July 11, 2015

Well here we are, back at home.

Some highlights of our first Chesapeake Cruise on M/V Sunspot Baby:

We left in mid April, during a spate of warm weather in New Bern, thinking we didn’t need jeans and with only shorts and capris (for me), we shivered our way to Maryland where we bought jeans, then the weather warmed up and we didn’t need them.

We had planned to anchor in Fishing Bay, Deltaville, northbound, but the weather was so cold and rainy we opted for Fishing Bay Harbor Marina and had a good several days taking advantage of laundry, courtesy car, exploring Deltaville and staying warm plugged into 110.

Combs Creek Marina, off the Potomac near Leonardtown (where our Cypress, CA family is about to end a temporary assignment), turned out to be the perfect spot for us for the first month of our trip. It’s a small boat marina, and we had a private tie-up with our own personal osprey nest to welcome their one offspring of the year. It was great fun watching them come and go, constantly tending the chick and the nest.

More on the wildlife front, we were introduced to our first barn swallows at Fishing Bay, and while in Dowry Creek I watched a very determined cormorant kill and eat a snake while swimming in the water.

We are used to dolphins in our home area, and just when we thought we wouldn’t see dolphins in the Chesapeake we had a pod of about 20, with a preview of one the day before. The rays seem to be bigger up here, and are easily identified by the tips of their two wings barely showing above the surface. Later in the season the rockfish feed from below on small fish, creating what looks like a silvery breaking wave on the water. It’s a spectacular sight on a flat calm day and we saw this over and over again.

The lighthouses all have a story. The first one we came across was Smith Point, near the entrance to the Potomac. The outhouse teetering on the rail was a sight to behold. Then in no particular order there was Point No Point, Smith Island Light, the charming Thomas Point screwpile light, the listing Sharps Island Light (we have to resist the Photoshop “straightening” feature because it really is tilted), Wolf Trap Light, and numerous others.

Food was fabulous and although we ate mostly seafood, we enjoyed the traditional delicious prime rib dinner at Coinjock, northbound and again southbound. The owners of Combs Creek Marina gave us some highly seasoned and very tasty steamed hard crabs, we ate at the Crab Claw in St. Michaels (where we had visited 28 years ago on our 25^th Anniversary sailing trip), and we had a crabcake tasting spree during our time at Solomons. In little Leonardtown, family owned Kevin’s seafood can’t be beat. We watched a thunderstorm roll over the Patuxent River while we had hard crabs with the family at the Seabreeze. A personal favorite was soft shell crabs at Stoney’s in Solomons.

As usual when you are cruising, things happen. Sunspot Baby is sporting a new forward hatch, a rebuilt racor filter housing, and the dinghy motor is really not fond of ethanol laced fuel which is the only gasoline available in Maryland. We have acquired and will soon install a replacement mid bilge pump for the temperamental one, just replaced during last spring’s haulout. And I’m not saying anything about the overhead hatch at the helm station. That’s on the list, too. Apparently in the early spring and fall, when the water temperature reaches 71 degrees, a barnacle bloom happens. When we weren’t getting good speed it turned out that sheets of these little rascals had attached themselves to anything metal below the waterline. A prompt and efficient diver in Annapolis cured this problem in short order, and we know if we were to home base in these waters, we would need to add protective paint on these parts.

There was good weather and bad weather, cold and rainy, and sweltering, and absolutely perfect. We spent three lovely days anchored at the end of Back Creek in Solomons, and on our way home we anchored four days over the Fourth of July weekend in 80 balmy degree temperatures, only going ashore to get ice every now and then. We spent three really nice days in Annapolis in the mooring field just past the Spa Creek Bridge. The best meal I had in Annapolis was at the touristy Pusser’s, a curried jerk chicken lunch that I will definitely order again.

We took a lovely photograph of the Fishing Bay Yacht Club’s boats with a full moon, George sent it to their webmaster and it was posted on their website. It is very popular, at last count it has had about 2,500 views.

One highlight of the trip was attending grandson Jack’s high school graduation and seeing all of our grandkids from that branch of the family, as well as meeting one of my former Girl Scouts, Edye, who has maintained a friendship with daughter Becky over all these years. We took her for a boat ride on Sunspot Baby, ate seafood (of course), and did lots of catching up.

The trip from Leonardtown in Breton Bay with daughter Becky down the Potomac to Solomons was very special. The water was glassy flat, the scenery was spectacular and it was great to have her aboard.

We learned long ago that it’s a small world among cruisers. We met numerous folks from our Fairfield Harbour Yacht Club (Karl and Elaine, Elliott and Ina, John, Paul and Linda, and Scott and Darlene), and saw several boats that we have known in the Bahamas.

Two days ago, when we were crossing Albemarle Sound in nasty conditions, I was telling myself “I am never going to get home.” But yesterday we had a boisterious but lovely trip. The boat was covered with salt spray, and even though it was 95 degrees, we had a refreshing breeze blowing into the helm station as we sped toward home. I told George I had changed my mind, maybe we should spend one more night out...

818 NM miles traveled.

Thanks to everyone who made this trip possible. For our Maryland Family, soon to be a California family again and especially son-in-law Chuck for checking on our boat when we were off-site, to neighbor Bob who watered our new trees and other plantings while we were gone, to folks at FHYC who filled in during our absence, to Bev and Arne for shuttling vehicles and the delicious welcome home dinner, and especially to George, the Captain of our little ship.

Arriving Northwest Creek Marina

Sunspot Baby is back in her home slip in Northwest Creek Marina. We arrived yesterday afternoon about 1600 (4:00 pm). Conditions were good.

