Month: June 2018

White Point Marina is a gem. Still no wi-fi, but terrific people, a beautiful pool, easy access fuel dock and a starboard side tie-up. AND, the person who helped us made sure that we could open our starboard gate! Small things matter.

 

The day started out bright, hot and sparkling. As we headed farther north, the temps dipped a bit but the sparkle stayed. Along the way we noticed swarms of bait fish (actually, schools, but swarms seems to fit the action better) creating circles of ruffled water. My bet is that some predator fish was around and forced them into a protective ball — a murmuration! I won’t bore you with the scientific explanation of a murmuration but you’ve seen it when a flock of birds zig zags across the sky in a cloud of togetherness. Fish do the same thing.

This marina has an ancient looking boat launch.

Enough science. We are going out for Mexican food tonight in a loaner red pick-up truck! The man who helped us dock assured us that this restaurant serves REAL Mexican food — not a chain. His son-in-law is from LaPaz Mexico and vouches for it. We haven’t had any Mexican food other than a cheese quesadilla in the microwave with salsa which hardly counts.

 

Off to a bigger marina tomorrow. Wish me luck with adding photos to this post and last.

 

Today’s cruise was wonderful. A bit of a breeze. Not too hot. And best of all, not too choppy. We had a short 32-mile route around Stingray Point and into Wicomico River and then Ingram Bay. We were a tiny bit anxious about rounding the point as that is where the winds were highest — 13 mph down from 20 mph yesterday — but the wind direction was favorable and Dot Calm handled the light chop very well.

The waters were like those we remember from long ago houseboating adventures on the Chesapeake when the kids were little. We weathered a storm or two (and the perils of getting rescued by someone from the Coast Guard Auxillary!) but don’t remember having to deal with constant chop.

 

Today was great!  And the weather forecast suggests we’ll have more of the same in the coming days.

Winds continued to die down as we made our way to Reedville Marina.  The marina is basically a head wall that can accommodate 4-5 boats depending on their length. One of the boats that joined us was Winterlude and we enjoyed catching up with Janet and Larry whom we met in Oriental.  We needled them for not telling us about the chop on the Chesapeake and, ironically, they reported dealing with heavy chop for the last two days.

The highlight here is the Crazy Crab restaurant, about the only game in “town.” It was packed at 6:30pm and was still packed when we left around 7:30pm. Dinner was terrific. Wine selection, not so much.

 

The primary business here is a plant that makes some sort of fish goo for fertilizer. The winds were favorable:-)

Nah….I think the real highlight was the sunset.

 

A photo essay.

 

Winds die down tomorrow and we’ll head to our next marina about 32 miles away. We plan on a late-ish departure since the winds will abate considerably by mid-morning.

Just kidding!! We took a dinghy cruise along this lovely cove and saw some beautiful homes, significant boat houses and an osprey nest or two. We are NOT planning a move.

The Tides is full of wonderful staff. Very helpful in getting a package sent (be on the look out Roger and Will!!) and getting us to “town” to pick up meds. We eavesdropped on a future bride making arrangements for a wedding TWO YEARS OUT!!!  Her time frame plus the patient recitation of what every extra thing (bellman to deliver gifts to rooms, amenities access, shuttle to golf course, etc. etc.) would cost was distressing. Sure glad we are out of that game!

Mission accomplished in Kilmarnock. I got meds and Cliff replenished our wine supply. He explained that I was getting my medicine and he was getting his:-)

Spa day tomorrow? Or maybe a bike ride into Irvington? We’ll see.

Beautiful morning. Gentle wind from a favorable direction. Let’s go!

The people we’ve met along our trip have given us lots of tips about places to stay, where to eat and an occasional warning about crossings (Albermarle!!) and shoals. None of them have mentioned how choppy the Chesapeake is. Our Lake Michigan sailing friends will know what we mean about chop — and the chop on the Chesapeake is worse than it is on Lake Michigan. That’s the good news and the bad news. Good because we are reassured that Dot Calm will do just fine when we get her to Lake Michigan. Bad because we will need to deal with Chesapeake chop for much of the rest of our trip.

