June 2024
Saturday June 1st
Made an egg and cheese on English muffin with a clementine for breakfast
A great start to the day. Apparently this is everyone’s favorite fishing spot. When we pulled up anchor, several fishing boats came into our location to fish.
Good breeze and a little bit wider area of this part of the Potomac, so we were able to sail a little. A smaller boat was sailing near Mt. Vernon.
Tourist boat taking visitors to Mt. Vernon.
Heading to the I-95/ I-495 Woodrow Wilson bridge.
Theoretically we have enough room for our 63’ mast.
And we're through!
We can see the Capitol and the Washington Monument in the distance. So amazing.
Passed an official looking building with a lot of satellites, yup, US Naval Research Lab.
A closer view of the Washington Monument
Anyone sailing has a much shallower draft. There is not a lot of depth in the Potomac.
Docked on the T at Capitol Yacht Club, a lovely place. We were looking forward to being tourists in DC, but unfortunately called away to Florida with both Mom and Barb in the hospital. Knowing she was safely parked here was a relief. We threw some things in a suitcase, threw out perishables that would likely perish in our absence, made friends with Tamara and Joel on Hank the Tank, who live aboard and would keep an eye on baji-naji. Took a taxi to Reagan, got a rental car (the first one we picked had an expired registration!), headed to HdG to get the Volvo, return the rental to PHL, and then home. Left Sunday in the ILX for FL. That adventure will be in land adventures
Sunday June 16th Father's Day
Did the whole thing in reverse, got a car at PHL, a nice Honda CR-V, packed it at home, dropped the Volvo at Tidewater, and headed to DC. Dropped our stuff off on baji-naji, got the AC going, turned off the fridge and returned the car to Reagan. Took the Metro back, the new tap cards cost $2 each, in addition to the $2 fare. At least there are no more paper cards to lose.
Had a delicious dinner at the Bistro Du Jour. Started with gougeres, then I had a salad with grapefruit, radishes, fennel and avocado with a lovely medium rare salmon. Dan has a salad with steak, and then a Basque cheesecake that I also enjoyed. Had a strawberry rhubarb Danish, only ate a little and brought back to the boat.
Chipped most of the ice out of the freezer, this is 1/2 melted as I filled the little sink. Put all the provisions back in the fridge. Could fit more in the freezer since it was defrosted. Left it closed up to cool back down. Settled in for the night.
Monday June 17th
Slept in until 0930, Laz was up an hour or so earlier. Chuck got here before 1000 to install the new storm track. Works better, but not the way it should. He thinks the bullets don't fit the track the way they should. The batten ones are different than the others and they work fine. He will get back to the manufacturer and see. The new jib was installed and it has battens! Also very shiny white. Spent the rest of the morning scrubbing down baji-naji. I swore I ‘d never get down on my hands and knees and scrub but there I was. Between the bird and spider poop there was a lot of dirt. And some bird's nest bits as I sprayed up the boom to try to get more out. The water pressure died mid wash, as did the electric, but came back within a few minutes. They must have been doing maintenance. Got the teak cleaner out and Laz washed the tables in the cockpit. I got all the grime under the dodger. She looks beautiful all cleaned up. Filled both water tanks, added 15 ml of bleach to the forward tank, not to the aft which was 1/2 full. Ran to get sandwiches at Grazie Grazie and got a coconut milk green tea with chia seeds at E-tea. Their logo is an alien (ET phone home). Back to baji-naji for lunch.
Saw this shop when I went to get lunch. The text is “I make the whole world shimmer”. They had some T.Swift merch but I didn't see anything I wanted for Jacqui. Or myself.
Saw these sleek looking boats when I walked back, likely related to the Clipper Race. While I was getting lunch, Laz put the new low friction rings on the mast for reefing. Chuck enlightened him as to proper use of some rings on the mast. Enjoyed our lunch in the cockpit, a nice Italian sub. Left the docks at 1420. Motored much of the way.
Bye bye DC! Hope to come back and be a tourist a different time.
Passed a paddlewheel boat and a tall ship, the Providence in Alexandria.
Made it under the I-95/I-495 bridge again. Looks like a close encounter doesn't it?
Passed a fancy neighborhood called Arcturus! Texted a picture to Ben ❤️
Finally able to sail where the wind angle and the width and depth of the Potomac allowed. The new jib looks great and seems to perform well. We need the boat-speed sensor working before we can evaluate it properly.
Osprey hanging around various marks.
New jib works great!
Anchored in our spot just off the channel in Mattawoman Creek and made corned beef hash and an egg for dinner.
