May 2024
Thursday May 16
Laz inflated Boji on the back deck and replaced the old torn D rings with the new ones. A heat gun, special glue and patience were required, especially as there was unpredicted rain.
Our new electrical panel, can't wait to have it installed!
Friday May 17th
We've now had baji-naji for four years, we brought her back to Tidewater four years ago today. Laz deflated Boji and we brought the dinghy down to marina, reinflate and put her on the bow.
It was nice to see the bimini back in place with a good patch. I drained the forward water tank and put in fresh water (no added bleach) as the water was still coming out foamy. Did not yet drain the aft tank again. Filled the holding tank with water, hoping to desludge it. Will need to take it for pump out when we return. Fridge was working well, had to chip a wee bit of ice from the freezer door. Stowed the code-0 and managed to squeeze the new step stool in . The lazarette is getting crowded! Put away the toolboxes and did a dry fit of the new electrical panel (it should fit)
Added bonus, there was a Cousins Maine Lobster food truck at Market St. Brewery just outside the marina gates. I had a lovely lobster roll (Maine style, cold with a little mayo and fresh lemon on a toasted buttered roll) and Laz has lobster grilled cheese. I also had a cup of the excellent New England Clam Chowdah.
Continuing our prep for the journey up the Potomac, we brought home the guidebooks.
Sunday May 19
Went to Misconduct Tavern in the morning for the last Premier League games of the season. At the Arsenal tavern where Laz is member of the Philly Arsenal fan club (600+ strong, tripling their membership this year) and we have made many friends thereIt's a lot of fun to cheer on a team in a packed pub with fellow fans who have become friends. Walked a couple of miles to pick up Alice pizza and a chocolate raspberry cake, then back to the house to pack up for the voyage ahead.
Had a great time listening to Jungle Junior podcast on our way to the marina. The 5/18 podcast was in response to listener emails (Grandma's) and Jungle Jr and Ditto discussed the current draft class for the Bengals.
As usual, I brought lots of provisions, and was able to fit them all in the fridge and freezer without much spare room. Laz went back to the house for the box of all our shoes that he forgot. By the time he was back I had my clothes, toiletries, dry goods, sodas and a case of S.Pell stowed. I also drained the aft water tank. When I first turned on the shower, pink came out, even though I had it on for a while previously. Hmm. Chuck O'Malley came by to install a new storm track. Got to say hi to Johnny on the Byng for a hot second. She was still on the hard. He had done touch up sanding and bottom paint all day.
It was getting late so I heated up our pizzas while Chuck and Laz were puzzling over the fact that the new track has the cars got stuck in the same spot. I ate my zucchini and ricotta pizza as it was almost 9p, and when Laz and Chuck were done, Laz had his broccoli and sausage pizza.
Chocolate raspberry cake for dessert!
Collapsed into bed after the long day. Off to wherever we get tomorrow.
Monday May 20th
Awakened at 0700 by the sound of something being placed on our deck on the starboard side. Tried to go back to sleep, but birds chirping kept us up. Turns out the chopper guy put our step stool on the deck as it was dangling overboard. Got up and made fried egg and cheese sandwiches on English muffins, mine with spinach and avocado and Dan's with spinach. Yum.
Used my new manual coffee grinder; works great! Thanks to the kids ❤️☕
Had one of the great blue herons fishing right next to baji-naji.
We watched Pride of Baltimore II leave Tydings Park and head down the HdG channel around 8:55am. Beautiful! And fast.
Chores done: aft water tank filled, bubble wrap placed under the spare propane tank, Dan got Boji in the water. The Byng was splashed!
Headed to the fuel dock to drop the swim platform so we could put the 30# bag of marble chips in the stern of Boji. Hopefully that will keep it down so we don't have any turtling or swamping. Laz put a different configuration for the towing line to see if that will help, with the line going to the metal part of the transom, and he put the oars on.
We were off the fuel dock before 11am; that's what happens when you get up at 0730.
