Stress!

I'll  begin this with...."it seems the peace is over and the war has begun once again".
Yesterday we took the metro (that was a hoot, 2 country hicks trying to figure out the "system") to the Zoo on the other side of Washington.  We had been at the zoo for 1/2 hour when we got a call from the Yacht Club that our boat had dragged anchors ( how it could drag both we haven't a clue), and was up against the Catamaran behind us and "how soon could we get back"? Then as we were running back through the zoo (the only animals we ended up seeing were a zebra, a wild horse, and a Merkat) the Harbor Police called with the same news.  Oh , yea!!
So we grabbed a cab......gave him our destination and he didn't have a clue where  or what the Yacht Club was, so I had to show him my map and he had to call in for directions in Sudanese or something!  Doesn't anyone speak English anymore?
We got back to the boat just as the Yacht Club Manager and staff were finishing securing our boat to the catamaran.  They then helped us to haul both anchors (tangled with the cats of course) and get the boats apart.  There was no damage to the cat thank God,  Gary's newly painted gunwale was all chewed up, but it was a disaster averted thanks to the quick action of the Yacht Club crew.  Steve, the manager, said the police won't touch the boats they just let them bang away.  We were VERY thankful that we used the Yacht Club facilities.  For $15. a day they sure did go above and beyond.  We decided not to re-anchor but to head back to the Chesapeake.  Our day was pretty much shot by then and we were both stressed out.  I think the anchor dragging thing is every boaters worst nightmare.
We  left DC at 3:30 and made it to the anchorage at Mattawoman at 7:30 p m.  What a day!!
Then this morning we woke up and Gary looked liked Goldie Hawn in The First Wives Club ,you know, the collagen lips scene.  He sure is  having some 'issues'  lately.  Benadryl tabs seem to have helped and tomorrow is another day.
Then there is the  port engine that has begun to smoke like a freight train....oy,vey!  Eau de' deisel is not my favorite fragrance.
As the old man in Marathon said about cruising, "for most people its impossible, for us its just a little more difficult"........

Mallards and Monuments

Potomac to D.C

Old & New Friends

Hopefully that was an easy quiz yesterday, yes, we are in D.C.  Decided to make the trip after we had to anchor 10 miles up the Potomac on our northerly track.  We were going to go in the fall but the weather has been reasonably comfortable lately so we decided to change the plan.  It is a 90 mile trek up the Potomac from the Chesapeake and it took us 14 hours running.

We're really glad changed our minds though.  We finally got to meet up with Barry and Jodie from 'Love Shack' (we met them way back in February in the Keys)  and  meet their good boating buddies Larry and Brenda from California. We now call the guys the "Arry's"....Barry, Larry & Gary....Had a great time with them all last night  celebrating our reunion and  Barry's birthday.

Larry & Brenda had their trawler trucked to Texas from California so they could do the Great Loop since Barry & Jodie are also doing the loop from their home port of Tampa they are meeting up often.  

If I haven't explained the loop before it is going up the intracoastal waterway either into Canada or across the Trent Severn Waterway and into the Great Lakes then down the Mississippi into the Gulf or through the Tenn Tom Waterway and into the Gulf .  You can start anywhere on the circuit and you have finished it when you return to your originating port.  

Today we are off to explore, probably more of the Smithsonian.  We went to the American Indian Exhibit yesterday.  We will see all we can before collapsing!

Smiling Faces

Barry.....it's fun being a kid again

The "Arry's in the rear and Jann, Jodie, and Brenda 

Abbey Road

All smiles by nights end

Night Sights

Old & New Friends

Hopefully that was an easy quiz yesterday, yes, we are in D.C.  Decided to make the trip after we had to anchor 10 miles up the Potomac on our northerly track.  We were going to go in the fall but the weather has been reasonably comfortable lately so we decided to change the plan.  It is a 90 mile trek up the Potomac from the Chesapeake and it took us 14 hours running.

We're really glad changed our minds though.  We finally got to meet up with Barry and Jodie from 'Love Shack' (we met them way back in February in the Keys)  and  meet their good boating buddies Larry and Brenda from California. We now call the guys the "Arry's"....Barry, Larry & Gary....Had a great time with them all last night  celebrating our reunion and  Barry's birthday.

Larry & Brenda had their trawler trucked to Texas from California so they could do the Great Loop since Barry & Jodie are also doing the loop from their home port of Tampa they are meeting up often.  

If I haven't explained the loop before it is going up the intracoastal waterway either into Canada or across the Trent Severn Waterway and into the Great Lakes then down the Mississippi into the Gulf or through the Tenn Tom Waterway and into the Gulf .  You can start anywhere on the circuit and you have finished it when you return to your originating port.  

