Our Maine Vacation - part one

July 24, 2017 - July 27, 2017

Sorry for taking a break from blogging; but chores, boat projects, and errands have consumed my days.

On July 24 we left the cats at the “spa pet resort” for the week and headed to Freeport, Maine.  The trip took three hours longer than we expected because of traffic slow downs and a serious traffic accident (we weren’t involved, but it caused a huge back up).  When we arrived in Freeport around 8:30 all we wanted to do was eat dinner and get to sleep!

The next morning we hit the outlets and made some excellent purchases.  Shopping does not hold the thrill it used to for me, but everyone who visits Maine has to stop at the L.L.Bean flagship store.  It is quite an experience. 

After lunch of lobster salad for me and lobster stew for Bob we drove to the Robbins Motel in Bar Harbor.  It is obvious that this motel has not been updated in awhile, but it was clean and comfortable.  We drove into the town of Bar Harbor to find a place to eat. It was a  surprise to us to see how touristy and packed with people it was.  We couldn't  find a parking place so we drove a bit out of town to The Chart Room restaurant overlooking the ocean inlet. We had a great dinner…mussels steamed in wine and garlic for an appetizer and blackened salmon for our main course. Yum!

The next morning (July 26) we visited the Acadia National Park.  It is on Mt. Desert Island (as is Bar Harbor) and has stunning views of forest, rocks, ocean, lakes, and mountains. The weather couldn’t have been more perfect….sunny skies and 75 degree temperature. The highlights were the views from atop Cadillac Mountain and the walking trails that led to the rocky shoreline scenery

The view from a walking trail
revealed this sandy beach.

. 

The beauty of the mountain is
reflected in the lake water.

I was impressed with the abundance
of wildflowers whose bright colors contrasted
 the stark beauty of the rocks and forest.

The .5 mile path to view scenery from Cadillac Mountain 

                was steep, but well worth the effort.

The beauty of the park is captured in this photo.

 Bob is in a contemplative mood resting on
Cadillac Mountain.  The natural beauty of the park
 lends itself to peace and mindfulness.  

We had lunch in Bar Harbor at Paddy’s Irish Pub. We both had large salads that were delicious.  Mine was topped with steak and Bob’s with lobster.  Afterwards we visited some shops on the main street and then drove to a small town called South West Harbor.  It was mainly a fishing village with a town wharf and some quaint shops and restaurants. 

The restaurant on the town wharf in South West Harbor
serves seafood directly from fisherman.

On Thursday morning we left early for Lubec, Maine.  We had scheduled a whale watching excursion and a room for the night at the Inn at the Wharf.  The Inn is a converted sardine factory and we didn’t know what to expect, but our room was lovely.  We had a private balcony that overlooked the wharf and harbor with wonderful views of the inlet and islands.  Because the weather was cold and foggy we opted to change our whale watching to Friday afternoon and stay in Lubec an extra day.  We used the afternoon to visit the West Quoddy Head Lighthouse which occupies the eastern most point of land in the US.

The light house’s red stripes stood out even on this foggy afternoon.

There has been a light on this point guiding boats
safely away from the rocky shore for
more than 100 years.  This building
has been there since the 1930's.

We will be in Maine for four more days, exploring more of the down east region.

Thank you for reading my blog.

Coin jock, NC to Baltimore, MD

June 13, 2017 - June 16, 2017

We left Coinjock by 6:15 on the morning of June 13.  We had a long day ahead of us with 14 bridges to pass under and one lock to get through.  Six of the bridges were opening bridges that followed a specific schedule and can slow you down significantly if you don’t reach them at the right time.  Our timing was outstanding that day and we made it through the final bridge in Norfolk, VA by 2 pm.  Consequently we decided to continue on to Mobjack Bay which is about 20 miles up the Chesapeake By on the Western Shore.  After 12.5 hours on the move we were exhausted by the time we anchored.  The next day was another long day with 80 miles to travel to our anchorage in Solomons Island, MD.  Most of the day was an easy motoring trip except we were going slower than would be expected.  Could it be a crab trap caught on the rudder?  I got in the water and checked all-around the rudder and propeller and couldn’t find any evidence of any crab traps so Bob concluded it must be the tidal current.  We dodged a thunder storm in the late afternoon and anchored at about 7 pm…13 hours after we had hauled anchor that morning.  Our anchorage in Solomons was terrific with hardly any boat motion and a nice breeze to keep us cool.

