Log 158; Day 437; August 1, 2009; Cape May, NJ.

There are lots of pictures today, as I try to explain several things in our trip from Baltimore to Cape May, NJ...the first of which is a crusise ship coming into the harbor as we left about 6:15 am.

It had rained overnight, so all the ropes were soaked. Deb laid them on the bow to dry.

This is a picture of the small town of Chesapeake City...located at the west end of the C&D canal.

The C&D canal connects the Chesapeake with the Deleware Bay, and is a little over 15 miles long. This picture is on the C&D, looking due east...out at the Delaware Bay.

Out on Delaware Bay, there are several light houses...this one is under repair. You can also see how calm the water was for our trip to Cape May.

We left a little after 6 am...and arrived at Utsch's Marina in Cape May about 1 pm. A distance of 125 miles

Not long after arriving, we heard a loud "pop" and we discovered we had a short in our boat's power cord. Here Billy is telling me he is certain it is our issue...not the marina's.

So...I tell Billy, to cut the end off our cord, and put a new end on it

After the repairs are done, Deb thanks Billy (on the right) and Charlie...one of the marina's owners

On Friday morning, I decided I would try to get the plastic bag out of our intake...instead of paying the marina to hall the boat

The log tells all the details, but you can see the rope I am using to get under...and out from under...the boat.

You can see here the plastic bag I took out of the A/C intake...and the ladder that broke as I climbed out of the water

Later that day, we rode the bikes to Cape May and toured the area

In Cape May there are LOTS of homes like this one

On our quest of the perfect cheeseburger, we stop at the Ugly Mug...great burger.

At the Ugly Mug they have a "suds blowing" contest...an annual tradition, started in the 20"s

They have several pictures of the event over the years

This was a cool lunch stop

One of many quaint streets in Cape May

This is the boardwalk area in Cape May...the Atlantic is in the right side of this picture.

Log 158
Day 437
Saturday, August 01, 2009

7:30 AM EDT
Location: Utsch’s Marina, Cape May, NJ.
Weather: 75 with calm winds, and a cloudless sky

It’s a beautiful morning in Cape May, NJ. It stormed hard yesterday afternoon, but overnight the front moved through, and it is a calm and wonderful Saturday.

Getting here...from Baltimore was a longer trip than I had thought. I had figured it was about 100 miles, but it ended up being 125 miles. From a difficulty perspective, it was no issue, but we did run hard all the way (which we do not like to do) because we wanted to stay with the wind and the tide. The wind on the Delaware Bay was out of the west, and that was great when the tide was going out, but when the tide changed, it would have been tough, because the tide and the wind were in opposite directions. Because we ran hard (21 knots...24 mph) we got to Cape May just as the tide was changing, and the waves were starting to get choppy. By 2 pm we had fueled up ($2.37 @ gallon) and were in our slip. The winds continued to pick up, and it also rained later in the evening.

We had two maintenance issues arriving at Cape May. First of all, on Wednesday afternoon, before we left Baltimore, we sucked up a bag in our A/C intake (under the boat). I tried everything I could do to get the bag out, but could not fix it, so I changed the main A/C intake hose, with the intake for the helm area (they have two separate systems, and two separate intakes, and the helm area intake was working fine) that meant we would have A/C for the salon, and bedroom, but not for the helm. But, I knew somehow I had to get that bag out, and I had hoped that going fast over to Cape May, it would have dislodged itself...no such luck. Also...while I was washing down the boat, I heard a loud “pop” and Deb came out to say we had lost all power. I went to the power box, and saw that the end of our power cord was all black...which means the cord has shorted out, somehow. I was hoping that the issue was at the power box at the marina, so I went and told them we did not have power, and asked them to fix it. They called a guy named Billy, who did electrical work for the marina (he was 79 years old...and (supposedly) a direct decedent of Billy the Kid??). He was a retired electrical worker, and a good guy. It took him 2 minutes to figure out the marina power was fine, and he announced “the trouble is with the boat’s power cord...it’s shot”. So...the short version of the story is that Billy (although he was not supposed to work on boats) helped us, and ended up putting a new end on our cord, and in about 90 minutes we were back in business. We still had an issue with our A/C intake, but I decided to wait until Friday, and pull the boat, and pull out whatever was in there. But...when I woke up early on Friday morning, I decided there was a way I could dive under the boat, and at least check to see if I could pull the debris out (and save the cost of pulling the boat...$250). My plan was simple. I would take a long rope (two dock lines tied together) and throw it over the front of the boat, and work it backwards until it was under the boat in the exact area where the thru-hulls were located. I would then tie the ends on each side, to be sure the line was (fairly) tight. Then I would jump in the water...grab the rope...pull myself under the boat...find the thru-hull fittings...pull out whatever was there...use the rope to pull myself back up. Bottom line...it worked...just as I planned (hoped), and in less that 15 minutes the entire job was done. The only issue I had was when I tried to climb out of the water the ladder I was using broke. But, even that is good news, because the ladder was our emergency ladder we have on board in case someone falls over board, and if there was a time for it to break, it was when I was climbing on it. So...again, everything on the boat is working properly...including the ladder which I fixed.

