No Distance Traveled Today
22 July 2020 | Atlantic Highlands NJ
Mike
This picture of Monarch leaving the anchorage Thursday morning was taken by Cindy on Miles.
July 22, 2020 Wednesday
We expected a line of sever thunderstorms this evening so we decided to stay here another night to wait them out. We used the time to clean an oil spill out of the engine bilge, clean the shower pan, top off the antifreeze, clean the dingy and treat the vinyl floats and then launch the dingy, put the mainsail cover on, do some housekeeping, and travel into the marina fuel dock. The two attendants were wearing face coverings as did we due to the pandemic and they managed getting us fuel, a pump out, fill our water tank and get a bag of ice all very efficiently and soon we where headed back to the anchorage. (We took on 28 gallons plus the 10 we picked up in Chesapeake City for a total of 38 gallons to travel 270 nautical miles on fuel purchased for $96.)
The list above of odd tasks does not sound like much but given the heat and humidity I was soaking wet and very tired when we got the anchor set so I went to bed to relax under the fans and to try and cool back down. Sharon noticed on AIS a nearby boat, Miles, that we may know. She called the boat on the radio and confirmed it was the same couple that was on the hard next to us in Fort Pierce at the beginning of the year as they prepared to start cruising. We made arrangements to visit them later in the afternoon.
We brough a bottle of Prosecco to the Miles to celebrate our meeting up again. Danny was scuba diving to clean the bottom of his boat when we arrived but he soon joined Cindy and their visiting friend in the cockpit to enjoy a social distant catching up session. It was great to see how well they have done since we saw them last and how well their boat is holding up. They had explored the Bahamas, Florida Keys, Florida West Coast, and made it up to here since we had seen them last. They thanked us for all the advice we gave them while we were together back in Florida and told us of their plans to cruise up to Maine for the summer. They asked us lots of questions about Maine and we wished them luck.
Approaching six the thunderstorms were arriving and we dashed back to Monarch to make her ready for the storm.
A strong line of thunderstorms came through but fortunately the worst of the storm went to the north and we watched the lightning show over New York City and the Harbor. We did get a little rain and some winds up to thirty knots but no one in the anchorage dragged anchor so we didn’t have any fire drills to get out of the way of a dragging boat. The storms brought some cooler temperatures, nice.
Sharon made rice and beans for dinner and we checked up on our email and texts.