No matter how enjoyable the voyage it is always great to get home.

There is a long to-do list for the boat and equipment. Listing it all here would make for more detail than any reader would like to see but they start with some major unloading.

We had too many objectives to achieve them all. A priority was to spend time with Becky and family before they move back to California. I think we did pretty well there but regardless of how much time you have with your kids, it’s never enough.

There are a lot of locations in the Chesapeake on our wish list, and we didn’t get to most of them. The places we did visit were great and now we have some new places to see on the next trip to the bay.

Departure was April 17. The voyage was one week short of three months, A little longer than we initially planned.

Driving back to be at monthly meetings broke up the trip and had some plusses and minuses. On one of those trips we had some repairs done which was very convenient; we weren’t on the boat while a hatch was being replaced. It would have been miserable if we had been.

There is one more Maryland drive on our agenda. We will bring the canoe and some other loaned items back and of course the Volvo.

The yard has been kept well watered by neighbor Bob but otherwise largely neglected except for an occasional mowing. In addition to the long to-do list for the boat, my live in master gardener will add plenty of items to keep us both busy the rest of the summer.

Remember to hit the more photos link. There are many more in the album that we have posted in our reports.

Lynn will add some final comments. Except for those, this blog is complete. Thanks for following us.

George and Lynn Stateham

M/V Sunspot Baby

7/9/15

We are in Dowry Creek Marina. Normally we are tied up on the outside of the fuel dock so we can get in and out easily but this time we are tucked in to a tight little spot on the other side. Getting out could be a little tricky.

Winds were forecast to be 10kts in the Albemarle Sound but they under estimated. Waves were to be one to two feet. Particularly in the early going as we came out of the North River boat handling was a distinct challenge. Seas were easily four to five feet. There are 3 axes of rotation, pitch (nose up or down), yaw (twisting left or right) and roll (laying over left or right). We had all three at once. The term cork screwing comes to mind. The rudder was only intermittently effective and with spoil bars on each side of the channel, we couldn’t change direction to head into the weather.

I have to add that Lynn was very good through this; not one complaint or even a whimper. We both gained a lot of respect of our little boat’s capabilities. Yesterday, I commented about one of my un favorite stretches of water. The Albemarle will always be one of Lynn’s.

Keeping things in perspective, while we were wondering what the heck we were doing out in this stuff, we look over to see a crabber bobbing along tending his traps. He is out in it no matter the conditions. If you don’t work your traps, you don’t feed the family.

Once into the sound where we had more leeway and could avoid taking the seas right on the beam it wasn’t as bad and the wind and sea conditions moderated as we crossed. By the time we entered the Alligator River it was becoming pretty nice and seas were about the one foot forecast.

Because we got away early and made good time in spite of the conditions, we chose not to go into the marina there but to press on to Dowry Creek. We arrived just before 1700 (5 pm) so a little over 10 hours underway and covering about 80 statute miles.

Going under the Alligator River Bridge

The Alligator River Bridge has 14’ of clearance; with the antenna down, we passed under. We did call the tender to let him know our intentions. He told us, winds were down to six knots at the bridge. Maybe if we had not left so early our crossing would have been better.

There were some good stretches where it would have made sense to crank her up and make better time, but after two fuel issues on this trip I was reluctant to trust. After we get her home, and unloaded, we will start making some progressively longer runs to regain confidence.

We took a quick shower and headed to the pool. The pool was downright warm but felt great floating around with a cold beer in hand.

We called Arne and asked him to take our pickup to our home marina because we might go all the way home tomorrow.

Again Wi-Fi is to slow to mess with. Cell phone coverage is weak so I will put off posting until we have better conditions.

7/8/15

Leaving Great Bridge

We all have favorite and least favorite stretches of water. On e of my dislikes is the stretch up the James River, through the ship yard to the lock. Ships, tugs, no wake zones, dirty water, noisy ship yards and tons of wakes from recreational boaters combine to raise my ire. But now, that’s behind us; once to the lock it’s fine.

Currituck Sound was windy with chop. The wind carried spray over the bow so except for the area cleaned by the wipers, it was hard to see out the windshield. Thankfully there is not a lot of fetch or this could be a nasty piece of water.

We have done our last bridge openings of the trip. Approaching the dock at Coinjock was easy despite their warnings of strong winds and current. We have had showers and an outstanding prime rib dinner.

Wi-Fi is free but dead slow. I tried uploading pictures and it just ground on forever so I will post this later.

Wolf Trap Light

The definition of cruising is working on your boat in exotic locales. Well, I wouldn’t exactly describe Portsmouth, VA as exotic. We are virtually in the middle of the Navy shipyard. Our engine failed coming into the Norfolk channel, about ½ mile north of Hospital Point with lots of boat and ship traffic, currents and wind.

We immediately put out a security call then with the depth gauge showing 45’ I put out 160 feet of chain to keep from drifting into one of the ships or an oyster shoal surrounded by floating “crime ribbon.” I got her running a couple of times after installing new fuel filters but she is now unwilling to pass any fuel through the Racor primary filter housing.

We have about ½ tank of fuel, and looking in with a flashlight, it looks reasonably clear. I was concerned at first that I might have miscalculated the fuel burn and run out. We have never run her really low and don’t know how far to trust the fuel gauge. We do know when she’s full the gauge only reads about ¾. I miss the stick we used on the old boat to check the level. It may be time to bring a piece of dowel aboard.