No barges out today. Motored down the channel and put up the main after passing the last green. Wind was light and building and tide was with us. By Still Pond, the wind was definitely up and we pulled out the jib and sailed. Laz used the autopilot based on wind angle and we tried the auto tacking, which was a nice slow tack, allowing for solo jib handling. Nifty!
The wind was good 5+ kts and we were pretty efficient, getting 3.8 kts of speed in 5.2 kts of wind. Glad we had the barrier coat and bottom paint done properly this spring.
Laz heard a squeaky sound at the mast where the boom comes in and went to investigate. He couldn't figure out where the noise was coming from. It sounded like a bunch of swallows, but that seems unlikely. I went to investigate and agreed, it sounded like swallows calling. I finally looked down the boom and found a nest!
The sound is hungry chicks. No wonder there was so much debris and bird poop on the foredeck! Since we were well past Still Pond, not turning back, we decided to remove the nest after we anchored. Had a lovely sail to Worton. Wind softened to almost nothing around 3:30p, so we started the engine and furled the jib. Anchored in our favorite spot on the North side by 4pm. Next to deal with our stowaways.
Found a plastic container previously used for provisions, lined with paper towels, and took the kitchen tongs to remove much of the nest, before I could no longer reach the rest. Laz thought we could use the batten from the sail bag to gently push the nest forward. A little complicated to get the batten out, but we didn't drop it in the water. With Laz pushing a few times, I was able to use the tongs and pull out the rest of the nest.
There were four chicks, all with their little mouths open for food. My neonatologist heart cried while my brain searched for a solution. I tried to feed them no seeums in a spider web but they could not figure it out. They are loud! I was so upset that we sailed away from their parents who are likely back at Tidewater, but they would have no chance in the boom, and we are not turning back.
To add video of chicks here
We got Boji set to go and brought them over to the land. Google told me that natural nests are dug into vertical dirt walls and we had several cliffs to choose from. Laz found a likely spot and dug a nice hole. We transported them and put their nest in what we hope is a safe place. I hope another mama bird will find and adopt them.
The nest is tucked in just behind us on the hillside
View of baji-naji from the nest
The nest is marked by the two sticks
Found a tree trunk serving as a mushroom farm
We took Boji for a ride out for a bit then came back to baji-naji.
I used my 1/4 sheet baking pan to roast zucchini and asparagus after baking a couple of sourdough rolls in the oven. I then seared filet mignon in my All Clad pan, sauteed mushrooms in the same pan as the filet was cooking and we enjoyed a lovely dinner.
Spectacular Worton sunset as always.
Beautiful moonrise as well. Tomorrow we are off beyond the Bay Bridge. At least as far as South River and maybe farther.
Tuesday May 21st
Slept in til 0820 or so. Yogurt with granola and blueberries for me and chocolate raspberry rugelach for Laz. Had my favorite Cumbras del Poas Black Honey process beans paired with Gryphon’s LaFinca decaf beans. So nice to be able to grind fresh on board. Heard the bald eagles chittering, but didn't see one right away. Brought up the anchor at 0915 and motored the first 45 min as we were going into the wind, and we needed to charge the batteries anyway.
Sails up and engine off at 1000. So nice! Had great wind with average of 10kts initially, then building through the day to 12-14. We had to tack, since it was mostly S, but we had great long runs averaging over 6kts boat speed in 10kts wind and up to 7kts boat speed when it was averaging 12 kts wind. Plus at some point the tide was with us.
Bay Bridge ahead, and in the distance we could see container ships and tankers! So nice to see. They have done an amazing job reopening Baltimore's port quickly and safely. It was so odd not to see these large ships anchored off Annapolis last month. We motor sailed under the bridge as the wind was on our nose.
Business getting back to usual on the Bay ❤️
We were lucky enough to see the Blue Angels practicing for their show tomorrow. They are amazing!
I have some amazing video of the Blue Angels flying which will be inserted when we are on the laptop
Also some great video showing how fast we were sailing! We decided to go all the way to Herrington Harbor South since we were making such good time. Arrived about 1745, had the T on C dock all to ourselves. Glided in perfectly alongside but the person helping us didn't tie the midship line tight enough so our stern drifted out with the wind. Laz got it straightened out and we brought Boji aft and secured her with the aft line from the port stern. I spent some time trying to figure out how to get the sea temperature corrected on our Raymarine as it reads 104°. Pretty sure that's wrong. Laz ended up sending a message to tech support.
