Jersey Shore

Tuesday 5/24/11     We decided to stay another day in Baltimore to catch up on laundry and pick up a few groceries. Since the laundry is in the basement of the Rusty Scupper restaurant we thought it would be a good way to kill two birds with one stone. Laundry is laundry but lunch was great! The down side is the walk from Tourist to the Scupper toting the laundry. The up side is the walk. Right at the base of Federal Hill and along the edge of the harbor.

Flag over Federal Hill.

Looking at Tourist with Baltimore in the background.

Wednesday 5/25/11     7:30a.m. and the lines were cast off. We idled out of Baltimore and under the Francis Scott Key Bridge headed back to the Chesapeake.

Francis Scott Key Bridge.

The bay was calm as we entered and headed north. We made a quick stop in Bohemia Bay for fuel and then back out into the narrowing upper reaches of the Chesapeake. It wasn't long before we entered the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal where we we picked up speed courtesy of the tide moving in our direction. A few miles in and we pulled into the harbor at Chesapeake City to anchor for the night. This is one of the few places to stage for the next leg to Cape May, NJ. By the time we went to sleep there were 9 boats anchored plus a few more at the free dock. Our position enabled us to see the canal and any traffic passing by.

Chesapeake City Harbor before most of the boats showed up.

Ship passing Chesapeake City.

Thursday 5/26/11     After one of the calmest nights at anchor we've had we pulled out onto the C&D Canal and headed East enjoying the calm water and passing under the bridges spanning the canal.

Bridges over the C&D Canal. Notice the calm water.

They have lights on both sides of the canal the entire length of it.

Once we hit the Delaware River it was hard to imagine Washington crossing it while standing in the bow of a rowboat. The predicted 1 foot waves were more like 3 to 5 foot on the nose. Not terrible but we needed to hang on when moving about to answer the call of nature. Spray covered the boat as we plowed through the waves. The short video doesn't do justice to the amount of spray we were generating.

Delaware River.

72 miles after leaving Chesapeake City we pulled into the Cape May Canal passing the Cape May Ferry terminal and ending up at Utsch's Marina to spend a couple nights.

Cape May ferry terminal.

Utsch's Marina. Cape May, NJ.

Now let's find Snookie!

A Little More Annapolis and on to Baltimore

Saturday 5/21/11 continued       Saturday the crowds in Annapolis exploded. At times we couldn't step off the boat without moving a couple people. As the day grew on the sea wall beside Tourist became a popular spot because of the shadow she was casting.

As much as the pedestrian traffic grew, so did the water traffic on Ego Alley. Everything from kayaks to cruisers to go fasts. Fortunately for us we were somewhat blocked by the water taxis which loaded right behind us. Unfortunately for one trawler operator trying to back into a slip he hit the throttles instead of the shifter and knocked a piling into the side of the boat next to him causing one of the passengers to get medical attention. It's a wonder that more mishaps don't occur because of the narrowness of the alley.

Another advantage of our location was getting to see everyone get off the water taxi. While we were sitting on the back of the boat people watching I heard a call come into the Taxi requesting a pick-up of 4 people from the yacht Sophie which was anchored in the harbor.

M/V Sophie

The yacht, a Trumpy, is owned by Greta Van Sustrand and her husband and despite my pleas to Pam to leave her alone a picture was taken shortly after they got off the taxi.

Greta with her back to us, next to Tourist.

The week-end started the graduation festivities for the Naval Academy and Saturday night was the ring dance. On our tour Pam asked if any of the Midshipmen ever failed to get a date for the dance. Our guide assured her that that didn't happen. From the number of young women walking around I would say that most could of had two dates if they wanted. All in all it was a quite impressive site watching the Midshipmen in their dress whites and their dates walk by in all their finery.

Sunday 5/22/11    In an effort to get out of Dodge before the natives got restless we pulled out of Ego Alley at 6:15 am and headed to Baltimore.

Leaving Annapolis.

Warship anchored outside of Annapolis.

William P. Lane Bridge.

Passing on 1 whistle between Annapolis and Baltimore.

Fort McHenry as we enter Baltimore.

We arrived at the Baltimore City Docks at 9:45am and got settled in. At $1.50 a foot quite a bargain considering it's location right in the heart of Baltimore's Inner Harbor area. Plenty of Tourist attractions as well as eating establishments and only 3 blocks from Camden Yard, the home of the Baltimore Orioles pro baseball team.