We are tied up at Ocean Marine Yacht Center, only about a mile from where we had the first indication of trouble. They have an excellent service facility and had a mechanic on the boat by about 0815 this morning. Unfortunately one of the parts kits needed to fix the problem is not available locally. We have ordered them overnight for morning delivery so hopefully, we will be mobile by tomorrow afternoon.

Our plan yesterday had been to anchor at the Severn River off Mobjack Bay but we were making good time with excellent weather and decided to keep going. A lucky decision, if this fuel problem had occurred in that remote location, we would have had a lot more trouble getting qualified help.

Last night, we walked a few blocks to a sports bar on High St. and watched about ½ the Women’s World Cup Finals. Go USA! We saw the first 4 of their 5 goals.

Afternoon thunder storms have become the norm. We came into the dock in a real down pour yesterday, then it quit raining shortly after we were both soaked to the bone. It is raining hard now. I expect to hear our sticky bilge pump kick in and stay on soon. I will have my upper body crammed in a tight spot after the rain to shake it about until the switch comes free.

We have no set time frame to get back to Fairfield Harbour but as soon as we do, we need to get in the truck and get back to Maryland to help with the Darrahs’ move. Time’s a-wastin’ up there as they prepare to head back to California.

We haven’t completely avoided wakes. A few of the locals are towing kids on tubes but generally it’s pretty calm.

After we got in on Wednesday we noticed crab boats coming in with traps stacked aboard. They started stacking them on the town dock and hauling them off in trucks and trailers. This continued through Thursday. We don’t know if they’ just getting them out of the water for the July 4 weekend, if the season is over, or what.

Today the town dock is empty of traps, it has been washed down and was the turnaround point for a 5k run. We dinghied to the dock and asked the folks washing it down. Very friendly folks. They even told me it was not to late to enter the run. Very funny.

We also asked if there were a community dumpster nearby where we could put a bag of garbage. They said it wasn’t close but that they would take if for us. Very convenient since we had it in the dink and were headed to the marina that wants $5 to leave trash.

Days on the boat, hanging out on the hook are some of our favorite times. Reading books and doing light maintenance are low stress activities.

The generator began refusing to shut down after running. It would almost stop and then keep chugging along. The problem was intermittent but was becoming the norm. Yesterday I found and adjusted the throttle stop screw. Now it has shut down correctly three times in a row.

Tomorrow we plan to get underway again but for today we are just enjoying Independence Day. We hope you are doing the same.

We are at Jackson Creek in Deltaville, VA. It’s a great anchorage surrounded by nice homes and a couple of marinas.

The trip down the bay from Solomons was lumpy and crossing the mouth of the Potomac we had 4’ seas in confused directions. Once past Smith Point Light, they were coherent and abated gradually as we worked our way south. By the time we got here, conditions were great.

We have launched the dink and set up the barbecue. We plan to stick here until after the 4^th. Maybe we will avoid most the fleet of fast boats fueled by beer and testosterone leaving big wakes. Of course to be anchored out we need reliable dinghy and generator.

The dinghy has yet to regain my confidence, but I have changed the fitting on the fuel tank that leaked and removed the complicated fuel demand valve from the line. I have added an additive that STP promises fill fix problems related to ethanol in the fuel. We shall see.

The generator has not been playing nice. The problems are centered around the fuel control solenoid. By climbing into the engine space and manipulating it manually I can get it to start and or stop as needed. No generator would not be a big problem if it weren’t for our all electric galley.

We will probably start moving again Sunday afternoon when most of the holiday weekend fleet will be sunburned and headed for home.

The griping tone of my last post was probably apparent. Still the day ended on a real high note. Scott and Darlene brought their new boat Final Approach into Solomons, MD yesterday afternoon. On board were Paul and Linda. Great to see fellow FHYC members out here on the water. We had a great dinner at the Lighthouse and heard all about the misadventures thus far on their Maiden Voyage aboard Final Apporach.

Everything on the boat smells like gasoline. The new outboard fuel tank built to the latest EPA standards weeps fuel when it builds pressure. Actually the problem is in the little fitting where the fuel hose connects. I however thought it was integral to the tank and started syphoning to empty it so I could exchange it at West Marine. Of course, the hose slipped out and fuel went everywhere. The worst thing is it went over the cooler where we keep our cold drinks on ice.

I cleaned off the top of the cooler, but didn’t imagine that the stuff went inside. This morning, I drained water from the melted ice and noticed a distinct greenish hue and an unpleasant odor. The fuel is for a two cycle engine so has oil in it. Yuck. We have scrubbed everything and sprayed with bleach.

We returned to the boat Saturday and intended to use one day in preparation and depart today. Again, I over estimated how quickly I could accomplish my to-do list and that ran over to today. Of course, the fuel spill added to the time line and then we found the fuel in the cooler this morning, so that would have made a departure very stressful. Tomorrow’s forecast is for windy/choppy conditions, so now we are targeting Wednesday.

Wi-Fi at the marina is sporadic, so while we can check email, doing any heavier duty data work is futile. We grab a signal whenever we can, but probably won’t post more pictures until we have a better connection.

Better Photo Viewing and Subscription Link
Check out the "More Photos" link on the right side of the page. It's much easier to view now.

Also there's now a "Follow by Email" box above the links. If you subscribe to this, you will receive an email when the blog is updated. We are looking forward to getting back on the water, watching the weather for this coming Monday to move south.

We are reminded of advice we gave to cruisers on the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) about avoiding busy places on weekends and holidays, don’t go. Next time we are in St. Michaels, it will be midweek. After the hoard of local boaters left yesterday, we virtually had the place to ourselves.