We both tried different entrees at Ketch-22. Started with the deviled eggs which are always excellent there. I had rockfish over quinoa, roasted brussel sprouts and squash and Laz had shrimp over cavatappi with a light pesto sauce. Chocolate Smith Island cake for dessert!
baji-naji at dock with sunset in the background.
Across the channel with boats and sunset
Full moon night. Heading to the Solomon's tomorrow, maybe farther if we can do it.
Wednesday May 22
Got up just before 0800 prepared to make a quick breakfast and get on our way. On the way back from a quick trip to the shore head, I saw a woman going onto the beautiful Hanse on our dock and I said good morning. She replied and we starting chatting. Her husband came up from below decks. They just took delivery of this boat a week ago. It's a 38’ similar to ours named Mawaena, Hawaiian for “between”, which they interpret as life between beginning and end. Turns out they are from Oahu, living in Asheville, NC with Herrington Harbor South as their home port now. Kevin and Ellen Meechan. As we chatted more, turns out Kevin was a member of Waikiki Yacht Club and knew Gil Budar very well and remembers Lee from when she was a little girl!
I called Laz over and we toured Mawaena, chatting the whole time and then invited them to check out baji-naji. They are both lovely people and I was thrilled to find the spirit of Aloha on this part of the Bay. What are the odds we would run into friends of Lee and her Dad on our dock? Crazy small world. Since they are more than competent sailors, I asked them to help with lines and we were off the dock at 0958, an hour after intended. But what a fun hour! I texted Lee a picture of us, turns out she is at Gil’s graduation from Towson. A happy day.
Ellen texted me a picture of us as we left. We exchanged chirps with this mama osprey as we exited the channel for Herrington Harbor South. Put our sails up as soon as we cleared the last green just outside the marina channel, and off we went.
Lovely breeze 12-14 kts, unfortunately from the direction we wanted to go. A nice steady breeze though, so we had some nice long tacks across the Bay.
A pretty cove on the Western shore. Wind continued to pick up and the waves were now 2-3 ft so we decided to put in one reef and put our life jackets on
Some fast sailing, even with one reef. I saw us steadily at 7.5 kts for a good spell.
One poor dragonfly was so exhausted it rested out of the wind behind the clear for the jib furler and the spinaker line block. When we tacked, it was startled and flew off, but had a nice long ride with us before then.
Will insert video of us going along fast with the dragonfly resting
It became clear with the wind now 13-15kts steady and still from the direction we wanted to go, that maybe we should try to furl the jib and motor sail. Laz went for a nap below as I navigated the big waves the best I could. Hard to keep us from crashing down with the short periodicity of the larger waves.
Got some nice pix of Cove Point Lighthouse (not easy when you're rocking and rolling by yourself in the cockpit)
Saw the Rock Hall a large tug pushing some kind of working barge
And something from Grimaldi Lines, made me wonder if it was from Monaco. Gran something was the name.
Once we passed Drum Point, we were able to sail again, so we pulled out the jib and went flying into the Patuxent, kinda like those jets we see flying overhead.
Had this fast boat zing by us when we got a little farther in…Wed night races!
Most excellent to dodge and weave among them as they got ready for the start. Took down our sails and headed in. Has reserved a mooring ball at Safe Harbor Zahniser's.
Laz has slight fever 99.7° and a sort of scratchy throat so it was a grilled cheese and tomato soup kind of night.
Such a nice breeze in the cockpit and lovely view from our mooring. Heading into the Potomac tomorrow.