Today we are off to explore, probably more of the Smithsonian.  We went to the American Indian Exhibit yesterday.  We will see all we can before collapsing!

Smiling Faces

Barry.....it's fun being a kid again

The "Arry's in the rear and Jann, Jodie, and Brenda 

Abbey Road

All smiles by nights end

Night Sights

 

A QUIZ.....where are we now?

Deltaville and the Corrotoman

A better day

Just wanted to update you.  Gary is feeling much better today, that would be 50%.  We are on what they call "The Northern Neck" of Virginia on the Chesapeake and today we were able to move the boat about 20 miles but as the crow flies probably about 4!  I captained today, and the 'mate' rested.....close enough to keep us from peril.

We are now tucked into Indian Creek and since it is pretty tight for us we will move again tomorrow to Mill Creek.  We are planning on spending the 4th in Solomons, Md. 

I will post pictures of our last 10 days tomorrow, when we can turn on old Jenny.  Just wanted to let you know that all is well.

p.s.  The monkey is alive and swingin'.  God knows if I'll ever get used to him!

Problems in Mayberry

We have been out of touch electronically for the past 5 days. Tell you what, the country is beautiful, the people fantastic, going back to Mayberry.....a wake up call.
We  had a nice, peaceful and sometimes boring 4 days waiting for our parts to arrive.  Yesterday afternoon when we decided to go for a dinghy ride on one last neck of the Corrattoman river I noticed my hair was flying in my right eye. Wait, no, its not a hair, oh oh, what in the heck is that, it looks like a monkey on a rope swinging across my vision!!!
Ok calm down Jann.
Go where every crazy person goes THE WEB!!
My first thought was retinal detatchment.  ( I have very funky eye problems and a rich family history to back them up)  Looking it up, yes, a retinal tear could be what I was experiencing and with my symptoms and history  I  need to see an eye doctor NOW.
Ok, breathe, no eye doctors (or towns for that matter) in sight.
Hyperventilating, no breathe!!
Decided to wait for morning hoping it would go away and knowing that I couldn't do much overnight anyway.  So wake up 7:00, yes the monkey is still there.
Ok. One hour at a time.
Long story short.......called Urbanna Marina....raced across the Rappahonnack  with $$$ signs flashing before my eyes (along with the monkey _we haven't run that fast ever! Got picked up by our ride to the nearest eye doctor ( probably 5 miles from where we were anchored in the morning but inaccessable by boat) waited 2 hours for the diagnosis....no retinal tear but a new eye floater to deal with. The doctor even said, "Yes, I think I see your monkey". Then he proceeded to say "don't let down your guard....a retinal tear can happen at any time with your background", oy vey now the monkey is on my back too!!
Then, we got back to the boat, we met up with Joe and Roxanne our friends on another Trawler, and low and behold Gary has picked up another urinary tract infection.  Thankfully an angel came to his rescue and  hopefully we can nip it in the bud, we are going to have to get stock in Ocean Spray cranberry juice though.
So, once again, all is well.  We made it through 2 crisis today and tomorrow will be a new day, a new adventure, and possibly a new problem or two.  I feel my backbone getting stronger as we speak
.....well it sounded good didn' it?

There's more than one way to fix a motor problem.
Just a little maneuvering and ingenuity made it easy.
No $$$ involved......for a change.

Where does the time go??

Wow, I was shocked to see I haven't filled you in since last Sunday.....I am totally losing track of time but I have read 3 books this week!  We did not end up going to Wal Mart but did get a ride from our new friends to the grocery store and a tour of Deltaville.  The town is very spread out and not easily accessible by foot.  We paid $5. to tie up the dink at the Deltaville Boatyard so that we could visit Gwen & Walter and Roxanne and Joe and  hoofed it a mile to the hardware store hoping to find a replacement for our coffee maker which decided it had had enough Monday morning.No such luck. Gary is now making coffee the McGiver way....boiling water and pouring it over the grounds into the pot from the coffee maker....where there's an addiction....there is a way!

We waited until Tuesday to get the bike tube Ryan had ordered for us only to find it won't work. The stem is for a bike that comes with its own tire pump so we are still without wheels.  

On Wednesday we left Deltaville and anchored in the Eastern Branch of Carter's Creek off of the Rappahanock River. We explored Wednesday night and Thursday morning and I found my dream house tucked up at the end of Carter's Creek.  Took me right back to a Kathryn Hepburn movie....I am in love!  Really, Virginia so far is the most beautiful scenery of the trip, lots of green and very few 'McMansions' ruining it all.

