Always $umthing
| Vessel Name: | Always $umthing |
| Vessel Make/Model: | Tartan 37 |
| Hailing Port: | Worton Creek, Maryland |
| Crew: | Al and Diane Dashevsky |
| About: | |
| Extra: | When clicking on the "Where are we now?" link, PLEASE DO NOT call rescue authorities if the boat hasn't moved in a while. |
11 May 2013 | Green Point Marina, Worton, MD
Chesapeake Bay or Lake??? Ans: HOME!
We spent Thursday night at Calvert Marina in Solomons Island. Was nice to have a courtesy car again to get food for Daisy and a couple of needed groceries since I will be on the boat for a few days while Al goes home to get one of our cars.
09 May 2013 | Solomons, MD
Almost Home!
We hauled anchor at Little Bay this morning at 6:15 and headed north. Was able to get sails up for a while, but of course the wind died, then picked up again - right on the nose. Ah, the sailing life! LOL! Today's pic is a scene I never get tired of...sunrise on the Chesapeake :)
05 May 2013 | Norfolk, VA
Patience, Patience, Patience...
As the sun is beginning to set on our adventure, we are learning how to be patient. It is a bit frustrating to be so close to home and not be able to get there.
01 May 2013 | Dismal Swamp, North Carolina
Dismal Weather in the Swamp
Early Tuesday morning we left Elizabeth City in light fog. After a fuel stop, we headed for the Dismal Swamp South Mills Lock. Traffic on the canal is light and there were only 4 boats, all sail, in the lock.
29 April 2013 | Elizabeth City, NC
Yes, it IS Always $umthing!
Oh my! What a crazy (and chilly) eight days!
21 April 2013 | Southport, NC
Sitting in Southport...
Spent last night at the free dock at the Provision Company and had a good dinner there. Left the dock this morning and headed out to the Cape Fear River...and promptly turned back. It was BRUTAL! Winds have been in the upper 20's gusting into the 30's ALL DAY! Forecast is for more of the same through [...]
20 April 2013 | Isle of Palms to N. Myrtle Beach
Score: Di 107 - Flies 0 !!!
As much as we like the Low Country, we DO NOT like the bugs. We have had our fill of gnats, no-see-ums, and mosquitos...and now flies!
15 April 2013 | Beaufort, SC
Painting done!
The painting of the hull and bottom is complete! It looks like a new boat! Can't believe how shiny it is...you can see your reflection!
08 April 2013 | Beaufort, SC
Biding our time in Beaufort
We have been in Beaufort, SC now for a week. The original plan was to be here for 2 weeks for the boat to be painted. However, we've had a bit of bad weather (quite a bit of rain) during the beginning of the week. So now it looks like we might be here a bit longer than 2 weeks. But as of yesterday, [...]
01 April 2013 | Beaufort, SC
OMG!!!
I'm still shaking! On the way over to Marsh Harbor Marina where the boat is going to be painted, Al walked up on deck to pull up a fender we forgot to pull in...and he FELL OVERBOARD!!!! Good thing we've practiced Man Overboard drills! He's OK...shaken and cold, but OK :)
26 March 2013 | Daytona Beach Shores/Port Orange
Sitting and waiting...and waiting...
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
20 March 2013 | Manatee Pocket, FL (St. Lucie Inlet)
Homeward Bound
Oh my! Where does the time go??? Before leaving Marathon we were so busy with last minute social activities as well as getting "ready" to leave...not to mention also nursing a cold...and the blog suffered. Apologies to all.
04 March 2013 | Marathon, FL
Old Man Winter. . .
. . . has found us. The past few days have been quite chilly, windy, and a bit of rain (as evidenced by the pic above of our friends bundled up and wearing long pants in Key West). Temps are in the 50's during the day with the nights requiring the heat on for a while in the boat. But we aren't complaining! [...]
21 February 2013 | Marathon, FL
Laid Back and Not Too Wasted...
(Apologies to Jim Morris for the blog title today...)
21 January 2013 | Marathon, FL
Time to Catch-Up!