Thursday May 23rd
Meant to get up early and go, but slept in until 0930. Dan had a fever of 101° at 0730 and I fell back asleep after getting him some Tylenol. He then had the fever break, back to 99.2° so I thought a good breakfast was in order. Made scrambled eggs with mushrooms, spinach and cheddar, served with English muffins with butter and jam for Laz and avocado on one jam on the other for me. We really like this jam, it is Red Fruit jam from Bonne Maman, with strawberries, cherries, raspberries and red currants. Took a look at the weather, and no rain forecast for the day so we set out at 11am for the Potomac. Good wind 8-9kts behind us so brought out the code-0. Well, the good wind did not last out the Patuxent, so we motored quite a bit.
Saw some of the jets out of the Patuxent Naval Air Base. It was funny at one point because Laz saw a pelican flying and heard but did not see the jet, so it looked like the pelican made the jet sounds.
Passed the Point No Point Lighthouse looking lonely in the middle of nowhere. Saw the Robert Lee again on one of his many runs up and down the Bay
Wind picked up enough to put out the code-0 for a little while, then switched direction to be from exactly where we wanted to head. Classic.
This pelican did not come with a jet sound, it was preening
I wish I could scratch my back that way!
It is just lovely at the mouth of the Potomac. The wind went away, so we took down the main and furled the code-0 and motored up Smith Creek. The second cove on the left, which we had hoped to take was occupied by the trawler that passed us, so we went back to the first cove on the left.
This osprey glared balefully from one of the marks, it didn't want us getting its fish.
A stunning and peaceful spot. You could hear the chatter at Point Lookout Marina carry across the water intermittently, but the sound of the great blue heron squawking, the osprey chattering and other birds singing was the predominant music. Saw a cow nose ray come up just on our port stern then swim across our bow and head on hunting for its food. Happy to have found such a beautiful spot. Thunderstorms predicted for tonight or rain at the very least, so we have plenty of scope out and are anchored in nice mud.
Laz is still under the weather with fever of 101.5° back and I'm not feeling too swift either, although no fever.Tomorrow we may head up St. Mary's or just go over to Point Lookout Marina.
Friday May 24th
Easy like a Sunday Morning, except it's Friday. Slept in a little as we did not have far to go.
Our beautiful view from the cockpit during casual breakfast. Greek yogurt, blueberries, coconut chunks and granola for me, a brownie for Laz. I have a serious lack of breakfast pastries which I need to fix. Dan still has a mild fever of 100.5° and a runny nose but is feeling a bit better.
That thing that looks like a branch is a heron who flew up and perched, squawking the whole time. Hilarious. Osprey were on a different tree talking to us too.
Broke the streak after 4 years and 4 months. Since we had dinner reservations, I thought we should rest. Double pink = no fun.
To cheer ourselves up, we decided to go for a short sail before the thunderstorm was due, then bunk at the Point Lookout Marina (only $78 for the night including electric!) Great wind 8-10 kts out of the S, had the code-0 out.
Saw the storm front approaching so furled then headed back into Smith Creek, turned starboard for Jutland Creek and dropped the mainsail. We were given our choice of spots on a nice long dock, chose a starboard tie midway on the dock with our female dock master giving us a more experienced hand than the guy at Herrington Harbor South.
After checking in at the office, took a walk around the docks and saw this beautiful pup.
Went to the restaurant Salt Kitchen and got a delicious double smash burger for Laz and a fried chicken hand held for me. Fries were nice and salty and I have 1/2 a chicken sandwich for another day. Laz refilled the water tank as I ordered and waited for lunch . He also washed out the boom, to try to remove any further nesting material. Made a bit of a mess on the companionway and in the galley as those hatches were not closed. Easily remedied with a towel.
Salt has nice outdoor seating overlooking the water so we thought we might be able to dine outside later. It started raining as we ate lunch, so we put up the dodger and ate in the cockpit enjoying watching the weather.
The sun came out later, quite a beautiful change from the earlier overcast and rain.
I haven't taken pictures of the cabin before and this shows off the main cabin with lovely seating, the galley and the walk in shower, tall enough everywhere (except doorways) for Laz.
Tried for a sunset picture on the dock in front of baji-naji but all I got was us.
Had a nice nap then headed to Salt Kitchen to see if they could seat us outside for dinner. View from our seats, away from everyone.
