Lat: 37 03.135
Lon: 76 17.317
SLIP D-11
Salt Ponds Marina
Hampton VA
Fri Sept 8 2006

Tomorrow we leave for Mill Creek on the Great Wicomico River. Finally we are off.

The following,
between -- and -- should only be read while humming the theme from "The Twilight Zone:

--
OK this is BIG TIME spooky.

Last year I used BlueTooth to connect to my Cingular cell phone acting as a
cellular modem. I recently upgraded to Mac OS 10.4 (Tiger) and suddenly no BlueTooth. I called Apple Care. No luck. So I took it to an Apple Service Center. And they found no BlueTooth Card or antenna. I said that I had connected via BlueTooth using this computer. They checked my phone and sure enough it showed I had connected to it in the past. They installed, or more accurately reinstalled, BlueTooth and it instantly connected to my phone, just as it has in the past.

Meanwhile I had not mowed the lawn all year mostly because of my retinal surgery in early March, but
partly because both left-tires were flat. Well yesterday I was in the tool shed behind our garage
and to my surprise both tires had re-inflated. (A serious violation of the Second Law of
Thermodynamics).

So what to make of all this? Well I and the Apple guys agreed that it must have been the BlueTooth
Fairy, who apparently broke into our house and removed BlueTooth from our computer and then went to
the Garage and fixed the flats.

Of course they could not put that in their report so instead they wrote: "Found blue tooth hardware
had been eaten by OS Tiger Install."
--
LAT; 37 47.429
Lon: 76 19.478
Mill Creek
Great Wicomico River VA
Sat Sept 9 20006

We made it! Do to an evil confluence of the stars this is the first time we have taken the boat out in a year. Generally that is bad news as, almost for sure, you will forget something important, like for example, casting off the lines but forgetting to unplug the power cord. (We have done that.) I was determined there would be no repeat.I was meticulous. I take the credit so as not to put any of the discredit on Kay. It is mine alone. We pulled out of the slip. Perfect. Well no. Neighbor says "Hey you are dragging your ladder in the water". Damn. I am in charge of raising the ladder.

It was a great day for motoring. No wind. Well yes we got a lot of wind coming into Mill Creek. I think it is a hidden law of physics: "When it is time to anchor everything will go wrong." (Newtons fourth Law)

Menhaden boat passes us on the way into the Great Wicomico. The town of Reedville is on the Wicomico and is the home of an active Menhaden fishery.

And was that right? Yes. If you remember last year (carladler.org/waterlogged) at one point it took us six hours to anchor. So we retired that anchor and bought a Bruce. Kay was skeptical I was optimistic. We motored into a cove on Mill Creek. Now when anchoring I am at the bow and partly deaf and Kay is at the stern were the motor is. So communication is difficult. Well we got in close to shore and I hollered to Kay to back up so I could set the anchor, but failed to convey the last part. I dropped the anchor and it set like four tons of granite. Unfortunately Kay did not know I had dropped the anchor or that it had set. She assumed I wanted to back up so as to get a better position. She decided to turn around and make a new entrance. Around the keel the rope goes. More hell occurs.

Of course all ofthis was conducted with the upmost decorum, as in
"honey dearest you are unfortunately wrapping the anchor rope around the keel."
"Well sweet heart I wish you had let me know that the anchor was down.?
Or words to that affect. You translate"

New Boat name:
T.B.F.C.E.

I am told that
T=The
B=Best
C=Couple
E=ever

I assume that F stands for "Fighting".


Lat: 38 20.074
Lon: 76 27.698
Spring Cove Marina
Solomons Landing MD
Mon Sept 11 2006

We had not planned to leave Mill Creek yesterday, but adverse wind predictions for today persuaded both us and Dennis and Karen Honeycutt, who are traveling with us on their boat "Renaissance" to move on. Other than the beginning and the end, yesterday's trip was uneventful. Uneventful but not pleasant for Kay who had some nasty stomach critter. Yesterday I had sympathy for her predicament.Today I most definitely have empathy.

