May 15-20, 2015 Cape May NJ

We left Delaware City at 7:00 with some help from Tim the dock master as we needed to turn the boat in the opposite direction in order to head out the channel and into the Delaware River/Bay. The day was overcast, chilly (57 degrees) and "breezy" - a term Ger's brother-in-law Bill can appreciate. The first three hours the tide was running against us, so slow going of only 5.5-6 knots/hour. Then the tide went thru it's cycle and was with us and we made 8-9 knots the rest of the way. Winds got pretty strong after lunch and waves built to 2.5-3 feet. Luckily, we were hitting them at a good angle and only got splash on the fly-bridge one time.  The Delaware Bay is wide and not a lot of ship traffic this day, so a pretty uneventful trip. Arrived at the marina about 3:00 and took on 90 gallons of fuel, pumped the holding tank, and settled into the slip. All in all, some pretty good driving and deck-hand work as we fought wind and tide to get to the docks.

Cape May is at the southern end of NJ where the Delaware Bay meets the Atlantic Ocean. It was a very pleasant surprise. First was the cute downtown with "mall' where they closed off three blocks of the main street; then the beautiful sandy beaches and then the wonderfully restored and maintained Victorian Homes! There whole town is on the Historic Register and, they claim,  there are more "Painted Ladies" (Victorian homes) than any other city except San Francisco. We found the trolley tour very informative and took several bike rides to revisit the tree-lined streets and beach areas.

Spent a few extra days here waiting for winds from the right direction and low wave heights to make our trip north for three days in the Atlantic headed for New York City. Cape May is a great place to kick back, enjoy the local restaurants and watch the local fishermen bring in their catch. Saw a 10 foot Maiko shark, a 125 lb. Big Eye Tuna, and an 80 lb. Black Drum. If you are ever in the area - it is worth a couple days.

WWII defense structure with 6" guns.

Ger at the Atlantic!

Downtown Mall

Judie's favorite with very nice landscaping.

Here are a few examples of the many houses.

We stayed so long, they built a likeness of us!

May 8-14, 2015 Delaware City, DE

Left the City Dock at Annapolis in light fog that, along with the fishermen everywhere, lasted until just north of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. It gave us an excellent opportunity to fire up the radar; remember how it works and practice reading the screen for boats, markers, and bridges.

Great run up the bay with a favorable tide all day. We had planned to stop just short of the C&D canal that connects the Chesapeake and Delaware Bays, but were making great headway at 8+ knots/hour that we decided to complete the canal and stay in Delaware City Marina. The canal handles commercial traffic, mostly between Philadelphia and Baltimore, and we did see two tugs with barges on the trip. We made 76 miles in 8 hours - a new distance and speed record for R Island! ( We have traveled 270 miles this year and 1,831 miles to date on the loop.) Delaware City is a quaint town trying to survive the times. Main industry is tourism along with a refinery about 3 miles away. Nice restaurant, good ice cream and a small market. We plan to spend a week here and use it as a base to visit Philadelphia. After we docked (with great help and direction from Tim and Tara who run the Marina) we hit the showers and headed to Lewinski's Diner for meat loaf and mashed potatoes along with a pint or two.

Day 2: We slept in a little and had a slow morning washing down the boat and taking showers. Had a lite lunch and caught the 1:00 ferry from just down the dock to Fort Delaware on Pea Patch Island in the Delaware River about a half mile away. About the time you leave the dock, you arrive at the Fort's dock! Originally built in 1819 to protect Philadelphia farther up river, the most fort activity was during the Civil War when it's 75 acres were turned in to a Union Prison for captured Southern forces. At one time thee were 12,500 prisoners housed outside the fort in wooden buildings that resembled small barns. The fort was used continuously until 1944. It is now a Delaware State Park. Typical star configuration with a mote completely surrounding it. Never fired a shot or was fired upon!