Delectable fried Potomac oysters for me, so fresh, with excellent cocktail sauce, followed with carrot soup with cumin, coriander and a dollop of sour cream. Laz had honey BBQ shrimp lettuce wraps and a chicken Caesar salad. We took home a raspberry Nightingale ice cream sandwich and a carrot cake for another time. We remember those ice cream sandwiches fondly from last year's trip down the Bay.
Saw a lovely sailboat coming in, sailing through the narrow tricky channel which was impressive.
So many lovely sunset photos to choose from. Nice end to the day. Will sail up to St. Mary's River and hopefully the college tomorrow. Would love to walk around outside the college.
Saturday May 25th
Woke up at 0920 feeling lousy. Had some yogurt for breakfast and figured sailing would help. Did not get very far as a thick fog rolled in.
Can't see it too well in this photo, but you can see some mist.
We put on the FA cup game at 10 after we got back to the dock. Manchester United v Manchester City at Wembley. I was expecting a good old fashioned shellacking by City. Imagine my shock when Garnacho scored the first, followed by Coby Mainoo in the first half! Listened to the second half with trepidation as no one makes better 1/2 time adjustments than Pep Guardiola. Doku scored for City, making it a tense last 10+ minutes. Final whistle and Man U did it! Pretty sure I let out a big whoop before remembering how noise carries over water.
Laz was kind enough to fly the Man U burgee for me.
Still feeling achy despite Tylenol, I don't think it was the ridiculously hard work raising the main yesterday. I managed it all by myself, but it is much worse than last year. I'm now an official member of the Lollipop guild. Avoided it for all this time and here we both have it. Must have been Misconduct or someone at Alice pizza. Sigh.
The fog burned off so we headed out just before the FA cup final was done. Cruised up Smith Creek, which is quite pretty. There are several other great spots to anchor. Sailing makes everything better (at least for us) and the good news is that Laz is afebrile today. We sailed across to Virginia and back doing 7+ kts in less than 10kts of wind. Lovely.
Had a small roast beef roll up for lunch then took Boji out for a ride to St. Mary's college. We found a lovely place to anchor baji-naji up river from the college.
First stop, the Maryland Dove. Then to the docks at the St. Mary's River center. Had a lovely walk around the grounds of the college. Nothing open so could not reprovision, but there were open bathrooms at the River Center. Refilled my water bottle.
These were beautiful trees lining one of the walks
Found a reproduction of a home built in 1676.
Back to baji-naji for a simple dinner of Panera’s broccoli cheddar soup and a Talula's cheddar stuffed baguette.
Nice sunset over the house and dock. There was a house party on the lawn earlier today but quiet this evening. Not going far tomorrow, just to Dennis Point Marina on Carthagena Creek off Smith Creek.
Sunday May 26th
Rough night with fever and chills. Luckily Laz has remained fever free and is feeling better but by no means 100%. 0/5 would not recommend this Covid thing to anyone, although we seem to be among the last of our friends to get it.
Hard to be too upset with a view like this for morning coffee. We ran out of milk, so drank it black, which was fine with the lovely fresh ground Costa Rican Cumbras del Poas Black Honey.
Laz saw this great blue heron catch a fish and eat it. I didn't have my phone camera out for that, so just let the bird enjoy breakfast.
Motored back out Smith Creek, passing this sailing club along the way. Not sure if everyone was still at church or what but it was quiet down the river. Also noticed that our speed gauge was showing - - - and no numbers.
