We are still waiting to hear about a replacement Air Conditioner. I love suspense, it is part of the joy of cruising under sail, along with pouring twenty dollar bills overboard, taking cold salt water "showers" when you are trying to stay warm and dry. And, of course, having your air conditioned catch fire in perfect harmony with the weather turning the thermostat into the mid nineties.
Later the same day:
Two surprises today, an expected surprise, if there is such a thing, no air conditioner until Monday at the earliest. If we wait that long we will have something in common with our air conditioner - FRIED. (Two fried bananas and three roasted peanuts.)
The other surprise was Dennis Honeycutt stopping by for a visit on his Harley. He came up in about an hour from his boat at Salt Ponds. Dennis did not (have to) mention that he covered in one hour what will take us in the heat up to ten hours on our boat. I keep telling you that cruising by sail is all fun.
This is 'painful' to relate. One problem I have with my eyes is in going from bright light into dimmer environs I accommodate about as fast as a tortoise sprints. I went up to the office/lounge looking for the dock master. Upon entering I heard a friendly greeting from the right. I turned and returned the greeting. We started a conversation and as it went on I gradually realized there was someone between me and the dock master. Stranger yet, the "intruder" was gesturing as I was. Pause. Yes, you guessed it, I was talking to a large mirror. (Reminder to me; You are partially deaf in the left ear so everything is from the right.)
OK, what do I do now? I have been talking to a mirror for five minutes. The actual guy I have been talking with is behind me. So... do I turn around and say:
Tides Lodge Marina
Irvington, VA, VA
Friday, June 26
8:00 AM
Latitude 37 39.84 N
Longitude 76 26.04 W
One thing for sure, this is one cruise that we won't prolong. Without the AC it is too sweltering for the furry crew members. Not great for the bald crew guy either. The weather for Saturday and Sunday looks find for a boat passage. This morning Our idea was to leave tomorrow and stop on the way at Horn Harbor Marina. Then, weather agreeing, head for Salt Ponds on Sunday. That was before I talked to Horn Harbor Marina. This would be our first time there and did not realize that on Saturday after noon there was no staff there. We have been in the "catch as catch can", go find your own slip situation before, and it can be ugly .We will surely pick a slip whose power (for the fans) does not work or whose owner will arrive at 2:00 AM and want us to move. So we will make a decision later, based on calm reflection and no real reasons, at the last minute on what to do. We all will find out what we actually did in tomorrow's entry.
The boat next to us is a Morris 42, a very nice boat.Every time we have been here, our boat has been the poor cousin to all the other boats here. The Morris is bow in, so I don't know its name but the owners tell me its from Rock Hall. If you remember from past posts Rock Hall is home on the Fourth of July to spectacular fireworks. Since arriving here we have heard much mention of the superlative fireworks show put on by the Tides Inn. We have discounted such references as exaggerations. That is, until the people on the Morris told us that other boaters from Rock Hall say the Tides Inn show is the better of the two. Hard to believe you can improve on perfection. Sadly we will not be here to judge for ourselves. Hopefully we will be back in Greenville in our Air Conditioned house on 4 July.
Tides Lodge Marina
Irvington, VA, VA
Saturday, June 27
8:00 AM
Latitude 37 39.84 N
Longitude 76 26.04 W
Yes, here we still are. The decision was made to go all the way in one day. That would have argued for leaving today for Salt Ponds and then home to cool comfort on Sunday. I was, however, able to arrange for a Marine Air Conditioner repair man to meet us Monday morning at Salt Ponds. So it came down to spending an uncomfortable day (Saturday) at the Tides Lodge or one (Sunday) at Salt Ponds. Not a tough choice. And "uncomfortable" is the right word, last night at 10:00 PM it was 88 F in the boat. Fifteen years ago it would not have bothered us so something has changed. I suspect that the cause for the change in our endurance is the "Fifteen Years."
At least our oldest Yorkie, Mac, thinks we have lost our minds or least our good sense. He jumps up on the seat near the Air Conditioning vent and stares into what should have been cool air. Then he stares at me. He repeats this until he decides I am beyond hope.
There are now many more boats with us on the Tides Lodge side. Most of them fairly large trawlers. All of them with golf clubs aboard. There is apparently a well known golf course here, Golden Eagle by name. I see that a "round" cost $88. I have no idea whether that is expensive or not. The last time I played Golf it cost $3, but that was before Elvis Presley had come on the scene. The golfers seem to be a different lot. There are three restaurants here ranging from the formal to the highly informal. Since the most formal clothing i have with me is a pair of white socks we use the latter. Our fellow boaters here, at least some of them, come with dinner jackets.
In addition to the dining and golfing there are multiple choices for massages. Never being good at multiple choice tests I am hesitant to try one. However the Citrus Full Body Wrap for "only" $120 sounds -(it is hard to resist the word)- Juicy. On the other hand: What Citrus? With my luck I would get lemon.
So tomorrow we leave for Salt Ponds. If the Second Law of Thermodynamics is stripped of all its magical sounding words it comes down to this. "What is probably going to happen is what is most probable." By its very nature it applies to everything we do. That is, to everything and everyone, except apparently us. The most probable thing to happen tomorrow, given wind and boat conditions, is we will end up in Salt Ponds.But based on past experience, if our next message starts with a place name like Ocean City MD, or Havana Cuba, I, at least, will not be surprised.
Hopefully my next message will be tomorrow, it will be from where it should be and it will be short with absolutely nothing interesting in it.