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.
 

August 29 - September 25, 2014: Closing up shop for the winter.

After finding out the day before that the boat could not be pulled until the following week, we decided to get our car from Daytona Beach and utilize the long weekend to also visit Ger's sister Cath in Homosassa FL. We checked into a car rental to drive to DB, but the number got pretty big with the one-way drop charges, food, gas and a night in a hotel. So we got on line, and found a flight that including the airfare, taxi to the airport, and checked baggage was a big savings! A pleasant surprise. So the following day we caught a 7:00 cab to the airport and had the car in hand and driving away from the dealer where we purchased it (they stored it for us free of charge), by 3:00 in the afternoon. Footnote: never buy a car out of state - too much hassle with paperwork!

We had a nice visit with Ger's sister Cath, and headed back to AYB and the boat on Wednesday - a one day drive. Next day they pulled R Island (that is when we found the rope wrapped around the prop as seen in the previous blob entry).

They then directed us to a covered slip so we could do some work on the boat - but be out of the rainy weather. This is also where R Island will spend the winter- nice and dry, but cold at times! We spent the next 2 weeks touching up worn/damaged/faded areas on the exterior teak with 6 coats of varnish and then a two-part sealer over the everything.

This all got complicated by Ger slipping and falling down the steps to the master stateroom on the third day and badly bruising his ribs on the right side. No trip to the doctor, just self-medicated according to the instructions on the Mayo Clinic web site (probably stupid, but slowly getting better).

We also packed up all of our clothes and food and loaded them into the car. Also, due to the cold winters in that area, had to box up all the varnish, cleaning products, waxes, and anything else that would freeze and get it into the car. All got finished by the evening of the 18th. Then on the 19th, the boatyard winterized the engine, generator, a/c units, fresh water system, and waste system and we closed her for the winter and left to visit our son Gary and his family in suburban Washington DC. We were able to catch Sunday breakfast with Mike and Lois, our cruising friends from Inch-N-Along who were at Gangplank marina in DC.

Then on Monday the 22nd, we headed west for our 2355 mile trip home. We spent the nights in Nashville TN, Oklahoma City OK, and Gallup NM. The new Honda CRV was great and gave us a 30% increase in mileage from our 20003 CRV. Also a great music system and very nice ride.

We are planning to return to the boat and begin our 2015 adventures to Lake Champlain and the Erie Canal in late March next year. This blog will be silent till then. Hope you enjoyed sharing in our great adventure.....

Barge going by AYB

View from our covered slip

R Island in her slip

The exterior of the "shed" where she is.

A little fog over the water our last day.

August 26-28, 2014 Potomic River to Great Bridge VA

Sorry to be tardy in updating this blog, but a combination of poor wifi connections and a busy schedules played a big role as you will see. Excuses, not reasons.

Day 1: Potomac to the Rappahannock. After 4 days of waiting out the rain and wind, we were up at 5:30 and away from the dock of Point Lookout Marina at 6:25. It was a nice ride down Smith Creek and into the Potomac with a big red sun rising. It's a little hard to see the crab pots at that time of day, but we did a good job of remembering where they were from our trip into the marina 4 days earlier. One strange thing: we saw blackbirds picking over an osprey nest for small twigs and ??? - while the osprey just sat there and watched. Guess we need to consult with some birder folks to figure that one out!
The run southward on the Bay seemed to last forever. First off we were going slow to make certain the rudder etc. behaved. And then there was the following sea with 3 foot waves and constant steering adjustments to keep on line. We did see a barge loaded with rock headed south from Havre de Grace and a bunch of birds hitching a ride! Later saw a lighthouse covered with birds - must have been the destination!
We stopped after 49 miles back at Dozier's Regatta Point and the dock-master met us at the pump out station and after doing our business we simply walked the boat forward to our usual spot. We quickly secured the boat, got the power and a/c working, paid our fees, grabbed a loaner car and headed to the pizza parlor for a late lunch and some time off. Stopped at the hardware store for a grease gun, some grease, and bug spray. The spiders had taken over the stern and port side of the boat and the flies decided to start eating for their winter hibernation. Ortho "Home Defense" works great and lasts a long time!

