Dreams Can Come True When You Leave The Dock
The morning of Tuesday, October 4 brought us long awaited sun and dry weather. It was a CAVU day, the perfect day to start our adventure south. Madelyn and Penny came out to wave good bye as we left the slip. We were able to almost immediately raise sails for a fantastic 70 degree day of sun and 15 knot west winds down the Bay...under the Bay Bridge in only two hours. As Ron was determined to keep his promise that this was to be a leisurely trip (not a delivery) we decided to drop the hook in the Rhode River for a relaxing evening and early night to recover from all the preparations that had led up to this lovely day.
Wednesday 10/5
Awoke to another "cavu" day. After cleaning the dew off the windshield, made decision to put cover on at night from now on to try to eliminate that chore in the early morning prep...Sailed out of Rhode averaging 7 knots down the Bay. Came to the aide of a confused chartless sailor who was asking for assistance getting into Solomons Harbor, leading her in. We took a mooring at Zanheizers and used the rest of the afternoon to reorganize a few things and do a few boat chores before dinghying in to meet Paul and Kath for dinner at Dry Dock. Wonderful meal and great fun hearing all about their trip to Italy. Thanks Paul and Kath for the gracious attempt to give us an early "Thanksgiving Treat". We'll miss the "real thing" this year and will be thinking of all of you!
Thursday 10/6
No dew on the windshield today...Slipped the mooring silently at first light. Ron was delighted to be the first of several southbound boats going out of the harbor. Magnificent sunny morning 68 degrees with winds southeast 13-16 knots, close hauled and beam reaching. We are so fortunate!! The NAS PAX River Range was not operating, so we could keep our course all the way. Many boaters complain of converging currents and rough ride past the Potomac, but we had none of that.
Pelicans, Pelicans, Pelicans, we finally began to see them as we passed Cedar Point. They are the most entertaining and comical birds on the Bay as they crash land into the water and then quickly recover their dignity and float around beautifully. This is the kind of sail that I love, heeling comfortably, listening to the gentle sound of water trickling past the hull.... It remained fantastic until about 1:00 when the wind started to lie down a bit and we ended up motorsailing into Fishing Bay to drop the hook for the night. This is a lovely anchorage especially if the winds are out of the NE. Our dinner time view from the stern of the cockpit is idyllic with lush trees and magnificent sunset! Another beautiful, calm night in a wide open anchorage twinkling with about 10 other anchor lights. What a privilege it is to experience this lifestyle!
Funny....battery didn't seem to charge with all that motoring??? Good thing we have solar panels....
Friday 10/7
Weighed anchor at first light and began motoring out of Fishing Bay. This was to be a motoring day all day as winds never went above 5 knots. To conserve battery Ron decided to turn off auto pilot and then, of course, I took the helm....just kidding...we always take turns at the helm....just coincidental. Ron was in seventh heaven as we motored past all the destroyers, carriers, submarines, etc at Norfolk. It was a beautiful clear day, perfect for this "harbor tour", with landing craft maneuvers, helicopters buzzing, navy ships, tugs and barges going in every direction. We pulled into Tidewater Yacht Marina to top off our fuel and see if we could find anyone to help us with our alternator issue. Of course, this was Friday afternoon of a long holiday weekend, so we didn't have much luck there. Next, we went over to Waterside Marina where we took a slip and plugged in. Ed Land (Finestere) who arrived at Waterside a day ahead of us was still there and told Ron about a Marine Store in Portsmouth. The two of them quickly took the 75cent(for seniors) ferry over to the Marine Mile Zero store where Ron was impressed by the sincere assistance given by Bob, the owner. He worked for an hour trying to find us the right sort of help even though it was past quitting time....think we stumbled on to that renowned southern hospitality already! So....we have a number and a source to follow through on and will hopefully, solve this problem early Tuesday morning. In the meantime, we are sitting in a slip here at Waterside in view of all kinds of navy ships and meeting some wonderful cruisers who are here waiting for the end of the Big Schooner Race which ends right in front of this marina this week. Saturday we toured the Portsmouth Naval Museum and found it very interesting and best of all it was the first Saturday of the month, their free admittance day!!! We spent all day touring the new cleaned up Portsmouth and Ron kept marveling at how much better it is today than when he was here in his Navy days.
At a lovely Bon Voyage Dinner aboard Gatsby were told by Cathy and Gary that "there will be good days and bad days on this ICW trip"... I think we have had enough of the good fortune and gratitude from the last several wonderful days to put up with this latest expensive inconvenience of waiting a few more days til we can embark on the actual entry into the canal...
