May 26 to May 30. Ferry Point to Cape May

Friday we left Ferry Point Marina and had a nice sail to the Bohemia River and anchored in Veazey Cove.  We anchored where there was supposed to be 7 feet of water. At low tide we had about 2 inches under the keel.  Our lack of maneuverability was concerning when we saw an overturned Hobie Cat drift by. Luckily while we were radioing the Coast Guard a fast powerboat came along and helped the crew.  Later the powerboat next to us dragged their anchor and we had to use the air horn to warn them. 

Saturday we left the Bohemia River at 7:20 in the morning and had a fun run through the C&D Canal with the current. Our trip down the Delaware Bay was an uneventful motor boat ride in the mirror like calm. Although the afternoon rain was cold and dreary the weather redeemed itself with a bright double rainbow over the Cape May Canal.

We had hoped to go into Utsch’s Marina but there was no room so we anchored for the night at 6:20p.m. after our 11 hour day. 

Sunday we pulled into Utsch’s fuel dock and the amazingly kind staff found us the last place in the marina. Doug picked us up and we spent the afternoon at Doug and Jackie’s house enjoying their hospitality and visiting with their now adult children, Nick and Kelly.  Nick was a baby at our wedding so this made us feel old!  Tom and Jerilyn drove down to join us so we had a nice family reunion.

Our plan was to leave on Monday, but we ended up staying at the dock for two reasons. One, the weather was rainy with wind from the north, and two, our autopilot fell apart.  Auto Von Helm is a valued crewmember.  Bill performed reconstructive surgery so hopefully we will not have to hand steer all the way home! Re-assembling the autopilot took a few hours, mostly with trying to keep the ball bearings in place. Every time we had them where they were supposed to be a boat would wake us and they would roll all over the place.

In the afternoon the weather cleared up a little bit so we walked to town to look at the Victorian houses. The touristy section of town was very popular, it looks like the merchants are off to a good start to the season.

Tuesday we tried to leave Cape May, but as we were going out the inlet it was raining and  we were already cold. We remembered that we have no scheduled to keep and that we were in no hurry. We decided to turn around and wait another day in hopes of better weather rather than being cold and wet for the 24 hour trip to Port Washington. The scattered rain showers turned into all day rain so I think we made the right decision. 

May 22nd to May 25th. Solomon's Island to Magothy River

Monday, May 22^nd, we finally left Solomon’s Island.  Although it was an overcast day with light rain it felt good to be underway again.  We had an uneventful trip to Annapolis and picked up a mooring in Spa Creek.

Tuesday we spent the morning walking around the beautiful downtown admiring the architecture and the gardens.

We had lunch at McGarveys with our friends Julie and Mike from SEA JULES.  It was wonderful to see them!  While we were having lunch the Blue Angels were practicing over the town.  Very cool!

Tuesday evening we had dinner with Lana and Robert from OUR DIAMOND at Pussers. Seeing them again and having a chance to hear about their adventures was so much fun! 

Wednesday we joined Lana and the crew from the charter company she works for on a Lagoon 42 catamaran and watched the Blue Angels show.  Watching from the water was amazing.  Lana said that there would be more boats than we had ever seen in one place. She was not exaggerating.

Thursday morning we had an easy trip up the Magothy River and tied up at Ferry Point Marina for our long awaited reunion with Philippe, CORRET’s former owner.  He came aboard and we showed him what we have done with the boat and then had lunch together.  We feel very fortunate to have had the chance to meet Philippe and to have the opportunity to sail CORRET.

In the afternoon we enjoyed the live music from the restaurant while bird watching. The barn swallows were busily swooping around the boat eating bugs – good job little birds!  A playful osprey demonstrated his merry-go-round for us.  He lands on the very expensive wind instrument on one of the boats in the marina causing it to spin when it lands.  When it stops he flaps one wing to continue his ride. I suspect the boat owner is not thrilled with being a bird amusement park proprietor.

May 7 to May 21. St. Mary's to Solomons Island

Monday, May 7^th we finally left St. Marys.  The weather was still cold, windy, and gray, but at least it wasn’t raining.  We had one of those days that makes us appreciate the nice days, as this one was rather miserable.  The wind was supposed to be from a useful direction, but it ended up being from the direction we were trying to go.  We sailed close hauled, heeled over with the rails in the water, with spray coming over the dodger and landing on us for most of the day.  The wind was 25-30 and gusty with a very unpleasant windchill. I became mildy hypothermic and had to go below and warm up with hot water bottles and handwarmers, under a blanket. Overall, not the best sail ever.

We anchored in Solomons near our friends on TANGO and the day started looking better.  We walked ashore to the grocery store, where it was mostly sunny, and we could wear t-shirts.  It is amazing how the weather changes in such a short time and distance.  We went out to dinner with Leslie and Clayton from TANGO and had a great time.

Monday it was again windy and cold so we stayed at anchor.  We did some errands in the morning and Bill had a haircut at the local barber.  In the afternoon Bill scrubbed the ICW moustache off the boat (the tannins in the water in the ICW dye the white boats a dirty looking brown color). I spent the afternoon catching up with some computer work at the library.