Baltimore Inner Harbor.

Following a nap we prepared for guests. That's right. For the 2nd time since we left Florida we are going to be visited by Kurt & Tina. I think they're stalking us!
Other than their arrival the highlight of the day was watching the trash boat collecting the floating trash in the harbor.

Baltimore Trash Boat.

Our guests showed up late in the afternoon after driving up from D.C. Of course Pam was ready with snacks. Kurt & Tina are new grandparents and it wasn't long before the two grandma's were showing each other their baby pictures.

Monday 5/23/11     Following morning coffee we set off strolling around the Inner Harbor area. We walked past the USS Constellation. The lightship Chesapeake. And the WWII submarine Torsk.

USS Constellation

Chesapeake and USS Torsk

We continued on to Little Italy and found an Irish Pub. After begging them to open we found ourselves inside having Bloody Mary's.

Are you taking our picture?

Our next stop was a couple blocks away for lunch in an Italian restaurant which was very good and filling. Good thing we are walking!

Our lunch stop.

After a few more stops it was time to head back to Tourist so the visitors could gather their things and head back to D.C. to fly home.

Time to go.

See you next month?

With daylight left to burn Pam & I decided to walk back and tour the Constellation.

They wouldn't let Pam climb up to the crows nest.

The gun deck.

Crew's hammocks.

Captain's quarters.

Low headroom!

We made it back to Tourist in time to have dinner before settling in to watch D.W.T.S.

On To Annapolis

Wednesday 5/18/11      Up and headin out by 6:05 am towards the Bay. As we passed Dozier's Marina we fell in behind a 48' Krogen setting a comfortable pace. Unlike yesterday the bay was a bit smoother with only 2 footers on our stern.

Headin Out

Passed these commercial fishing boats in the bay.

With storms threatening we pulled into Calverts Marina at Solomans Island, Md. At a buck a foot for dockage it was one of the few bargains on the East Coast. Of no particular interest to anyone but me I saw two of the boats that participated in the 2004 Nordhavn Atlantic crossing. One was Satchmo, a 46 Nordhavn on the hard at Washburns Boat Yard. And the other was Sea Fox, a 58' Kadey-Krogen.

Sea Fox.

With the weather not so good we just made Solomans an overnight stop. At some point in the next few years we would love to come back to the Chesapeake and spend the summer. Too many places to see and not enough time on this adventure.

Thursday 5/19/11     There was a parade of boats leaving Solomans this morning, us included.

Parade leaving Solomans.

Our destination today was Annapolis with hopes to get a spot in "Ego Alley" which is the City Dock right downtown. As we neared Annapolis the skies let loose with a downpour which made picture taking difficult. The good news was that we got a spot in the alley. Even in the rain the dock attendants were right there to help us get tied up and electric plugged in. A visit to the Harbormasters office and we were set.

We passed Thomas Point Light before the rain started.

Tourist at a nearly vacant Annapolis City Dock. The water in the street is backed up from the bay through the storm sewers. It went down when the tide went out.
That evening we had dinner and a nice visit with Kelly, Darolyn, and Jake Mayo who live about an hour away from Annapolis. It's been quite awhile since we've been together so it was nice catching up.

Me and the Mayo clan.

Friday 5/20/11     Our day started with a short walk up Main St. to Chick & Ruth's Deli (http://www.chickandruths.com/) for breakfast. An institution in Annapolis where every morning at 8:30 they say the Pledge of Allegance. I had a crab & Cheese omelet with a pile of potatoes. Tasty!

Inside Chick and Ruth's. Coloful.

From breakfast we went to the Naval Academy which is a block from Tourist. We arrived just in time to get on a narrated walking tour of the campus. To say this is an impressive place does not do it justice. If you walk these grounds and don't feel an overwheliming sense of pride in being an American and in our military you should find another country to live in.

Gate closest to the boat. 1 block away.

Monument to the submarine service.

Graduating Marines getting ready for inspection. Not a wrinkle!

Tomb of John Paul Jones, father of the American Navy.

Famous rallying cry of Captain James Lawrence.

Our tour lasted an hour and a half and was conducted by an alumni of the class of 1965 who was in the same class as Roger Staubach former quarterback of the Cowboys. This man was defintely proud to be an alumni and still walked witht the same crispness that you see in the midshipmen of today..