Later that morning we took the bikes out, and rode about 1 1/2 miles into the town of Cape May. We were both very impressed. It was like you see in the movies. Old quaint east coast houses; a boardwalk along the ocean; a main street full of shops and restaurants; and everyone walking around enjoying the summertime. Real cool. After splitting a cheeseburger at the Ugly Mug, I rode back to the boat, and Deb spent the next 3 hours exploring. Late that afternoon another big storm came through...which is happening about every day now.

Today...we plan to leave the marina about 9 am, and head 40 miles north to Atlantic City. Hopefully we will only be there 1 night, because they charge $4 a foot per night (ouch), so we hope to leave on Sunday and go to Manasquan, NJ.

I’ll keep you posted.

Bob

Log 157; Day 434; July 29, 2009; Anchorage Marina; Baltimore, MD.

On Monday evening we went to Camden Yards, the home of the Baltimore Orioles. They had a stature of Babe Ruth just outside the park

The ball field is just off the downtown area, and a great place to see a ball game
This is the view from the center field bleachers

This is just outside of center field, where all the action is prior to the game

This is the view of center field from our seats

And the view from our seats to home plate

It was hot and sticky, but a great night for a ball game

Log 157
Day 434
Wednesday, July 29, 2009

1:30 PM EDT
Location: Anchorage Marina, Baltimore, MD
Weather: 84 degrees with light winds, and lots of rain in the area

It got down to a LOW OF 79 last night. Man, it has been hot and sticky for the last several days. It has also rained almost every day for the past week or so. It’s never a full day of rain. It just either rains in the morning, then clears up. Or...is hot and sticky in the morning, then rains in the afternoon. Today, it rained in the morning, and has been cloudy all day. The radar shows lots of rain to our west, so I’m sure it will rain later this evening.

I usually do these logs in the morning, but I have been so consumed with looking at so much information on weather, between here and New York, that by the time I do all of that, I am ready to work on a project, and put the log off for another day (sometimes, I get too much information). Also...there is not much to put in a log anyway. With the weather being so hot and rainy, we have been inside the boat more than we have been outside. It’s so humid, you just don’t want to do much outside. I usually do any outside chores first thing in the morning, then save inside projects for the rest of the day.

One thing we did do was go to the Baltimore Orioles baseball game, at Camden Yards Stadium. Neither Deb, nor I, are baseball fans, but we had heard what a great stadium it was, and we wanted to see it. So, on Monday night we went to see the Orioles play the KC Royals. We had a great time, although it was hot and humid (87 at game time (7:05) and the humidity has to be close to that). Actually, the game was secondary.. we went to see the stadium, and have a hot dog...which we did. We bought tickets at the park for $27, and they were great seats (3rd base line about 1/3 of the way up). We also followed my motto on most events. Go early...leave early. We were there 2 hours before the game started, and left in the 5th inning. Both of us saw, and did, what we wanted.

Other than that, we have been getting ready for our trip to New York. Deb has been to the store, who knows how many times. I, have been to the liquor store, and West Marine, about as many times. I have also spent hours, looking at charts, tide tables, and current flows in the various waters between here and NY. We are in a part of the trip, that you have to be much more aware of the weather, than we have had to be for a while. Our course will take us out of Baltimore Harbor, east, on the Patapsco River, and rejoin the Chesapeake. We will then go north about 30 miles up to the Elk River, where we will join the C&D Canal...which will take us 8 miles due east to the Delaware Bay. From there we will go about 40 miles SE to Cape May, NJ. We plan to do all of that tomorrow. Based on the weather I can see now, we will be in Cape May Thursday and Friday night. Then Saturday, the Atlantic is supposed to be pretty good, so we will head north to either Atlantic City (40 miles) or Manasquan (100 miles). Sunday looks “iffy” at this point, but next Tuesday, looks good. So, we’ll go the rest of the way to NY when we get a weather & wave “window”.

