My cruising life has been intense since arriving back in the States approx. 3 weeks ago. The long lists of items needed, systems needing maintenance or repair, vendors needing to be dealt with and the self-inflicted choice to move the boat quickly through North Carolina north to the Chesapeake conspired to fill (or overfill) the time available. And so, I worked on the boat, moved it obsessively to the next place, worked on it some more, moved it again etc etc. This path has landed me now at a favorite place in the Chesapeake – Deltaville Marina and Boatyard – where I will once again work obsessively on the boat. Work will start tomorrow on the next items on the To-Do List. The rain will have stopped by then, presumably.

I arrived here yesterday around lunch time and the rain arrived soon thereafter – and along with the wet came 40-something temperatures. The good news is that the diesel heater in the salon, having not been used for almost 3 years, fired up immediately yesterday evening and soon had KR’s cabin welcoming and warm. Baking bread this morning made crawling out from under the two layers of comforter on my berth a palatable idea. Otherwise I might still be sacked out.

I’m not going to try to list all of the activities of the last 3 weeks or explain the weather vagaries that made me choose the somewhat circuitous route sailed/motored north from Oriental. However, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that along the way I did spend wonderful time with old friends and acquaintances and met and enjoyed many new friends.

There is never too much boat work to be done to take time away from friends. Pizza night on KR with old friends Bill and Tracy in Oriental, good times with Ken and Fran on “Release” in Hampton were highlights. And, in a truly delightful happenstance, on my arrival here yesterday I rowed into the marina to use wifi, walked into the cruiser’s lounge and came face to face with Carla. She and her husband Rick are here in Deltaville getting their lovely Cape Dory 40, Euphoria, ready for launching later this week. I knew (but had forgotten) that Euphoria was here but had no idea that I would run into Rick and Carla.

I have a long and somewhat involved history with Rick and Carla but had first met them right here in Deltaville at a cruiser’s potluck in September of 2007 as I was preparing KR for launching for the second cruise. Our last contact was in January of last year in Cartagena. Rick and Carla had taken a cruise which made landfall in Cartagena. We connected there for a couple of hours of touring the historic central district together. We had a great catch-up talk over dinner last night and will enjoy more time together while I am here this week.

My fervent hope is that the To-Do List will have a much reduced and far more rational number of items on it by the time I leave here later this week. As often happens, since arriving back in the US I have been adding items to the list at least as fast as I have been crossing them off. Some are the result of newly found problems encountered enroute (a fuel problem which has caused the engine to lose power on two occasions for example), to problems with incorrect product received from vendors (Defender has now shipped me the wrong Forespar item twice. We’ll try for number 3 this week) and some items are old items on the list for which I now have the parts, pieces or raw materials to actually accomplish. It will be a busy week.

The unfortunate part is that while I am doing project work there are routine maintenance items not being routinely completed.

I will be busy.

The plan is to spend roughly the next 3-4 weeks wandering north up the Chesapeake, through the C&D canal and down the Delaware to Cape May. I will then look for a window to jump from there directly to the Cape Cod area – Block Island, Newport or ???

It should have warmed up a bit up there by then.

Best to all.

Ps – Oh, yes, the pic. These loud and obnoxious neighbors in Oriental were temporarily chastised when I yelled at them to “SHUT UP” – but not for long.