Saturday 5/21/11      Happy Birthday Angela!!! Hope you have a great day.

Also Happy Birthday to Ashton, who turned six on the 20th!

    

Norfolk and Beyond

Friday 5/13/11     Spa day for Pam. It's been awhile since my Princess has pampered herself so today she was off to the hair salon and then to the nail joint. She was thrilled with both and as a bonus the nail salon was in MacArthur Mall. All within walking distance of the boat. She came back more glamorous than when she left! Not to be outdone, I got my first haircut in 46 days. I was thinking about getting the Mullet cut but we're no longer on the Redneck Riviera so I didn't want to look out of place.

Of course our arrival in Norfolk at Mile 0 brought an end to our travels on the ICW. To date we have covered 1192 miles since leaving Ft. Myers.

Another chart book gets stowed away.

We spent Friday and Saturday strolling around Norfolk. There is plenty to do in the area and Pam and I have seen a lot of it in the past while we were here visiting Pam's daughter when she was in the Navy. My Dad was stationed here also for awhile during WWII. Back then he said that the homeowners had signs in their yards that said " Sailors and dogs keep off the lawn". Of course the landscape was different then with homes and bars sharing the same streets.

One of the Saturday events was the Virginia Beer Fest going on in Waterside Park right next to the marina.

Line to buy beer tickets.

Line to recycle beer.

While strolling around on Saturday we came across Ted Danson of Cheers fame talking to a small crowd about his book Oceana that he just released.

We also saw this mermaid, one of several throughout the downtown area.

The USS Wisconsin.

Nauticus, our private marina.

General Douglas MacCarthur memorial.

On our way out of Norfolk on Sunday we passed the Navy base with several ships in port. Of particular interest to us was LHD 1. The USS Wasp amphibious assault ship. Rebecca's former ship and the one that Pam & I road on from Camp LeJune to Norfolk a few years ago.

USS Wasp
Our journey took us past Old Point Comfort Naval hospital to Thimble Shoal Lighthouse where we made our turn to head up the Chesapeake. Destination, Deltaville, Va. to have our transducer checked at Zimmerman Marine. Yep. That's right. It's still leaking!

Thimble Shoal Lighthouse
I had checked with Tom Hale at Zimmerman a few days ago and explained what I thought was taking place. He seemed confident that they could remedy the problem and have us on our way. Further more he told me to call him when we arrived in Deltaville on Sunday and he would come over and assess the situation which he did. We spent the night at Doziers' Regatta Point Marina (the publishers of the Skipper Bob Guides and The Waterway Guides). We had time to spare before Tom showed up so we used the loaner car to go for groceries and booze. Hmmm, Sunday. No liquor! Maybe tomorrow.

One of the sad things we saw on the drive to the store was the destruction caused by the recent tornado that ripped through Deltaville. 90 buildings were either destroyed or damaged in this town of 850 people.

Baptist Church partially demolished.

Monday 5/16/11       8am and Tom Hale is knocking on the door (he called first) ready to take us to the travellift for another haulout. Up on the hard the staff went to work. Since we were stranded Tom loaned us his car to run into town and kill some time. With 2 West Marine stores that wasn't a problem! With only 850 residents you can imagine there isn't a lot going on other than marine related businesses. By the time we got back they had the transducer out and were working on the hole in the hull to make it so the transducer would fit flush on both the bottom and the top. Additionally Tom noticed that the transducer that they removed was for a 20 degree angle. Of course Tourist has a flat spot where it mounts so the depth readings we were getting were inaccurate! I can't make this crap up! After checking with the manufacturer he confirmed that it shouldn't be used on our boat. Bring in the next transducer which they had within an hour!.

Transducer hole.

Again reinstall the transducer and once again spend the night in the slings of the travellift while the goop cures. Unlike our previous night in the slings, this time we had Tom's car to take to dinner.

Maybe we should put wheels on Tourist and make her an RV!

Tuesday 6/17/11       Up early and into the water we go. Tom went along as we did a 7 mile test run on plane in 3 to 4 footers. While we were out he climbed into the engine compartment 3 times to check for leaks. None found. Back at the facility we decided to spend the day at Zimmerman's dock since the conditions weren't that great for travelling. Oh. The price was right too for the dockage! Only problem. No TV reception. Break out the chick flicks!