So the question seems to be, "What have we been doing with ourselves for the past couple of weeks?" The short answer is, of course, immensely enjoying being in Paradise!
12 December 2012 | Key West, FL
Reached the end of the road!
Today we joined Flint & Leslie Firestone and their friends George and Jan and hopped on the bus to Key West. Since the bus only cost $1.50 each way (Sr. Rate), it didn't make sense to drive down with the gas rate approaching $4/gal!
11 December 2012 | Marathon, FL
Our "Home" - for now
Decided to share some pics of our "home away from home" with y'all. While it's true that "home is where the boat is", the boat is here at Blackfin. Enjoy the "tour".
09 December 2012 | Marathon, Florida
It's Beginning to Look like Christmas
We are enjoying being on "island time" :) Fairly lazy days, warm weather, and on the water...what more could you ask for??
06 December 2012 | Marathon, Florida
We're in Marathon!
We left Jewfish Creek on Tuesday morning around 7:45 and headed south, assuming we would stop in Islamorada or Tavernier on the way. We had the wind at our stern and even had tide with us (dumb luck!) and we were making such good time that when we got to Islamorada it was way too early to stop so we [...]
03 December 2012 | Jewfish Creek - Key Largo
Officially in the Keys!
We stayed in Fort Lauderdale a few extra days waiting for the winds and clouds to blow out. The pic above is the resident iguana at Las Olas Municipal Marina. When he kept coming by our boat, I decided he needed a name and started calling him Iggy. Saturday afternoon he even climbed on the foredeck! Saturday [...]
29 November 2012 | Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Vero Beach to Ft. Lauderdale
Well this will be another "catch-up" post since, again, our wifi connections have been poor or non-existent :(
22 November 2012 | Vero Beach, FL
Gobble, Gobble, Gobble...
...And that we did! Had a wonderful Thanksgiving Dinner with approx. 200 other cruisers here in Vero Beach. Had turkey, ham, all the traditional go-withs and lots of other unique dishes. The desserts were incredible! And everything but the turkeys and hams came from boat galleys! After dinner there [...]
17 November 2012 | Titusville, FL
Wind, wind, and more wind!
Whew! Lot of "catching up" to do! Our internet access has been sketchy at best. So what's been happening with us?? Since I last posted, we stopped in St. Augustine. Hung out on a mooring ball there for 3 nights since the weather was so lousy...blowing stink and rainy. While it was lousy for sailing/traveling, [...]
12 November 2012 | Jacksonville Beach, FL
There IS justice!
Anyone who sails will understand the "title" today that refers to the attached picture - whether you've traveled The Ditch or not. It is especially frustrating in The Ditch when the PBs blow by you, rock the snot out of you and sometimes force you over into the low water! Hence, today's caption.
10 November 2012 | St. Simons Island, GA
Just Peachy in Georgia
Yes the weather the past 2 days HAS been peachy! Upper 70's - low 80's in the afternoons, but still need the fleece in the mornings and at night - brrr!
08 November 2012 | Savannah, GA
Savannah
Al found a Quest Diag. to have his labwork done. Since it wasn't within walking distance, a taxi was hired to get him there and back. While he was gone, Daisy and I strolled along the Savannah waterfront, enjoying the park and window shopping. Al came along and joined us for the second half of our [...]
07 November 2012 | Savannah, GA
Georgia on my mind :)
As anticipated, we hung out in Marsh Harbor Creek on Tuesday to wait out the rain. Between showers, we managed to get some boatkeeping chores accomplished. Daisy wasn't too thrilled to have to take her "shore breaks" in the rain as you can see from the picture. She actually likes wearing the raincoat, [...]
05 November 2012 | Beaufort, SC
OK, so we didn't make Hilton Head...
Left Mosquito Creek on the ebb tide and FLEW down to Beaufort, SC (that's "bewfort" in SC rather than "bowfort" as in NC) in 3 hrs. Original plan was to go all the way to Hilton Head, but decided to stop here and see a gentleman (Peter Gamble, at Marsh Harbor Marina) about getting the boat painted. [...]