Enjoyed the lovely breeze, sunset and moonrise. Still quite warm in the cabin, so turned on the generator and AC for the night. Heading to the Wicomico tomorrow, a long day.
Tuesday June 18th
Up at 0730 as it is a long way to our next anchorage. Pulled anchor and away by 0820, motored a fair bit. Wind seemed to be 5+ kts, always on our nose, which made for a nice breeze. Current was with us til ~1300. Had lunch that I bought yesterday at Grazie Grazie, this time a turkey and bacon sandwich with honey mustard. Got to sail a few times when the wind was favorable, but then it would fade.
Approaching the 301 Bridge. Wonder if anyone we know saw us. Still a freaky coincidence that Kevin Meechin saw us last time!
After the bridge both waves and wind picked up. We sailed along Colonial Beach, but then the wind picked up to >15 kts. Don't know exactly what, as the speed gauge is not working, but apparently was spicy. Headed towards the Maryland shore and reefed the main to reef 1. At some point between wind and waves it was really choppy and banging so we furled the jib. Headed into the Wicomico which cut off the wave chop and anchored off St. Margaret Island on the Eastern side of the Wicomico.
Looks a little bit like anchoring off Charles Island in Milford CT, but a lot less populated. Wind is still blowing, with a chance of gusts to 20, so we put out 10:1 on our anchor line. Currently we are in 12 ft of water. It drops to 2 ft rather quickly near the shore and the island. Read and had chips and salsa and a little bag of kettle popcorn.
Pan fried burgers with cheese for dinner. Dan had gherkins instead of carrots. Finished with some lovely cherries.
Tonight's lovely sunset over Cobb Island and moonrise over St. Margaret’s.
Magical to watch a great blue heron fly over at dusk. Tomorrow we are heading to the Virginia side of the Potomac, visiting the McDermott’s who live up Nomini Creek.
Wednesday June 19th Juneteenth
Not a long sail to Nomini Creek so we took advantage of the time and slept til 0830
Made French toast with Becky's bacon and a small omelet. I figured out why the omelets have been coming out so salty, it's the bacon grease I add to the pan for flavor. Beautiful breeze in the cockpit. A bit of a wide open spot for anchoring but so lovely.
Been a while since a sailing selfie, this was just the place to do it.
Lots of good breeze so we decided to sail a bit, so as not to arrive before 1400. Apparently the second red into Nomini Creek from Nomini Bay is not in the right place. It was pretty shallow following the reds, down to 5.6 feet, with lots of crab pots, but I carefully and slowly picked my way through back to the channel. Arrived at the McDermott's dock at just about 1430.
Dan and Bob (aka Rob as per Claudia) at the dock. Spent the afternoon and evening catching up on the last several years. Of course Claudia put out too much food: fruit, cheese and crackers then dinner. We went back to baji-naji to clean up before dinner, sluice the grime of sailing and sunscreen off.
A beautifully laid table with caprese salad, chicken Milanese, Sicilian eggplant, roasted broccoli and potatoes, Caesar salad and bread. Followed by peach pie and gelato. I had trouble falling asleep as I ate more than usual. Wow. Food was as good as the conversation. Did not get back to baji-naji until 11pm! Ran the generator for 1/2 hour for the AC to cool it down. After that the evening air was cool enough. Unfortunately on the dock we weren't facing into the wind as we would at anchor, but still a lovely sleeping temperature.
Thursday June 20th Summer Solstice
Up at 0830, breakfast with the McDermott's. Excellent coffee, too many carbs and not enough complex ones. I chose an English muffin with butter and orange marmalade over coffee cake or Danish. So nice to spend time with Bob and Claudia. Off to baji-naji at 11am and off the dock shortly thereafter. Nice breeze 3-5kts once in Nomini Bay, and we sailed across. We were unable to tell the true wind as the speed meter is still not working. Likely need a new unit.
Saw a lovely Cabo Rico or Packet which we kept up with and then passed. They sailed into St. Clement's or Breton Bay. We tacked away. Wind was S SE so knew we would have to tack. It continued to build through the day.
Looked aft (SW) we saw a rainbow in the sky! Learned it was called a fire rainbow from Justin Berke’s page (a meteorologist). So pretty. Wind built to 13-15kts, so life vests on and spicy tacking. Finally furled the jib and motor sailed with the main, trying to hold a decent angle to avoid slamming on the waves. Got to Point Lookout Marina by 1800, not quite in time for my original 1815 reservations. Luckily I had changed them to 1930.
View from the dock remains stunning. Walked the 1/2 mile to Pier 450 POV restaurant.
