Aaron's blog

Monday was a beautiful sunny day and we motor sailed about 45 miles to Annapolis, MD.  We checked out Back Creek to anchor where we did last time we were here but it was just a little too full for us to feel comfortable.  So we looked at the map and decided we would try out Weems Creek.  15 minutes later we were there and found plenty of room for us and Thursday's Child to anchor.  I took Louise to shore for a walk and we watched old sitcoms on the Laff channel that our antenna was able to pick up.

Tuesday started off with scattered light rain.  Anna's friend Will who she worked with in Big Sky lives in nearby Crofton and he came to say hi and bring us a few packages that had been mailed to his house.  It started raining more often and I took Will back to shore.  Then he gave me a ride to the grocery store about four blocks away.  I bought about as much as I could reasonably carry (I always put the heavy things in the backpack) and then walked all the way back to the dinghy in steady rain.  As we unloaded the groceries back at the boat Anna said that some of the bags were so wet that they felt heavier from the water!  We used the generator for about an hour to make some water and heat it for showers, and charge the batteries to keep our electronics going to entertains us through the rainy day.  It was interesting that the watermaker produced 27gph rather than the 15gph that we expected in the cold water here.  My best guess is that the creek we are in is not very salty as the tidal range here is only a foot or so.

Today we met Steve and Susie on shore at 9:30am and went to tour the Naval Academy.  It was a pretty interesting tour.  We went through a couple of the big halls and towards the end saw all of the students form up in the courtyard and march in to lunch.  Then we followed them into Bancroft Hall (all 1,000 or more of them were gone into the depths of the building already) which had some great architecture.  After the tour we went into the Naval Academy Museum which had great displays about the ships, technology, leadership, etc. of the Navy in all the wars throughout the generations.  There was also a very interesting part about the research arm, especially all of the satellites that they have launched.

We walked around Annapolis a while and checked out a few shops with Steve and Susie, plus the obligatory ice cream. Tomorrow we plan to take the bus/train to DC and see a few things.  Steve and Susie are heading towards Hampton, VA tomorrow so will probably see them there on our way south in a few days.  There they will be preparing to go offshore with a bunch of boats in a rally down to the Bahamas--something like seven days at sea.  We will proceed our own way slowly down the coast but I think eventually find them in the Bahamas.

We took the dinghy over to the very nice dinghy dock at Block Island and set off for a walk.  A block away we found the Block Island Maritime Institute where there was not much going on except a couple small tanks in the parking lot with some fish and crabs in them.  A couple blocks further on we found a "Killer Donuts" stand and I tried one.  It was a pretty standard donut.

About a mile further we arrived at the 1661 Inn Animal Farm.  This is a big petting zoo basically.  We looked at a pig, some emus, cranes, kangaroos, and a yak.  Then in some pens that we could walk in they had llamas, alpacas, tiny horses, and donkeys.  We petted a couple llamas (possibly alpacas, can't remember the difference).

Then we started to work our way back.  We had lunch at The Yellow Kittens and then spent quite a while at the museum run by the Block Island Historical Society.

The next day we left and sailed (no motor) into Long Island Sound.  Just SW of Fishers Island we went through an area marked on the chart as Tide Rips.  We could see that it was pretty turbulent and when we got there the waves slapped us around a little.  They were up to three feet tall, very steep, and coming mostly from the side so they sometimes splashed into the cockpit, which is pretty rare!  For some reason the wind jumped in speed there too; fortunately we had reefed about 10 minutes earlier as it had been slowly building.  The current in that area peaked at four knots and I think we had about 2 knots favorable for most of the day.

As we traveled further Anna looked at the chartplotter and saw that the AIS data showed Thursday's Child ahead of us about 10 miles.  So she radioed them and they decided to stop at Duck Island where we were planning to go.  We anchored there and then I checked out Duck Island where there was a sign saying to stay off because of bird nesting.  Then we went over to visit and have a few drinks with Steve and Susie on Thursday's Child.

We left pretty early the next day to make it the 66 miles to Port Washington, just outside of New York City.  We ran the engine the whole time as we were sailing downwind in weak winds.  They have free mooring balls for two nights there so we tied up to one.  They also have two nice dinghy docks with really close grocery stores, hardware stores, laundromat, etc. so we took part in all those services.  After two nights on the mooring ball we moved at about 8:00am to anchor just outside the mooring field and then I flew back to Fargo for a couple meetings.  Anna's mom Karen arrived that afternoon to spend the next few days checking out New York City with Anna.

