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Updated January, 2011 | |||
| We have, in truth, been thinking that our audience for these pages was primarily our friends from home who could not travel with us, but we have noticed that others check in from time to time, and so we thought it might not be amiss to add the story of our return to Maine and the boat's summer activities. |
Boqueron Street Scene | ||
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As April wore on the temperatures began to rise, and when the daytime temperature was regularly over 90º F it seemed to be time to think about
leaving for a more temperate area. Our last two weeks were a flurry of dinner parties and evenings with friends and good-byes all around. Just before we left
there was a scout campboree onteh beach with much singing of Kumbaya and fireworks on thte last night, and that seemed a good omen. Good-byes are never any
fun, so one morning in late April we hoisted the dinghy aboard, weighed anchor and slipped out of the bay.
This trip we had the long run to Baltimore ahead of us, since it was too hot in Boqueron but would be too cold in Maine if we went straight home. We had enjoyed our time in Baltimore on other occasions, and my brother lives there, so it seemed a natural way-point. | |||
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Sunset at Sea | |||
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We ran north along the west coast of Puerto Rico and by evening were out of sight of land and off
soundings. We had a lot of company at
first, ships coming out of the Mona Passage: Silver Horn bound for Gibraltar, Green Majestic for Algeciras, and
several others. The weather was beautiful, with about a 1-meter swell and a full moon. That night we saw Emerald Princess, the second
cruise ship we had seen going from San Juan to Grand Turk.
The next day, just for fun, I rigged the riding sail from our lobster boat, Nimbus, as a steadying sail. It did reduce the (already slight) motion some, and it gave us maybe an additional 0.2 knots of speed, but it sdidn't seem really very worthwhile, and in the evening, withthe wind forecast to go to the northeast, I struck the sail. The weather continued fine, as good weather for a passage as I have ever seen, and by the third day we were up to 24º and saw a lot of Sargasso weed and many flying fish. Ships passed us in groups as we crossed the tracks from the few exits from the Caribbean, mainly reefer ships with produce from Central America for Europe: Ice Ranger, Silver Horn, Cold Stream. |
Motor-Sailing? | ||
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One benefit of the AIS system is that ships as they pass (often just their masts or lights showing) now have names and
destinations.
Early one evening we had a group of 8 dolphins playing off our bows, darting toward the boat, then turning on a dime just as collision seemed inevitable to ride the pressure wave caused by our bow. They stayed wit us for 10 or 15 minutes, then, probably bored by our slow pace, dashed off. The further north we went the more ships we saw, and two yachts crossed our path, bound for the Azores. |
Our Anchorage off Morehead City | ||
| We had daily radio contact with Herb Hilgenberg, in Canada, and he informed us that our beautiful weather was becoming threatened. The long-term forecast had shown the dashed line of a possible front off Hatteras on the 5th day of our pasage, and Herb told us this front was actually moving into position and that a low was considered likely to form on it. Coming out of the Gulf Stream off Hatteras in the middle of a low did not sound like a very good idea, so we decided to take the prudent way out and duck into Morehead City and run from there to Norfolk via the Intracoastal Waterway. We found a lovely anchorage just behind the Coast Guard station, and while the wind blew offshore we puttered up the ICW. |
Along the ICW | ||
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There is one nerve-wracking section of the ICW where there is a narrow dredged canal through the
middle of a very shallow bay, and with a cross-wind this area requires very close attention to the
markers (which are not all that frequent). I was happy to be out of it and into a river where the challenge is only
to stay in the middle, away from the banks.
This year we were in the company of other boats most of the way from Morehead city to Norfolk, and as we got further north, everyone's pace was determined by the opening times of the draw-bridges, so we were together with the same half-dozen boats from the lock at Great Bridge to Norfolk Harbor. We anchored off the Naval Hospital in Norfolk the afternoon of May 8th, nine days after leaving Boqueron. Late that afternoon the front crossed Norfolk, leaaving a 20-30 kt. wind in its wake. |
In the Lock at Great Bridge | ||
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The Battleship Wisconsin in her Museum Berth in Norfolk | |||
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The wind blew sand off the spoil piles outside the harbor, and veteran tug skippers complained on the radio that the
vislbility was the worst they had ever seen.