Tuesday morning it was 55 degrees inside the boat, and colder outside.  The wind was N 15-20 and the seas were 2-3 feet when we tried to head up the Chesapeake.  We may be slow, but we can eventually take a hint.  We decided that someone was trying to tell us something and we should listen.  We decided to turn around, leave the boat in Solomons, and go home for a week.  Within an hour of the decision we had arranged dockage and a car rental.  In the afternoon we docked the boat at Harbor Island Marina and started preparing to leave it for a week.

Wednesday we picked up our Enterprise car and drove to West Hartford, CT, and spent a fun evening with Rick, Robin, Eric, and Samantha. Thursday we drove home to Maine and were greeted by my mother and our dog, Bailey. It was wonderful to see them. Having the opportunity to be at home, see our family and friends, spend Mother’s Day with my mother, and to work on the house and the garden was an amazing treat.  

Friday, May 19^th we drove back to West Hartford for another visit and then drove back to Solomons Island on Saturday.  Sunday we played tourist in Solomons and went to the Calvert Marine Museum. The marine exhibits are interesting, but the playful river otters are the stars of the show.

  

May 3 to May 6. Washington DC to St. Mary's, MD

Wednesday May 3^rd we left Washington DC and had a fun, fast, wild sail down the Potomac in 15-20 knots of wind gusting to 30.  We left Washington DC at 6:25 a.m. and pulled into Smith Creek at 8:24 p.m. 

Thursday morning we left Smith Creek hoping to head for Solomon’s Island for the night but the wind and tide were against us and we ended up turning around and anchoring in Horseshoe Bend in St. Mary’s. 

In the afternoon we walked ashore and spent some time talking to a young man rigging his new Wazp foiling sailboat.  This boat looked like it would be a ton of fun, and when he sailed by our boat up on the foil later in the day he was grinning ear to ear.  While we were walking through the old cemetery we saw a couple with a dog and three lambs and stopped to talk to them (ok, really we stopped to meet the lambs). The woman is hand raising the three lambs who are completely adorable. They spend most of their time with the dog so they were picking up sticks, but did not seem to see why the dog thought they were so nice to chew.

Friday and Saturday were windy, rainy, and cold, so we stayed on the boat curled up under blankets and ate too much food.  We like to cook on chilly days so the oven heats up the cabin.

April 29 - May 2. Washington DC

We had a fun time sightseeing in Washington DC.   Saturday, April 29th we walked to the Botanical Gardens.  Even though we walked through neighborhoods instead of by the most direct route we arrived before the doors opened.  We spent this time exploring the Capitol grounds and talking to the very quiet, polite, peaceful protesters who were visiting DC to participate in the climate march. One of the nice protesters took a picture of us so there is visual proof that we do travel together! The museums are used to accommodating protesters and provided bins outside the door for people to leave their posters and banners so they could pick them up after they toured the buildings.   Bill was a good sport about visiting the gardens and was very patient every time I said "I just want to look at this one plant, I won't be long". 

After the Botanical Gardens we went to the Library of Congress Jefferson Building.  This is the most spectacular building I have ever seen.  We were so over-awed by the building that we spent over an hour just looking at the ornate carvings, paintings, mozaics and the architecture of the building. The viewing area for the reading room was one of my favorite experiences.  We were enjoying the building so much that we decided to have some lunch and come back.  In the afternoon we saw the Gutenberg Bible, the Mainz Bible, and the first map showing the word "America", and other exhibits.

When we finally left the Library of Congress we had a long walk back to the boat in 90 degree weather with high humidity.  We spent the rest of the afternoon doing laundry enjoying the air conditioning in the laundry room.

Sunday we walked to the Washington Monument and wandered through the gardens near the Smithsonian Castle until it was time to walk to Anna's apartment to meet her for our trip to the Air and Space Annex.

Anna drove us to the Air and Space Museum Udvar-Hazy Center.  It was  a rare treat to spend a day with her.  The museum showcases a stunning assortment of aircraft.  We were able to stand in one place and see wooden framed airplanes, a Concorde, the SR-71 Blackbird, the Enola Gay, and the Space Shuttle. The sheer variety of planes and helicopters is incredible. That someone ever thought it would be a good idea to climb into the prototypes of some of these aircraft is even more incredible.  The work room where the aircraft are repaired and restored and the range of talents required to do so is amazing.

Monday we decided to focus on monuments.  We walked to the WWII memorial, the Korean War Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial, and walked by the Vietnam Memorial (it was extremely crowded), and the Constitution Gardens. The carving at the Korean War Memorial "Freedom is not Free" sums up the feeling that seeing these memorials causes.