You can see what a great help to navigation
the cats have been during our trip.
This is how they look most of the day.

The next two days were much easier with 43 miles to Galesville to get an estimate on the repair of the damage the loose anchors did to the bow and then 35 miles to Baltimore.  It was great to be in familiar waters and to visit familiar places.  We ate dinner at Pirate’s Cove in Galesville, traveled under the great Bay Bridge, and returned to our condo slip in Baltimore. 

We passed numerous light houses on our
trip up the bay.  This is the Wolf Trap Light
house in Northern Virginia.

Thank you for reading my blog.

Southport, NC to Coinjock, NC

June 9, 2017 - June 12, 2017

Life on the water has greatly improved these last few days.  The sun is still hot, but the breeze is cool and we are much more comfortable in the cockpit during the day and sleeping in the cabin at night.  My attitude improves when I get a good night’s sleep.  The trip from Southport to Coinjock has been one of long days on the water.  One day we lost about 45 minutes of travel time waiting for bridges to open even though the first bridge of the day opened just as we were approaching it.  When a bridge only opens at the top of the hour catching an opening like that is reason to celebrate.  Another day we traveled 84 miles in 11 hours.  Since we got an early start that day we were anchored by 6 pm, but were hungry and tired by then.  After a great dinner of grilled hamburgers and a solar shower we revived.  

Boat travel requires flexibility as the weather, tides and water depths dictate much of your daily schedule.  Even though we are anxious to get back to Baltimore and settle down for awhile this part of the journey is part of the whole adventure and I am learning to appreciate the sites and sounds of the ICW nearly as much as the Bahamas.  This morning we hauled anchor to the sound of brown pelicans swooping down into the water and the sight of a perfect reflection of the trees in the water of a calm river.  Sightseeing when traveling at 7 knots/hour is more enjoyable than when you are traveling 70 mph on an interstate highway.  One day we saw three deer down by the canal getting a drink and a black bear cub swimming across the river.  Amazing.  The camaraderie of fellow cruisers is a big part of the adventure, too.  We saw the black bear because a boat that had just passed us radioed us to look out for the bear in the water.  

Being on a boat early in the morning traveling to our next destination is an extraordinary experience.  Standing on the deck, drinking my first cup of coffee with the cool morning breeze blowing through the cockpit and the water sparkling from the reflection of the rising sun is special to me.  That’s when I know what a privilege it is to be living this cruising life.    

We only stayed at Coinjock overnight, but it was enough time to get a fabulous prime rib French dip sandwich.  We got fuel and ice, got showers and did a load of laundry…all the essentials.

By the time I post my next blog post we should be back in the Chesapeake Bay.

Thank you for reading my blog.

Isle of Palms, SC to Southport NC

June 1, 2017 to June 8, 2017

It’s funny how different my attitude about coming north on the ICW is from going south last fall.  Both Bob and I just want to get back to Baltimore and stay in one place for awhile.  Also, it is hot and humid which makes us both exhausted and grumpy by the end of the day.  Another issue is that we are not looking forward to a great adventure we are just trying to get home.  All of these factors add up to us traveling as many miles as we can in a day and not making many leisurely stops. We should be back in Baltimore by June 15 if all goes as planned.  

After provisioning, doing laundry, and engine maintenance in Isle of Palms we were “back on the road again” by 9:30 am on June 2nd.  Our goal was to get to Georgetown by the evening.  We were making such good time that we changed our plans and anchored behind a small island (Butler Island) just off the ICW.  It was a quiet and peaceful spot.  When we got going the next morning the water was so calm that I got a great reflection shot of the shore line.

This picture gives you an idea of the area we
traveled through today.

