Relaxing, checking out boatyards, seeing friends, rowing for groceries and nice dinner out

Spent a nice few days anchored in a very calm peaceful anchorage.

View out back door

Checked out Zimmermans boat yard here, trying to find a good place to haul next spring, and get some work done.  It always pays to know in advance where you want to haul.  

Zimmermans does a lot of catamarans here.  They have a great reputation, but might be a little pricier than we want for now.    If we had major work, I would consider them, but we only need a few thru hulls plugged.  We will look at a few more yards.

A benefit of coming to check them out, is meeting other catamaran owners, and also seeing our friends we met in the spring, that are getting work done on their boat.  Always nice to reconnect and catch up.

We also took time to make a dinghy run up the creek, then paddle the dinghy for about 1/4 mile up a small narrow creek to get groceries, and also had a nice meal out (out being, got to go, and ate on boat) at a good Mexican restaurant. Mi Casa Azteca, in Matthews, VA.   Food was good.  

Would have gone for lunch, but have to go at high tide to have enough water in the small creek to get close.

Matthews looks to be a cute little town, might have to come back this way

Matthews, VA

and explore more, when high tide is not at 7 in the morning, or 6 at night.

Will head out tomorrow, will spend a night in Portsmouth at a marina, do laundry, top of batteries and water.

Fly back for wedding, Dean alone on boat, sailing south

 We left Annapolis and headed north - only to be closer to Baltimore, as Kris was flying back to attend the wedding of our niece.

Kris had to leave the boat at 8:00 a.m., to catch and Uber ride to the airport.   Wouldn't you know it, the hardest rain we have seen since the last tropical storm hit arrived right as we needed to get the dinghy in the water and head in.  Kris was soaked, and left a puddle in the poor Uber drivers car, but made it safely to Boise, then enjoyed a 8 hour drive with Derek (our son) to Bozeman, Montana for the wedding.

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

IDA is here and gone, - life jacket works

Being this far north we planned on having less impacts from hurricanes, you know they are suppose to stay down in Florida.  Anyways Henri came through and we saw little wind and rain where we were at.  Ida is now coming through so we moved to a protected spot for wind, Coney Island Creek.  We knew the rain was going to be a lot, 3 to 5 inches, and we got that.  We  received 3 weather warnings on our phone for flooding issues.  We were low on boat water but filled our 100 gallon tank in about 2 hours with rain water using our rain catcher. 

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

Tropical Storm Henri, Super Duper Weenie, and good friends

 Tropical Storm Henri was a no issue for us.   We moved anchorages to get maximum protection for the strongest winds, but knew we would be exposed to waves and swell from 15 knots winds for a night.  We endured a bouncy night, and the next morning, when the winds were going to be bad - well it did not happen.  Henri moved the opposite direction of projected, so we did not have any issues.  Just a lot of rain.

Henri's Projected path.

 

So we sat on the boat for a couple of days, with non damaging wind, comfortable seas, and lots of rain.  Our water tanks were filled to the top.

After Henri left, we headed up to LLoyd Harbor/Huntington to pick up our sling seat. We were getting it remade - and Dean was missing it, as it is his favorite perch on the boat.

No Sling Seat

New Seat Installed

After the seat pickup, we headed over to Bridgeport, as it was time to indulge in Super Duper Weenine, and our friend John had been kind enough again to allow us to ship items to his house.   We met John for Super Duper and had a good lunch.

Super Duper

Its not a large or fancy place

Dean ate at Super Duper frequently when working in Fairfield, so it was nice to revisit, and to have lunch with friends.  He had to get a shirt as well.

  

We are currently on a floating dock at the Fayeweather Yacht club in Black Rock.  It is ony $2/foot, which is really cheap for the New England area.  There is no power or water, but giving us a dock to use is nice, as we had work to do on our anchor chain, putting in a new joint link, and painting out dimensions so it is easy to tell how much chain we have out.

25' increments in yellow, 50' in orange, and 100' in white

We also have been enjoying the wildlife.  The swans have obviously been fed, and are not shy about begging for food.

Lucky we had some bread on board.

In addition, we were surprised to see this buck strolling along the shore eating grass.   On the other side of the trees, is a old dump site, now a greenspace, with a large solar farm.

We are where the orange "g" is.

We also were lucky to be able to visit with some friends we had not seen since around 2012, and had a nice dinner out with Mark and Laurie.  Our son Derek was good friends with their boys when we lived in Connecticut.  Had a good night, with good pizza.

Fall officially starts on September 22, but meteorological fall is September 1.  Meteorological seasons are based on temperature and calendar.  This morning it is 68 degrees out, with a high of 74.  Next 10 days there is only two days above 80 projected.   That might sound ideal to most of you, but keep in mind on the water is generally 5 to 10 degrees colder.  Add a wind, and BRRRR.

So for us, it is time to head south, so we will start by heading west on Long Island Sound, and prep and wait for a weather window to head south to Cape May, NJ, then up the Delaware and plan on spending September in the Cheasapeake.