Galesville, MD

June 19, 2020 - June 25, 2020

In the week we have been back in our home area we have visited most of our favorite restaurants: Italian market twice (once for pizza and once for Italian subs), Mexican Cafe (for guacamole, margaritas, and quesadillas), Naval Bagels (for six grain bagels) South County Cafe (for sandwiches and a cookie), Carol’s Creek Cafe (for cream of crab soup, a crab cake, and Greek seafood salad), and Jack’s Fortune (for cashew chicken and crispy beef).  We either got take out or ate outside where we could. While waiting in the boatyard queue to have our transmission removed we have started on some of our summer projects.  Bob replaced light bulbs in the head and now I can see to put in my contacts and when I start wearing make up again I won’t come out looking like a clown.  Bob also removed items we don’t need now that we will be in one place for awhile from the cock pit and tidied up the dock lines.  I cleaned out the quarter berth of unnecessary items and we took everything to storage.  We put our bikes in the back of the Prius for easier access. We worked together to tighten the faucet on the galley sink and we are in the process of cleaning and water proofing the canvas and cleaning and polishing the clear acrylic windows in our enclosure.  We will probably remove some portions of the enclosure and store them over the summer.

I retrieved my sewing machine and some of my fabric from storage and made new facemasks for us.  I made seven for me (I change mine everyday) and one for Bob (he has other masks and doesn’t change his as often).  Sewing has greatly improved my mood while biding our time here in Galesville.  I took one afternoon to complete the quilt top I had started last summer for Rachel’s (my second daughter) quilt.  I’ll be able to get it to the quilter as soon as I buy the batting. 

I used the shoe box pattern to create
this quilt using forty different fat
quarters of batik fabric,

I found the pattern for these masks online and
created them using left over quilt scraps.
The elastic is designed to go around
the neck and over the head which
I find more comfortable.

We were informed today that our transmission will be hauled out tomorrow morning. Hurrah!  This will be the first step in the repair process.

Stay safe and thank you for reading my blog.

Bel Haven, VA to Galesville, MD

June 8, 2020 - June 18, 2020

Monday was a busy day.  We finished clearing our belongings out of the cottage, provisioned for the next seven days, stowed everything away, filled the water tanks, returned the rental car, and left the dock at twelve noon.  Axson was on board with us to do a sea trial to check out all of the repairs and to guide us out of the narrow and shallow channel.  His dad picked him up from our boat about thirty minutes later and we were on our way again.  It was a beautiful sunny day with a nice cool breeze. We motored up the Pongo River to the Pongo/Alligator River Canal and into the Alligator river where we anchored for the night at 5:00 pm.  The big excitement for the trip was observing a small black bear swimming across the canal.  This is the second bear we have seen a bear swimming in this area.  There must be many of them around.  It was just great to be on our way north again!

On Tuesday we traveled up the Alligator River and crossed the Abermarle Sound.  It was probably the easiest crossing we have ever made with low wind velocity and favorable tides.  We continued up the North Landing River and on to Conjock to dock for the night.  Since we left so early in the morning we were tied up and ready for a late lunch at the Coinjock Restaurant by 2:00 pm.  I had a delicious French dip prime rib sandwich and a side salad and Bob had the 6 oz prime rib with two sides.  Coinjock is known for its great restaurant.  We still had time to take showers and do two loads of laundry before dark.

This dragon fly was one of many that
visited our boat during our trip.

 In the morning on Wednesday we waited for the office to open so we could get two ten pound bags of ice before we left.  We had a short trip and docked at the free dock just south go the Great Bridge Bridge.

Thursday was probably my most frustrating day of the trip.  As we were leaving the dock to make the 8:00 am opening of the Great Bridge Bridge our transmission would not go into forward.  I quickly used the boat hook to pull the boat back to the dock and tied her up while Bob investigated.  We tried to leave the dock again (without dock hands to help I had to untie the bow line and run to untie the stern line while Bob hugged the piling to keep the boat close so I could board). Again we had the same transmission problem and I had to repeat the docking and undocking procedure once again all the while cursing the boatyard that had just reinstalled our transmission.  This time the boat worked and we just squeaked through the bridge opening.  There was a huge barge being pushed by a tugboat in front of us and none of the other waiting boats could fit into the lock with it.  The lock was going to reopen as soon as the barge was through and get us into the lock and on our way as quickly as possible.  Some kind of accident occurred in the lock with the barge and tugboat and we had to meander around in the small area between the bridge and the lock for an hour before we were finally in the lock.  This meandering consisted of trying to tie up on the side to pilings  then turning around and trying again to tie up safely.  Once in the lock there was no help for getting our boats secured to the cleats and we had to do all of that ourselves.  Then on to Hampton for a one night stay in the Hampton Piers Marina.  Unfortunately the staff at the marina was all new and was not very helpful in getting us the necessary information about  preparation for docking.  I set up a port side tie only to find out at the last minute that I had to be ready for a starboard side tie.  I had a bit of a meltdown when we were trying to dock and all of a sudden we were told that because of Covid the marina was only renting every other slip.  Anyway we got the boat safely docked and had a great lunch at the Brewing Company that  is next to the docks.  The rain started late in the afternoon and lasted all night and into the morning.