We stopped at Barefoot Marina at about 1 pm.  It’s quite a spot with a pool and private shower rooms.  I took advantage of the pool while Bob relaxed in the air conditioned cabin.  We had to wait until 11:00 am to leave in the morning to hit the three trouble spots we needed to traverse today at rising or high tide.  So far Bob’s careful planning around the tides and trouble spots has kept us from having any major grounding problems.  Today was no exception to that.  We made it to Southport Marina at 4:30 and settled in for our two night stay. 

On our way to dinner at Fishy Fishy Cafe we saw
these shrimp boats at Potter's seafood market.
Do you think we can get fresh seafood there? 

The weather kept us in Southport for 4 days instead of 2 so our journey is delayed. Southport is a great place to be stuck even with the rain.  There are wonderful restaurants, lots of cute shops, and a Walmart we can get to by taxi for groceries.  

As an aging mermaid I think I will follow
these rules. I found this plaque in one
of the cute shops on Howe Street.

I liked this sign because it reminded me of
one of my "sistas" who I will be
seeing soon.

We will be on our way north on the ICW tomorrow bright and early!

Thank you for reading may blog.

St. Augustine to Isle of Palms

May 23, 2017 - May 31, 2017

Bad news...our dinghy motor has no compression which means we have to take it back to Annapolis and have it repaired under warranty.  We are just thankful that we didn't have this problem in the Bahamas where we used our dinghy as our main form of transportation.

In our last few days in St. Augustine I discovered a unique shop on King Street called Mermazing.  The merchandise is designed around the mermaid theme with jewelry, clothing, plaques, dolls, etc. for this aging mermaid it was a great find.

The signage on this store drew me in.

I think I might be a mermaid...how about you?

This is an example of some of the
merchandise in this store.
Unfortunately, many of the items would not
fit on our boat so I bought a cute t-shirt.

Our last few days in St. Augustine were taken up with chores and preparations for our continued trip. Of course we bought some extra pizza at Pizza Time to store for later.  We left St. Augustine a day later than expected due to a full day of rain on May 24th.  We got up early to begin our slog up the ICW.  So far we have been able to successfully get through the trouble spots we encountered on the way down by watching the tides.  We haven’t gone aground yet, but we still have a lot of miles on the ICW to travel.  Since the days are longer than they were in the fall we are traveling longer each day and covering more miles. The biggest problem we had in Georgia was the green head flies.  It is impossible for me to sit still while biting flies buzz around me so I spent two days frantically swatting flies and ridding the boat of their carcasses…fun, right?  

So far South Carolina has been better, but it has been hot and humid with very little wind.  By the end of the day I am exhausted and a bit grumpy, but a solar shower and a good meal help the situation.  We have realized that we started our trip back north too late. Next year we will leave so we can be in Maryland by Memorial Day.  Live and learn, right?

We will be in Isle of Palms, South Carolina this afternoon.  

Thank you for reading my blog.

Vero Beach to St Augustine

May 15, 2017-May 21, 2017

We stayed in Vero Beach for a full week. One of the highlights was visiting Claire in Sarasota.  The last time I visited her she was still in rehabilitation and it was wonderful to see her back at home and looking so good.  I showed her pictures of the trip and told her stories of the places we had visited.  She caught me up on her present situation with both blessings and challenges. It was also a great treat to spend our last night in Vero Beach with our friends from Gainesville, Mike and Vicki who now live in Vero Beach.

We began our travel north on the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) on Wednesday, May 18.  We had planned to make it to St. Augustine in four days, but the lure of getting there sooner grabbed us and we went 69 miles on our first day out. Our trip up the ICW to St. Augustine took only three days and was basically uneventful (which is a good thing).  I shared the helm more than usual (is Bob getting more confident in my boating abilities?).  We had numerous dolphin sitings and I always enjoy hailing the bridges for openings.  We went under 22 bridges on this leg of the trip many of which had to open for us.  

Getting to St. Augustine gave me a tiny bit of feeling like I was home.  We have spent some great times here.  However, our first major challenge of our journey home occurred soon after grabbing a mooring.  We got the dinghy back together (we had emptied it out for the Gulf Stream crossing) and prepared to go into the marina office, take showers and head into town…..but the motor wouldn’t start… the pull cord didn’t even have any resistance.  Rats!  I called the marina office and found out there was a shuttle service for the moorings every two hours so we signed up for the 4 o’clock shuttle.  While we were waiting Bob called around and located a small engine mechanic who would pick up the motor the next day.  So we went about “making lemonade” again.  