To call the entrance to Mill Creek serpentine would be to insult snakes. Not to worry, on my large screen cockpit GPS, there was a "bread crumb" trail of our entering path. (actually three closely linked trails from last year and yesterday). So all we have to do is follow the trail out. What could go wrong? As we started out all was well for about ten seconds. When: "Damn who ate my bread crumbs?" Actually the screen was black. Not to worry, Right? After all the black and white GPS at the navigation station below will also have the bread crumb trail. So quickly down the companion way to the Nav station. OOPS I forgot to exchange the Lower Bay Gcard for the Mid Bay GCard. No map. No time. Quickly up the companion way. All that is left is our small GPS at the helm. So small I can no longer read it. Well we made it, no thanks to me.

At the end of the trip the adverse winds predicted for today gave us a preview of coming attractions. For about a half hour, until we turned into the Patuxent River, we took water over the bow. Our slip was to be inside the fuel dock. As Kay made the turn another sailboat apparently assuming we were going to the Fuel Dock for fuel cut us off forcing Kay to make a very tricky entrance to the slip.

Dennis, Karen, Kay and I decided we would treat ourselves to a nice dinner at the Naughty Gull restaurant. (Or so I thought). We had a very nice waitress. The only problem was I had lost my hearing aid and could not understand the waitress. I kept thinking she was asking me if I wanted Cottage Cheese on my steak sandwich. This was causing confusion for me and humor for all the others including the waitress. When everyone finally got me straightened out we told the waitress that we would need two checks. At the end of the meal when the waitress asked if she could remove my plate. I replied with mock sternness "No! Bring the check". She arrived back at the table with an evil smile on her face and handed me the check. I looked at it and said "This is for everyone." She replied "Well sir you said bring the check, not the checks. I was only doing what you wanted." I was speechless with horror of my self inflicted trap. The others were speechless with laughter.

Boat name on a large Power Yacht: "Size Matters"


Lat: 38 20.074
Lon: 76 27.698
Spring Cove Marina
Solomons Landing MD
Mon Sept 11 2006

Yesterday (with apologies to Charles Dickens) was the best of times and the worst of times. The best of times because I found my hearing aid. Now when Kay, Dennis, or Karen shout at me I can sort of hear them. It was the worst of times because our primary GPS fixed itself. Now some would think this is a BEST and BEST. Not at all, when a critical instrument fails at a critical time and then fixes itself at a noncritical time, that means you have no idea why it failed in the first place. You, also, can be pretty sure of what is going to happen the next time you are going to really need it. It is that darn Bluetooth Fairy again.

Speaking of Bluetooth we thought for a moment that we had solved the mystery. While looking for the charger for my phone we found a USB to Bluetooth connector. AHHA! OH NO! The package is sealed and obviously had never been opened. The Bluetooth Fairy still roams.

Of course, the mystery is why I bought the connector in the first place? The obvious answer is because I needed it. Then why indeed didn't I use it? The answer would seem to be because I didn't need it. Stranger and stranger. Meanwhile the BlueTooth Fairy has struck Renaissance. Dennis' digital camera worked flawlessly this morning and again this afternoon with the minor exception that it no longer would take pictures. I explained to Dennis that, like his cousin the better known Tooth Fairy,
the Bluetooth Fairy taketh and giveth. Dennis is still waiting for the Giveth.

By The Way my WiFi connectivity seems to have vanished. I wonder ...

Same Place
Thu Sept 14

Not much to report since we are doing nothing. The Honeycutts were supposed to leave on Tuesday and us today, but because of weather, both good and bad, we have stayed. The park like atmosphere of Spring Cove, also played a roll in our decisions.

The first thing yesterday morning, Dennis told me he got his "giveth" (he was notified that his camera was being recalled for the specific problem he discovered). Lucky him, now we all await the next "Taketh".

There ougth to to be a law or at least some fairness under the Sun:

We arrived here on Sunday and from that day forward I have tried to connect to their wireless service and have but unable to do so. This has forced me to to use Bluetooth which is fine but expensive to use. Cingular charges by the megabyte and it is a tad taxing to pay $3.00 for the privilege of downloading 57 spam messages. Most of which, as of late, have been "hot stock tips". Each day as I tried to connect with Wi-Fi I have been told that their internet guy would be in on Thursday, so dutifully I trundled down to the office this morning to show him the problem I was having. And ... I doubt I have to say it, but it immediately connected. The problem is that I have to get within about 10 feet of the access point, which means I have to sit on the bow of our boat. And, of course, it immediately started to rain. Neither my computer or our dog like the rain.