By noon on Thursday we were at the dock in Urbanna...., time to tend to necessities....pump out, garbage laundry, and water.  The dock fee was $63. which included electric, they had two washing machines (coin operated) so we didn't have to walk to the (nonexistent) laundromat , we pumped out our holding tank and filled up with 240 gallons of water, 1/2 mile on their courtesy bikes, to the grocery store for bread and lunch meat.....we were good to go.  Really, how can you top that!  Not to mention Urbanna is the lovelies little town, a nice old downtown with a drugstore that has a soda fountain where they serve breakfast and lunch....do all you (older) Algonac natives remember Hicks and the soda fountain??.....those types of stores still do exist.  Too cool!

We are currently anchored in another 'gunkhole' on the Corrotoman River about 7 miles from Urbanna. We have to hang out around here until Tuesday when we can pick up the oil filters we need to change the oil in the engines.  Auto parts stores can't get them and we had to order them and have them shipped.  The challenge in that is somewhere to ship them to....Urbanna Town Docks was receptive to our request to have them sent there so we will go back and pick them up on Tuesday.  Then we can get on with it....and head for Solomon's, Maryland.  

It is supposed to be the boater's be all and end all on the Chesapeake....we shall see.
I should have done this yesterday in Urbanna, our connection here is too slow to do the slide show or even add the pictures. We'll be moving the boat to a new spot tomorrow morning, maybe I'll have better luck there.  The scenery here is too beautiful not to share.

Stormy Weekend

Storm Headed Our Way on Fishing Bay

Since storms were forecasted over the weekend and we are in dire need of food we decided not to do the North River but to head for Deltaville where Gwen & Walter had taken their boat to work on.  The trip was a little rolly with a 10-15 SW wind, on our stern...not so great...really pushes those diesel fumes forward, yech. Deltaville is on the Piankatank River on Jackson Creek.  Jackson Creek turned out to be pretty narrow and there were already 3 boats anchored in the East end by the boatyard so we headed out to Fishing Bay where there was a lot of room.

Had quite a stormy night but nothing severe it just looked really bad.  Lots of boat moaning and groaning with the waves though, the old Tie A Knot sure does have some noisy joints.....just like ours are becoming.  I am glad we weren't here in April though, the tornadoes that ripped through the country this spring hit here and did quite a bit of damage according to the internet articles I looked at.

We took the dink out to a neighboring boat when we got settled to find out  where to land her and after talking with them for a while we found out the stores grocery, West Marine, hardware, are strung out over about four miles in different directions.  They invited us to go to Wal Mart with them today, a half hour away.  Usually we would demure, but decided what the heck.....we need stuff....and they offered and actually getting to a Wal Mart is a treat.  There are no big shopping stores anywhere near the water anywhere we have been and only Vero Beach had the buses which made getting to them doable.

Ryan & Carrie, are a younger couple who just returned with their two teenage boys from a six month trip to the British Virgin Islands and he has "crossed the pond" (Atlantic Ocean) twice in the 13 years he has owned the sailboat.  They are here in their 'home port' for the summer and then will head out again in the fall.  They live aboard full time.  

Gary is presently in "the pool"...that's the dink after a rain......bailing! And another day begins.....

A Day on the East River

Exploring the East River and More

The Elizabeth River in Norfolk was bustling with activity.  Navy ships being overhauled everywhere, tugs running up and down the river and of course the Paddle Wheel ferry coming in and out every 40 minutes taking people to and from Norfolk.  Olde Portsmouth itself was a bit of a disappointment.  I had expected a bunch of artsy little shops near the water, but it was only restaurants and a few antique shops.  Probably 1/3 to 1/2 of the store fronts were empty and for sale.  Oh, what waste Wal Mart has wrought!

Norfolk was a lot more upscale with a Riverfront complex, that was again pretty empty, but museums, battleships to tour and a big mall right in the heart of downtown.  We spent about 4 hours there total.  We had lunch with my niece Shannon and her daughter Lyla, they are living in Suffolk which is 30 minutes from Portsmouth.  They came back to the boat and Lyla was good as gold, a future sailor for sure.

We left Portsmouth for Yorktown on Wednesday.  We got there around 3 and had enough time to take the air conditioned trolley to the air conditioned Waterman Museum.  It is really hot here.  I am talking high 90's.  We have been very uncomfortable.  We left Yorktown after deciding we weren't that interested in the Revolutionary War Museum and headed for Mobjack Bay.  

We had heard about Mobjack from Sandra & Bob whom we had met in Marathon.  It is their home port so we decided to stop in and see them and explore the area.  Mobjack Bay is between the York and Piankatank Rivers and it has four small rivers off of it.  The Severn, Ware, North and East.  The Severn, where they are, was very rural and we didn't stay to explore and went to the East on their recommendation.  We are currently anchored in the East river and yesterday dinghied the west shore up all the little creeks.  It is very picturesque and lots to see. We'll do the other shore this morning before it gets too hot an then move to the North River which is supposed to have lots of lovely old Tidewater VA homes.  