At this point, we plan to leave the slip about 6 to 6:30 and head out. That should put us in good shape based on the tides, and forecasted winds. The tides you can count on...the weather...not so much. The total trip (tomorrow) is about 100 miles, which seems like a lot to us. Until, we remind ourselves, on the first loop trip, we used to do over a 100 miles...every day. No doubt, we have gotten lazy, and very finicky boaters. Which is just fine with us.

I’ll keep you posted.

Bob

Log 156; Day 429; July 24, 2009; Anchorage Marina; Baltimore, MD

For lunch on Thursday we went to Mama's Mexican (in Canton), where we met Sean, who gave us all the local information.

This is the outside of Mama's. The picutre reminds me of a mafia movie, with wise guys standing outside...but really, its just raining.

Right close to our boat there is a system of collecting trash that is quite unique. When it rains, lots of trash flows from the storm sewers to the river. You can see these floats on either side sort of "guide" the trash to a collection spot.

The collection spot is near the river, and all the trash flows to this little house with a conveyor. The conveyor lifts the trash into a sort of a dumpster on the other side.

Then this trash collector comes to the back side of the building and picks up the trash, and hauls it to land. A good system that keeps a lot of trash out of the Inner Harbor area

After lunch on Thursday, I helped Buck move "Darling" back to their slip in Anchorage...which is just across the channel from us.

Log 156
Day 429
Friday, July 24, 2009

6:00 AM EDT
Location: Anchorage Marina, Baltimore, MD
Weather: 71 degrees with light winds...forecast is calling for 83 and mostly sunny

Storms have been rolling through here the last couple of days, and it stormed yesterday evening, and over night. Although, I never heard it, the radar this morning looks like a big storm came through here about midnight. This morning things are calm, and although it very cloudy (almost foggy) the forecast is for it to clear up.

I got the new “house” batteries installed in the boat. On Wednesday morning, I took one of the marina’s carts, and walked a couple blocks to West Marine, and got 2 new group 31, deep cycle, batteries. I installed them, took back the old ones, and I was back on the boat by 11. There is really not much to installing them, except trying to man handle them, because they are fairly heavy. Or...I’m fairly weak? I have been monitoring the volt meter since I put the new batteries in, and things look great. I’ll never know if those batteries would have caused any issues with the battery charger, and that’s ok. I know for sure we are in good shape with our house batteries. One less thing to worry about. Also...on the maintenance side...I have been working, since we were in Fort Lauderdale, on a couple of good sized leaks in our aft bilge. I am happy to say, that the one on the port side is fixed. No leak what so ever. I still have a small leak to fix on the starboard side...but I’m more determined than ever to make that aft bilge completely dry.

Thursday...it was raining off and on all morning long. Deb was trying to go to the store, and also do laundry, but had to keep putting it off. I was getting a little anxious just being on the boat, so we decided to take the umbrellas, and walk into Canton (a small neighborhood a couple of blocks from the boat) and have lunch. When we were there with Darrell and Donna, a couple of weeks ago, I saw a Mexican restaurant that caught my eye, and I wanted to check it out. It turned out to be a great spot for lunch. The place had great atmosphere; a great bartender; and even better food. The owner is a big Elvis fan, so the menu, and all the surroundings, have a touch of Elvis. They also have an Elvis statue that has quite a story behind it. It seems they paint it several times a year...to match any holiday or local event (Christmas; the first day of spring; opening day of baseball season; etc). Occasionally, one of the other local merchants will steal the statue and put it in their window. It also has no arms. One was broken, and someone stole the other one (each year they get a ransom note to get the arm back). Finally, the city council has demanded they move the statue inside, verses sitting out front of the restaurant. The bar tender could not explain why...but Deb and I did sign a petition to “let Elvis leave the building”. You know what...after reading this. I guess you had to be there.

