14 - What? There is a Hurricane?

We had to leave Florida for insurance reasons during hurricane season.  What happened and why was a hurricane heading our way?  We had already made plans to dock the boat in a marina up a creek in Deale, MD so that Pedro could fly out for business.  MaryAnn was going to be "stuck" on the boat for a few days by herself, with no baby sitter or chaperone but she wasn't planning on also dealing with a hurricane.  Little did she know!  Turns out it wasn't much of an event for us.  The water level in the creek did get above the docks a couple of times but she was still able to get on and off the boat.  Dock power was turned off a couple of times but with the wind generator and solar system the batteries where able to maintain their charge.



The marina was really nice and it included a pool with free beer Friday, bathroom and laundry facilities, bikes, kayaks, and a fat cat named Bob.

We did get a rental car when we got in town and made a trip to Annapolis and Washington DC before Pedro had to fly away.  On our way to Annapolis, we found a great crab house for lunch.  Great soft shell crab sandwiches and cold beer!! We drove into Annapolis and it started raining so we rode around town and got caught in traffic for the Navel Academy football game that was setting up for tailgating.  We found a local boating surplus/sail loft.  We bought a new quad directional wind scoop to be used next time we find ourselves in an area where the current is pulling us one way and the wind the other  As we are looking to add an asymmetrical spinnaker to the boat , we spent some time talking to the guy about what we need.  We were sent home with homework to do via taking measurements so we can get one made.  It was a good day.

The next day we went to DC where we  visited the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History and Science.  Pedro had never been there and MaryAnn's last visit was about 40 years ago.  It's really an impressive collection and we spent a few hours going through it all.  Last time we were in DC, we found a restaurant called Ollie's Trolley but we'd just eaten so we didn't get to stop.  This time, we decided to try it to see how it compared to the only other one we know of that's in Louisville.  It had the same seasoning on the fries but the sauce for the burger was different.  We enjoyed it immensely but it wasn't the same.



While  Pedro was busy working in Topeka, KS,  MaryAnn took one day to explore Baltimore and another checking out the National Zoo in DC.   She also managed to explore Deale via bicycle (that took about 5 minutes) and spent considerable time making sure that Bob (the rather fat cat at the marina) was getting the attention he deserved.  We never even got to use the kayaks because the creek was so high but the pool, bikes and laundry all got considerable use.




(This is not Bob, the cat at the marina)

Oh, yeah, Pedro's business trip to Topeka, KS was success.

We were also excited to meet Dale and Gale who started the Cabo Rico owners Facebook page and are the proud owners of a 56 foot Cabo Rico named "Quetzal" (we even got to meet the owners of his previous boat a 38 foot Cabo Rico).  Their boat is currently on the hard in the boat yard right across from us so we had them over to our boat for happy hour and then the next day, we invited ourselves over to tour their boat.  It's absolutely gorgeous and huge!

Dale gave us a list of places to visit in this area so, after captain and crew were all back on the boat, we headed out the next morning.  We found a great quiet anchorage and sat for a couple of days just decompressing and waiting on the rain to blow through. 



First on his list was St. Michael's, MD.  We moved the boat further up the San Domingo creek  (less than an hour motor from our last spot) and found an anchorage.  We dropped the dinghy in and took it to town.  What an adorable town!  It's very similar to the New England towns we'd gotten used to seeing and will you believe it, they have a brewery.  We decided that that would be a great spot to update the blog so here we are.

From here, we were planning to go to Oriental, NC where we have a boat slip that we bought years ago but have never visited by boat and then on to Charleston, SC.  But Oriental and the outer/inter banks got a pretty direct hit from Hurricane Florence so we decided that wouldn't be our best option at this time.  Dale told about a group that is taking off from Norfolk, VA area and some boats are going to Bermuda and some to Antigua.  We are now thinking that we'll join one of those groups.   

 

 
(Our slip in Oriental is just two more to the right of this boat!)

Until next post!

13 - Zip, Pop and Splash!

Zip, Pop, Splash and We Were Robbed in New York Waters!

Zip is the sound the fishing drag reel makes when a large fish hits your trolling bait.  Pop is the sound of your fishing pole holder falling apart and separating from the boat.  Splash is the sound of your fishing pole and holder hitting the water.  I know I saw a large fin (at least six inches) sticking up out of the water and the fish was smiling.  Of course, I know he/she now has a fishing hook ($15 lure) in his/her mouth along with several yards of 30 lb. test fishing line and a ($200) fishing reel and rod hanging from it all.  Talk about dragging around a ball and chain. 

