2025-10-19 Another week at the dock in Bridgeton

We are still at the dock, helping our friend Tracy on her boat, Phoenix Rising.

Our days have pretty much been, get up, eat breakfast and clean up, then head over to Phoenix Rising and work.   We have had some delays, waiting for parts to get shipped in, but have gotten the electrical work all finished. 

Dean tearing out the old stuff, and Tracy head deep in a cabinet helping to feed wiring

 

It's nice to be short when installing items in a tight cabinet

Tracy has been focused on getting her water maker installed.  Had to make a few runs into town to get supplies, which always takes more time than you think as well.

 

Always fun to see the bears in New Bern, lovely flowers everywhere as well.

Stopped at hardware store to get parts

Monday we had a nice break and went out for lunch with our friends Jerry and Donna off Bluejacket, who live in Oriental.  Delicious meal, and great to see them and spend time with them.  Having such a good time, forgot to take photos.   However, Dean did forget his wallet there.  Luckily they found it and he got it the next day. 

The very old worn out wallet was recovered

Tuesday, Toby and Dave off Jandals came over with donuts for all, and we had a nice break talking about boat projects.   

Tuesday evening was another good night, as we headed to Oriental to have Buy one, get one free pizza at Silos, and were joined by Ed and Cathy on What If, Jerry and Donna on Bluejacket, Tracy on Phoneix Rising, and Dave and Toby of Jandals.

 

The whole gang enjoying pizza

Wednesday, the boat projects for Tracy continued. You know how boat projects go – fix one thing, find another.  That has been the theme the last few days

Kris forgot to hook up one wire to the port engine, but that was good, as without that we might have not found out the port engine battery was dead and needed to be replaced.  (No, Kris did not cause the battery to die).

We helped Tracy run new line for her jib sheet, and that was good because without that Kris would not have found out that most of her spin lock clutches were not working properly and needed to be rebuilt.

Dean helped Tracy install bigger blocks on her dinghy lift and added a block to make it easier to lift her heavy dingy.

Friday we walked up to a local bakery, and got a few treats.   Nice way to start the morning, however it is getting cold in the mornings, down to 45 one morning.  Time to head south.

Our yummy treats from the bakery

Dean took some time to organize his side of the closet.  When he moved on the boat 5 years ago, he packed all his clothes and put them in the closet.   You all know Dean, he hasn't seen the clothes in the bottom of the closet for 5 years.   So pulled them all out, and found 3 nice jackets he forgot he had, which will be handy in the cold weather.  Also found a bunch of clothes that he will not wear that we will donate, and some old worn stained stuff that was time to get rid of.   He also found a shirt that we got in 1993 still in good shape.  It's from Monitor wind vanes, and we got it when we installed a monitor wind vane our on the first cruising boat that we took from Seattle, WA down into Mexico.

Dean in his old shirt

Today more projects on Tracy's boat, and getting ready to head out on Tuesday.

 

2020-02-20 Little Ragged up to Georgetown

We were planning on staying a little longer in the Ragged Islands, but a weather window came up to head north to George Town on the Exuma's Islands.  Being low on groceries, needing more propane, short on gasoline for the dinghy, and needing to get some hardware, we decided to leave and take advantage of the weather.

At anchorage in the cut between Little Ragged and Ragged Island.  Charm on far left.

Little Ragged - strong winds, beach walks

 We had a few days of strong winds, so pretty much just stayed on the boat.  

Saw a max of around 28 knots, while waiting out a 3 day blow

What to do while sitting on the boat:  Watch movies, read books, surf internet and, make cookies of course.   Kris is trying to eat a low carbohydrate diet, so tried a new cookie recipe.  

Double Breasted to Little Ragged

 We spent a nice couple of days at Double Breasted Cay.  Met some nice folks.  

Rita on "Como No", took some time to teach me Bahamian Weaving.  You use silver palm fronds to weave.  I just made a small item to learn from, but will try bigger projects later.

Surrounded by sharks, nice beach walk

 Still at Allans / Pensacola Cay.  Nice weather.   Still surrounded by sharks.  Have been working on identification, and 95% sure they are bull sharks.    Not ones to go swimming with.  Sharks in the Bahamas are not uncommon, but usually you are out of the water by 4:00 each day, as usually the sharks come around during twilight hours.    You can generally plan on mid day being shark free.  Unfortunately, we think that people have been feeding the sharks, or cleaning their fish catch from the boats and these have become used to boats having food.  They circle the boat all day long.  We have had from two to five swimming circles around us since we have arrived, with no visible break.

Vero Beach to the Bahamas

 We left Vero Beach, and headed further south on the ICW down to North Palm Beach, where we could wait on a good weather window to cross to the Bahamas, and also get our pre departure Covid tests, required for entry.  Pretty normal ICW motor trip - although we did get a little time motor-sailing.