I had not mentioned our newest crew member before but he is a 4 month old Yorkie named Mac (short for Macintosh, of course). He was given to us by the Honeycutts and is a great boat dog, though with a mind of his own. He wants to do what he wants to do unless he thinks you want him to do what he wants to do in which case he does not want to do what he wants to do. Did I make that clear?

"Mac learns to steer the boat. He turns out to be an excellent boat dog.

Ditto
Fri Sept 15

"OH NO", said the waitress, as she looked from my wife to me. "Oh ****" Thought I, "she remembers me".
Yes we and our friends were at the Naughty Gull last night for dinner and were fortunate enough to have the same waitress as the last time. If there had been any doubt it was dispelled when after I ordered Lima Beans she asked if I wanted any cottage cheese on top. This time I acted like a perfect gentleman, even meekly surrendering my plate when asked. All to no avail, and to the amusement of all present, she again stuck me with the entire check. I am beginning to feel like George on Sienfeld.

Hopefully we leave tomorrow for Oxford on the Eastern Shore. The weather seems acceptable. After Oxford we and the Honeycutts will part company. They heading South and we moving on North towards Baltimore and the Inner Harbor.

Same durn place
Sat Sept 16
10:30 AM

Up at 6:00 AM to set sail for Oxford. Bad weather. Indecision. 7:30, indecision. 8:30, indecision. 10:30, decision. We stay. There is no way we want to go North into a North wind of 15 knots and predicted wave heights of 2 to 3 feet. Not dangerous but very uncomfortable. 15 years ago we would have thought nothing of it. 10 years ago we would have gone but reluctantly. Now,well our presence here speaks for itself.

Today we had another one of those Twilight Zone experiences. Before we left we had a diver clean the bottom of the boat. As such, they usually clean the knot meter. Which is a little paddle wheel device mounted on a through hull cylinder. We were surprised to discover that it was not working on the trip up here. This happens when the paddle wheel accumulates barnacles Which prevents it from turning. We put off cleaning it until today because, to say the least, it is somewhat daunting. First,
Kay pulls the cylinder with the paddle wheel out of its through hull enclosure. This is immediately followed by a 2 foot high geyser. I acting with alacrity, hopefully, insert a dummy plug. Then after cleaning the paddle wheel the process is reversed.

So this morning we start the process and are dumbfounded when we discover that there is no paddle wheel to clean. No place for a paddle wheel. In fact we had just pulled the dummy out and I had inserted the real thing thinking it was the dummy. Now the last time we used the boat the knot meter worked so how did the dummy plug get in there? No clue here.

As I mentioned before I could not connect to the marinas wireless service. Unless I stood on one foot at a particular place on the dock. And even then the connection was tenuous. A couple of days ago I was reading "Soundings" and came across something I had never heard of before: A Wi-Fi amplifier and detector. The ones they discussed were for a PC and not Mac compatible. I called 1-800-Mac-Mall and they had one for the Mac. I had them overnight it to me and now I can connect from inside the boat not only to the nearest hot spot but to a total of seven, including those at nearby marinas. For the record it is made by Hawking and cost $98. Linksis makes a similar one for the PC.

One surprise is that the instructions have me turning off Airport (The Mac's wireless card the computer not the dog). My computer thinks it is hooked up the a wired ethernet connection. Works for me.


Lat: 38 41.412
LON: 76 10.287
Hinkely Marina
Oxford MD
Tred Avon River
Choptank River
Eastern Shore
Chesapeake Bay
Sun Sept 17 2006

We finally made it. Great Day. For much of the day we had 10 to 15 knots of wind on our bow. That made sailing difficult and being a firm believer in the proverb that "Gentlemen never sail to weather" with the corollary that "Even if they are not gentlemen 66 year old men do not sail to weather." We didn't.