In the afternoon, I helped Buck (on Darling) bring their boat back to the marina, from where they had it, getting the bottom work done. It was not that far, but it was fun helping Buck, and he let me drive his boat most of the way, so I enjoyed that. Deb spent the afternoon doing laundry. We had tuna, and sweet corn, for dinner on the boat. And, our dinner movie was an episode of Leverage.

Today...no great plans yet. We got mail from home yesterday, so that usually means responding to a few things. Also, while Buck and Haldine have their rental car, we want to take advantage of it, and make a run to the liquor store, to replenish our stock before heading to New York. I also continue to work on the charts...taking information from the paper charts, and putting those waypoints in our chart plotter.

Our cruising plans...are still a little sketchy at this point. Based on what I know today, we will leave Baltimore late next week, and head for Cape May, NJ. If we arrive there next Friday, or Saturday, that will give us 7 days to make the run to New York. Which should be plenty of time to find a good weather window.

I’ll keep you posted.

Bob

Log 155; Day 427; July 22, 2009; Anchorage Marina

On Tuesday morning, I stopped by "Darling" to see our friends, Buck, and Haldine, to see if they needed any help taking their boat over to the boatyard and have the bottom cleaned. We ended up jumping on board with them...just for the ride. In this picture we are getting close to the travel lift (which will pick the boat up to clean the bottom). You can see how close we are to the ship on the left of the picture.

These ships sit right outside the marina where we are getting the bottom cleaned.

When the boat was pulled, we noticed 2 issues. First of all, the protective paint on the large rudder had come off, and Buck wanted to repaint it. Secondly...you might notice the white specs on the black stripe. These specs are actually "critters" that have attached themselves to the side of the boat (see the picture below this one). They should not be there, but the boat has been riding so low in the water (issue #2) that the water line has risen above the bottom paint.

This is a close up shot at the blue stipe you see above...and what is left of the critters. AFTER they have been scraped off...and power washed.

So...Buck decides that, while the boat is out of the water, he need to paint the rudder, and fix the problem with the water line paint. This is James...one of the marina workers...setting up the boat on land.

This is Darling...still in the travel lift...in the process of being blocked up. Buck and Haldine will stay on the boat (out of the water) until it is fixed. This boat weighs about 55, 000 lbs, and will rest on it's bottom, with only a few stantions to keep it from tipping over.

Even with the issues...Buck continues to smile

Later that evening...we were joined by Jim and Sandy (on Footloose) and went to Little Italy and Chiapparelli's...a famous Italian restuarant in the area

Haldine and Buck also went...actually it was their idea

Deb said the food was so good, she could not stop eating it...and she wanted to get a straw to "suck up the juice" from the pasta

Log 155
Day 427
Wednesday, July 22, 2009

7:00 AM EDT
Location: Anchorage Marina, Baltimore, MD
Weather: 71 degrees with calm winds...heading for the mid 80’s

Sitting on the back deck this morning, and looking toward downtown Baltimore, it’s a little foggy, and there is no wind to blow the fog away. It’s also fairly cloudy, so it may take some time to burn the fog off this morning.

This is day 3 of our time here at Anchorage Marina. There are some who complain about this marina, but I’m not sure why. All marina’s have there bad points (as does this one), but, it has floating docks; a beautiful walking or bike riding path that goes on forever; a grocery store, and a West Marine within 1 block; and more restaurants in walking distance than you can imagine. For someone like us (without a car) it’s perfect.

As I write this log this morning, we are 18 days away from having to be in NYC to meet Jeanie and Terry. I am already checking the weather as far out as I can, to see any patterns developing, and looking for some weather window that we should not pass up. Getting to NYC from here is about 250 miles, and the majority of that in open water, which requires a lot more concentration on the weather. Particularly the winds and tides. The first 50 miles is straight forward, heading up the Chesapeake, and joining the C&D canal (a 12 mile man made canal), which connects the Chesapeake to the Delaware Bay. Once you hit the Delaware Bay, if you turn left (north) you would head to Philadelphia. We will be turning right (Southeast) and it will take us 50 miles to the Atlantic Ocean, and Cape May NJ (the very southern tip of New Jersey). The Delaware Bay is notorious for a choppy ride, because the currents are swift, and many times the wind against the current, can make for a “not fun” ride to Cape May. So we need to monitor the direction of the wind, and the direction of the current (which changes about every 6 hours) to look for a good ride. From Cape May, NJ, to NYC is 150 miles, and is either 1 long day, or 3 short days. All of which is out in the Atlantic. Again, winds, wave direction, and tides are very important to enjoying the ride to New York. And we are all about wanting to enjoy the ride, so that is why I am now starting to pay close attention to the weather. On one hand, we have a lot of time to get there, but if we find a great weather window, we’ll probably go early.