Another great day on the water running 6 ½ hours to Solomons and Calvert Marina. Gosh, it’s hard to imagine how wonderful a day can be. The absence of all those big boats in a hurry to get home and/or see how large a wake they can make added considerably to our day.

After arriving and settling in, Lynn commented that despite how small this boat may be, she really feels like home.

We need to dash back to New Bern for a little banking business and when we return we will hit some of the places we skipped as we came north.

Lynn’s Comments:

Our visit to Annapolis was the first on our own boat. Unfamiliar with the mooring fields, we lucked out and found a perfect one for our boat, just north of the Spa Creek Bridge in the St. Mary’s Mooring field, named for the beautiful St. Mary’s Church and High School Campus a few yards away. We were close to a dinghy dock and a short walk to town, in a more protected area than the “big” mooring field, the center of action in Annapolis was just around the corner via Ego Alley, so called because of the boats that cruise in and out with rumbling engines, buff occupants, and loud music blaring. Temperatures were moderate (80’s), and we ate out several times. My favorite was a jerk chicken curry lunch at Pussers.

The St. Mary’s mooring field is picturesque and full of activity. Stand up paddle boarding is popular, along with kayaking, tourist boats, and local boats cruising through (yes, through the mooring field).  One enterprising young woman did a yoga workout on her paddleboard, while a Mom instructed her tiny son to paddle her around on hers. He was grinning from ear to ear.

Annapolis has a convenient dinghy dock at the head of Ego Alley. Trouble is, there are ducks everywhere and as soon as a dinghy is tied up they “flock” on over. Check out George’s photo via the photos link to the right. Before we could depart for lunch, two had tried to settle on ours, he rocked it hard with the painter and they jumped off. Surprisingly when we returned there were no ducks and no duck poo on our vessel, a small miracle to be sure.

Friday we headed for St. Michaels, on the Eastern Shore, a trip of 27 nautical miles. We were last here 28 years ago on our 25^th Anniversary Trip, when we had two sailboats full of friends and spent a week cruising the Chesapeake. The Crab Claw restaurant is still here, having just celebrated its 50^th Anniversary. As George has reported, we had a good visit with the Maryland family, ice cream at Justines, and an early dinner at the Crab Claw. The family time of this cruise has been a wonderful benefit, and the seafood another.

St. Michaels is crowded, busy and charming.  We chose a marina so we could have a nice family visit and there are boats anchored out here, but I want to check out something before we leave, a “back door” to St. Michaels which is on San Domingo Creek on the Choptank, which dead ends on the south side of St. Michaels with a dinghy dock of sorts. You can anchor in this beautiful creek and dinghy in without the crowded anchorage here. The quaint town of Oxford is in that same general area.

Of course not everything is ever perfect when cruising. Our dinghy motor has become temperamental and George has done a good job of cajoling it into service.  Could be that Maryland does not have ethanol free gasoline, or it could be something else.

Tomorrow we are back to Solomons, a favorite spot to be sure.

Yesterday I skipped morning coffee so we didn’t bother other boats in the mooring field with the sound of the generator. We slipped the lines at 0700 and had perfect weather conditions. Boat traffic was another issue altogether. It seems everyone who owned a fishing pole was out on a boat, trolling the area. We veered off the intended course repeatedly to clear their lines even when I had the right of way. I didn’t want them to have to take evasive moves to avoid us.

St. Michael’s on a Saturday is a zoo. I hear nearly every weekend is a special event and dockage is a two night minimum. There were boats galore, cars from all over and at least one tour bus. The Maritime Museum is holding an annual vintage and classic boat festival and there are some truly beautiful ones there.

Our daughter Becky and her family drove over from the western shore to visit and share the day. We walked around down town, had ice cream and a late lunch or early dinner at the Crab Claw.

The evening’s entertainment was the passage of the remnants of tropical storm Bill. We had a lot of rain and lightning but only a brief period of high winds. Prior to the rain band getting to us it was spawning tornados but that risk had abated prior to reaching us. We stayed up watching the radar app on our phones until it was clear the worst was over.

Today we are taking it easy and trying to get caught up on emails and blogs. The internet here at Higgins Yacht Yard is free but it is SLOOOOOOOWWW!. 

Many of the boats that crowded the docks have departed. The dock master say’s they pay for the mandatory two nights but only stay one. Some are probably still working and need to be home on Monday morning. We are cheap and retired. If we pay for dockage, we are darn sure going to use it.

Weather permitting we head back to Solomons tomorrow. We need to make a quick turnaround trip to New Bern to take care of a little business.

Yesterday was a beautiful day to be sailing down the bay with fair winds and following seas. We, however, were motoring up it with wind and waves on the nose. That sapped some of our energy and we were slower than normal. Still we made it in 7 ½ hours from casting off the lines to picking up a ball at St. Mary’s mooring field in Annapolis.

Conditions were moderate at first with wind at 15 kts and 2 to 3 foot seas. The wind abated as we went along. Seas were confused near the mouth of the Choptank, but then laid down nicely. By the time we reached Annapolis there was little wind. We were fine with that but I am sure the Wednesday racers were greatly chagrinned.

After many trips by car and chartering a boat here 28 years ago it is wonderful to have made it on our own little boat. We will hang out here for three nights and hopefully go St. Michaels on Saturday. That will depend on when the remnants of tropical storm Bill passes through. There could be small craft warnings that day. We are keeping our fingers crossed.

St. Michaels has a classic boat rendezvous and exhibit the weekend. We hope to see some pretty boats and get some nice pictures.