04 November 2012 | Mosquito Creek, Green Pond, SC
On the way to Beaufort, SC
Left Charleston approx. 7:30 this morning and traveled 46.5 miles. FLEW through Elliot Cut and down the Stono River until the current changed. Saw beautiful scenery the whole day as well as lots of aquatic birds and a few dolphins. I kept thinking that I should have taken a Native American linquistics [...]
03 November 2012 | Charleston, SC
Tourist Days
Left McClellanville around 7:45 on Thursday, Nov. 1 and got into Charleston at 1:45 - better than we thought. Rather than go to the City Marina (megadock) which was very expensive, we opted to try the Maritime Center Marina on the Cooper River side of Charleston. The Marina staff were exceptionally [...]
01 November 2012 | South Carolina
Myrtle Beach to McClellanville
Sunday afternoon (10/28) we were so pleased to be able to get together with two of Al's friends from his days in the Jaycees - Sue and Mike. They live not far from Myrtle Beach and drove up to spend some time visiting. We hope to connect with them again on the way back.
27 October 2012 | Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
Heeeerres SANDY!
Spent yesterday (Friday) doing laundry (long walk), boatkeeping chores, dog bathing/grooming and then I borrowed a neighbor's bike and rode to the grocery store for a few things for us and others on the dock. Last evening we had a "Storm Watch Dock Party" on a neighboring trawler. Hmmmm....our next [...]
26 October 2012 | Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
Goodbye NC, Hello South Carolina!
We got an early start on Thursday, leaving Southport at 7 am. Even had to use our nav lights. The 45 mile trip to Myrtle Beach was a fairly slow ride as the tide and current changed on us along the way, shoaling to watch out for, bridge openings to wait for, no wind to speak of (what we had was right [...]
24 October 2012 | North Carolina
Swansboro to Southport
Spent Monday night in Wrightsville Beach watching the anchor...sleepless night (just didn't seem to have a good set - turns out we were set, just had more rode out than neighboring boats). Moved the boat in the morning to a better location - farther into the basin where there was less current. Then [...]
21 October 2012 | Swansboro, NC
Oriental to Swansboro, NC
Arrived in Oriental Thursday afternoon and pulled into Sailcraft Services on Whittaker Creek. We had noticed an unusual amount of white smoke coming from the exhaust. Since it could be a sign of a serious problem, Al contacted Beta Marine to find out who to contact in Oriental - thus the stop [...]
17 October 2012 | Belhaven, NC
Elizabeth City to Belhaven
We said farewell to Elizabeth City around 8:45 am. Sailing down the Pasquotank, we passed the blimp hangar pictured above. All blimps (except Goodyear blimps) are manufactured here. Elizabeth City is also home to the largest Coast Guard base in the country.
15 October 2012 | Elizabeth City, NC
Another Pleasant Day :)
Short day on the water Monday. We left the Dismal Swamp Visitor's Center approx. 7:45 and made the first locking at South Mills.
14 October 2012 | Rappahannock River to Dismal Swamp Canal
Saying Goodbye to Virginia
We said "goodbye" to Joanne and her brother Friday afternoon and left Carter's Creek at 7:30 Saturday morning. We had tide, current, and WIND against us all the way down the Rappahannock and out on the bay. About a mile past Stingray Point (Deltaville), Al decided that he wasn't having much fun - to [...]
11 October 2012 | Carter's Creek, Rappahannock River, VA
Peeee Uuuuu!
Talk about a "stinky" day! :P Al removed the old head and some of the hoses today, then capped off the tank and the rest of the hoses - which we will remove later. It's a dirty job, but somebody has to do it. We probably should have contacted Mike Rowe from "Dirty Jobs" to do it for us! So while we [...]
10 October 2012 | Carter's Creek, Rappahannock River, VA
We're in Virginia :)
Internet access has not been great so haven't been able to update for a couple of days.