We settled up with the marina, took showers, and had Pizza Time pizza for dinner and were back at the boat on the 6 o’clock shuttle.

On Sunday morning Bob rowed the dinghy into the dock and we helped the mechanic get the engine off the dinghy and onto his cart.  Let’s hope it is a simple repair as the engine is less than one year old.  We were then free to have breakfast and explore St. Augustine.  It’s such a beautiful town with Spanish style architecture, historic sites, great restaurants, and funky shops.  If it weren’t for the huge thunderstorm that came through we would have stayed in town longer, but we had left the hatches open on the boat and had to get back to clean up the watery mess.  But, Life is Good.

Some pictures from our first day in St. Augustine:

We had a delicious breakfast at this Cuban/American
restaurant. After perusing the menu I think i want to
eat lunch here sometime.

We explored a different section of the old
city today. Yes, cars really drive
down these streets.

I like to take pictures of doors and this one
leads to an historic house.  It also shows the
cocina bricks that most of the historic
buildings are made of.  If you look closely you
can see the shells that are the main
component of the blocks.

I also like to take pictures of flowers.
These flowers cover a wall on the oldest
street in the oldest city in the USA.

This house is an example of very early
Spanish style architecture in the city.

We will be staying in St. Augustine until our dinghy motor is repaired. Hopefully, we will be able to leave on Wednesday morning.

Thank you for reading my blog.

West End, Bahamas to Vero Beach, Florida

May 7, 2017 - May 14, 2017

We motored to West End on Great Abaco Island which would be our final destination in the Bahamas.  This is where we started our Bahama adventure as well.  We spent two days at the marina preparing for our Gulf Stream crossing and waiting for the calm and variable winds that were predicted for Wednesday, May 10, 2017.  The weather was perfect and the pool was a refreshing break from our preparations.  Unfortunately, the lack of wind allowed the no-seeums (tiny biting gnats that you can’t see or feel until the itchy bumps appear) to land on the boat and on us.  When we got up on our last day in the Bahamas we were covered with bites with no benedryl on board.  We sprayed the inside of the cabin with bug spray, but that didn’t help our bites.  We used aloe vera gel to soothe our skin and keep us from scratching and making things worse.  

The night before our Gulf Stream crossing we left the marina and anchored outside so we would not have to maneuver out of the marina in the dark.  Our crossing was easy this time with the Gulf Stream current boosting our speed enough that we decided to continue on to Vero Beach once we were in the ICW (Intra Costal Waterway).  Two interesting things occurred on the crossing.  First, a tiny yellow finch flew onto our boat and rode off and on with us for an hour. Second, a pod of about a dozen dolphins swam around the boat doing flips and jumps, and basically showing off their skills. Amazing.

Now that we are back in the states I am thinking about the things I will miss about the Bahamas…the beautiful turquoise water, the sea life (turtles, dolphins, colorful fish, rays, and even sharks), the laid back life style of the islands, the quaint and charming villages, and the friendly people. We have been somewhat overwhelmed since we have been back with the pace (cars and highways) and abundance in the USA.  We have to make so many more decisions in the enormous grocery stores and shops.

However, there are a multitude of things I am looking forward to enjoying while back in the states.  The best luxury is that I can easily be in touch with all of my family by calling and texting and I will be able to visit with them soon.  Reliable internet service is also a plus.  I missed American food…salads, pizza, Mexican food, Italian food, just the overall variety.  Even though we enjoyed eating out in the Bahamas the restaurants all had very similar menus with very little variation in food preparation.  Once I get back into Baltimore I’m anxious to get a good pedicure and have my hair restyled (boat/beach hair is getting old). I loved the Bahamas and want to return again next year; it has been an amazing adventure, but I’m also glad to be back “home”.

Once we rest up here in Vero Beach we will be traveling north on the ICW.  My next blog post will probably be from St. Augustine.

Thank you for reading my blog.