There was apparently a barnacle bloom about 3 weeks ago and the greedy little buggers have attached themselves to every bit of exposed metal under the waterline. They are now scraped off and I am looking forward to slightly better performance. The bloom apparently occurs when the water temperature hits 71 deg F, so there is a bloom in the spring or early summer and then again as the water cools in the fall. At least, that’s what I’m told by a local “expert.”

After spending an outrageous $300++ at Reliable Marine (now there is an oxymoron for you) the outboard exhibited the same symptoms we had before. I should have tested it before we left Solomons and I’m sure that when I call to complain they will say, it was fine when it left here. After much tinkering I got it to start and keep running last night, but only after I made a couple of rowing trips to the docks at the Annapolis Yacht Club. Thankfully, we are very close. More finger crossing hoping the motor behaves correctly today. We have a lot of places we want to go.

We came back to the boat a couple of days ago, but didn’t leave the dock because we needed to pick up the outboard and settle up on the new hatch. Both jobs seem to be well done, and we are into the combination for about two boat dollars.

Of course weather windows always seem to breakdown as we get ready to go, and tomorrow’s great weather has now deteriorated. We are still going to break the bond with the dock and shore power. We will probably just anchor in Back Creek again and head north on Wednesday.

We did a boat ride/harbor tour with Becky’s family and her longtime friend Edye. Lots of fun. Both Becky and Edye were in Lynn’s Girl Scout Troop back in the Denver area about a million years ago.

We are provisioned and the next target destination is Annapolis but we’ll get there when we get there. It’s still close enough to see the family occasionally.

We are making good use of our time with the boat at the dock. We took time to do some of the tourist things in Solomons. The Calvert Marine Museum is particularly well done. It is small enough to view in an afternoon, but complete enough to revisit many times to delve deeper into the exhibits. We were truly impressed and will return.

There is so much more there, good boating infrastructure, great restaurants, and a tiki-bar we still need to visit. One small downside is that all gasoline has ethanol. That stuff is very hard on small engine fuel systems. I’m sure it’s a coincidence but our little outboard quit running immediately after filling the tank with new fuel.

We have returned to New Bern for the FHYC meetings next week. We will do some garden/landscaping chores, get caught up on emails, see a few friends and do tons of laundry.

Last year’s hard work and progress on the yard is suffering a bit from neglect, but everything remains alive and will rebound once we are back here on a more regular basis to care for it. We did an afternoon garden walk and Lynn pointed out several things I need to do while we are here. As usual, however, my list is shorter than hers.

Our son-in-law Chuck is checking on the boat every few days. What a reassurance that is for us.

The outboard is in a shop to clean the carburetor ($98/hour labor rate. OUCH!). The new hatch is ordered and should be installed by the time we return. We may have to stay another day or two past our planned departure to make sure we have settled up with the repairs and that everything is working as planned.

Weather permitting we will go as far north as Annapolis before turning south and visiting locations on the eastern shore and working our way back south and eventually home.

This afternoon, John Jackson tied up next to us, FHYC is well represented in the Chesapeake. Their new boat looks nice and he reports it sails great.

There is a little progress on the hatch project. No physical progress, but we now know the model number of the hatch. Hopefully we can locate one at a supplier. If we have to special order, we're looking at three weeks. Fingers crossed.

Lynn's Post:

We had a lovely three nights at anchor, in a very protected spot with good holding, no mosquitoes and no wake boat traffic. The Holiday Inn dinghy dock was a short row to get ashore for a daily $2 fee.  We read, ate from our boat provisions, and moved our sun shade cover from side to side as need be. I think it lowered the temperature in the helm station 8-10 degrees.

 

There was fishing line on the anchor chain when we upped anchor yesterday morning, so George disentangled it while he washed off the mud. We fueled at Solomon’s Landing after deciding that Calvert Marina’s fuel dock looked unattended. Our deck hand there was the same charming lady we met last week. Today she was attired in a strapless pink number with sheer skirt and silvery thong sandals and said she was working to get rid of tan lines. She was efficient in her dock duties, including a pump-out service, and still looked fresh as a daisy as we pulled away.

 

We are now at Calvert Marina’s floating docks, plugged in and washed off from a thunderstorm last night. George has contacted Washburn’s boat yard about our broken forward hatch, and he delivered the outboard to Reliable Marine, who has moved from across-the-bridge to just behind Roy Rodgers restaurant here in Solomons. They say they have the parts and it will be ready when we return from North Carolina. All of these repairs being underway are good news, except for the expense and we are reminded that $1,000 equals one boat dollar.

 

Becky, Chuck and Jack came by last evening and took us to dinner at The Lighthouse.  What a treat, beautiful view, casual atmosphere, delicious food. I had cream of crab soup and a Caesar salad, George had cream of crab and oysters. Thanks for a lovely impromptu evening.

 

The wind has been southerly and warm until today, when it is much cooler and northerly with showers and thunderstorms forecast throughout the day.  Today, if we go anywhere, we will remember to close the overheads in the helm station and the back curtain. We didn’t yesterday and there was a big downpour. We were saved by the angle of the rain, I guess, with just a few sprinkles on the chart table and helm, and just a little rain on the cushioned benches.

Lynn's Note:
Check out the "More Photos" link at the right side of the page.

After a beautiful day on the water yesterday, we are anchored in the north end of Back Creek at Solomons, MD. Not far from the Holiday Inn dinghy dock. Our daughter Becky made the trip with us. How lucky we are.

There was lots of nice scenery along the way which we all enjoyed. Becky works a lot with the Navy at the Pax River base and she was pointing out land marks to us as we neared the Patuxent while oohing and aahing as various aircraft flew over. It was my first time to see the new F35.

