Wednesday August 31: Baltimore, MD

The more we read about other boater's experiences during Irene, the more fortunate we feel we are. Without some of the time lines that pushed us along the past couple of months (mostly Steve's sailboat trip with Ian - which was to start yesterday) we would have been somewhere in upstate NY or Vermont. The Erie canal that we traveled with John and Daisy is likely closed for the rest of the year and the small towns have been flooded. Vermont is a wreck as is the Champlain Canal. The picture left is of Waterford (on the Erie Canal) when we were there in June. The water here is now so high that the floating docks (the ones all of the boats are tied to) are now 2 feet ABOVE the concrete wall. The whole town is flooded. Many boats are stuck with flooding and are being told to make plans to either have their boats transported by truck or stored for the winter. What a mess.

After the ultra low water in the marina during Irene (pushed out by the constant 40 mph north winds), I was very glad that Steve had tied as many ropes as he did! We weren't getting away :-) He continues to say being on the boat during the storm was not a big deal - this from someone with a broken arm and on percocet for the duration of the winds. Right ..... anyway, by the time I got all of the ropes off it was going on 10 yesterday morning.

The day was great for traveling. We had waited an extra day in Havre De Grace as the winds were predicted to be less and from a better direction for the 50 mile run to Baltimore. It worked out well and Steve was able to ride in relative comfort. Sleeping is another issue. Baltimore is another great Chesapeake Bay destination with much industry, ships in and out and a great inner harbor. We'll visit the harbor by dinghy as we are staying at a marina about a mile away (we'll have the boat hauled to have the bottom repaired from our stump experience). Fort McHenry is one of the main tourist attractions - this it a view of it as we approached. There are some quite large ships around our dock - not sure what they are doing here.

More later this week. Rebecca arrives on Friday so it'll be a great weekend!!

Sunday August 28: Irene Wasn't the Worst of Yesterday

Last thing on the list to do yesterday before Irene came to town was to fill the water tanks. We were ready and it wasn't even noon yet! It has begun to rain a bit - nothing major but just enough to make everything - especially the dock - wet and slippery. As Steve moved to step from the dock to the boat, his foot slipped out from under him and down he goes. First hitting his shoulder on the boat and then into the water he went. Fortunately there were several guys around who hear/saw him fall and they were on the dock in a second. I was inside the cabin, heard Steve yell something and when I came outside, there he was in the water next to the boat - swimming but only with one good arm.

Long story short, one of the locals took him to the hospital (a 5 minute drive from the marina) then came back and made arrangements for me to use the marina van. What nice people are here!! So the break is at the very top of his right arm - nothing to do but use a sling and cinch to secure it to his body. No surgery or anything but it will take 4 - 6 weeks to heal. Bummer.

Back to Irene - the winds started picking up pretty quickly yesterday about 6 pm (we were back to the boat and settled in by 4). Probably 25 mph or so increasing to about 40 throughout the night. Instead of a tidal surge, the north winds were blowing all of the water OUT of the marina so the boat was much lower than anticipated. That means someone has to go out outside to check and lengthen the lines so the boat can go lower. Wind blown rain is no fun :-) The winds reached a peak about 2 am or so at something like 40 mph with gusts of ??. It finally is beginning to settle down but the winds were blowing like crazy most of this morning as well. The marina here ended up hauling 65 boats out over the last 3 days - they are EVERYWHERE on shore!! This is just a few of them lining the docks.

Next: we'll head to Baltimore either tomorrow or Tuesday where we'll likely stay at least a few weeks so Steve can heal. Not a bad place to be stuck :-)

Saturday August 27: Here She Comes!

Fortunately we are not in Irene's direct path as she has moved more to the east. And as you can see by the picture of the projected path we are a good distance west of where the path is. We of course still expect wind and rain but not as bad as farther east of here. (Double click to see a larger picture.)

But ready we are. Steve spent this morning adding more lines, tying more fenders, removing our flybridge canvas, taking off all screens and in general making sure that isn't anything that can fly around! We think we are ready!! It's actually better to be in the water after this is over since we can generate our own electricity, we have 250 gallons of water and food for a week. Probably better prepared than many folks in their homes. But then I guess we're in our home so ....

Will post pictures of how it was tomorrow ....

Friday August 26: Havre de Grace - Waiting for Irene

After a most-of-the-day rain yesterday, it is now a sunny, warm day with white puffy clouds! The preparations for Irene continue with folks out taking canvas and sails down, adding extra tie lines - in general just working to secure their boats. The marina has been very busy hauling boats out for those that choose that option. The marina guys have this cool little boat (in the picture) that they use to bring the boats to the lift to be taken out. It just ties to the front or back of the boat and pushes or pulls it along. Entertaining to watch!

