and it would have been very rocky without the sails up. Having the sails up really steadies the boat. We spoke with some trawler people later that day that told us they were getting real tired to the rocky motion when they crossed the sound. After crossing Albemarle Sound we entered the Pasquotank River. There were crab pot buoys everywhere. I think we covered twice the distance we had too because of all the pot dodging we were doing.

Elizabeth City is supposed to be a nice little quaint historical town. To us it seemed pretty depressed and run down. They do have a free dock however and we tied up to the dock at the city park. This was an easy in and out for us as we were right on the end of the seawall.

We wanted to leave Elizabeth City around 6:30 AM on Thursday to make the bridge opening before 7:00. The bridge won't open on demand between 7:00 and 9:30. Right before we untied to leave the seawall two police cars pull onto the bridge and stop with there emergency lights on. I waited for a bit and they didn't leave so I called the bridge tender on the VHF to find out what was going on. He didn't even know they were on the bridge, I think I woke him up, so he went out to peruse the situation. He called me back to tell me there was an injured dog on the bridge and they were waiting for animal control. Just my luck as we needed to leave in order to make the 11:00 AM South Mills lock opening. Luckily everything cleared and we were able to get through the bridge right at 7:00.

The next 17 miles were the weirdest I have ever encountered. The upper Pasquotank River is like being in the African jungle. We felt like Kathern Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart in African Queen. There was a sailboat about a quarter mile ahead of us and one about a third of a mile behind us and we could not see them for most of the route because of all the twists and turns. We could not ever see the where the canal was going because all the trees and brush blended together. It wasn't until we made Turners Cut where the canal straightens out that we finally saw the boat in front of us.

We reached the South Mills lock around 10:30 and it hadn't opened yet. We had to drop an anchor and wait in the canal for the 11:00 opening. Anchor holding was terrible and we did more maneuvering around with the motor than sitting at anchor. Very narrow at that point and we had to keep from swinging into the trees. Once the lock opened there were five boats waiting to go in. We were second. We all tied to the west wall, port side, for the 10 foot lift up to the Dismal Swamp canal level. When the water was filling into the lock the first boat was getting rocked around by the incoming current. A lesson here, never be first into a lock. Once the lock was filled with water we all exited and headed for the Dismal Swamp visitors center where there is a free seawall with room for four boats. It is expected that rafting, where boats tie up side by side, will occur. We stayed there for the night and there were six boats total. Three on the seawall and three rafted to them, we were the center boat on the seawall. The boat in front of us had clipped an overhanging tree and had small branches and leaves on her deck.

The visitors center is very nice and is also a North Carolina welcome center for traffic on Route 17. There is a state park with18 miles of hiking trails. We read warnings about ticks and decided to stay out of the woods. One of the cruisers organized a pot luck dinner that night. We all brought a dish and ate outside at a covered picnic table. All of the cruisers from the other five boats were very nice and interesting people. We had a great time telling where we had been and where we were going.

The next morning we all left together and headed for the Deep Creek lock at the northern end of the canal. Again we had to wait for about 45 minutes for them to open. This lock lowered us 10 feet and we exited. It was much quicker going down than it was raising up. We spent the next four hours heading up the Elizabeth River and out into the James River around Point Comfort, into Chesapeake Bay before entering the inlet for Salt Ponds marina.

We will stay here and do some boat work and explore what this area has to offer by land for through the end of July. Then we will make plans to explore the Chesapeake Bay area.

Here are some photos of this leg of the trip.

Dismal Swamp Canal. The canal is only about 75-100 feet wide in some spots. You have to watch the depth and the height above. The depth never got less than 6.5 feet which was good for us. Had to swerve to avoid floating logs several times.





Here is a part of the upper Pasquotank River. The canal turns at this point but you cannot see the turn until you are right on it.







The bascule bridge just after the lock.








This is the Dismal Swamp visitors center dock with boats rafted together.







The water in the Dismal Swamp is very dark. It looks like dark tea. Because of this it giver off a great reflection. This photo is looking at the tree reflection in the water.






This is the Salt Ponds inlet, photo taken from the land side looking out.







The beach just east of the marina is very nice.








As is the swimming pool.