This is what the fishing pole holder is supposed to look like (this is the other side), but it's missing all of the long cylinder portion (just ripped it off).

This happened during our sail from Nantucket, MA to Cape May, NJ.  A total of 254 miles straight across the Atlantic that we covered in 52 hours.  We left Nantucket early Saturday morning as opposed to our initial planned departure of Friday due to a small craft advisory that was calling for 25 knot winds and 5 to 7 ft. seas.  We don't really mind the wind, but with 5 to 7 ft. seas, it can get uncomfortable.  So, we waited until 6:30am Saturday morning to pull up the anchor and head out.

Sailing was great for the first several hours.  The east wind was only about 10 knots and being inside between the islands provided us with some protection from large waves.  We sailed north out of Nantucket then sailed west towards Martha's Vineyard and then south just off shore of Chappaquiddick.  Once out in the Atlantic we sailed pretty much down wind on a heading of 250 degrees with 10 knots of wind and 2 to 3 ft. seas.  We maintained this heading for the next 52 hours.

The wind, for the most part, maintained speed and direction however, we found that during some of the night and early mornings we needed to motor in order to keep the boat moving above 2.5knts.  The last 10 hours the wind died completely and we had to motor into Cape May.

We pulled into Cape May, NJ around 10:30 Monday morning.  We picked the boat up, put things away, took a shower and headed to town.  We walked from the marina into town (about 2 miles), saw the mall and tourist trap area, stopped for a local beer (Gary just couldn't pass that one up) and headed back to the marina district to a restaurant we found on yelp.  We were just going to grab a table and eat in but once we saw the line for a table and their view we decided to take carry out and head back to the boat where the view was decidedly better .  We had a great dinner of local steamed claims, fried Calamari and Lobster Bisque.  Along with some white wine and a sunset we were in heaven!!!

The following morning we pulled anchor and again, due to the lack of wind, had to motor out and around into Delaware Bay and up the Delaware river.  We followed a few sail boats out of Cape May including Pearl whom we first saw in Newport, RI and Our Latitude whom we'd just met at the dinghy dock in Cape May,  We all motored up the river towards the C&D canal.  From there, we dropped anchor in the river just outside the entrance of the canal.  One boat told us that they'd found a marinas inside the canal for the night and we lost track of the other.

Well, we all ended up in Chesapeake City, MA (this is the last city you'll find on the C&D Canal)  at their city dock.  We had Pearl in front of us and Our Latitude we invited to raft up next to us.  This is such a great little town and everyone was so friendly.  They offer their town docks for free and only ask that you pay for electric or water hook-up if you use it.  Since it was so much hotter there than we'd experienced in New England and there was no wind, we gladly paid the nominal fee and hooked up so we could run the A/C.  It was also fabulous to give the boat a much needed bath inside and out. 

We walked the town and had a great lunch (amazing soft shell crab sandwich) at the local marina bar/restaurant.  We then joined our new friends (Bruce and Gayleen on Pearl are from Boston but winter in Ft. Pierce and Steve and Pat on Our Latitude are from Montreal but are also heading to Florida for the winter) for happy hour at the nearby restaurant.  It was great getting to know them. 

After we left Chesapeake City, MD, we were officially in the Chesapeake Bay.  We decided to head to Rock Hall, MD on recommendations from the cruising guide as well as Bruce and Gayleen who've been cruising the Chesapeake for several years.  It's a quaint little town that also offers a free town dock.  They had electric available, but the boat that arrived before we did, took the only working 30 amp socket so we were out of luck.  Luckily, a storm front rolled in with no rain but fabulous wind to keep us cool all night.

The town of Rock Hall has a great shuttle service that they run.  For $1 each, they'll drive you to a destination or just around town.  We told him we were new to town so we got the grand tour (only took about 15 minutes) and then got dropped off in town.  We walked around and bought a few things at the grocery store (they had a local brew in cans and we were out of white wine).  MaryAnn was excited to see a posting for local free range eggs and we met the lady who sold them while we were walking around.  She agreed to deliver them to the boat so we bought 3 dozen (we were almost out of eggs anyway and these taste so much better than store bought).

The next morning we thought the wind was going to pick up so we took off early, topped off the fuel tanks and headed further south (just past Annapolis) to Deale, MD where we'd made reservations to keep the boat for a week or so while Gary flies out west on business.  We found a reasonably priced marina that had a pool, free bikes and kayaks to use.  We arrived, tied up the boat and immediately headed to the pool for free beer Friday.  After a day of little to no wind and fighting the incredibly vicious biting flies, the pool was amazing.   We're settling in nicely and looking forward to exploring the area here.

Until next post!