The morning of Tuesday, October 4 brought us long awaited sun and dry weather. It was a CAVU day, the perfect day to start our adventure south. Madelyn and Penny came out to wave good bye as we left the slip. We were able to almost immediately raise sails for a fantastic 70 degree day of sun and 15 knot west winds down the Bay...under the Bay Bridge in only two hours. As Ron was determined to keep his promise that this was to be a leisurely trip (not a delivery) we decided to drop the hook in the Rhode River for a relaxing evening and early night to recover from all the preparations that had led up to this lovely day.
Wednesday 10/5
Awoke to another "cavu" day. After cleaning the dew off the windshield, made decision to put cover on at night from now on to try to eliminate that chore in the early morning prep...Sailed out of Rhode averaging 7 knots down the Bay. Came to the aide of a confused chartless sailor who was asking for assistance getting into Solomons Harbor, leading her in. We took a mooring at Zanheizers and used the rest of the afternoon to reorganize a few things and do a few boat chores before dinghying in to meet Paul and Kath for dinner at Dry Dock. Wonderful meal and great fun hearing all about their trip to Italy. Thanks Paul and Kath for the gracious attempt to give us an early "Thanksgiving Treat". We'll miss the "real thing" this year and will be thinking of all of you!
Thursday 10/6
No dew on the windshield today...Slipped the mooring silently at first light. Ron was delighted to be the first of several southbound boats going out of the harbor. Magnificent sunny morning 68 degrees with winds southeast 13-16 knots, close hauled and beam reaching. We are so fortunate!! The NAS PAX River Range was not operating, so we could keep our course all the way. Many boaters complain of converging currents and rough ride past the Potomac, but we had none of that.
Pelicans, Pelicans, Pelicans, we finally began to see them as we passed Cedar Point. They are the most entertaining and comical birds on the Bay as they crash land into the water and then quickly recover their dignity and float around beautifully. This is the kind of sail that I love, heeling comfortably, listening to the gentle sound of water trickling past the hull.... It remained fantastic until about 1:00 when the wind started to lie down a bit and we ended up motorsailing into Fishing Bay to drop the hook for the night. This is a lovely anchorage especially if the winds are out of the NE. Our dinner time view from the stern of the cockpit is idyllic with lush trees and magnificent sunset! Another beautiful, calm night in a wide open anchorage twinkling with about 10 other anchor lights. What a privilege it is to experience this lifestyle!
Funny....battery didn't seem to charge with all that motoring??? Good thing we have solar panels....
Friday 10/7
Weighed anchor at first light and began motoring out of Fishing Bay. This was to be a motoring day all day as winds never went above 5 knots. To conserve battery Ron decided to turn off auto pilot and then, of course, I took the helm....just kidding...we always take turns at the helm....just coincidental. Ron was in seventh heaven as we motored past all the destroyers, carriers, submarines, etc at Norfolk. It was a beautiful clear day, perfect for this "harbor tour", with landing craft maneuvers, helicopters buzzing, navy ships, tugs and barges going in every direction. We pulled into Tidewater Yacht Marina to top off our fuel and see if we could find anyone to help us with our alternator issue. Of course, this was Friday afternoon of a long holiday weekend, so we didn't have much luck there. Next, we went over to Waterside Marina where we took a slip and plugged in. Ed Land (Finestere) who arrived at Waterside a day ahead of us was still there and told Ron about a Marine Store in Portsmouth. The two of them quickly took the 75cent(for seniors) ferry over to the Marine Mile Zero store where Ron was impressed by the sincere assistance given by Bob, the owner. He worked for an hour trying to find us the right sort of help even though it was past quitting time....think we stumbled on to that renowned southern hospitality already! So....we have a number and a source to follow through on and will hopefully, solve this problem early Tuesday morning. In the meantime, we are sitting in a slip here at Waterside in view of all kinds of navy ships and meeting some wonderful cruisers who are here waiting for the end of the Big Schooner Race which ends right in front of this marina this week. Saturday we toured the Portsmouth Naval Museum and found it very interesting and best of all it was the first Saturday of the month, their free admittance day!!! We spent all day touring the new cleaned up Portsmouth and Ron kept marveling at how much better it is today than when he was here in his Navy days.
At a lovely Bon Voyage Dinner aboard Gatsby were told by Cathy and Gary that "there will be good days and bad days on this ICW trip"... I think we have had enough of the good fortune and gratitude from the last several wonderful days to put up with this latest expensive inconvenience of waiting a few more days til we can embark on the actual entry into the canal...
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