The marina store (definitely going to be flooded if water goes high enough to get into the parking lot) has started moving stuff from the lower shelves just in case. We think this is a good idea because if they spend the time doing that, we won't get flooded!!

We thought about hauling the boat but it looks like the worst of it will be east of us. That will makes the winds for us to be out of the north so there shouldn't be much up here in the way of storm surge. But we are prepared with extra lines that can be lengthened if necessary. In the meantime, we're enjoying the sunshine and watching the weather channel! I also recorded the Browns game from last night but when we talked to Julie last night it didn't sound like the game was going very well :-(

More tomorrow!

Wednesday August 24: Havre De Grace, Maryland - Land of Earthquakes and Hurricanes

Ian arrived on Monday right on time! He took the Amtrak from NYC to Wilmington and then cab to the marina in Delaware City - it was a wonderful way to begin his 5 day visit. After relaxing for a bit and waiting for the current to change, we left - headed on a two hour cruise to Chesapeake City on the C & D canal which connects the Delaware Bay to the Chesapeake Bay. There was ice cream at the shop just next to the dock so at Ian's insistence, I brought a small tub of gelato back for desert. The tugs were throwing quite the waves when they went by in the night (3 or 4 of them) but the waves just served to remind us we were still on a boat :-) After a wonder sunrise (which Ian and I both slept through - only Steve was up and moving) we headed on down Chesapeake Bay.

Our destination was Havre De Grace in Maryland - on the upper shore of the Chesapeake Bay - only 23 miles. It's so nice to now be where we can find anchorages and small towns a few hours away each day instead of all day travel! Steve did start looking for the next night though as we wanted to anchor out so Ian could experience the upper Chesapeake at it's best. As for Ian, he quickly found his favorite spot: on the flybridge of course! He has a sailboat in Vancouver so being so high above the water is a new experience. I told him he will be a converted blow boater before he left us :-) The bay? Flat water again - what a nice day.

The approach to Havre De Grace is quite shallow except for the now flooded Susquehanna River bed so coming in was quite easy as the channel is well marked - no groundings here! Interesting history - again - as this region of the colonies was among the first to be settled. Here is Major General Marquis De Lafayette who named the city after La Harve in France. However, the two cities names are pronounced very differently. Rather than the French (ˌhævər dɨˈɡreɪs) the city government decreed the pronunciation to be Americanized: Hava de Grace (long a). Anyway, there is a duck decoy museum (we didn't go there) and a maritime museum that was very well done - and it had a movie about the voyages John Smith made up and down the Chesapeake looking for the northwest passage (which of course he didn't find!) so a good bonus!

So we are now back in the land of blue crabs, right? Finally, Steve managed to find a crab pot at the West Marine store about a mile from here (along with a fishing/crabbing license) while Ian and I relaxed on the boat. Of course then we found out that we are still in fresh water here (who knew?!) and the crabs are salt water! The Chesapeake doesn't turn salty until below Baltimore. Well, he'll be ready when we finally get there :-)

That was yesterday. Today we woke up with the intention of heading down the bay to the anchorage we picked out but Ian discovered his foot (which was healing nicely from an infection) had gotten worse. Not a good thing - and not something that he thought (or us for that matter) should put off getting looked at. Fortunately before we shoved off for a 6 hour cruise to Baltimore, Steve had the bright idea of "why don't we just drive there - it's only 40 miles from here?" What a brilliant idea! It really should have been mine :-) So Ian is on his way to Vancouver and we await to hear the outcome from him. He and Steve are scheduled to spend 4 weeks on Ian's sailboat cruising the waters around and north of Vancouver ... hopefully they will still be able to go.

Earthquakes and hurricanes: yes, we felt the earthquake as we were on the deck of a restaurant having a late lunch when the deck started shaking. Not as bad as the one we felt when were were in Encinitas a couple of years ago - Steve was sure it was an earthquake - me not so much. After all, how often is there an earthquake on the east coast???

Irene: well, who knows if she'll head this way but we've made the decision to stay right where we are through it all. We can tie the boat off on all 4 corners so should ride any high winds out just fine. Unless of course it really headed RIGHT for us and then we'll pack it out of here. Otherwise, all canvas will come down and we'll enjoy the ride :-)

Saturday August 20: Delaware City, DL

The second leg of the trip along the New Jersey Intercoastal was pleasant enough - just a constant watch on the depth meter even though we were traveling on a rising tide. We thought of Matt when we saw this guy on a paddleboard keeping up the the cruiser in front of him! The only thing stranger that this was the guy who was trying to surf by following a boat that putting out a large wave! Seemed kind of dangerous to me as the guy on the surfboard needed to be pretty close to the boat. Anyway, there are a zillion osprey around the marshes here - they are still fun to see.