Cruising friends told us of the great public pump out dock at Solomons and they were right. The little tourist map of its location is inaccurate and we took a while finding it. Once there, no problem.

Speaking of problems, the dinghy motor now refuses to run. I bought it a new fuel hose, the most common problem we encounter, gave it new gas in case the old gas was bad, and tried all the easy stuff. I now feel pretty sure the carburetor needs a good cleaning and I am not prepared to tackle that with what I have aboard. We will row to and from the dinghy dock for a couple of days and try to find someone to do it Monday.

We are just happy it didn’t crap out while the kids were using it for dinghy rides in Combs Creek.

We missed the joint FHYC, BSC Oympics today. We just can’t be in two places at one time. I’m sure everyone had a great time and wish we could have been there.

We have had a great month here in Breton Bay. It gave us lots of quality time with some our kids and grandkids who live nearby. If you were wondering why we spent so long in one place, now you know the big attraction.

If the weather holds, we will move to Solomon’s Island tomorrow. Hopefully some of the family will go with us, but tonight is our grandson’s high school graduation and there could be some pooped puppies when it comes time to cast off the lines and catch the rising tide.

We made a reconnaissance run to Solomon’s by car yesterday and connected with fellow yacht club members Silver Lining and Late Arrival while there. If their plans hold, they will be gone before we get there so it was nice to hook up when we did.

It's a little windy and choppy out in the big water, but it's a nice day for a dinghy ride in Combs Creek. See Jack and Becky in our little dink.

A nice afternoon at the marina. There is a new chick in the osprey nest near the boat.

Lynn: We had a wild two weeks at home, with lots to do on the house and yard, as well as Yacht Club meetings and a fun day where we joined the Yacht Club on a trip to Washington, NC to see the Pacific Seacraft factory, visit the Estuarium, and have lunch at Backwater Jack’s – a restaurant we will definitely go back to.Finally the yard was mowed and trimmed, the house was (relatively) clean, and with Miss Volvo loaded to the gills, we headed back to Maryland.We are starting the last week of our month long rental at Combs Creek Marina, 0n Breton Bay, off the Potomac.  It’s a rustic but well run little marina and we have a good spot on the outside of the boathouse, with a good view of an Osprey family.  The boathouse provides a higher roof than Sunspot Baby, and we have not been bothered with them trying to build a nest on our roof.  Other boats are gaily decorated with crime scene tape, to keep them away.  Once their nests are established things should be ok, but every now and then, even though ours are clearly enjoying their nest, they drop a stick or two on an unsuspecting boat.Spending most of the day on a cozy boat in rainy weather is always a wonderful way to pass the time. We read, snacked, played Scrabble, napped, and enjoyed the drizzle.  Even though the winds were up on the Potomac, we barely had a ripple on the water. This is a big family weekend here, with grandson Jack graduating from high school on May 28 and granddaughter Georgia arriving the Monday before.  
Our plan is to leave Combs on the 29^th when our slip rental is up cruise down to St. Mary’s River. We will anchor out for a couple of nights and then move the boat around about May 31 to Solomons, MD where we will anchor for three nights, go into Calvert Marina on June 3, and leave head back home after a few days. The next week is yacht club week. After that is over we will drive back to Solomon’s about 6/13 or 14. Shortly after that, we plan to start heading farther north toward Annapolis making a few stops along the way.
Not much cruising involved for this time, but precious family time takes precedence. We do hope to spend some time on the water over this Memorial Day weekend and we are hoping that the winds die down a little to do that. A stop at the Leonardtown Wharf for a night is in the offing, and a visit to St. Clements Island and possibly Colonial Beach on the other side of the Potomac.

6/24/15: I think I have fixed the photo problem but if they are still causing you problems, the following is a work around.

A word about photos: All photos are loaded into a Picasa album. When you click the link, it takes you into a slide show with oldest pictures shown first. You probably already saw those and want to see the most recent first. Here's how to get there.

1. After your into the slide show, hit "escape" to get out of it.
2. Click on the tab at top labeled "george's Gallery".
3. Pick the Chesapeake 2015 album.

Photos are presented with most recent first.

Complicated I know but for now, it is what it is.

My old method of posting updates is clumsy. Now there things called Blogs that are supposed to be much easier. This is my attempt to use one. All the old posts from the Sunspot Baby web site are included below. Of course the automatic dating won't let me show the original date, so I have included it in the text.

This Blog will almost certainly evolve as we learn to use all, or at least many of it's tools. Comments are welcome.

We drove back from Maryland yesterday after attending church with Becky and Chuck. We are already beginning preparations for our return and the continuation of our cruise.

4/29/15: We cooled our heels in and around Deltaville waiting for weather to settle on the bay. The stay at Fishing Bay Harbor Marina was nice. Facilities are good, the staff friendly and the wi-fi reliable. There was a courtesy car we used briefly on two different days to get provisions and ice.

Early today we slipped the lines and headed out. I can't imagine a nicer day in the Chesapeake. It was definitely a motoring day and the sail boats that tried sailing reverted to the iron Genny quickly. There was a 1 to 2' swell, mostly following with a few wind ripples on the surface. For a good part of our trip up the bay, we had a following current. After turning into the Potomac we did meet a current of less than 1/2 a knot. We really felt we were getting close as we rounded Smith Point Light and headed up river.

It seems we rushed the season, leaving when we did. Most boats in this area are still pulled for the winter and slips are empty. We're grateful we don't have to pull and shrink wrap our boat every year.