Osprey with fish

Motor-sailing with jib

Swiss chalet style seems out of place in Florida

One of the many bridges that we had to have open for us

Some fancier homes the further south we go

Probably only a 3 bed 2 bath :)

We ended up in North Palm for almost a week.  Got some final groceries, had some more Amazon shipments sent to us, and did projects.

Lots of boats here stored in enclosed buildings, and move with large forklifts

Dinghy dock at North Palm Beach,  Have to wade a bit to get to the boat, but it works

Nighttime skyline at North Palm Beach

Went to mall, as there is a Amazon store there, we could ship items to.  It was ready for Christmas

Fluffy white poodles in their stroller at mall in North Palm Beach.  Don't see that at every mall.  Guess it fits in with the fancy homes we have seen.

Sassafras River, Mt Harmon Plantation, Rock Creek, and Annapolis

 We left Cheasapeake City, and headed to the Sassafras River.  Anchored in Back Creek, near the Harmon House Plantation.  

Motoring to Sassafras River

Great sailing - a little too fast, followed by lots of anchoring and wrapping a line on our prop.

 We had a great sail from Coney Island, NY down to Cape May New Jersey, - only issue was we were too fast.  We left at 2:00 in the afternoon, and sailed the entire way down with a very smooth ride, with only about 2' seas.  Winds 14 to 18 knots, so full main and jib the entire way.  

Not much of a moon, but lots of stars out.  Got into Cape May at 5:30 a.m. in the morning, as we averaged 7.5 knots which was faster than we had planned on.   Dropped the anchor, around 6:30 a.m.

Notice SOG at 10.3 knots surfing down wave.  WOO HOO

The most dangerous thing on a boat - a schedule - and a COVID shot

We always try to time our boat moves for favorable winds and seas.  Lets face it, we have the time - so no need to move the boat when it is not a good time.  A common sailor saying is:  The most dangerous item on a boat is a schedule.

As we were heading southwest, with following seas and wind, having a pleasant sail, we saw this guy northeast.    You can get some decent seas in Long Island Sound, especially when heading against them.  This catamaran we passed must have been on a schedule.

We got our first Covid shot at a  CVS in Newport RI. and after waiting the 4 weeks it was time to get the 2nd shot.    Since we had gone with Moderna on the first shot we needed to find a spot where they offered the 2nd.  Port Washington Rite Aide was the spot so we planned the walk up to the store and then planned on the second day being a "recovery" day.  The first shot didn't have a huge impact other than Kris not being able to move her arm for two to three days but we had heard the second shot had more issues.

So today we have laid around the boat with all the side affects that were predicted, tiredness, headache, muscle pain, chills, fevers, and nausea.  Hopefully tomorrow gets us back to normal because these side effects suck.

Common Side Effects

On the arm where you got the shot:

• Pain
• Redness
• Swelling

Throughout the rest of your body:

• Tiredness
• Headache
• Muscle pain
• Chills
• Fever
• Nausea

Good used find, Cheasapeake City, C&D Canal

 After Annapolis, we made a short jump to Rock Hall, MD, where we stayed for 3 days.  2 days were cloudy and rainy, but we got to use our raincatcher, which worked well.  We got around 50 gallons of water in the tank.  About 1/2" of rainfall.   

On the last day, the sun came out enough, we walked to town.  We found a used marine store, and got a bag for our dinghy seat, that will help to keep the dinghy organized.  Used and slightly faded and worn, but only $16.

Things about cruising that you tend to forget

The cruising lifestyle sounds so appealing when you hear people talk.  Warm weather, sandy beaches, no work.    There is the other side as well though, and some things you don’t really think about.      Of course there is the boat work, constant maintenance living in a salt water environment, but there are a couple of things you forget to mention when talking about cruising – Like how to get on and off the boat !!!
	On our boat, currently tied up to the dock there is a 42” long step, which is a 12” step or step down depending if getting on or off.  (Hint: stepping down is easier)  Every morning we head off to the showers on land.  We wear flip flops as we shower in them to prevent any stray foot diseases.     Try it out, can you put on flip flops, and make a 42” “jump” up 12”?  Sure, you can, now do it over water that is cold and salty while fully dressed.
Knock on wood, so far, no mishaps.

September back to the boat

We had planned on taking a trip in September to make sure the boat had survived the summer and it also gave a good excuse to be at the boat.  We left Boise Friday around noon on the 4th and headed east, well south and then east.  The trip coincided with the start of Labor Day weekend and we saw the affect of that between Ogden Utah and Evanston Wyoming.  The amount of traffic and how slow everyone moved was a worry but after Evanston things thinned and we made good time.  It was a nice day/evening for a drive