Day 3: Mike had left their car here (remember we picked them up on our return from Brewerton NY to AYB) so we collected it and headed to Cape May is search of our next stop. Found a great marina, made reservations, and lunch at an Irish Pub - but more about Cape May in the next blog. Visited New Castle NJ. A beautifully restored 18th century town with  brick row houses and town square. This time it was a fine English Tavern built in 1754 for dinner. Mike and Lois split the worlds largest shepherds pie and had the leftovers for a meal the next day. Happy Mother's day to all....

Day 4: Drove to Philadelphia for the tourist stops! First off was a great cheese-steak sandwich and fries at Geno's, then on to downtown. Saw the Liberty Bell with it's big crack, toured Independence Hall, and rode the big red tour bus for a 2-hour tour of the city.  Lot's of neat places in this town - and so....

Day 5: We returned to Philly by riding the train! Yep, the same day as the accident - only we were south bound and the wreck was north of the city. We did go thru the Amtrak station on our way! Busy day with Love Fountain, Sister City Fountain (great play place for kids), The Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul (built in 1864), Logan Square Fountain,  went to the "Dutch Eating Place" (of course run by Amish) in the Reading Railroad Terminal Market (the same Reading Railroad from "Monopoly"), Ger took an elevator to the top of City hall - 458 feet, visited the "Betsey Ross House" where our famous flag was made, took a disappointing self-guided tour in the lobby of the Federal Reserve Bank, and finally stopped at Macy's before returning to the train station to die on the trip back to the car! What a full day!!!

Days 6 and 7: Recover... and of course, review the charts, do housework, laundry, and clean the boat. This cruising does not leave the chores behind! We did grocery shop the last day and have lunch at a great Mexican/Cajun restaurant - Border Café and wow was it good.

Bridges over the C&D canal.

Tour guides in period dress.

Watched this guy make a nail   - lot of work!

Henri the Pyrenees dog and Andrew the Captain. Single-handing from Florida.

The sign says it all.

Liberty Bell with Independence Hall

Betsey Ross's house

Non-typical mural inside of the Cathedral

Logan Square Fountain

Historic tours by day, Pub Crawl by night!

My view of Wm. Penn from atop City Hall

Wm. Penn 458' atop City Hall

May 6-7, 2015 Solomons and Annapolis MD

The cruise from Deltaville VA to Solomons MD was very long, 66 miles, our longest to date of the Loop. We left the dock at 6:00 and arrived at 2:30. Saw our first dolphins and brown pelicans for this year. Our old friend the vibration seemed to return along with a tapping sound, so had the boat hauled to check the running gear. After great discussion about finding nothing wrong, much less anything that could hurt the boat, and a line cutter installed wrong - but still very operable - back in the water she went. Got to a nice slip and after organizing the boat settled in with a tall Sailor Jerry rum and relaxed. Dinner at the CD Café and early to bed.

Another up early day and away from the dock at 6:00 to head to Annapolis. Smooth trip with no vibration or tapping (just going to forget about that stuff). Arrived at 12:00 and got a slip on the City Dock wall downtown where all the tourists walk by. Cross that experience off of Ger's bucket list! It is fun to watch all the people, listen to their comments and just relax. "Dock City Dogs" for a "Chicago-dog" for lunch, then washed the boat decks, took a nap, had a light dinner aboard, and walked for ice cream just before sunset. we had visited all of our favorite places last year and this was basically a transit stop this year.

R Island tied up to the City Dock wall.

Judie just kicking back.

Looking toward the State Cap. Building

Annapolis at sunset - beautiful!

May 2 - May 5, 2015 Chesapeake VA to Deltaville VA

We left the dock about 10:15 and stopped at the service area to pump out our black-water waste ( think bathroom waste). We then got in line with 4 other trawlers and 3 sailboats for the 11:00 bridge opening of the "Great Bridge" bridge, and then on into the Great Bridge Lock. The ride was uneventful thru the industrial south side of Norfolk, thru downtown and past the Naval Base. Not much has changed since last year. Traveled 23 miles to Hampton VA, and were settled in by 2:30. Perfect first day run and enjoyed a nice dinner at the marina restaurant- while watching the Kentucky Derby. The marina was also having a boat show, so we looked at a few but settles in for a drink on the fly-bridge of R Island.