Mac sacked out for the entire (6 hour) trip. Kay was the helmsman and I contend that I navigated. In any case we made it without incident. Sorry about that. When we turned into the Choptank we were greeted with at least 100 sails on boats I assume. Treading our way through them we got to Oxford. The only event of note is the usual confusion in docking. "Honey I think that is the wrong slip" and so on, but arrive we did with neither of us contemplating murder.

One reason we came to Oxford is that we love the restaurant "Schooners Landing." Sad to say we quickly discovered that it closed for good two days ago. The owner died. How inconsiderate. But we are here and am glad of it.Tomorrow is our last day with the Honeycutts, as Karen has to be back to work on Saturday. We will miss them and Mac will miss their dogs (mini) Cooper, Harley and Kinsey even more.

"Mac" surveys his domains.

I failed to mention that much to our surprise our knot meter is still not working despite the fact that I carefully checked it out before (re)installing it. So tonight we pull it again. If we discover that some how the dummy transmuted itself back into the enclosure again we will be really freaked out! More Later.

Lat: 38 44.373
Lon: 76 19.267
Dun Creek
Harris Creek
Choptank River
Sept 18 2006

Last night in Oxford we ate at the Robert Morris Inn (founded in 1710). The waitress started out with a totally innocent question and was dismayed when all four of us broke into laughter. The question: "Would anyone like cottage cheese?"

(Secretly I believe my picture has been distributed all over the Bay and I will besieged by that dreaded entree)


Our knot meter finally works. Still do not know what was wrong other than it didn't work and it proved almost impossible to remove. Both Kay and I pulled on the extraction ring with all we could muster. Nope! Kay inserted a screwdriver through the ring and used both hands to pull. Nope! Suddenly she gave a mighty lunge, the sensor popped out. Kay was thrown off balance. I was thrown off balance. The waters parted into our boat and six shrimp joined the crew of the Spindrift.

Hinkley marina was very nice but it has very shaky finger piers. Since I lost my hearing in one ear I have lost a lot of balance. I am quite a comedy act on one of them. If the pier shakes 5 degrees I shake 10 and so on. I have seen women cover their mouths at the spectacle. Whether in horror or amusement I know not which.

The marina also has a problem common to most marinas. Slips are more valuable than space. Consequently backing out of your slip is problematic. When your boat is 33' 4" long and the distance to the boat behind you is 33' 2" there is not much you can do right. Kay and Dennis did everything right.

Tomorrow we are going to try reaching Baltimore, which means that we are going through the dreaded Knapps Narrows. It probably should be called Knapps Narrows and Shallows.

More about that later. I hope.

Lat:39 15.908
Lon: 76 36.548
Inner Harbor Narina
Baltimore MD
Sept 19

We made it. We are tired. More tomorrow.

Sept 20


In the way of background, we rafted up with the Honeycutts in Dun Cove the night of the 18th. Kay and Karen took their 3 Yorkies and our Mac into the shore. As Kay carried two of them to shore she slipped and fell and was pleased to note that neither dog hit the ground (but she did). All is well.

Yesterday we headed North and the Honeycutts went South. We awoke early to a predicted 5 to 10 knots, but in reality it was 10 to 15 with gusts to 19. Great, I thought, just what we need to get through Knapp Narrows. What more could go wrong? Foolish question! As we were preparing to "cut" loose I turned the depth-finder on and SURPRISE, we were in 330 feet of water. Very strange since Dennis had out about 50 feet of anchor chain and we were well anchored in about 8 feet of water. Great, thought I, just what we need to get through Knapp Shallows. On we went. We actually bumped once in apparently 180 feet of water.

As soon as we cleared the Narrows the depth meter decided it could now work.

Coming out of the Narrows we had to go due West to clear Poplar Island. The wind was from the South so we rocked and rolled. Now as any sailor knows if we had put the sails up the ride would be more pleasant. True, but we have a fractional rig, which means a small Jib and a very large Main Sail. It is a real pain, literally, to raise the main and we only do it if we know we will use it for several hours. As the wind was dropping towards its predicted values and we had a long way to go we demurred. Truth be told as the calendar creeps on we become more sail boaters than sailors. There is a distinction.