After our long walk we needed a break so we went in search of coffee.  On the way to Peets Coffee we wandered by the DAR museum and it looked interesting so we decided to come back.  The building, as usual, was beautiful.  There were 30 rooms decorated from different eras.  After the DAR museum our plan was to go to the Natural History Museum to see the butterfly display.  There were hundreds of very excited children in the museum.  While it was wonderful to see so many young people enthused about learning the volume of noise was deafening.  We decided to skip this museum for now.  We were hungry so we went to the USDA cafeteria and had such a big, delicious, inexpensive lunch that we skipped dinner.

Tuesday our plan was to leave Washington DC and head down the Potomac. We stopped for fuel then headed south.  The wind was 20-25 knots with higher gusts and was right on the nose.  This was no fun so we turned around before we reached Mt. Vernon and returned to the same mooring we had left 4 hours earlier.  In the afternoon we decided to make the most of our unexpected extra day in DC and went to the National Archives, the sculpture garden, and the Natural History Museum and then went back to the boat to enjoy our view of the Washington Monument.

April 26 to April 28 Fishing Bay to Washington DC

While we were in Fishing Bay we spent some time looking at charts and deciding on places to see in the Chesapeake.  When we are planning our travels we review paper charts, two to three chart books, recommendations from other cruisers, then listen to the NOAA weather and compare this information to several on line weather reports.  We use all of this information to determine our "best case" destination for the day along with a couple of bail out options.  We have had so many instances of bad weather on this trip that we seem to use our back up plans more than our original plans.

We were able to leave Fishing Bay on Wednsesday, April 26th. Even though the day was cloudy with occasional fog and light rain it was the best weather we had seen in many days.  We had a fast sail to Breton Bay in the Potomac.  CURLEW left Fishing Bay at the same time and sent us some sailing pictures.

Thursday we left Breton Bay at 7:00 and had a long day fighting the tide for most of the day.  This section of the Potomac has live fire ranges so at one point the very nice range boat operator gave us directions on how to get out of the firing range.  The artillery fire is quite impressive. We were able to avoid being shot and spent the night at Mattawoman Creek.

Friday we headed for Washington DC. Mid morning we passed Mt. Vernon. It would have been amazing to be able to visit by boat, which is how most visitors, and Washington, would have travelled, but because of our draft we could not go into the dock.  The views on the Potomac are beautiful.  A surprising amount of the river is undeveloped, and the forest ends at cliffs along the water.  The houses that are visible are beautiful.

The last time we came up the Potomac the new Woodrow Wilson bridge was under construction so we had to make an appointment the day before to share a bridge opening at dark o'clock in the morning.  The new bridge is beautiful, and tall, so bringing a sailboat to the capital is much easier.

We picked up a mooring at the Gangplank Marina, showered, went to the grocery store, then started playing tourist.  In the afternoon we walked to the National Gallery of Art.  In the evening we had a great time having Anna, Bill's niece, over to the boat for dinner.  It was a treat seeing her!

April 20 to 26th. Coinjock to Fishing Bay

On Thursday, April 20^th, we left Coinjock in the morning and were able to sail most of the North Landing River.  On our way we passed dozens of osprey nests of all shapes and sizes.  One of the osprey nests looked like it was two stories, some of the other birds seem to be joining the tiny house movement and only had a few sticks on a day marker platform.

We were able to tie up at one of the free docks in Great Bridge in the early afternoon which gave us time to walk to the grocery store and reprovision.  When we returned to the boat we went for a short walk in the woods, then  had drinks on CURLEW with Thierry and watched the rowing teams practice.

Friday morning we were up bright and early with a plan of going through the 7:00 a.m. bridge and lock opening.  Luckily, Thierry reminded us that the Gilmerton bridge is restricted in the morning so we decided to wait until the 8:00 opening.  This delay gave us time to go for a walk on the trails by the canal and we were fortunate to see hundreds of lady slippers growing wild in the woods.

The contrast between the peace and beauty of the rivers and canals through the woods and the industry in Norfolk is hard to adequately describe.  The noise from the traffic, barges, construction equipment, airplanes, helicopters, and constant radio chatter among the commercial and pleasure boats and the bridge tenders along with watching out for the marine traffic of every conceivable shape and size while waiting for a bridge to open is a sensory shock.  The navy ships and the containers ships are so huge that the scale is hard to put into context. 

We stopped for fuel at Ocean Marine and then were able to sail through Norfolk which was a lot of fun.  After we started up the Chesapeake Bay the wind turned light and variable so we had to motor for the rest of the day.  As we were passing Mobjack Bay we were besieged by hundreds of biting flies.  We used the autopilot so we could spend our time swatting flies.  Eventually we had to use buckets of water to wash the fly carcasses off the deck.

We anchored in Fishing Bay and ended up spending the next three days on the boat due to wind, rain, and frequent thunderstorms. We read books, I spent some time knitting, we did some miscellaneous boat chores, and Bill changed the oil.

Mostly, we went kind of stir crazy, but at least we had plenty to eat. One day I was so bored and cold I made pretzels.  I am often asked what we eat on the boat.  Our dinner menu for the last week:  chicken marsala, chili, sausage with peppers and rice, shephard’s pie, pork tenderloin, pizza, and pasta carbonara.