The Tides marina is attached to the Tides Inn, a posh and polished cousin of Greenbriar and the Gasparilla Club on Boca Grande. Not so much chintz or green and pink fabrics, but swank just the same. There is a spa….ooooh that sounds good.

But, alas, the weather gods say we need to leave tomorrow in order to have reasonable distances between stops to make it to Washington DC to catch our plane to California.

Morning update…we are staying extra days for another weather window…because I ran out of a critical med and there are absolutely no pharmacies at the next two stops. That means we will be on a very tight schedule from Thursday on. One of the bromides in sailing safety school is that the most dangerous piece of equipment on a boat is a calendar. The other is a patient who doesn’t have the sense to check pill supply.

 

Here are a couple of past event photos to share!

 

 

Cliff was able to contact a local generator specialist who, amazingly, agreed to come look at our generator on a Sunday. His name is Rich and his company is Atlantic Generators….just in case any of you find yourself in need of a generator fix. Turns out that our impeller disintegrated somewhere along the line. The forensic part of the job was figuring out where all the pieces went. Using instruments that looked like they came from a dentist’s office, Rich was able to extract 10 3/4 of the “missing” 12 pieces and, most importantly, fix the generator.

Since we were stuck in Hampton for another day we decided to make the most of it. We took the marina tender across the river and commenced on a very l-o-o-o-n-g walk to find the Emancipation Oak on the Hampton University campus. We walked a bit more than 4 miles in all and did find the oak which was not nearly as impressive as I’d hoped. And not nearly impressive enough to convince Cliff that the walk was worth it:-)

 

We were treated to a spectacular thunder and lightning display and even got a double rainbow. Surely that portends good things for the remainder of our trip!

 

We are off to the Tides tomorrow weather permitting.

A perfect day for cruising, but, alas, some mechanical problems aboard Dot Calm. Thus, we spent another day at Bluewater….and because it is Saturday….and because there is a major tuna fishing tournament….we could not get anyone to help us with our problem today. We’ve got a promise for assistance tomorrow.

 

Plan is to resume cruising plan Monday.

Keep your fingers crossed. Mine are!

We’d hoped to be on our way to an anchorage at Williams Wharf about 30 miles away. We only made it to Bluewater Yachting Marina — about 10 miles from where we started in Portsmouth. A combination of high winds and tide created a Gulfstream-like chop and we turned back after the first 5 footer slapped us over the bow. This trip is supposed to be fun and that water was definitely NOT fun.  So we’ll try again tomorrow. Wind direction is supposed to clock around and that “should” make all the difference. Stay tuned.

Bluewater Yachting Marina is in the Hampton Roads area home to Langley Air Force Base. We took the tender from the marina to Hampton and enjoyed walking around the city, finding an off-the-main-street restaurant called The Grey Goose and deciding to take in an IMAX movie about the Hubble telescope at the Virginia Air & Space Museum. The museum is terrific. In addition to the Hubble movie, we “took” a trip to Mars, watched a movie about how airplanes stay aloft and how pilots are trained in emergency procedures and looked at a display of hundreds of model airplanes and ships which dramatically showed their relative sizes.

Let me also report on Portsmouth and Norfolk. Great little towns. Lots of old buildings that have been restored. Many large and striking churches. Downtown areas of both towns that are, if not vibrant, certainly working at thriving.

We went to lunch in Norfolk at an Irish pub (Grace O’Malleys) and learned that the interior and storefront had been crafted in Ireland.  Shamefully, the first thing I noticed was that there was an area complete with a uniformed teddy bear featuring the Cubs’ W Flag along with banners for the Bulls, the Blackhawks and the Bears. Our friend Dwain immediately protested that there wasn’t a banner for the White Sox. I suggested he take it up with Grace. Or maybe somebody stole it?

 

Norfolk’s symbol is the mermaid and we saw mermaid statures all over town along with some other interesting public sculptures.

 

Cruising north has left us in virtually a perpetual crape myrtle blooming season. We missed azaleas in Charleston. There were a few magnolias still blooming. Most of the gardenia blooms were going brown and the crape myrtles just beginning to bud there. Here the streets and yards are filled with glorious pink and white flower clusters. The trunks of these trees are nearly as interesting as the blooms.

Blooming trees cheer me up.