Got to Dennis Point Marina and Campground and it was a truly odd experience. They did not answer on VHF so I had Laz call on the cell phone. They did answer that, and a young lady came out and helped us to find the well hidden fuel dock. We put in 17.96 gallons of diesel for 28 or so hours of use (0.6 hours per gallon). There was no VHF. She told us which slip we would be in and helped us in, but was honest and said she started 4 days ago and knew nothing about tying lines to a piling, and was happy to learn. I showed her on the short aft line and had Laz give her more of a lesson on the dock. Thanks goodness we were outside as I probably shouldn't have been talking to her at all. Gave her our standard dock hand tip of $5 and encouraged her to keep learning. We headed to their marine office and store and did not find milk. Luckily their restaurant had outdoor seating and I had spicy gumbo soup and a salad. Our waitress brought me two small salad dressing containers of milk for my coffee in the am. We put the AC on on the cabin and I tried to nap, but was up for the battery alarm, with loss of power to lights and fridge etc. After a look around, we found a battery master switch turned off. I must have turned one of them off by accident when I climbed into our bunk. No real problem, everything works, batteries and electric are fine, but there was no napping after that! Read a Jack Reacher book instead (Without Fail) that was really good, with no stopping places. Power cycles the navs but the speed gauge still reading - - - :(
Laz went to get a broiled seafood dinner for take out with hush puppies and a vegetable crab soup. Did not have much appetite but what I ate was tasty.
Not much of sunset due to the cloud cover. Storm front incoming with small craft warnings until 6p tomorrow evening.
Monday May 27 Memorial Day 🇺🇲
Slept in, no fever overnight but plenty of coughing and a little inhaler use. The rain apparently waited for me to wake up before starting. Decided to make a hot breakfast since we would be inside anyway.
Hard boiled farm eggs with smoked sea salt and fresh ground pepper to dip in, fresh baked croissant with the red fruit jam. And coffee. Rain seemed to let up after breakfast so we decided to go for a short walk.
The skies were ominous but I thought we'd have a half hour or so.
I was wrong. We got drenched.
Back aboard where the Bimini was dumping water because of the deluge. Since we were wet anyway, we decided to get proper showers and walk later.
This skipjack was in rough shape but looks like it may be undergoing some renovation.
There was an osprey nest just ahead of the bowsprit and the osprey was not happy to see us. Walked along the docks and met the owner of a Nonesuch who has this as his home marina. He confirmed it was just bought by a new person last year, who is working hard to make upgrades.
Apparently this one was too small for the osprey.
A beautiful wooden boat under wraps in the boat yard. We met a couple working on their Dolphin (Siren), new to them. It's more of a performance catamaran and they are hoping to take her to Bermuda, the Bahamas and Caribbean this fall. They are getting to know all her systems. They have a small dog, Ginger, who is nearly blind and deaf but still sniffing around well. Back to baji-naji for me to lie down and read/take a nap and Laz to do some computer work.
A nice Usingers all beef frank for dinner, with mustard and relish, classic for Memorial Day. A lot of brave men and women have given their lives so that we can enjoy our freedom.
After dinner walk as the sun was setting. Walked over to the campground area where there were many RVs, some looked semi permanent and possibly a summer home. A few folks were out enjoying the brisk evening breeze.
A small path takes you to the water with a great sunset view, including a large two masted wooden sailboat and an osprey flying overhead
On the way to the water’s edge we startled a heron, who flew to this part of the cove. We watched him catch and eat a fish or two.
Glad we felt well enough to walk the grounds. Tomorrow we will head to St. Clement Bay to Canoe Neck Creek.
Tuesday May 28th
Up before 0800, yogurt, blueberries and granola for breakfast. Coffee smelled good when I ground it, did not taste as good when I drank it. Wondering if this Covid is messing up my sense of smell. Out of the slip at 0908. Good wind coming out of the Carthegena into St. Mary's River, so we put up the main, pulled out the code-0 and were sailing.
Passed the St. George again, have seen her go up and down outside St. George Island into the Potomac. Not quite sure what she does, but she is busy.
A gorgeous day for sailing. Wind shifted and softened so motor sailed a while. Our view of St. George’s Island and St George's Bar, which is not an English Pub. Only a couple of sailboats out, all with engines on.
Ragged Point Lighthouse. You can clearly see it's shallow there. We joked that the red roof beyond is a Pizza Hut.