Up and away by 7:00 the next morning headed to Deltaville and Dozier's Regatta Point Marina which we had visited 3 times last year. As we exited the Hampton Roads area we saw a large troop transport vessel return to the Naval Base and saw the "conning tower" (? top part) of a submarine that had just surfaced.

Dozier's offers free loaner cars, so we went to the market for fresh picnic food and had a great dinner on the patio of steak, sweet corn and salad. Another couple stopping in the marina, Mike and Dee from nearby Kilmarnock VA, joined us. They are both Purdue grads, along with their kids, and Ger had a great time reminiscing. They were both in the band, and we wound up singing the Purdue fight song and doing several old cheers. Lots of fun for some of us!

Weather forced us to stay a few extra days and took the occasion to travel 45 minutes to some friends of Mike and Lois; Ron and Micki of the sailboat Mainstay, who also live in Kilmarnock! Beautiful home on the Great Wicomico River, and had a wonderful dinner and great time telling stories. Today I am catching up on this blogg and Judie is doing laundry. Tomorrow we head for Solomons MD.

Saying goodbye to AYB and the boats getting bottom work.

Entering the Great Bridge Lock.



Ship building still doing well in the Hampton Roads area!

Water front festival in Norfolk.

Mike and Ger waiting for the grill to get hot - impromptu picnic!

Kurt and Mary Ellen, on Loophole brought a $4.00 red velvet cake!

Cake all gone!

R Island feeling a little lonely as it is still early in the season.


 

March 29 - May 1, 2015 Getting Ready for Year 2

We left Sun City AZ on March 29 headed to Atlantic Yacht Basin (AYB) in Chesapeake VA where R Island had spent the Winter. First night was Amarillo TX and then Memphis TN where we spent a wonderful evening catching up with our cruising buddies Mike and Lois of Inch-N-Along. Next day it was off to Ashville NC and the forth day we arrived at the boat about 2:30 in the afternoon. The folks at AYB had moved R Island into the same slip where we had left her last fall.

We then spent 4 weeks preparing for the boat for this years adventure. AYB did some of the heavy work - commissioned all the systems that were winterized in the fall, hauled the boat and painted the bottom with anti-fouling paint, waxed the hull, painted the non-skid surfaces on all decks, changed the fuel filters, installed a a new intake strainer/filter for the generator, and made new screens for the three main windows in the front of the boat. Judie and I varnished the exterior teak (known as bright-work), waxed the rest of the boat, painted the window frames, replaced the tank for the hydraulic fluid for the stern thruster, replaced the water heater, installed new zinks and impellers on the engines cooling systems , and steam cleaned the interior cushions! Needless to say - a long month and lots of trips to the parts store. Also, thank the Lord for a nice tax return!

 We did take a weekend to visit our son Gary and his family in Annandale VA, about 4 hours away. Had a great time watching soccer practices and games, visiting the American History Museum, dining at "Rosa Mexicana" in DC, and just hanging out and relaxing.

We left from Gary's home and headed north to Brewerton NY, where the boat will spend next winter in a heated storage building along with 200 of her closest friends. Left the car there to be stored while we cruise and rented a one-way car to return to AYB. Our friends Mike and Lois had arrived at AYB the week before to get their boat ready, and drove north to Delaware City DE where they left their car for use when we get there. We'll be able to drive to Philadelphia and NJ easily for site-seeing. Anyway, we picked them up and all rode back to the boats at AYB. Next day was one last trip (yea right) to the grocery store for final supplies.

Beautiful trees in bloom!

Spring flowers near AYB.

Drying the dock lines after a good washing!

Winter Haven storage building.

A view inside..

Relaxing (?) with Tess at our son's home.