Had the cucumber gimlet mocktail, which was crushed cucumber, fresh lime, simple syrup and club soda. It was too sweet to start but much better when more club soda was added. The tablecloths were Marimekko, have not seen those in a while.
Most excellent crab balls and hush puppies, a lovely share with 2 of each for each of us.
I had very good shrimp tacos and Laz had an exquisite grilled lamb dish with blackberry glaze, smoky mashed potatoes and perfectly cooked veggies. I enjoyed some of it too, and brought home a taco.
Sunset happened just before dessert. Gorgeous.
So full I could not finish my chocolate cake. Laz managed to finish his blackberry cobbler. Brought home some asparagus soup and crab and roasted corn soup, in addition to the leftovers.
Full moon over the corn fields and sunset view as we walked back to the marina.
baji-naji at the dock, sunset from the Marina and the full moon over the marina. Solstice means we could enjoy the day at its fullest. Off to the Solomon's tomorrow. Stinky hot this weekend so looking for power for AC. Would love to anchor out but maybe not this weekend or upcoming week.
Friday June 21st
Up at 0815, Tess’s scones for breakfast with coffee. Needed fuel, the gauge read 3/4, which is really 1/2 tank due to tapered bottom. Needed 21.4 gallons, so reading correctly, hurray! Got 0.59 gal/hour including generator time. Actual engine is closer to 0.7gal/hour. Off the fuel dock by 0920 or so. Fox soccer did not broadcast the 0900 game, boo, hiss. Good breeze straight away. Motor sailed to round Point Lookout, then were surprised to see it was only 15 miles to the Solomon's.
Able to sail the rest using the barber haulers on the code-0 when needed.
The Balsa was moving quickly and Laz joked that it was light.
The Palm Coast (first pix) and Island Lookout seemed on a collision course, but not really.
Hooper island light in the distance. Made good time to the Patuxent on a beam reach and sailed in on an excellent downwind into the Patuxent. Have never been upriver so thought we'd give it a whirl.
Lovely view of the Solomons area we usually walk, and the Pier restaurant.
Always fun to look at us sailing under a bridge. This is the bridge from the Solomon's to St. Mary's county.
Very pretty Sabre 42, Kailani, motor sailed past us. Love the sign that says “Honoring those with Cancer”. Thought of Barb who is getting round 2 of chemo today and texted her a picture. It is quite beautiful up river.
Saw a cow nosed ray come quite close to the starboard stern. I was too busy watching it before I remembered to get a picture. Lovely and headed towards the bridge. So pretty and quite deep here, no wonder people come up river to anchor.
Spring Cove Marina selfie. A cute marina. Went to the poolside bar for a virgin Pina colada that was more of an orange colada. But still cold enough for the ice cream headache and refreshing. Quick shower then our first Boji ride this season to get dinner. Could have asked for a shuttle ride, but more fun to take the dinghy.
No cleats for the dinghy, but we had a young boy help tie it around the piling, and then I secured it when I got out. Turns out our table was just above Boji.
Split a spinach salad with excellent house made ranch. I had lobster roll, totally missed there were 2 rolls per serving, one was plenty! Laz had a boom boom shrimp wrap and key lime pie for dessert.
Sunset from Boji.
baji-naji at dock at dusk. Chatted with a nice couple who are on a sailboat there as we came back from taking out garbage and recycling. Headed to bed shortly thereafter as we've a long run from Solomon's to Annapolis tomorrow.
Saturday June 22
Up before 0800, Laz walked up to get rid of the recycling boxes from the take out for lunch. We were off the dock before 0900.
Passed the dredger thing on our way out.
Motor sailed much of the way out the Patuxent, then excellent wind behind us. Able to use the barber haul to make 150°on the code-0. At one point it made more sense to go wing and we were able to do 180° at 4-5 kts with wind of 8-10 kts. Lovely! Unfortunate accident when we decided to bring the code-0 back to the other side and point up: my foot got tangled in the active sheet and got yanked up and my ankle was being cut by the lifeline. Luckily no permanent damage after I shouted out to stop.
There was a line of 4 tug boats, two Morans and two McAllisters, with the first one with a plume of water behind it. Quite a cute parade.
Passed Cove Point Lighthouse. It was hot today, supposedly over 95°. We definitely kept the whole bimini for shade and kept hydrating. Listened to two group stage Euro matches. Not quite as good as watching them but always fun.
Away we go! Until there was a weird shift/gyre just off the delivery Depot and we found ours going backwards! Put the engine on to get out of it.