Becky, Chuck and Jack were at the dock shortly after we arrived for a happy hour welcoming. What a nice way to wrap up a pleasant day on the water.

It's nice to have completed our first objective of this summer's cruise. We will hang out here a couple of days, then take a rental car back to New Bern. That will be our pattern for most of the summer, two or three weeks cruising followed by a week or two at home. Lynn says we covered 325+ nautical miles on this section. More to come.

4/25/15: We took a weather lay day in Norfolk, and cast off this morning about 0645 with low winds in the forecast. However the seas had not settled and were quite lumpy. Add to that an outgoing tidal current of about 1 ½ knots at the mouth of the James River. We had wind and waves against current. Opposing wind and current are always a recipe for rough water. The crew was immediately in deep concern mode and I was expecting a request to turn around at any moment.

We were seeing 4’+ seas as opposed to the 1 to 2' forecast. Lots of spray over the bow but really, Sunspot Baby was taking them in stride.

Just at that time Arne called with his analysis of the GRIBs. Lynn picked up the phone and Arne said “this is your lucky day,” She wasn’t feeling too lucky at the time, but became convinced that better things lay ahead. We proceeded.

The seas did abate somewhat but when we had to take them on or near the beam steering required a lot of work. I am really missing the autohelm from the old boat.

Crab Pots? Oh yes! With the choppy water they were out of sight, and then popped up on the crest, only to go into hiding again. It reminded me of the old carnival game Wack-a-Mole. We missed them all but they do add an exciting extra dimension to a day on the water.

Tonight we are in Fishing Bay off the Piankatank River. It may be Wednesday before we leave; there are strong winds in the forecast. It was wet and cold on the water today and we are really enjoying having heat on the boat.

4/23/15: The good news is that we are in Waterside marina in Norfolk. The bad news is that I really embarrassed myself today.

All our boating friends have encountered boneheads whose radio mikes are stuck in the talk position, creating  noise for everyone else, and rendering the radio useless. Today, I was that bonehead, and worse than just being a nuance I became a hazard to navigation.

The N&S railroad bridge had been down and was opening was we rounded the bend into sight. A couple of other boats were waiting for the opening. As we neared the flashing green came on and I proceeded toward the bridge. The other two boats continued to loiter. As I drew nearer, but still completely clear, we saw the bow of a barge coming through. At this point, it should have been clear to me that there was a reason for a quiet radio and that surely, the barge (barges plural as it happens) would have announced on 13 and probably 16 that they were coming through.

Now, however, I was so busy staying clear that I wasn't messing with the radio. I moved far to the green side, giving the barge a clear path through the channel. He gave five blasts but since I was obviously clear, I assumed they were for the two boats loitering in the middle of the channel. Wrong, as it happens, he wanted to moor at the dolphins on the green side and I was clearly in the way, About now, the tug captain was standing at the rail shouting at me. We cleared the way promptly but I'm sure that somewhere tonight he is expounding to his buddies about the bonehead recreational boater who hadn't a clue. To his credit, I didn't hear any profanity. I'm not sure I would have been that restrained.

The second barge was proceeding down the channel so no problem.

Finally I figured out why the radio was so quiet and fixed the issue. I am self nominating myself for the FHYC Red Marker award for 2015. Mea Culpa! I have related this in a light hearted manner, but rest assured, I did not then nor do I now find this amusing in anyway.

4/22/15:
We moved only a few hundred feet from Atlantic Yacht Basin to the free dock, just the other side of Great Bridge. The belt replacement took two men 1/2 my age and a long pry-bar to do the replacement, one accessing the front of the engine from the cabin and the other laying on top the engine with the engine hatch open. We are very glad we didn't attempt it by ourselves, either position would have been very hard on Lynn.

More good news, since we were waiting for a repair, we weren't charged dockage. The repair total was less than the dockage would have been.

We moved through the bridge on the 1200 opening and tied up immediately. After a relaxing afternoon, we had planned to walk up to a nearby bar for pub grub, but had become so lazy, we called Papa Johns for a medium works pizza. The delivery guy had a little trouble finding us, but made it in the end.

Weather in the Chesapeake is forecast to be windy and lumpy for a couple more days, so we plan to move on to Norfolk and wait for a better window.

4/21/15: There is a new weapon in my arsenal for the dreaded ICW bridge dance. With the cat, our ability to speed up to get to a bridge for the next opening was pretty limited. Today I made it from the North Landing Bridge to the Centerville Turnpike bridge in 1/2 hour to make the opening. 4.8 statute miles, even wide open the cat wouldn't have made it so we would have to take the next opening 1/2 hour later. Even heavily loaded in the stern, full fuel, dinghy, motor and fuel, and a cooler full of ice and drinks, the new Sunspot Baby gave us 13.5 kts over the bottom against a current. Gotta love it.

We have a generator/water pump drive belt that wants to slip a little first thing in the day. If I run up the RPM slowly it does fine and from then on doesn't slip. Still not a situation I want to have heading into the Chesapeake. I looked at it, and if we were desperate I could fix it, maybe with and extra hand from Lynn; the access is so darned limited. A longer extension for my ratchet and a little time no problem. Why I forgot to change it while we were painting the bottom, changing oil, filters and impeller prepping for the new season, I have no idea.

So we are docked at Atlantic Yacht Basin, just south of Great Bridge. Their mechanic probably won't work it until tomorrow morning so they don't have to lay on a hot engine. When we bought this boat, we promised ourselves that we would not try to do all the maintenance or carry every spare part we could fit on board. So we are having the work done. Interestingly, we do have a couple of spare belts on board.

