Sunny, High Pressure, 60's
10/03/2008, Worton Creek Marina, MD

Man it got cold last night. 40 brrrrr.... Something tells me we're not but a step ahead of the cold weather. I'm sitting here at dock in the marina watching the geese v-up and listening to them honk at each other. We got in, gassed up (26 gallons) refilled the water tanks (at the end found out they have very irony well water - shades of home), pumped out and then tied up at berth 51 at the end of the T on the B dock (I like). The woman that helped us gas up and pump out asked me if we were heading south & I told her yes. She asked if it was our first trip and smiled at me when I said yes. It was sweet because I felt like we were part of a flock heading south like the geese that I see in the skies above. I hear the same people calling each other on the radio all the time. I don't know them, but know that they're heading in the same general direction as us. It's similar to the geese that fly in huge V patterns. They join each other along the way and separate along the way. Freya calling Briar Patch; Southbound calling Freya; Felicity, Cambia, Abigal, Whippoorwill, Vertigo, calling... It reminds me of the geese calling out to each other, signaling what they're going to do. They have a cute little marina here - Pool, marine and food store, restaurant, laundry, showers. Needless to say we both headed for the showers. On the way back from the shower I looked up and thought I saw an osprey. It wasn't an osprey but a big beautiful bald eagle flying over me, and me without my camera! It was beautiful. Then I looked down into the water and saw several small jellys pulsing along in the water. It surprised me because I hadn't expected to see them here in brackish water but one of the boat owners said they're starting to appear because the salinity level is going up, there hasn't been a lot of rain lately. Hmmmm....

I was going to try and connect to the internet - thought it would be no problem but my broadband wouldn't work - strange because it had the right color to connect then changed... I hope it wasn't the spilled Merlot last night (a glass got spilled in the dark on the table where the computer was)...

It's been an exhausting few days, the 24 hour run, then crossing the Delaware (another 12 hour run) sleepless nights... Signing off... Theoretically if the Chesapeake is calm tomorrow we'll cross and go down towards Annapolis. Between the currents, winds, and shallow conditions it can kick up to wicked conditions (I'm catching on quickly to that).

Wish I could check my email and send one to Sapphire to find out where they are...

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Sunny, 20-25mph winds, wicked waves on the bay
10/02/2008, Rogues Harbor, MD

Well we started out to go to Worton Creek (about ½ way to Annapolis) but the winds were working against the current and building some good size waves. After we passed Turkey Point we turned around and headed for a spot where we saw some boats anchored, in what looked like still water. They were boats on private moorings, but there were some boats anchored a little further up, at Rogues Harbor so we dropped anchor there for the night. Whenever a freighter or barge comes through the channel we get wake but it wasn't to bad.

Made BBQ Ribs and broccoli slaw for dinner and then played dragon lady during the night. We set the anchor alarm (remember the freighters passing us in the channel?) and it went off several times during the night. It was hard to see at first but little by little we seemed to be getting closer to the group of 4 boats to the North of us. Nothing to get alarmed about but then our depth alarm went off too (I have it set for 8 feet). We were reaching low-low tide and our reading went from 9 ft to 7.5 ft. but whenever it hit 8 ft an alarm went off so I turned the thing off at 5:30 in the morning (after checking our surroundings and depth once more). Between the anchor alarm and depth alarm it was an interesting night. We had enough water under us and around us, but each time something went off you had to get up to check. Hence - Dragon Lady (Dragging Lady) throughout the night...

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Cloudy, rain, seas - sloppy
10/01/2008, Cape May to Chesapeake City, MD

Crossed Delaware Bay today following a rhum line across old oyster beds and cutting out some of the shipping channels. The freighters and barges pulled by the tugs are huge and their wakes are something else. Saw one that was stacked up high with train cars. I'll be honest, I was in a pretty pissy mood all day and just tried to stay out of Waynes way. There's not much room on a 36 ft sailboat so things tend to get magnified I guess. Except for explaining the routes and how to read/interpret them I pretty much hung out reading below. Wayne and Otto followed the course laid out for them today and once we reached the C&D Canal and Otto was put to bed then I came up and steered through the canal (short one - 13 miles). The current was pretty good - with us the entire way it seemed. We averaged about 6.5 - 7 knots. Ran into some shoals coming into Chesapeake City to anchor but nothing serious - depth read 4.2 under the keel but with some gentle persuasion we made it into their channel and anchored in 12 ft on the east side. The free dock (200 ft) was filled up by the time we got there. This is a well-protected little cove but very crowded for it's size.
Made a nice salad, Beef/mushroom/onion stew with French bread for dinner and am about to play a computer game. Waynes working on a suduko puzzle.

Took a few night shots - I think these came out. Its still out tonight. Cold but still out.

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