After bailing the dinghy of rain water we left Hampton at 8:00 am.  When we got out into the bay the wind and tide were against us and we could barely make four knots.  Eventually the tide changed and the wind died down and the rest of the trip to Fishing Bay was very pleasant.

On Saturday the weather was overcast and windy.  For most of the day the wind was right on our nosed and we hobby horsed (yippee) up the bay at four to five knots. We couldn’t make it to Solomon’s (our intended stop) during daylight and anchored on the Great Wicomaco River.

 What turned out to be our last night to
anchor out gave us a beautiful sunset.

Sunday we left early after coaxing the boat into first gear (it took about 15 minutes).  This transmission issue has been plaguing us for awhile, but got worse after our prop shaft was replaced and continued to get worse everyday.  We made good time passing Solomons just after noon.  Since we were making such good time we decided to continue on to Hartges Yacht Yard in Galesville so we wouldn’t have to struggle with the transmission again.  We arrived around 6:30 pm and docked after a 77mile trip.

Hartges is very backed up so we are biding our time here at the yacht yard until the mechanic can remove the transmission, take it to the transmission technicion, and return the transmission and install it in the boat.  Fortunately we can stay on the boat throughout this process as the boat will not need a haul out to fix the transmission.

While here we picked up our car from storage, collected our mail from Anchorage Marina, and started in on our boat projects.  We fixed the lights in the head, tightened the faucet in the galley, applied snaps to the backrest cushions in the cockpit, replaced the screws and wing nuts on the composting toilet, and began the process of replacing two stanchions on the deck.

Lola loves Hartges.  She watches birds
 intensely and keeps them off the boat.

Bob is punching the holes in the backrest 
in preparation for inserting the snaps.

The finished back rests.

And, of course, I'm still cooking.
When life gives you strawberries you make shortcake!

We will probably be here at Hartges for two or three weeks.  It's not a high class marina, but it has great shower facilities and is close to Annapolis and Baltimore so we feel like we are home. It is refreshing to be in Maryland where everyone is serious about the protocols for personal protection from the Coronavirus.  Everyone wears face masks and observes social distancing.

Stay safe and thank you for reading my blog.

Boat Repair in Belhaven, NC

May 29, 2020 - June 6, 2020

After two solid days of rain the sun peeked out for a few hours on Friday, but it was still mostly overcast.  The work on the boat was stalled because of the weather and since we really didn’t go out among people unnecessarily we spent most of the rainy days inside.  We read, used our computers, and watched crime shows on TV (this was sort of a treat since we never have cable channels on the boat).

Saturday was still overcast, but it only sprinkled a bit as we drove to New Bern to visit friends (Mary and Dick Hein) at the New Bern Marina.  We are considering staying in New Bern next winter so we wanted to see the facilities and tour the town.  The marina is nice enough and many of the shops, restaurants and points of interest are well within walking distance (important to me). We had lunch inside a restaurant (our first time doing this since the quarantine) and were happy to see all of the staff wearing masks.  Social distancing was accomplished by removing half of the tables.  We were the only guests I saw wearing masks when we entered.  The lunch was delicious and Dick and Mary gave us a tour of the town in their new Tesla.  We were back at the cottage by 4:00 pm.

The next morning, again, was sunny with fewer clouds than Saturday.  We drove to Nags Head had a great take out lunch from Jersey Mike’s, walked around a bit, and had ice cream at The Spot.  It was a long drive (over two hours) for such a short visit, but it was nice to be out of the cottage for awhile.  Nag’s Head is not like Delaware and Maryland beaches, but is a spread out collection of beach houses on both sides of a four lane road.  The road is about eight miles long with restaurants, shops and water sports rental shops.  I didn’t see any downtown or boardwalk.

Our stay in Belhaven was continually extended due to unfinished boat work.  Twice we drove to Moorehead City, NC (2 hours away) to pick up the propeller shaft, the propeller and a bushing. On the sunny days I took a walk around the town.  Belhaven is a very small-town with a population of 1,580.  

Bel haven has:

…a stately manor house,

large water front homes,

cute cottages,

a few interesting shops,

a fun hardware store,

a bakery and snack shop (the only open eatery),

two marinas (neither one had many boats docked),

water front condos,

and, of course the Between Water and Main B & B.

Between Water and Main rented us their two room cottage for our time in Behaven.  This 

B & B was the only pet friendly accommodation in town and of course we had to keep Lola with us. The cottage was beautifully decorated with antiques and had all we needed to fix ourselves breakfast, sandwiches, snacks and heat up left overs.  The owner was more than helpful and was flexible with the length of our stay (since the boat yard was continually delaying the completion of our work).  We were grateful that the cottage was available as staying on the boat while it was being repaired would have been very uncomfortable.

One of Lola’s favorite past times at the cottage was

 watching the squirrels and birds out the window

 with her tail swishing back and forth.

We should be on our way on Monday, finally! Actually the boat still isn't in the water as I publish this blog. AHHHHHHHH!

Stay safe and thank you for reading my blog.