What comes next?. We are looking at Chesapeake weather and sea conditions carefully. While we are anxious to see the Darrahs and won't spend extra time sight seeing right now, we don't plan to get beat up either. Right now the forecast for tomorrow doesn't look favorable but In addition to us we have Arne studying the data.

A note about GRIBs (Gridded Binary) data sets based on a computer generated model weather prediction.  We used them in the Bahamas but have become lazy and have fallen out of practice since we are mostly cruising local waters and not very many open stretches. Our cell phones and VHFs give us the NWS forecast and it normally gets us by fine.

I was reminded of their power when Arne so accurately predicted our weather for a very small part of the area lumped together by NWS. I said, "There ought to be an app." Guess what, there is. I tried a couple of free ones and opted for the $4.00 Pocket GRIB app. Run on my tablet, the graphics are large enough to be useful. Now I just need to get back into practice.

4/20/15: Knowing the Albemarle can be a nasty stretch of water, and having no desire to be uncomfortable, we were reluctant to venture out today. Our good buddy Arne is becoming our own Chris Parker and analyzed the GRIB data for the locations and times we would cross. He said it would be OK, and he was spot on.

Through the night, we had reason to doubt because there we heavy rains and an occasional squall that banged the boat on the dock. Lynn was soaked making a head run in the middle of the night. But at about 0800, just as Arne had predicted the winds died down and the seas became less lumpy. We did have some waves hitting the aft port quarter. They picked the stern up and carried it to starboard, so steering was a constant struggle. I really missed the keels and large rudders of our sailing cat. She was much more bidirectionally stable. Throw in that she had an autohelm system and she had some real advantages.

Steering would probably have been easier, if I had kicked it up, but after recent problems, we didn't want to risk being dead in the water. At least not in the sloppy waves and far from towing and/or mechanic.

Not long after we were across and into the North River the wind shifted and picked up, but we were in relatively sheltered waters and it was not problem.

The current was running at about a knot in Coinjock, so instead of coming in starboard side to, we spun around into the current to dock. It is easier to dock into the current but the down side is that our fuel fill cap and head pump out are on the starboard side, away from the dock. With a little contortion, I can reach the fuel but the head pump out is located about as inconveniently as the engineers could design. The hose was barely long enough to reach but with Lynn coming aft and me moving forward along the gunwale with the hose we were able to do it. Yuck.

A point about pump outs: we have a small tank, only 12 gallons. We need to pump often. We trek up the dock at marinas using the on shore facilities when ever possible to limit head input but that only works at the dock. If we are underway or at anchor, that option doesn't exist. The first two marinas on this trip, Dowry Creek and Alligator River don't have functioning pump outs. For shame. It makes us really appreciate Northwest Creek, if their's goes down, it is fixed promptly and at least once a week, they will come to your boat to pump if you request. Coinjock charged me $5.00 for pumping at their fuel dock. NWC is free. They do charge for coming to the boat but hey, they go the extra mile.

4/19/15: After a stressful day that did little to advance our plans we started another day at Dowry Creek.

Since the weather was not conducive to crossing the Albemarle we opted for a short, easy day only going as far as Alligator River Marina. We chose to spend a leisurely morning with our favorite Sunday breakfast, Lox and Bagels with Bloody Marys. We didn't cast off until almost 1000.

We ran the engine at 3200 rpm for about 1/2 hour to make sure she wouldn't starve for fuel, then slowed down to a lazy 7 knots or so. Lynn always attracts a tug and barge which met us in the narrowest part of the channel rounding the bend to head north on the Alligator River. In the river we had some gusty rain squalls but boat and crew were both fine

We turned into the wind to lower the antenna and then passed under the Alligator River Bridge without an opening. Then we turned into the Alligator River Marina. On a normal day we could have spun the boat around and backed into the dock where they wanted us without a problem. However another squall chose that moment to kick up and keeping the bow into the wind was a real challenge, We made it OK, but I'm sure one of the other boats at the dock was wondering if we had good insurance.

4/18/15: The plan was to make over 70 nm today because the weather was favorable for crossing the Albemarle Sound. That meant we should kick up the speed when conditions were favorable for doing so. After entering the Pungo/Alligator cut we had a long straight stretch with no docks or other boats to be bothered by our wake. We didn't run very long until the engine shut down, much as it had last Sunday when we were setting marks for the FHYC race.

George changed filters again and she started. Another run at speed and she died again. This time we called Towboat US and were back in Bellhaven waiting for a mechanic by around noon. He showed at 1700 (5:00pm) and diagnosed the problem as the small in-line fuel pump I added to bleed the system. He removed it adding a hose barb to splice the line. We took it for a speed run back to Dowry Creek with no problems.

Now the good window for the Albemarle has closed. We have said Que Sera Sera, had a glass of wine and will wait for another window.

4/17/15: We cast off the lines at a little before 0800 and had a nice day motoring to Dowry Creek Marina. It is nice to be away, We have really been stressing with everything on our plate and trying to make a 4/15 target departure. Obviously we didn't make that, but sometimes good enough is perfect.

We didn't run the boat hard, because we had plenty of time to get to Dowry Creek, and running at speed uses at about four times as much fuel per mile as hull speed cruising.

As we were crossing the Pamlico River, we were stopped by the Coast Guard, the first time ever. They were prepared to board and asked us how long it had been since we had been boarded. I replied that we had a safety check about a week ago. They pulled along side to view the sticker, said we were OK and headed off on some other important mission. Thanks to our friend Karl USCGA for doing the check and keeping us legal. It saved us a lot of time.