Coming into the Annapolis area we were faced with a conundrum, actually several. There was a lot of haze and we could see the outlines of at least eight large ships, appearing as ghost ships in the haze. The problem is we could not tell if they were moving or not. So how to handle this? We chose to go in to shore and skirt the whole bunch. It turns out that it was unnecessary, all the ships were anchored and we could have threaded our way through them.

Kay at at the Bay Bridge the Helm

When we cleared the Bay Bridge, I foolishly said that "the wind was flat calm." You know what that did. The wind immediately started blowing from the North. Not good for us now heading North, but not to fear it clocked to the West as we turned to the West to head up the Patapsco River towards Baltimore. All in all, things went well and we are glad to be here.

Before coming into the bridge area we do a 360 to let this 'dude' go first.

Inner Harbor
Thursday Sept 21

We are enjoying our stay here. The marina is nice with great facilities so it is surprising that they are closing it down for several months for extensive renovations. Among other things they are adding a Heliport and a West Marine. What is really surprising is that they are requiring all the boats to move out which implies they are changing the slips. Hard to imagine what they can do to improve the docks. All in all they are the best we have seen. They are floating docks with long and wide floating finger piers, which are rock solid, literally "ROCK" or rather concrete piers. You can not make them wobble. Thank god!

Last night we ate at McCormicks & Schmicks which Consumer Reports rates as the best Seafood chain in the country. It is certainly the plushest I have seen. Today we walked to the rather amazing Cross Street Market and stocked up on food of all kinds. Lets see, a huge farmers market, Wi-Fi and cable with 75 channels. Tough Life!

Saturday Sept 23

Well we seem to be in old home week. Thursday night we had dinner here with my cousin Bill Adler and his wife Rebecca, and will join them again tomorrow at their home. Yesterday my cousin Mike McGarry and his son Dylan visited our boat and last night at the rehearsal dinner we meant his eldest son Mike, the groom for the occasion. Later the same night another cousin John McGarry flew in from Ireland. We had not seen him or his older children Molly and John, who were also there, in twenty year . Today we had drinks with John and Mike's sister, Pat her husband Bill and son of the same name. I had not seen Pat in 50 years. Wow.

After meeting with Pat and all, we went into Little Italy in search of a restaurant we like and whose name we can never remember. We found it. To bad it was closed for good. Being ever resourceful, we found another restaurant that we would have been looking for if only we had eaten there before. The name so I can remember it is Salvatorio's. Sort of sounds Irish?

This has been the season of leaks, one mysterious and one not so mysterious. The second would best be described as a leaky skylight. It has been there almost since we owned the boat. Several people have tried to fix it, but any "fix"was temporary, and like the cat in the song "The leak came back the very next day wouldn't stay away."

I had read in Practical Sailor about a product called "Permatex" available at Advance Auto that supposedly worked wonders. It is a flowable silicon sealant made for fixing window leaks. Sounds about right. The only problem is it is flowable. not only does it flow down into the cracks where you want it to, but if your boat leans to the right it also flows right. Thus using it requires a constant battle between you and this inanimate but stubborn substance. However the "cat" has not come back! Yet!

The other leak was more of a challenge. The carpet in our galley was constantly soaked. We investigated all the usual suspects and found nothing. I opened the engine access and there was no water where the water from the stuffing box collects. Next we rip up the carpet and it is flowing out from under the ice box. So all the ice and food comes out of the box. No leak. Throwing sanitation to the winds I dip my finger in the leaking water and taste it. Salt. Damn it has to be the stuffing box after all. This was not good news as it meant we had to remove all our stores to get access to the access panel. Sure enough water was "pouring" out of the stuffing box. The boat was loaded in such away that instead of flowing as it should it was flowing under the ice box. Eventually we got that fixed. Dry again.