06 October 2012 | Annapolis, MD
Boat Show Day
Headed over to the Boat Show after installing our reprogrammed AIS transceiver (another item off the checklist - Yay!). Naturally we spent more than we had planned on, but our purchases will make our life aboard MUCH more comfortable. We pick up our new Spade anchor tomorrow afternoon since we made [...]
05 October 2012 | Chesapeake Bay
Here We Go!!!!
Left Green Point Marina around 10 am and arrived in Annapolis at 2 pm. Had both sails up briefly, but motorsailed most of the way. Wind was extremely light and when it did pick up enough to sail, it was right on the nose.
30 September 2012 | Green Point Marina
Moving In!
This is Move In weekend! We stuffed the car to the roof and headed for Green Point. Got down Friday later than we originally had hoped, so we put the refrigerator on to chill down and started moving "the stuff" onto the boat. Got our clothes for the first part of the trip put away then loaded the refrigerator. [...]
23 September 2012 | Green Point Marina, Worton, MD
SURPRISE!
WOW! We are soooo overwhelmed! Our wonderful friends at Green Point gave us a wonderful surprise Bon Voyage Party last night! Great friends, great food, clever and useful gifts! One of our "newer dockmates" even wrote and performed a song for us :) "Thank You" just doesn't seem adequate. An extra big [...]
14 September 2012 | Annapolis, MD
Finally got out for a short cruise!
Left Green Point this morning at 9:45 for a short cruise to Annapolis. Of course something had to happen. This time it was our chartplotter. Turns out we have 1 broken pin and a bent pin where the power cord attaches. At least we were going to Annapolis! If there is anywhere it can be fixed [...]
17 August 2012 | Worton Creek
Another item off the punchlist!!
Finally got the Wind Generator installed and wired!! Hooray!! Wasn't the easiest task we needed to accomplish, but we did it :) That's the good news. Bad news is we need to replace the 20 yr old refrigerator before we leave. While it is still working - most of the time, it is on it's last legs. If [...]
08 July 2012 | Worton Creek, MD
Our Boat Has the Right Name!
Yes, it's "Always $umthing"!! Two weeks ago we had not one, but TWO washdown pumps go belly-up as well as the refrigeration motor. Neither of these repairs/replacements are a particularly difficult job. But for our non-boating friends, I've attached these pics to demonstrate how even a "simple" job is [...]
28 May 2012 | Worton Creek, MD
Memorial Day Weekend
Just back from spending Memorial Day Weekend at the Marina. Great Dock Party to kick-off the season Sat. evening...great food, great friends, great fun! Sat. morning we took the boat out and got to fly the spinnaker! Whoo Hoo!! First time it's been out of the bag...she's a pretty one. A friend sailing along took the attached pic of Al & I in front of the sail. Very hot, humid weekend - but very relaxing and enjoyable.
20 May 2012 | Green Point Marina, Maryland
At our "Summer Home"!
Always $umthing was put in the water last week and I got the majority of the "spring cleaning" done by Thursday. Friday morning we left Greenwich Boat Works at 9 am and had an uneventful motorsail to Worton Creek ("uneventful" is a good thing! LOL). Pulled into our slip at 5 pm.
03 May 2012 | Vineland, NJ
Welcome!
This is the year! As we are working through the Spring Commissioning tasks, thoughts of moving aboard in October for our journey south for the winter are never far away. Our general plans are to finish preparing the boat for the winter trip throughout the summer as well as doing a couple of "shakedown [...]
Vero Beach to Ft. Lauderdale
Vero Beach has a weekly Cruiser's Happy Hour on Thursdays. Last week, it was postponed until Friday since everyone was pigging out on Turkey on Thursday. As expected, there was a good turn-out. Salty Paws provided the musical entertainment and they invite anyone attending to join in with instruments or voice.