Yesterday (Tuesday) was a fun day. I was planning to take a walk over to West Marine first thing in the morning, but decided to stop on my way and say good morning to friends of ours, Buck, and Haldine, on their boat, Darling. They were going to take their boat over to Tide Water Yachts, and have the boat pulled, and the bottom cleaned. One thing lead to another, and Deb and I ended up jumping on the boat with them, to go and clean the bottom. The boat was pulled about 10:30, and was going fine, until Buck and I started looking at the boat bottom. To make a long story short, Buck ended up having the marina block the boat on land, and hired them to paint the rudder, and also paint the bottom. He and Haldine also decided to stay on the boat (while it was sitting on land in the boat lot) rather than get a hotel, or stay on the boat with us. So, a little after noon, we ended up getting a ride back to Anchorage Marina. The 4 of us had lunch at a Tex-Mex place across from the marina, and then Buck and Haldine got a rental car and drove back to their boat. At 6pm, Buck and Haldine came back to Headquarters for a cocktail, along with Jim and Sandy, from “Footloose”. After a cocktail on the back deck, the 6 of us went to Little Italy...an Italian section of Baltimore, for an authentic Italian dinner. We had a great time, and the food was awesome. A great day.

Today...I plan to head over to West Marine, and buy 2 new ”house” batteries for Headquarters. It has seemed to me that these batteries do not keep a charge for any length of time (once the charger is shut off), and it also seems like the charger is running more than “normal”. It’s one of those maintenance items that you never know if it is necessary, but you certainly do not want to have to deal with the issues it could cause when you are in a remote area. Deb is planning to start to do the shopping to provision the boat for our trip to New York, and also get the supplies Jeannie and Terry will need when they arrive. This is the best place to do all of this, because everything is so close. Not anything major today...just another great day on the boat.


I’ll keep you posted.

Bob

This is a boat called Witchcraft, which is right next to us at Maryland Yacht Club. You can read about it in my log below.

This boat looks awesome...for being 106 years old!

We woke Saturday morning to a beautiful day in Rock Creek. This dinghy, with an electric motor, went back and for, most of the day, checking on their crab traps they set early in the morning. Later in the day, they had a young boy (about 5 or 6) in the dinghy, and every time they caught a crab you could hear a "waaahooo" coming from the boat.

Deb and I took a nice dinghy ride to the Stony Creek Cove, which is just to the east of our cove

On our way to the cove, we passed a couple of "dandy's" who were checking their crab lines. A crab line, is a long line (about 100 yards of so) that is connected to a float on each end, and lays on the bottom. The line has lots of hooks on it. On the hooks are pieces of meat, which are supposed to attract the crabs. If you look closely at the picture (by the right knee of the driver) you will see a make shift roller that the line goes across. The object is to go to one end of the line, and put it over the roller, and then slowly drive towards the other float (which is the other end of the line). As you do the line will come over the roller, and expose the hooks, which, hopefully, will have crabs on them. If so, you use a net to grab the crab as it comes by. Hey...it works.

Back in Stony Creek we saw this strange bubbling of the water

What we found out, by asking a local, is that these are aerators, meant to help keep the water fresh. Like an aerator in an aquarium.

Back at the boat, we had a very nice afternoon, and evening. This is dusk, just outside our boat in Rock Creek

And a beautiful evening turned into a beautiful morning on Rock Creek

A new boat is here this morning to try his luck at crabbing

This guy, and his dog, dropped about 20 crab traps, and have been checking them constantly

We have not seen him catch one yet...and if he does I doubt we'll hear a "wahoo"

Log 154
Day 424
Sunday, July 19, 2009

9:00 AM EDT
Location: Maryland Yacht Club, Baltimore, MD
Weather: 72 degrees with no wind...heading for the mid 80’s

Saturday morning...up about 6 this morning, and it is a little cooler than the last few days. It got down to 69 last night, and there is a nice breeze out of the NE. It is a welcome relief from the heat we have been having. That said...I have been talking to other folks, on the loop, and at home, and they have said it is cool up north, and summer has not shown up yet. I can tell you that Deb and I are not complaining, just stating facts.

