Alexi and Bob Sail Away

10 April 2022
24 February 2022
12 January 2022
20 October 2021 | Moving South
23 September 2021
02 August 2021
02 June 2021
08 April 2021
08 April 2021
15 February 2021
19 January 2021 | Marathon
02 January 2021
19 November 2020
17 November 2020
31 August 2020 | Deltaville
13 July 2020
20 June 2020 | Portsmouth, VA

Heading South (again)

20 October 2021 | Moving South
Robert Malkin
As the temperatures turn cold our thoughts, and boat, turn south. LAMANTIN is heading towards the Bahamas!

We had a wonderful summer in Lankford Bay getting some boat work done and enjoying the upper Chesapeake. There are so many nice places to anchor out and enjoy a tranquil sunset. There are also great small towns with interesting history to explore.
On the way down south we spent time in St Michaels, a historical, coastal town on the eastern shore of the Chesapeake in Maryland. There is a great maritime museum there where we got to watch them building a replica of an old shipping schooner. St Michaels also has nice places to eat and shops to enjoy. Continuing south on the Chesapeake, we stopped in the Little Choptank River for a quiet overnight stay on a small tributary creek.

Weather seems to dictate nearly everything in our lives these days. Expecting some heavy weather, we decided to make a long, fast run down nearly the entire Chesapeake from The Little Choptank to Hampton. Unfortunately, we blew out our distributor cap on the starboard engine when it overheated. We think a loose belt caused the overheat that caused the coolant to spray out of the overflow bottle onto the distributor cap causing it to short. Luckily, we were able to find a mechanic who could (more or less) quickly fix the problem and confirm that the overheat did not cause any other problems.

From Hampton, we were able to enter the Dismal Swamp Canal. This canal is the oldest continuously operating canal in the US with a pedigree dating back to George Washington. It is remarkable peaceful with glassy water reflecting the long straight stretches of ditch dug 100’s of years ago.

The canal played an important role in the civil war as the Union thought the south would use the canal to move boats like the ironclads. In fact, the canal has always been too shallow and narrow for that type of boat. (And, nearly too shallow for our type of boat. We ended up hitting several underwater objects. We never saw them since the water is caramel colored owing to the pine tannins.) The Dismal Swamp runs between two locks, South Mills and Deep Creek. The current locks date from the 1940’s but at Deep Creek you can still see the original lock from the 1800’s. Commercial boats were so narrow then that you can nearly jump across the old lock.

If you want to see what the modern locks look like, check out our YouTube channel with time lapse photos of us going through the locks at Deep Creek, South Mills and Great Bridge (the larger lock on a parallel canal).

Great Bridge Lock and Bridge:


Deep Creek Lock and Bridge


South Mills Lock and Bridge:


The dismal swamp canal ends in North Carolina, where we’ll be spending the next couple of weeks visiting with friends before continuing our journey south towards our ultimate destination for 2021: Bimini in the Bahamas.

Comments
Vessel Name: Lamantin
Vessel Make/Model: Silverton 372
Hailing Port: Wilmington, NC
Crew: Alexi and Bob
About: We are taking a few years to live aboard our boat and visit some amazing places.
Extra: Let us know if you want to come visit!
Lamantin's Photos - Main
Our time in Florida in the winter of 2021-22
13 Photos
Created 12 January 2022
Sights of us moving from the upper Chesapeake to FL in the fall of 2021
4 Photos
Created 20 October 2021
Summer 2021 spent in the Chesapeake
8 Photos
Created 23 September 2021
It is a huge job to replace the fuel tanks on a boat. Fortunately, they last about 20-25 years. So, we are not likely to ever do this again.
6 Photos
Created 2 August 2021
Photos from our trip from Florida to Rhode Island in the spring of 2021
2 Photos
Created 19 May 2021
We spent Dec/Jan 20/21 in the Florida Keys
23 Photos
Created 21 December 2020
Sights of the east coast of the US in the fall of 2020
4 Photos
Created 19 November 2020
Photos from our week in Utah
5 Photos
Created 16 October 2020
We spent a few summer months sailing around the southern Chesapeake
12 Photos
Created 20 June 2020
We sailed from West Palm Beach to Portsmouth VA in early 2020
20 Photos
Created 6 June 2020
We had two great weeks of friends and family visiting us on the boat on Great Exuma Island
18 Photos
Created 8 March 2020
The Exumas is a long chain of islands with many remote and beautiful spots to drop an anchor
39 Photos
Created 19 January 2020
We had a great New Year's vacation with our children and friends in the Bahamas
27 Photos
Created 10 January 2020
Photos of the trip from Georgia to The Bahamas
13 Photos
Created 15 December 2019
It was a lot of work and a lot of good byes ...
6 Photos
Created 6 December 2019
Trip down the ICW from Georgetown, SC to Brunswick, GA
10 Photos
Created 19 June 2019
Photos to get you oriented to the boat
11 Photos
Created 10 June 2019