We joined Martha and Bill on Eagle's Wings for a short while after the Happy Hour (we all ate too much to worry about dinner!)...and had a chance to say "so long". They will be heading back to Canada the first week in December for a week and then will return to Vero and Eagle's Wings to head for the Bahamas. We are hoping that our paths cross again, but will certainly keep in touch. Getting to know them has truly made the trip so much more enjoyable and our lives are richer for having had the chance to share part of the trip with them. Bill and Martha, if we don't see you before your crossing, we wish you fair winds, following seas, and Godspeed. :)
We left Vero Beach last Saturday, the 24th and traveled as far as the St. Lucie Inlet - stayed overnight in a protected area called Manatee Pocket which has several marinas and 2 anchorage areas. We dinghied down to a restaurant at the end of the "pocket" called Shrimpers and had a delicious dinner at a reasonable price :)
This is an unusual site on the ICW - sails up!! Finally had some room to sail!
Passed this boat (tug) on the way to dinner - anchored in Manatee Pocket. Yes folks, that's the guys CAR on the foredeck!! When he passed us the next day, I hailed him on the VHF to find out how he gets the car off the foredeck...he simply drives it off the starboard side!
The next morning we headed south for Palm Beach. At one point we had 9 sailboats waiting for the bridge openings! Talk about "traffic". It got interesting when we had to wait for the openings with 9 boats trying to hold their positions with wind and current. Since we didn't have far to go, we arrived at Old Port Cove Marina at noon. Sue says, "Hi!" to the Hampels.
We were able to meet up with our friends Sally and Joey from NJ who are snowbirds in West Palm Beach. Spent the afternoon seeing the sites of the area then enjoyed a delicious home-cooked dinner at Sally's condo. What a nice day! Monday we took a walk to West Marine and Publix - wore Daisy out - LOL!
"If I get off do I have to walk over 3 miles again??"
Tuesday morning we said goodbye to Old Port Cove at 8 am and headed south. Traveling south through Lake Worth was interesting to say the least. Seeing how "the other half lives" was unbelievable! Passing by all the yachts, mega-yachts, and humongous waterway homes could easily make you feel like a pauper - LOL!
Is this sailboat big enough???
What a thrill to see this boat up close! The Honey Fitz was JFK's presidential yacht. It looks like it's been kept in immaculate condition. Talked to the captain after he passed us and learned that the current owners purchased the boat from the White House in 1970.
Typical "snowbird" housing in a 55+ community. While they sort of look like military barracks, the price is right - and there's not a lot of housecleaning to do!
Sad sight along the shore of Lake Worth - anyone's guess as to the cause.
It was a long travel day - just over 9 hrs and 50 miles. We passed through a total of 20 bridges, 19 of which required an opening and only opened at certain times. Thankfully, we were able to "time" our arrival at the bridges so we usually had less than a minute to wait for the opening. We arrived at the Las Olas Marina mooring field at 5:15 - just enough time to grab a mooring, tie up, and take Daisy for a "shore break" before the sun set :) While tiring, it was a good day!
Note to Hampels and Amlings: The Lantana Bridge (south end of Lake Worth) is currently not in existence...they are totally rebuilding it - pilings and all, but from all appearances it will still be a bascule bridge when complete. Guess they couldn't buy enough land/houses to make it a high-rise :(
Yesterday (Wednesday), we spent the day doing laundry, getting out the warm weather clothes, general boatkeeping, and relaxing. We were able to meet up with my cousin Isabelle and her husband Tommy, who live near by. We met for dinner at a waterfront restaurant across from the mooring field and had a delightful visit and delicious dinner. Before dinner, we enjoyed sundowners with a fellow cruiser that anchored next to us in the Alligator River (seems like ages ago!) and was also in Titusville and Vero Beach the same time we were. Ed and his wife are from Washington state and he has been single-handing their Hallberg-Rassey 42 from Norfolk down to here. His wife, Theresa, flies in this weekend to join him and they will cross to the Bahamas as soon as they get the weather window - hopefully in the next couple of days.
As for us, our next stop will be a short travel day down to Miami - probably Dinner Key. We are currently waiting for these wicked winds behind the cold front that went through yesterday to lay down. From there we will plan out our route more specifically down the Keys to Marathon. At least it's warm :)