Pictures to come! Bad internet tonight:-(

 

 

 

The cruising guide warned us about Portsmouth, our destination for today. The wording went something like “if you think NY harbor is busy, you ain’t seen nothing” compared to Portsmouth. The words didn’t disappoint.

This morning’s navigation session was a bit more complicated than we’ve had before. In addition to noting day marks along the way, we also needed to pay attention to low bridges and a lock.

The cruise from Coinjock offered more beautiful scenery and a couple of striking homes.

 

Didn’t get a chance to take any pictures as we went through the locks. We were both busy holding lines and making sure the boat was secure as the water rose about 2 feet in the lock. Bridges were frequent as we neared Portsmouth.

 

When you are cruising, you keep your VHF radio tuned to channel 16. Normally we hear various Coast Guard announcements and hailing from one boat to another (and some chit chat which is frowned on). Today, we heard from WAR SHIPS! Yikes. Double yikes in that the voices announcing some maneuver or information were little girl voices. Really. I think if a young girl listened in, she might think that being in the Navy on a war ship would be pretty cool.

Portsmouth is a busy Navy harbor. A lot of the activity we saw seemed to be dismantling out of date ships that had been mothballed. But there were active ships in the area as well — a fact we were reminded of by Navy Police boats, one of which turned on his blue lights and informed us that we were too close to the restricted area. We happily (and hurriedly) moved to the center of the channel.

 

Dinner at Fish & Slips, the restaurant at the Tidewater Marina where we are staying. Taco night! It is kind of weird to be back in a big city. We plan to stay for a couple of days and will wander down Portsmouth’s High Street, a shopping and historical district within a short walk of the marina. There is also a ferry that can take us across the river to Norfolk.

 

While we were at dinner a terrific storm arrived — no rain, but incredible winds! Strong enough to move the crowd at the bar over to the windows to watch as sailboats on anchor swung from side to side, canvas flapped on cruisers and flags flew straight out. Plastic chairs in the pool area (an unusual floating arrangement) ended up in the pool!

 

I consider this long stop a bit of R&R. I know that this whole trip sounds like R&R, but there is really a lot to do each day and the getting in and out of moorings is definitely not relaxing! Then there is all that laundry that needs to be done…..

 

With considerable trepidation, we decided to head out into Albermarle Sound. Winds at 7mph sounded reasonable given our 10mph warning. The weather forecast showed no threatening storms — though as we were underway, the clouds to the east sure looked threatening to me!

 

The sailboat contingent managed to get out of our marina before us, so we knew we’d have to slow/avoid them starting out. That part turned out to be pretty easy, as the water is wide and provides plenty of depth. The water was ruffled up even as we left. Based on our experience on Lake Michigan, we know that “in the middle” waves can kick up 2 and 3 times the size at shoreline. Of course, the route across Lake Michigan is 80 miles and here we were only dealing with about 35 miles.

 

Winds were out of the southwest….the cruising guide notes that either east or west winds can stir the shallow waters of the sound “into a nasty, short chop.” “Even a light wind can quickly create rough, confused seas.” Check.  Not too many crab pots, though we kept a sharp eye out for them. I think our experience in the Keys where there are thousands and thousands of lobster traps in the water was a benefit. And I think the crab potters are a little smarter about where they place their traps — mostly well outside the ICW canal. The Keys lobsetermen could take a lesson from them.

The water really didn’t bump up too much — more like being in a washing machine. Sailor friends who’ve crossed the Playpen in Chicago know the experience of wakes kicking up waves (small ones!) in every direction. That’s what this crossing was like. Dot Calm likes CALM water….so we did a bit of wallowing as we navigated from day mark to day mark.

Once we were out of the sound, we got our wish for calm waters. Beautifully calm, with clouds and the shore gorgeously reflected in the water.

 

Our next stop was Coinjock Marina located about mid-way along a straight canal that connects the North River off the Albermarle Sound to the Currituck Sound which we’ll tackle tomorrow. It gets much fewer warning notes!

Tonight we’ll dine at the Coinjock Marina Restaurant. Our found friends Tim and Debbie told us we’d need to reserve a slab of prime rib ahead of time…and so we did!