The next morning dawned gray and still a little choppy, but we headed north anyway, and by 1630 we were negotiating the twisty entrance channel to Jackson Creek, in Deltaville. There we arranged to have the boat hauled out and the bottom cleaned, and we particularly wanted to see some old friends, so we spent a couple of days relaxing and visiting. Even though it was mid-May, the weather was raw, with the wind easterly, and we were happy to start the heater. We managed to run aground in the channel on the way out, but kedged ourselves off and went on our way. |
Huge Car Carrier in Chesapeake Bay | ||
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We were headed for Solomons that night, and it was breezy and choppy the whole way, but not enough to be
more than a nuisance to us. As we ran into the Patuxent River we saw a fleet of sailboats headed out for a race
and were hailed on the VHF by a friend we had met in the Bahamas last year. The racers must have had quite a time,
since as we were coming up on the channel into the inner harbor a 35-knot squall, complete with rain and lightning,
struck and lasted for several minutes. Once in the harbor we found a space and anchored in tranquil Back Creek.
The next day was again gray and cold, but we took on a couple hundred gallons of fuel and headed north toward Baltimore. |
Pride of Baltimore in Baltimore Harbor | ||
| Baltimore is a city we have always liked, and one advantage is that one can lie in the very middle of the city. My brother stopped by after his Thursday afternoon sailboat race, and we heard some chatter on the VHF about a tug and a barge full of fireworks. Pretty soon that same tug showed up in the Inner Harbor and we were treated to a spectacular display of fireworks at a distance of perhaps 300 yards. It was the weekend of the Preakness, and no doubt the fireworks were somehow related. |
Playing in the Fountain Behind Our Berth | ||
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| We left Baltimore after a few days and headed north through Chesapeake Bay and the Chesaeake and Delaware Canal. We had intended to dock in the basin at chesapeake city, but it was too crowded, ane we went on and spent the night anchored behind Reedy Island in the Delaware river instead. In the morning we ran down the Delaware with the ebb tide, athrough Cape May harbor, and out into the Atlantic again. We ran overnight to Block Island, passing through a big fleet of draggers, and by 1600 the next day we were anchored in Great Salt Pond on Block Island. We rented bicycles and rode around the island a little, as Barbara had never been there. |
Typical House, Now an Inn, on Block Island |
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Saturday morning, May 22nd, we left early, in a thick fog, to catch the tide in Buzzard's Bay and the Cape Cod Canal. We were through the canal by 15:15,
and since the wind was light (15-20) abnds with us, we set a course direct for Cape Elizabeth and home. After an all-night run we picked up the Cape Elizabeth whistle
buoy in a blue dungeon of fog and we didn't see anything of Casco Bay until we picked up our mooring at 06:47. I think our sound signal every 2 minutes woke up
half the island.
Over the next few days we unloaded the boat and moved ashore. We opened the house and started in on a normal summer routine. I worked on the boat and in the shop, building parts (this year I did not have to rebuild the shop), and enjoyed the somewhat frenetic social whirl that is summer on Chebeague. |
South Lighthouse, Block Island | ||
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The View Inshore From Barbara's Mooring | |||
| Ordinarily in mid-August we have exhibited at the Maine Boats and Harbors Show in Rockland; this year we had decided not to, but I thought I would just go to the show in any case, as a visitor. So it happened that one morning I set out alone, fairly early, on the run out of the Bay to the eastward, paast the line of inner islands, around Small Point, and past the cuckolds, off Boothbay Harbor. There I saw the brand-new tugboat Mary Ann Moran, just completed by Washburn and Doughty, on her maneuvering trials. |
Traditional Craft at the Maine Boats & Harbors Show, Rockland | ||
| I continued on past Pemaquid Point and up through Muscongus Bay, past Port Clyde, and through Whitehead Passage into the Muscle Ridge channel. Many of the islands lining this channel are solid granite and were the scene of much quarrying activity in the 19th century, when Maine granite went all over the eastern seaboard. The invention of Portland cement effectively put an end to the business, but the quarries are still there, along with the cellar-holes of the small cities that housed the quarrymen. |
The Show from the Black Pearl Wharf |
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Part of the Show Fleet, With a Large Schooner Passing By | |||
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The show was fun. It was good to see old friends, and especially without the need to man one's own booth. I had dinner with friends
each night and saw others during the day. John LeMole came aboard and measured for the new Bimini over our after deck, and all in all
it made a very pleasant weekend.
The trip back was entirely un-eventful; by now Barbara knows this route pretty well by heart. |
The Rockland Coast Guard Base From a Neighboring Boatyard | ||
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Bell Buoy at the North End of the Muscle Ridge Channel | |||