We had a handsome hitchhiker join for a while. He left when we tacked. The wind built nicely over the day and we had some great sailing to St. Clement’s Bay. Furled the jib and dropped the main before heading into Canoe Neck Creek, which looked a bit narrow for that. Found a lovely spot to anchor at. I watched a great blue heron stalking the seawall ahead, soon joined by 2 others. Had a snack of smoked Gouda, summer sausage and crackers with some trail mix and S.Pell. Decided not to take Boji out for an explore as we were both feeling tired. I finished reading A Man Called Ove which I loved.
Looked up to see the storm front coming. Quite glad we weren't out in Boji.
Storm clouds and rain all around us, we only had a sprinkle.
As it moved around us it left a rainbow for us to enjoy
Boji liked it too. Shared the other half of the fried chicken sandwich leftover from Salt Kitchen.
The colors really intensified. After taking too many pictures I just stopped to watch the transformation.
Meanwhile on the other side sunset happened.
We are back in the land of Nightingale ice cream sandwiches! Got this as take out from Salt Kitchen to stash in the freezer. A lovely evening to enjoy it. Tomorrow we will be heading to Colonial Beach, VA, across the river and up ~10 miles or so. Hoping their marina techs can help fix the speed and temp sensor issues. The transducer may need replacing, which means a quick haul out if so. Hoping for a decent night's sleep. Our coughs are just not nice.
Wednesday May 29
Did not get a great night's sleep so fell back asleep at 0744 and woke at 0920. Pulled up anchor and headed out by 0940. We were motoring our way across, not sailing. I finished making my coffee and fresh honey lemon ginger tea I've been making every day since we got sick. I am happy to feel more human today, though still hacking up 1/4 a lung when I cough.
Got a text first thing this morning from Kelli that Hardly Athletic won this season's championship last night!! So cool! And Tex was our keeper since Dan, Josh and Wes were all out. Our new teammate Ashish helped I'm sure.
Texted Congrats to Aman and got this pix back lol. Had a two hour or so trip to Colonial Beach VA, motored the whole way
Passed the familiar yellow can, this one J as we made our way through the Dahlgren firing range. We kept our VHF on but no hails or patrol boats to warn us off. Very narrow and shallow entry into Colonial Beach. Approach to Boathouse Marina docks was listed as 7 feet but the depth gauge read 5. Yet again no one answered our hailing on VHF, so Laz called and we were told to use the T dock and please pull all the way up as another boat was expected. Got in just fine and a gentleman from the work area helped catch the stern line. A Carver 444, Take Five pulled in behind us and we helped them tie up, as no one came to help them. Although the office did answer the VHF when they hailed.
Lots of antiques and one gorgeous Rolls Royce.
Free laundry as well with good commercial machines. Only got one load done as they close up at 4pm. Luckily I have another set of sheets, and more hand towels for the bathroom and kitchen towels. There were some downpours while I did laundry. Dan texted with John Lavelle and sorted out how to fix the transducer. Turns out the speed display was off due to a wiggly wire. He has it working again. All the wiring is a bit wonky and may need to be redone. Looking forward to the new board being installed as well!
After laundry we took the golf cart a couple of miles to the Food Lion. We had a date with Brian and Pam Griebel, who own Take Five and are doing the loop. They are from Sandusky, OH. Brian was a middle school music director and a trombone player and Pam is a teacher. We were picking them up at the Ice House, local bar/restaurant except we couldn't figure out how to make the golf cart go! The Griebels called (they use to own a golf cart) and talked us through.
Made it to Food Lion and back with a surprising amount of groceries and sodas for both couples. Bonus was no rain when we left and came back.
View of the storm from baji-naji
Crazy fast dark clouds moving through and past us. Video to be added later.
Saw the gorgeous sunset as we walked to dinner, ~ 3/4 mile away.
Delicious food at Los Hermanos the local Mexican restaurant. I had tacos al pastor with a side of guacamole. It came with rice and black beans.
I took home one of the oversized tacos, 1/2 the guac and 1/2 the rice and beans. Laz are his whole taco salad al pastor.
Soapspillas for dessert. Texted Julie Meeker to let her know we were enjoying them and that I thought of her. Took one of those home as well. Portions were generous and my stomach may have shrunk from no appetite the last few days.