Lat: 38 52.937
Lon: 76 31.770
Rhodes River
West and Rhodes River
Chesapeake Bay MD
Tuesday Sept 26

We left the Inner Harbor at 9:30 this morning and anchored at 3:00. Totally uneventful day. THANKFULLY. (Well at least so far.) Last night we ate at the Irish restaurant at Harbor Side. I had an Irish Manhattan which was new for me and very good. In honor of our long time friend (Rev) Ernan McMullin, we finished with Irish Coffees. Great.

Sorry, no disasters. Stay tuned.

Previously when we anchored the Honeycutts took the dogs to shore. This time no Honeycutts so for the first time in two years we have to inflate and launch the dinghy. At my best I was never very agile and I am certainly not agile or at my best now, so wisely I remove my hearing aid and glasses before attempting to board. That aside the water is cold. What idiot thought this would be a good time for a cruise. Sadly I know the answer to that.

No I did not fall in the water but ended up in the dinghy (sort of). On the other hand I have another chance this morning. More on that latter.

Lat: 38 20.074
Lon: 76 27.698
Slip C10
Spring Cove Marina
Solomons Landing MD
Thurs Sept 28

Yesterday was a Bad BAd BAD bad day. It started when I got up. Basically my legs did not want to work right. Some people take this is a bad sign. It certainly made the challenging task of boarding the dinghy more interesting. Without my hearing aid and glasses I have neither balance or depth perception. Getting on the dinghy required a Leap of Faith which actually turned out to be a Belly Flop of Hope, but Charity prevailed and in the dinghy I was. Reboarding the boat was an ugly time reversed version of the former. Kay with two artificial knees had no trouble and simply shook her head at my enfeebled efforts.

We have a raw water system we use to hose off the anchor when it is brought aboard. I should say that we had one, as it no longer works. Kay has been after me for months to fix it, but I argued that with our new anchor we didn't need to as it would not bring up mud. Foolish me. As i was retrieving the anchor I knew I had seriously erred. The anchor chain is 10 pounds and the anchor 22. What I was lifting was at least 50, pretty much my limit. Let's see 50 - 22 -10 equals 18 pounds of the black gooey stuff. When I got to the chain the fun really started. It was so covered in mud that I would pull in two feet and two feet would slip away. The anchor was no different.Upon finishing stowing the anchor I was encased in sheets of mud: Legs, arms, torso and everywhere else. I, of curse, proceeded to get the whole boat inside and out covered in mud. All Kay said was "I bet you wish you you fixed the raw water pump now." What she thought was "I need a new mate." Whether First or Other is yet to be determined.

By way of background as we headed North the wind was almost always out of the North. So we were not surprised when we headed out South to face a South wind. It was light so no problem, besides it was to die by the afternoon. It built, really built. We were still making good progress until around 2:00 PM when the engine which was going ROAR went roar and then whistle and then nothing. The fuel seemed clean as did the filter. What to do? The wind and waves had turned us sideways to the wind and there was way we could not get the Main Sail up. (A problem that I had not thought of before.) We were in 65 feet of water so no possibility of anchoring, besides we were in the big ship channel not the wisest place to anchor anyway. We pulled out the small fractional rig working Jib and by that were able to avoid shipping, but could make little progress against the wind. If we had continued we would still be out there now and there are small craft warnings with winds to 30 knots. I know that there are sailing experts out there who will say coulda ..., woulda ..., soulda, but I was prepared. I had been paying for unlimited towing for many years. I called Tow Boat US and 2+ hours later "Tow Jamm" arrived from Knapps Narrows. (Remember that? He was late because he was busy getting boats ungrounded. Big surprise.)
The Captain, Wayne by name, took us in a bridle tow. Spindrift never went faster, 8.5 Knots. My only regret was because of my unsteady legs Kay had to do all the work. Not many wives would or could do that. Love you Kay.

Tow Jamm took us to the mouth of the Patuxent River where a large Tow Boat US took over. Tow Jamm's invoice for that part of the trip was $650. Tow Boat US took us from the mouth of the river in what, for some reason unknown to us, is called a head tow. What that means is he ties you along side. Captain Mike of Tow Boat US boat expertly backed us into our slip, tied us up and all was well. Their invoice $450. I paid nothing! Great.