Speaking of facts...I won’t get all the facts right, but I have to include an interesting story about a boat that is moored next to us in our slip at MYC.
· The boat’s name is Witchcraft (check out the pictures)
· The boat is 106 years old...originally built in 1903
· The original builder was a 26 year old “kid” who was commissioned to build the boat
· About 35 years ago, the boat sat on land, in terrible shape, and was bought again
· The new owner tore the boat apart, taking it down to just the keel, and main structure, and spent the next 10 years rebuilding it.
· It did not float again until 1993
· The boat was recently (in the last year) sold again, and bought by the son of one of the early owners. The son is in his 60’s.
· Recently the boat was visited by the granddaughter of it’s builder. The granddaughter is in her 70’s
· I talked to a young lad who was working on her yesterday, and he told me he was hired last November (2008) to do some work on the boat, and has been working on her, ever since. He means...every day...ever since last November. And he told me he has at least another years worth of work to do. They are completely re-doing everything.
· They hope to take a short sail to St. Michaels (about 25 miles) this coming September, and then bring her back and keep working on her.
· They are doing all the work while she sits in the water, because the boat is so old, and made of wood, once you take it out of the water (and the wood dries out) lots of bad things happen.
· He said “the only boats this old, almost anywhere in the world, are replicas of the originals...this is the real thing”

It seems to me there is always something happening in a marina, and as many interesting stories, as there are boats. Sitting on the back deck this morning, it’s fun to see the boats going out of the harbor. One boat just went by with two older guys in it, and a young boy about 10. I can just imagine how cool he thinks it is to be heading out. It looks like they are going out to check crab traps. There is also a dinghy out in the cove, setting crab traps. I counted 17 traps he set out. Deb said “I hope he has a bigger boat when he comes back to pick them up”.

Today (Saturday)...no real plans yet, but we do want to take a long dinghy ride and explore some of the coves around this area.

Sunday...it’s 8:15 as I write this log. I’ve been up for a couple of hours, doing my normal morning things. Make the coffee; turn on the computer; do “personal” stuff; check emails, and reply to them; weather checks of all sorts, and looking out several days to see how the weather may effect our cruising plans; look at the Google home page and review any important articles ranging from business...to the world (in that order); check on several cruising web sites to see where friends are (and I also follow a few other cruising web sites because they are so cool); write a captains log (or not); and plan the day...or future days. All important stuff, when you live on a boat.

It’s a beautiful day here...again. For the first time, in a long time, we slept with the windows open all night, and turned off the A/C. The cove we are in is so peaceful this morning. There are about 10 boats anchored here this weekend, and they are facing many directions, because there is no breeze to force them in any one direction. A new boat is in the cove this morning, dropping his crab traps. He and his dog, just go back and forth, checking one after another. The dinghy who (yesterday) set the crab traps is not out today, but they must have spent 5 hours yesterday checking them. Each time they got one, you could hear a big “wahoo”. It was fun to watch.

Yesterday...after lunch we took a nice long dinghy ride to Stony Creek, which is just one cove east of ours. There was a pretty stiff wind out of the west, and the open water was fairly choppy, but the coves were nice and calm, and we had a great ride. There was really nothing exciting about the trip, just a great ride, and a lot of exploring. Back at the boat, we had a nice relaxing afternoon (which included a captain’s nap) that lead to dinner (baked fish) and the movie was “Whale Wars”...which is a good discovery series that we record.

Today...this is our last day in Rock Creek, and the Maryland Yacht Club. Tomorrow (Monday) we plan to head back to the Baltimore Inner Harbor, and Anchorage Marina. We plan to stay there for a week (or so) and do some provisioning before we head north to New York the following week. I am already watching the weather 10 days out, to decide when to transit the C&D canal, and Delaware Bay, which can be an issue if you hit it when the tide and wind are not going in the same direction. We are also looking out, to plan our trip out in the Atlantic, so we can find a window for a smooth ride to NYC.

I’ll keep you posted.

Bob