We have been suffering at night without air, the back stateroom is like an oven so last night I slept up in the V-berth under the hatch and Gary finally had to give up the comfy bed and sleep on the futon.  Our big air conditioner hasn't been working but this morning he got her going, for how long we don't know.  We just need it in the evening to cool things down so we can sleep.  

Well its off in the dink now, they're forecasting thunder storms later and we want to explore some more.

Lyla and Shannon

This was taken on Chesapeake Bay entrance to the
York River.  We have had very calm seas.

Waterman's Museum.....Yorktown, Va.

The shop at the Waterman's Museum...their were two volunteers and
they are teaching 'at risk' and mentally challenged teens boatbuilding.

Harvesting Oysters on the bay.

We learned at the Museum that this boat is called a Deadrise
A typical watermans boat on the bay.  This one was crabbing.

The Osprey have mated and are all sitting on their nests.

The dead end of one of the little creeks on the East River

The old East River Boat Shop....building or repair we don't know.

One of the few boathouses we have seen

This is a net fishing boat the big reel pulls in the nets.  Boy
did it smell fishy by that thing!!

Our Introduction to Norfolk....

If you are interested in our Navy's ships this slideshow may be for you. So either look or not

it's all boats and there were a lot of them!

June 3-5

The Dismal Swamp Canal speaks for itself.  It is mile after mile of lush green foliage and inky black water.  It is about 50 feet wide and full of dead tree stumps from the eroding shoreline.  The Corp of Engineers is not maintaining is as it should be and we hit something 6 times and Walter hit something 15 times.  Just little love taps but taken with a wince!  We were travelling at 6 mph. Our conclusion was we are glad we had gone this scenic route because with budget cuts it probably won't be passable in a few more years.  Unfortunate, since it has such rich history since the days of George Washington, the original surveyor of the canal.

We had a terribly hot day on Thursday but Friday and Saturday were cooler and wonderful. We are waiting out the rain this morning before we head through the next lock.  We travelled 15 miles yesterday and spent the night at the  Deep Creek Lock free dock.  Lovin' this free stuff!  If the rain stops we should be in or near Norfolk tonight. 

The slide show is a big one but the scenery is too beautiful to edit. Slow it down a little and you can read the captions.

Dismal Swamp Slide Show

More Bad Bugs!

Memorial Day....and what a memory we have of BUGS!!  Our beautiful calm Anchorage that had those Michigan memories for us also now holds the number one spot in our do not EVER anchor here again! We were invaded during the night by thousands of what they call Non-biting Mosquitoes.  I went on the deck after dark to take the flag down and I heard this loud humming noise.  I immediately got Gary to investigate ( I am NOT a chicken, if I know what I'm dealing with) and he found it to be loud near the bell on the back deck and said it was bugs.  Ok, I can go to sleep now, it's just bugs.  Waking up Tuesday morning was a real delight.  Stepped out the back door and could not believe my eyes they were everywhere we had to be to get moving.  

To make a very long story short, sweeping didn't work, they swarmed up, vacuuming kind of worked but its a little vacuum and there were too many, then Gary tried the air compressor, they just laughed, and finally he tried the water technique, they just would not go away.  We fought them all the way across Albemarle sound into Elizabeth City, four hours of bug wars.

When we got to the FREE (don't ya just love it) dock in Elizabeth City the guys who helped us tie up said "aha, we know where you spent last night, happened to us the night before".  We then proceeded to spend 2 hours trying to wash all the bugs and bug remains off. What fun!

Elizabeth City was an excellent stop and very popular because of the FREE DOCKS....we did laundry, got a free shuttle to the grocery store, went to their excellent Museum Of the Albemarle  (again free, a method of payment we like a lot!) and had lunch at the deli.  

We met Gwen and Walter on Idle Time who are from North Carolina and have lived on their boat for 6 years.  They have spent the last 4 summers in the Chesapeake so they are a treasure trove of information on where to go.  I like getting first hand knowledge....makes for less surprises.

Tonight we are anchored off Goat Island with Idle time, headed for the Dismal Swamp Visitors Center tomorrow, again a FREE DOCK!

Bugs!!

More BUGS

Sunrise on Albemarle Sound

Bug Close up....looks like a mosquito but at least they didn't bite.

A waste of water, not the cleanup at the dock!

http://www.thelookinglens.com/History/Dirigible-Hanger-TCom/HANGERDistance-070/92831222_vAZZ5-M.jpg
The Above is a link to a very interesting article on the historyof this blimp and hangar at Weeksville, N.C.  It was originally a Naval Blimp Base for sub attacks in WWII.
 We had seen the blimp airborne over the Sound on Memorial Day.

Elizabeth City

Anchorage at Goat Island