The Captain from Knapps Narrows told us that he once towed in one of the VP's of Boat US. That made me feel better. The Captain of the Tow Boat US boat told us that 90% of their tows were sailboats and that most of their power boat work was salvage jobs. That made me feel better on both accounts.

Addendum: We had a Marine Mechanic look at the boat today and he said "I have bad news and good news. The bad news is that I can't find why the engine stopped. The good news is that you are lucky that it did." It turns out a water pump totally failed and this would have caused the seal to fail and cooling water to leave the engine. OOPS! We still do not know why the engine stopped must have been the work of the BTF, you know taketh and giveth.

Addendum etc.: The mechanic did say he found a lot of air in the fuel line which he bled. He could not explain its origin. Previously Bob Baker had shown me how to do bleed the fuel line, but as usual I could not find the craftily hidden pump. So I asked the Spring Cove mechanic to show me how to find the pump. After several tries and only one success. He suggested that what I needed was a little inline 12 volt pump. Dennis H. had previously mentioned the same thing, so I hastily told the mechanic "By all means install it."

Now for the "bad" in "Bad BAd BAD bad", in thirty years it has never happened before. Kay who can tolerate snakes and lizards in the house (not necessarily happily) will not tolerate a bird in the house much less the boat. Sure enough that night in flew a bird (wren). When I told Kay that "there was a bird in the belfry", so to speak, she said "surely you are joking". I wasn't. Mac, our Yorkie, was delighted with his new flying toy. I managed to coach the bird out of the boat thus leaving a happy Kay and an unhappy Yorkie.


Fri Sept 29 2006
Yesterday night we went to the Naughty Gull. I quickly scanned for That Waitress. No where insight. Great. After we were seated the waitress who took the drink order was not the one I feared. Imagine my surprise when 10 minutes later I hear "Well, it is Mr Cottage Cheese". Sigh.

I told her about the waitress in Oxford. She didn't believe me until Kay attested to the veracity of my report. Then she claimed credit for the incident.

Heading back from dinner we found ourself in a strong thunder and lighting storm, still I made good time with the arm crutch. Too good as it turned out, while tying to board the boat in too much haste I slipped and fell. The only thing broken was the hearing aid. I was not hurt at all. Still not a good omen.

Friday Oct 6, 2006

Bad omen, indeed. I followed suit to Spindrift and had to be towed in, except my tow boat was one with 2 axles and instead of "toot,toot"it went "WRrrr, WRrrr". It seems that part way down the dock my legs not only decided that they did not want to walk, in fact, they did not even want to support me. So I have spent most of the intervening time in Calvert Memorial Hospital some 30 miles distant. As we were waiting for the ambulance, which to my horror was coming with full throat sounds, we decided that Kay would rent a car and follow along. Two things here:

1) Thanks to the ambulance announcing its presence any hope I had of not being the afternoons entertainment at the marina was dashed.

2) Kay began her week long introduction to hell. It turns out that Trawler Fest was that weekend and there was not a car to be rented anywhere. Ultimately Kay paid $73 to get a taxi ride to another city where she rented a car. Then, of course, all sorts of things went wrong, all addressed by her sans help from me. For most nights she was the only one on the dock and there were no lights. Taking the dog in at night was a daunting task. Then the worst storm of the Fall set in. A NorthEaster set in the words of the Book/Movie as a "Perfect Storm" in that unlike most well behaved storms of the Ilk which track to the North East this one was tracking South West so the motion of the storm added to the wind speed rather than subtracting from it. Right now there are Gale force winds on the Bay. Our shipboard anemometer hit 39 knots before quitting. I guess it just got tired. (I understand that.)

Today is my first day on the boat and I am glad to be here.

To keep a short story short. All my electrolytes were out of balance except potassium. The magnesium was extremely low and that would be the proximate cause of my trouble. Once they started giving me magnesium my strength started coming back.

All is about normal now, but not normal enough, so our son is coming up from Southern Ga to help Kay and I get the boat back to our home port.

We finally got the invoice for the work done. $1200 plus. Arrg. The wechanic, Dorian by name, did quite a lot though, including replacing the water pump, installing an inline 12 volt fuel pump, replacing the stuffing in the stuffing box and better yet replacing the cracked and leaking plastic connector which connects the intake salt water filter to the raw water side of the heat exchanger with a bronze one. The first and latter of the above are "big deals."