Even though it was only just a bit over 50 miles to Cape May from Atlantic City, it was a very long day. Much of the NJ intercoastal has slow zones and there are numerous bridges (even though we were VERY fortunate to arrive at the first bridge 5 minutes before it HOURLY opening (meaning if we had missed it, we would have sat an hour to wait for the next one!). Who knew?? (Skipper Bob's info was incorrect - it's not like we didn't check the opening times!). Did I mention the intercoastal here is very shallow? And I thought we were going to make it all the way through without incident (on the trip up I ran us aground twice) - until I ran aground in the mud about 5 miles from Cape May - as the rain/thunderstorm was approaching and we are in a receding tide!!! Not what we needed. Fortunately, we were again able to spin sideways and get the aft end of the boat back into deeper water and could then back out and be on our way. This is just nerve racking travel ...... But we arrived safely at Cape May and were tied just before the rains arrived. We passed one of the main marinas in the area: packed full of sportfishing boats that go fast and put out giant waves. Cape May inlet is a favorite place to enter/leave the Atlantic because it is such a deep water port.

Today the tide and wind gods were with us as the plans were to run the 60 miles north up the Delaware Bay to Delaware City. The tides were such that we could leave at 9 am and catch the current all the way up the bay (so we averaged about 9.6 mph instead of 8.2 mph) and the winds were going the same was as the current - which is essential. As we entered the bay, it was a nice sunny day and the wind as forecast. In fact it was so calm after we were out about 2 hours that Steve decided to work on the teak!

Here are two pictures of the Ship John Shoal lighthouse: the first one is when we passed it yesterday and the second is when we passed it in June going down the Bay (that was a wild ride that day!).

We arrived at the marina here about 3:30 and has some time to relax a bit. Then went off to the music in the park (every Saturday night). A group of older guys (meaning our age :-)) were playing a wide variety of stuff. Fun to listen to until the ground got too hard! The bike ride was continued down by the waterfront as a freighter was being brought into the dock by a tugboat. All in all a great trip from New York!

Thursday August 18: Atlantic City, NJ

Once again it was an early morning leave time due to the currents. Since the current under the Verizzano Bridge can reach 2.5 mph, it was definitely worth getting up early to catch it! As we left there were some great looks at Manhattan in the sunrise.

Even at this early hour, the harbor is a busy place. A large container ship came in and there were two tugs waiting for it's arrival. A second large freighter came in next - we definitely stayed clear of it! Numerous high speed ferries completed the busy harbor. The trip itself (one of the last open water we have to make) was unbelievable! Smooth, little wind, a few large rolling waves. A perfect trip for the 30 miles to the Manasquan Inlet in New Jersey.

Skipper Bob says to give the fishing boats a wide berth when entering a harbor because they will travel with their stabilizer arms out to the side (remember the huge metal thing that crashed in the window of the boat in the Perfect Storm??) so when we entered the harbor, sure enough there was a fishing boat leaving - taking up lots of the entrance! From there we continued another 30 or so miles to Barnaget Bay. Crazy large body of water that is either 8 feet deep or 2 feet deep. We thought the anchorage Steve had picked out would be quiet and isolated because it was a Wednesday night, right? Nope. Must have been a hundred or so boats there by the time we arrived at 3 pm. Most of course left by dusk so in the end there were about 20 of us that anchored for the night. The wind was supposed to die down but it didn't so 10 mph winds most of the night. No problem with the anchor though - plus it was only 5 feet deep and a sand bottom. Perfect for a good night's sleep :-)

Somehow, this boat is getting smaller. This is the 5th day of anchoring out so we haven't been off of the boat in 5 days. Good thing we're headed for a marina tonight - I get pretty grouchy without my allotted amount of alone time :-) So Atlantic City was the destination. Again Steve found and made reservations at a great marina and we watch the city approach at a very slow rate of speed! Not only were we traveling along at 8 mph, we were zig-zagging all over the place! But we finally arrived and settled in.

Bikes off and we were headed for the Boardwalk!! We first found the Absecon Inlet lighthouse with a museum. Interesting. Steve climbed to the top of the lighthouse while I checked out the museum. This lighthouse was one of the first built by the new government agency in charge of lighthouses after in an 8 year period, 64 ships were sunk while trying to get into the Absecon Inlet. It was originally right on the ocean but land was added, buildings were built taller and pretty soon, the lighthouse was not even able to be seen from the ocean! It is no longer a working lighthouse but it's still pretty fun.

The boardwalk is huge and long. We weren't allowed to ride our bikes (only between 6 and 10 am) so we stopped at a couple of the casinos, had a sausage sandwich at one of the shops, walked briefly on the beach and called it a day. Again, it was very warm (why are we going south again??) - tomorrow more of the same is predicted. We'll head out after breakfast for Cape May and then up the Delaware Bay when the weather permits - hopefully Saturday as we are looking to meet our friend Ian on Sunday. More later ...