Sat 9 Jun 2012
Docked at Worton Creek Marina
[no photos until the cell signal improves]
What a nice evening and night it was! While our surroundings are not the prettiest we have encountered so far, they are certainly pleasant enough and it is very still and quiet. The few times Duane awoke during the night, he could hear the owls hooting in the trees. It got comfortably cool last night but not as chilly as yesterday morning. At the moment, our cell signal is so weak that we cannot check weather via Internet, but hopefully that will improve as we get to the marina later this morning.
At 0830, we raised the marina via VHF and came in for diesel, a little gas for the dinghy, and a pump-out of the waste tank. We are still averaging almost 10 statute miles per gallon, but favorable currents (due to good planning) and some beneficial wind make that number higher than would otherwise be.
Every staff member we met here is very friendly and helpful. I asked Tom at the desk if he was aware of our situation and he said yes. I offered to pay for the electric hook-up even though the dockage was free due to the repair work and he had to ask management about that. Libby (co-owner) said to forget it for now and let's see how the repair bill shapes up.
It is shaping up to be a very warm, sunny day and plugging in for the air conditioning is very welcome. With Duane's back finally back to near normal, he has no excuse to procrastinate on polishing the all-too-numerous tubes of stainless steel, which are well stained. It is called "stain less" not "stain free" for a reason. [Many of our boating friends say that is a "pink" job, but try telling that to the Admiral.] First, I got all the shower/bathing suit gear ready so that after I was thoroughly drenched in perspiration, it was a quick trip to shower without having to make a mess below.
Even working in the shade of the Bimini cover, it was sweaty work to get about one-third polished, and then it was off to the shower and pool. The pool was at a nice, refreshing temperature and during the 3 hours we were there, at least a dozen different people came in to enjoy it. Naturally, Duane had to make conversation with many and got some advice about the next 200 miles or so of travel.
The purpose of this cruise is not to spend 5 or more days lounging around a pool in one place, but if you are stuck, there are certainly many worse places to be stuck. We had an early dinner of leftover chicken Marsala and some canned peas. How is it that most canned corn we have eaten is pretty good, yet we have never had any canned peas that tasted remotely good? I guess with all or provisioning in Annapolis, we failed to get much in the way of fresh vegetables. At least we have salad ingredients.
Clyde has definitely seemed more at ease since we are back on the boat after our whirlwind series of visits in NJ and PA. He must now identify the boat as home and sees it as something familiar and stable. We have so far not indulged in desserts more than a few times in almost 10 weeks, bit tonight Diane walked up the hill to the restaurant and brought back a brownie with ice cream. It was pretty tasty.
Our cell reception, and therefore our Internet connection, is horrible here. It may require carrying the laptop and smartphone to the top of the hill to post this and check email. If our postings are not timely for the next 5 days or so, that is most likely the reason.
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Comments [1]
Sat 9 Jun 2012
Docked at Worton Creek Marina
[no photos until the cell signal improves]
What a nice evening and night it was! While our surroundings are not the prettiest we have encountered so far, they are certainly pleasant enough and it is very still and quiet. The few times Duane awoke during the night, he could hear the owls hooting in the trees. It got comfortably cool last night but not as chilly as yesterday morning. At the moment, our cell signal is so weak that we cannot check weather via Internet, but hopefully that will improve as we get to the marina later this morning.
At 0830, we raised the marina via VHF and came in for diesel, a little gas for the dinghy, and a pump-out of the waste tank. We are still averaging almost 10 statute miles per gallon, but favorable currents (due to good planning) and some beneficial wind make that number higher than would otherwise be.
Every staff member we met here is very friendly and helpful. I asked Tom at the desk if he was aware of our situation and he said yes. I offered to pay for the electric hook-up even though the dockage was free due to the repair work and he had to ask management about that. Libby (co-owner) said to forget it for now and let's see how the repair bill shapes up.