Had a passenger for a while on the lazy jacks. It was startled and flew off when we had to gybe. We were able to sail as the wind picked up nicely to 15-18kts from the S and saw a sustained 8.5kts over ground while surfing. Unfortunately the speedometer is still not working. Laz has talked with John Lavelle, but the troubleshooting is more complicated than we would do while underway. Had lunch, the leftover lobster roll for me, and a smoked ham and turkey on ciabatta for Laz.
Passed Thomas Point light at a fast clip, then managed to keep the large tankers to starboard. Even saw a cruise ship coming out of Baltimore. Glad the channel is back to normal, even if traffic is not, after the Key Bridge disaster.
The Artemis up close and personal.
Sailed almost all the way to Back Creek, with a few others coming in. We took our sails down and motored into Back Creek. Danced with a small J that was tacking in front of us as well as some SUP paddlers. On F3 around the back, docked baji-naji stern in, in 10kts apparent wind. Got her in the slip first try. Had a neighbor help us with the aft lines. Laz needed to use boat hook and I helped with bow thruster to get the line on the port bow piling. All tucked in by 1800. Filled the aft water tank and added 10ml or so of bleach.
Went for a walk along the dock then up and around Bert Jabin's and came back to baji-naji for dinner. Had gotten takeout from Lighthouse last night of a turkey, provolone, tomato, spinach sandwich on ciabatta with pesto and balsamic. Sweet and sour cucumber dill salad and their house made chips to complete the meal.
baji-naji at sunset, and a close up of an interesting cloud lit up by the setting sun. Last sprint for Tidewater tomorrow.
Sunday June 23rd
Decided against getting breakfast at Black Market Cafe in Port Annapolis. Will come back another time. We were concerned about the increasing winds and potential thunderstorms in the evening so wanted to get going. Off the dock by 0930. Breezy as soon as we left Back Creek. The wind was from the SE and we put up our main and unfurled the code-0 when we were clear of traffic coming out. Unfortunately there was a strong gust as we were unfurling the code-0 and the line wrapped around multiple times. Took quite a while for me to untangle, while hanging out from the bowsprit in strong wind and seas. Belatedly realized I should have had my life jacket on. Got it sorted out and we sailed towards the Bay Bridge. Hailed a boat aptly named Luffing Out Loud to let them know their AIS/GPS icon/compass was 90° off and they did not much care as it was a charter. They didn't answer the radio until we were right next to them and asked them to use the VHF. Sigh.
Luff Out Loud’s jib luffing on our starboard. We were trying to gauge if the large tanker coming towards us would mean we needed to take a different opening under the bridge, but the tanker was moving quickly enough that it was not an issue.
We realized as we got closer that it was not only a Borg ship, but a wagon full of Borg, which is scary if you are a Star Trek fan. We made it past and under the bridge without assimilation or incident.
Boji did well with the wind and waves. Laz saw 3-4 foot waves at one point. With the speed gauge still not working, we guessed a true wind of up to 18kts. We were able to get all the way past the Sassafras with just a few gybes, as the wind changed in our favor. We could have sailed right down the channel to HdG, but Laz saw a storm coming in fast from Baltimore on the radar. We had missed the previous storms, only getting sprinkles of rain. We decide to take down the sails and motor down the channel. As it turned out, we could have sailed in, as the storm flew past just in front of us. Got into dock around 1800. Planned to stay the night at Tidewater. Took a walk around and introduced ourselves to Shirl and Lee on Miss Conduct ll, the motorboat in the first slip on the starboard side as you enter our fairway. Also met a nice young man on a 31’ Beneteau who is planning a year long voyage starting in the fall with his wife and two kids age 4 and 6.
Crab and roasted corn chowder and asparagus soup plus leftover applewood smoked ham and turkey sandwich for dinner, along with the bread that came with the soups from Pier 450 POV. I also baked some sourdough rolls. With air conditioning working at the dock, it was fine to use the stove and oven! We left the packing and organizing for tomorrow.
Monday June 24th
Slept in and made fresh baked croissants with red berry jam and hard boiled eggs for breakfast. Packed up clothes, stowed and cold provisions, while keeping an inventory of what remains on baji-naji. Got it loaded in the wagon and headed to Bomboys to restock chocolate. Laz got an orange pineapple milkshake to go (surprisingly delicious to me and not too sweet), and we got a chicken Caesar wrap with fries from Nonnie's to eat in the car. Back home to sort, do laundry and regroup.
Items to be worked on include the electrical panel and the speed and temperature gauge, which may be an electrical issue. Will also need to adjust the lazy jacks for the wear spots and where they are cleared.