All this reminds me of two maximums that sailors learn later if not sooner:

1) Sailing is like standing in the shower tearing up $100 bills, and

2) A sailboat is a hole in the water into which you pour money.

Of course, there is also the sailors version of Murphy's Law: "Whatever can go wrong will go wrong, but only at the worst possible available time."

Saturday October 7, 2006


A few last thoughts on Baltimore. Next to the marina was a school that taught how to do basic trapeze work. It was fascinating to watch. In all the times I watched I only saw two people successfully make the transfer to the catcher, Both female.

We went to Little Italy and noticed several things. First although there were panhandlers all over there were none in Little Italy. Also everywhere around the Inner Harbor there were police except in Little Italy. Older ladies walked with impunity its narrow streets.

We were later told that Little Italy is the safest place in the Inner Harbor. We were told that sometime ago a mugger found his way into little Italy and had the misfortune of choosing for his victim the mother of the local mob boss. The mob showing no hard feelings put up the money for his bail and an lawyer. For some reason he tried to deny the bail money, but apparently you cannot refuse bail. For some reason he was never heard of again. (Actually I saw a dramatization of this on Law and Order. You know "This story is fictional, but based on a real incident.")

Now a great note to end on. Two weeks ago Mac got very sick. After about a week he was asymtomatic, but still not the good old Mac. I am glad to report he is now 100% back to normal and up to his old tricks such as stealing things out of my pocket and running to beat hell to keep me away from his thievery. Yea!


Sunday October 8, 2006

Chris and Mac become fast friends

Our knight in shining armor, aka out son Chris arrived last night at 10:00 PM, all the way from the Florida border in one day. We will leave tomorrow for the Great Wicomico and then if every thing goes well (foolish thought on my part) we will be back in Hampton on Tuesday. At which point Kay says I must write 100 times "The Fall is not the time for an extended cruise!" This was certainly not what we expected. However it certainly was not helped by both Mac and I getting sick. Oh well sick or not the company, aka Kay, was great even if she is close to mutiny. I grew suspicious when she asked me "Where is Pitcairn Islands?" She was joking. Right? Actually it is at Lat 25 04 S Lon 130 06 W.


Last night, while waiting for Chris, we played Boggles. It was my best showing yet. Kay squeaked out a winner at 89 to 23. Oh well.


Mill Creek
Great Wicomico River, VA
Lat 37 47.463
Lon 76 19.282
Mon Oct 9, 2006

Chris Awake

Thanks to a lot of help from Chris and very little from me, Kay brought us from slip to anchorage in just under 7 hours. A record for us. Other than giving Chris a very close look at a large Container ship today it was uneventful. To tell the truth we have had enough events to last us several years. Now the only thing that could go wrong is if ** **** *** ******.

Tue Oct 10, 2006

We did not drag anchor last night. Now if we just get our cold-hearted-motor to start this morning we should be in our home slip today. Here's Hoping.

Chris keeps a lookout

Greenville NC
Wednesday Oct 11. 2006

Fighting an adverse tide most of the way, we made it into the slip at 4:30 yesterday afternoon and were headed home by 5:30. Chris needed to be back at work on Thursday and we wanted to give him time to rest up before driving back to the Florida/ Georgia border. He is home now thankfully.

In the past we regretted when our cruise was over, sad to say, not this time.

Some final thoughts;

Every marina we visited had Wi-Fi either for free or at a nominal charge. However based on my experience, and that of others, show that you need an external antenna and amplifier. Hawking makes one for both the Mac and pc. I can attest to the ability of the Mac version. (At the Inner Harbor we found no less than 15 hotspots)

For us, at least, Fall was not the right time to go. You could only count on two contiguous nice days in every 12 days. Of course. younger sailors and most power boats would not be concerned about this, but for our interests we would like to avoid pounding into two to three foot waves with the wind on our bow. Besides the lack of comfort, constant pounding tends to raise ugly stuff from off the bottom of the tank which among other things will clog your filters.