It is shaping up to be a very warm, sunny day and plugging in for the air conditioning is very welcome. With Duane's back finally back to near normal, he has no excuse to procrastinate on polishing the all-too-numerous tubes of stainless steel, which are well stained. It is called "stain less" not "stain free" for a reason. [Many of our boating friends say that is a "pink" job, but try telling that to the Admiral.] First, I got all the shower/bathing suit gear ready so that after I was thoroughly drenched in perspiration, it was a quick trip to shower without having to make a mess below.
Even working in the shade of the Bimini cover, it was sweaty work to get about one-third polished, and then it was off to the shower and pool. The pool was at a nice, refreshing temperature and during the 3 hours we were there, at least a dozen different people came in to enjoy it. Naturally, Duane had to make conversation with many and got some advice about the next 200 miles or so of travel.
The purpose of this cruise is not to spend 5 or more days lounging around a pool in one place, but if you are stuck, there are certainly many worse places to be stuck. We had an early dinner of leftover chicken Marsala and some canned peas. How is it that most canned corn we have eaten is pretty good, yet we have never had any canned peas that tasted remotely good? I guess with all or provisioning in Annapolis, we failed to get much in the way of fresh vegetables. At least we have salad ingredients.
Clyde has definitely seemed more at ease since we are back on the boat after our whirlwind series of visits in NJ and PA. He must now identify the boat as home and sees it as something familiar and stable. We have so far not indulged in desserts more than a few times in almost 10 weeks, bit tonight Diane walked up the hill to the restaurant and brought back a brownie with ice cream. It was pretty tasty.
Our cell reception, and therefore our Internet connection, is horrible here. It may require carrying the laptop and smartphone to the top of the hill to post this and check email. If our postings are not timely for the next 5 days or so, that is most likely the reason.
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Fri 8 Jun 2012
Anchored at Worton Creek, MD
We enjoyed a good sleep despite the loud music and revelry 75 feet across the narrow fairway. What started out as a rather hot late afternoon and then a pleasant evening turned quite cool by morning. Not a bad thing, really.
The chilly morning made it easy to stay in bed until late (almost 0630), so we didn't get underway until 0730. With that relatively early departure, we enjoyed a half to full knot of fair current all the way up the bay to the entrance to Worton Creek. Not only was the current in our favor, but we could use the wind to our advantage for most of the run, as well.
We had misinterpreted what our friend Bill had told us, so we anchored near the entrance to Worton Creek for lunch to see if the tall ships would pass on their way to Norfolk, VA. Only after checking the Internet did we realize that the ships were already south of us, so we weighed anchor (with a working windlass!) and motored up the creek to anchor right off the Worton Creek Marina.
The cell signal is poor here, but I was able to call the marina to discover the both the bad and good news. The parts are not likely to be here until Tue (hopefully Wed at the latest) and that means we will be "stuck" here at least until Thursday. The good news is that they invited us to come and dock for free and use all their shower/pool facilities until we are done with the repairs, since it is not our fault that the parts are not here yet. That is quite a generous offer that I doubt most marinas would extend. We will stay at anchor in our relative solitude tonight and hope that the evening cools off since it is quite warm, although not too bad as of 1500. Tomorrow (Sat) we will move to the dock and easy access to whatever is ashore that we care to do.
Our friend, Harvey (husband of Diane's cousin Sara) will be back down to get on his boat (with Sara) Sun afternoon, so we will visit with them both then until they move their boat to Oxford, MD where they like to hang out for the summer as they can.
Our afternoon was relaxing after Duane figured out the problem with the auto-pilot and made an adjustment we hope will fix it. Diane finally found a good opportunity to sun herself on the deck while Duane studied the charts for the passages north from here later next week. In the mid-afternoon heat, a nap was in order for both of us and it felt great.
Even though it was still on the warm side close to 1800, we elected to get a lot of the cooking done so that we could concentrate on other things over the next few days. For the benefit of neophyte shipboard cooks, a little pre-planning goes a long way to making life easier. For example, we did the following all in one large, deep pot in a series of stages: sautéed onions for two meals, sautéed mushrooms for the chicken Marsala, browned the chicken medallions, prepared the Marsala wine sauce, browned the pork sausage and ground beef for the future lasagna, pre-cooked two sausage patties, cooked the penne pasta, and then heated the chicken with the penne for dinner tonight.