View of the sunset from the deck of the restaurant. Glad we had a long walk back to baji-naji after that yummy dinner. Tomorrow up the Potomac again, not sure where we are stopping.
Thursday May 30th
Up around 0800 despite a lot of coughing last night. Feeling much better except for that silly cough. NOAA predicts 15-20kts with gusts to 25 from the direction we want to go. Laz went to see if we could stay another day, and to fill our water jugs, and I helped Brian and Pam get Take Five off the dock, as they were heading back down the Potomac into the Bay. Laz returned with the news that we could stay and I decided to make a nicer breakfast.
French toast with maple syrup, Becky's bacon and a small omelet, which I ate before I thought to take a photo. Since we were staying, I went to start the second load of laundry we did not get to yesterday before the office closed. Laz brought the laptop up and paid bills. I met Gordon and Julianne (I think) on Damman, a Dutch canal boat, and Parker their dog. Laz has talked with them earlier. They live in Oriental, NC and used to own and avidly use a sailboat but it was harder as her knees got worse and they aged. They are 74. She is a retired schoolteacher and he is retired from something corporate. He told me he still teaches sailing and has his captain’s license so he gets his sailing fix in. After being the clean laundry back to baji-naji, we were ready to take the golf cart to Food Lion for the bread, lettuce, Bonine and decaf that I forgot but it was in use. We read in the cockpit until Leroy came to let us know it was available.
We took a different way back along the waterfront and saw the beach of Colonial Beach.
Afterwards we read in the cockpit and I noticed a very large osprey on a pole across the water. It was noisy, as ospreys often are.
Rao’s frozen meat lasagna for dinner, quite tasty. No room in our freezer for it, we bought it knowing we would have it tonight.
Laz went to check out a bigger Takacat and I thought I would sit and read but the sunset called my name.
Tomorrow is supposed to be less breezy so we will try to make our way up the Potomac River some more.
Friday May 31st
Up at 0815 and off the dock by 0910. Tide was higher than when we came in, so a little more water to work with. We coordinated well on getting the lines off the tall piling while keeping baji-naji close to the dock so Laz could get back on. Passed a boat named Oban Skye a 50 ft or so Sun Odyssey. It passed us on the way to the 301 bridge. We motored as the 12-14kt wind was on our nose, with a fair bit of chop and the tide against us.
Approaching the 301 bridge and the power plant, which we have driven every time we have come down this way. It’s different from the water, as you would expect.
Made it through with 100ft to spare! The Potomac is a windy river and gets narrower as you go up. At some point the tide was with us, and the land broke up some of the waves. We were able to unfurl the jib at one point and gained at least a knot more, doing 7-7.7 kts over water.
Passed a few old shipwrecks, this was one of them. Laz got a nap while I motored past this one.
Passed what looked like a big warehouse with planes on one side. Initially I wondered if it could be an Amazon warehouse with delivery planes, until I realized everything was the color grey. And the chart said Quantico. Then I hoped I was OK being a tourist and taking pictures.
The planes look really cool end on.
Sailed under some power lines, which was pretty, then turned into Mattawoman Creek. Went up a little farther than where the guidebooks suggest anchoring, just off Rum Point. There were six power boats rafted at the green and a few other motorboats anchored where the guidebooks suggest.
The chart depiction of where we are anchored and the actual view. We anchored around 1615
Had a lovely relaxing time watching the great blue heron preen on the duck blind. There were at least 2 other great blues fishing as well as a bald eagle or two. We read and listened to the rafted boats play with their remote controlled small speedboats. Talked to Barb, who is at Moffit getting her port placed with chemo to start afterwards. And talked to Mom Laz who is in rehab for her knee injury. Skip was discharged today and luckily his sister Kiki is there to help.
Pan seared filet mignon marinated in soy, ginger and sesame oil. Stir fried broccoli with garlic and ginger and fresh baked a sourdough roll. Added a leftover hush puppy to each plate. Dessert was 1/2 the leftover soapapilla.
Beautiful sunset. Off to Washington DC tomorrow. Looking forward to being tourists