Water level at Pt. Lookout at it's highest.

Rock barge with birds!

Birds at vacation resort!

Day 2: Rappahannock to Hampton Roads. Our regular slip at Dozier's is at the end of a long fairway and right next to the main pier - leaving no maneuvering room for a boat without a bow thruster. So with the wind against us, we backed the boat all the way out of the fairway, past the 15 boats on either side, and into the main channel - went very smoothly with Judie keeping watch and coaching Ger all the way. We may need to consider a new slip if we stop there in the spring on our way north.

Nice wind coming out of the Rappahannock but the Bay had 3-4 foot rollers on our port stern and we were in for another long day. We passed Wolf Point Light, the same light that had surprised us out of the fog/rain on the way up in June, but this time it was visible from 4 miles away!  There was lots of ship traffic on the Bay and we always had at least one to keep track of. We finally made the turn at Thimble Point Light and into the Hampton Roads area and found beautiful water with comfortable six inch waves. We made our way to the City of Hampton and Bluewater Yachting Center.

The Marina is excellent - with new floating docks, great restrooms, a wonderful - but busy - restaurant and nice folks. We had to adjust our slip and the first location was down a very narrow fairway, so they put us on a small "T" dock - but about as far from the office and facilities as we could get. No matter, when we were ready we made a combined trip to the showers and dinner. Later  that evening the Wednesday night sailboat races were finishing just pat R Island's dock, and we watched the boats "race" past in a dying wind and sunset. Very relaxing with a glass of wine and the great views.

Interesting large "landing craft" type of boat transporting a large fork lift.

Hampton Roads Light and Hampton University buildings.

 

Day 3: Hampton Roads to Great Bridge VA and the Atlantic Yacht Basin. Timing the tide, we left the dock about 7:30 and headed south. We passed Naval Station Norfolk on our port side and once again marveled at the ships there for refit and re-supply. Warship 57 left just as we passed her slip and it was interesting to see the tugs do their work and the sailors standing on the ship perimeter. As we continued past the cities of Norfolk and Portsmouth, we saw lots of activity and lots of pilot boats and tugs - must have been moving day on the water!

 

After about 14 miles and just before the Gilmerton Lift Bridge, there was a loud bag and vibration at the stern. We immediately reduced speed to idle, and checked the stern and engine room for trouble. Finding nothing, we continued on slowly but made ready the anchor just in case we needed to stop quickly or lost something in the drive train for some reason. We were lucky at the remaining bridges and lock as we arrived right at opening time and we called bridge/lock operators and other boaters to express our situation and concerns. Christina the sailboat, also headed to Atlantic Yacht Basin (AYB), was very cooperative but Maverick the tugboat was a ass using his size and having a lack of communication skills.

 

Next thing we know, the bilge pump alarm is going off and we are thinking about where/when we will sink! Luckily, it activated for only short periods and a review of the bilge found it keeping up with the water flow but no source for the water. By now we have only one lock and one bridge and about one mile to go, so we prayed and continued on.

 

We finally made it to AYB and tied-up to the main dock. After consulting with James, the boatyard manager, I discovered a leak in the fresh water system behind the water heater. Why it happened I do not know, but we essentially wound up pumping the water from our 110 gallon fresh water tank thru the broken fitting and into the bilge!  I was able to fix it and pump out the remaining water, dry out the electrical cable tray it had leaked into, and all was well on that end. They were unable to pull the boat out of the water until the following week to check on the vibration, but when they did, we found a rope wrapped around the prop. Our "line cutter' had cut it - the loud bang we heard, and it was the cause of the vibration by interfering with the prop wash as it went over the rudder.

 

 

Tug pushing Warship 57

Full view of the ship

 Standing the rail

A medical ship

Warship 55 in dry dock

R Island being lifted from the water

The problem rope!