There was only one pot and one set of utensils to clean, and we now have the makings for 8 or more meals. The key is to have the right music playing, a soothing beverage of choice, and love in your heart.
Eating topside right after sundown at 2015 was very pleasant as the temperature had moderated and the light breeze was delightful. Clyde thought it was quite peaceful and demonstrated it by spending much time topside in various places. At least 5 boats have joined us in the anchorage but no one is the least bit crowded. At low tide, we registered 5.2 feet and we draw 4.6 feet, so we are very close to the bottom, but with no wave action in this protected area, we will be fine.
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We enjoyed a great visit and lunch with Diane's cousin Sara, and then we drove to Quakertown, PA, to visit with Diane's step-father. We dined at a nice restaurant and had an early night to bed.
After breakfast, it was a 3.5 hour drive to Annapolis where we parked the car in the expensive short-term lot by the city dock and Duane took Clyde via water taxi back to the boat. The boat was prepped for the short ride through the draw bridge and then to a slip at the city dock where Diane was waiting to assist.
Following a take-out lunch from Pip's, we took the car to reprovision and spent quite a bit, not to mention all the heavy loads to carry from the parking lot to the boat. While Diane unpacked and stowed everything to her liking, Duane returned the car and then got a ride back from the Enterprise employee.
Fri we will sail/motor to Worton Creek where we plan to anchor until Mon when the mechanic will (hopefully) be ready to assist with the camshaft replacement.
[supplemental]
Once all that was done, Duane scrubbed the relatively filthy decks and then ambled across the street to the showers reserved for dock patrons. I should have kept a detailed log of all the various pros and cons of all the shower facilities we have seen; they sure have run the gamut from sublime to ridiculous. The only thing particularly good about these showers is the water pressure. I wish our old pressure washer could match it. We surely don't have any loose skin cells left after today.
Relaxing in the cockpit that faces the narrow waterway known as "ego alley," we are taking in the very interesting sights of vessels including: young hard-bodies on paddle boards, dads rowing their toddler daughters around, families on rubber dinghies, sailboats of all kinds, ridiculously expensive power boats, and water taxis and tours with wide-eyed tourists. Add to that the hundreds of people strolling the boardwalk alongside the docks and it is quite a people-watching event. We both said that it is fun to do this once, but probably not again.
The tidal current is not significant, but we hope to be leaving the dock by 0700 or so to catch most of it up the bay on our way to Worton Creek.
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We are currently securing all for hurricane season and on the verge of departure for a multi state "road cruise". We will be on Long Island around Aug 11. In 1953 the home port was North Port. I believe we will check it out to see what the influx of $$$ has done.
Good luck with all the travels this summer. We are lucky to have not only such great friends, but those who don't wait for life to pass them by.
After leaving Shirley's house, we drove to stay with friends Tom and Gina for a night and visit. Following a fantastic lunch, Diane and Gina had a 3-hour spa day complete with massage, manicure and pedicure. Tom and I checked out his latest apartment rehab project and then played some close games of shuffleboard on their really nice wooden set.
Dinner was another wonderful home-cooked meal and then we watched a rather difficult to follow movie before a sound nght's sleep. Poor Clyde the cat keeps getting bounced around to different environments, and this one has three dogs. We managed to get him plenty of time out in the large yard and he seems much braver about exploring now - not necessarily a good thing.
Wed we will visit Diane's cousin and then her step-father.
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The day dawned to almost cold and definitely wet, but it cleared a bit as we drive the hours to Grey Towers in Milford, PA. It is a historic site operated by the Forestry Service and was the summer home of two-time PA Governor and head of the Forestry Service, Gifford Pinchot. The home and surrounding gardens are impeccably well kept and it was quite a treat to take the guided tour, despite the changeable weather.
After a great lunch a local (historic) hotel, we drove back to relax before the family arrived again for another supper together. Tue we move on to stay with friends Tom and Gina, and then Wed we will visit with Diane's relative, Sara.
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