They walked around the 911 memorial and Times Square, ate at Tavern on the Green in Central Park with Anna's aunt Diane who happened to be in New York City, and saw Book of Mormon.  They had more ambitious plans but one day was so windy that the dinghy ride to shore would have been very unpleasant plus there is always some risk of the anchor dragging.  Also the train ride to the city is about 45 minutes each way, and Louise needs some attention occasionally.

When I returned from Fargo I met Anna and Karen to have excellent steaks at Del Frisco's and then we went to see Rock of Ages…very good.  Karen left very early the next morning.  Then the weather was rainy and gloomy for a few days.  As our batteries gradually drained we determined that having a generator would be worthwhile.  One factor: people in Fargo were asking me how I liked sailing and my response was always that I was ready to return to the modern life of unlimited resources--water and electricity primarily.  The Ace Hardware nearby had one generator in stock, a 3500 watt unit that was larger than we really needed, but hey with one that size we would even be able to run the AC or heat (reverse cycle AC) if needed.  So we got that, unpacked it, determined that it was 1/2" too large to store nicely under the helm seat, and returned it.  The next day I went to Home Depot and got a suitcase-sized Honda generator which is a much better fit for us.

Now that we have the generator we have only used it for four hours in three weeks but the peace of mind benefit is continuous.  We now have an easy backup plan if it is cloudy, and it makes it a lot less worrying to use some power for comfort.  To shower for example, we might use 5-10 gallons (extravagant to some salty sailors out there I'm sure) and run the water heater for 15 minutes (also extravagant, we hear plenty of people talking about hanging black solar shower bags).  Altogether that would only take about 1 hour of generator run time, or maybe 1/3 gallon of gas.  Fun fact: the generator can produce 2000 watts at full load but our battery charger can only charge at about 1000 watts, and we have 1100 watts of solar, so technically our solar panels can charge our batteries faster than the generator!

Those cloudy days were very windy also and I was quite happy to finally wake up to relative silence one morning.  The wind howls in the shrouds and the bay at Port Washington was big enough to let some waves build.  The next day the waves south of New York City had died enough that we were able to travel down to Atlantic Highlands, NJ.  We fueled up there and then when we were looking for a spot to anchor we ran aground while the depth finder said 9.5 feet of depth.  Turns out that was miss-calibrated, probably by me!  The next morning were on the move at 4:00am.  The trip to Atlantic City was about 80 miles…a very long day!  There is an eddy current off of the Gulf Stream there that flows south at 1 knot so that helped us along nicely.  We motored the whole day but had a boost from the sails as the wind blew us downwind.

The next day we went to a casino buffet for supper and then a comedy show.  Both were good!  The scale of the casino facilities and the grandeur of the finishes (with a certain level of tackiness of course) were sort of shocking after having spent a year now in campers, sailboats, and sort of rundown touristy waterfronts.  Oh yes, October 12 marked a year since we left Medora!

We motored down to Cape May the next day.  We anchored in Sunrise Lake and I took the dinghy to a nearby park that had a dock and walked Louise around for a bit.  It was definitely out of season there and everything was oddly quiet.  The holding there was not great and there was a big storm coming (we learned the next day that it was called a bomb cyclone).  So we spent the next two nights tied up in a slip.  It was very windy, 30 knots gusting to 45 knots!  We enjoyed our stay there plugged in and were able to run the heat to stay very comfortable.

The day after the winds died down, they were still blowing moderately straight down the Delaware Bay which we needed to go up.  So we stayed at the slip another night.  I tried to replace the worn out chain roller on the bow but the nut and bolt holding it there seem to be permanently joined.  We had lunch with Steve and Susie at Lucky Bones Backwater Grill and we stocked up at the liquor store.  Then the next day we left at 6:30am.  It was a bit of a nervous start as when I turned on the depth finder in the slip it showed 4.5 feet (low tide!) which would mean we have about 1 foot of keel stuck in the ground.  I guess the mud was pretty loose as we were able to back out of the slip easily, and I think the sensor is calibrated about 6" conservatively now.  We rode a great 2 knot current all the way 70 miles to Chesapeake City.  We are still there today as it has been raining all day.  And we are still hanging with Thursday's Child too!

After leaving Provincetown we sailed for a few hours across Cape Cod Bay towards the Cape Cod Canal. We motored for the last hour or so once the winds gave out. Then we enjoyed a 2 knot boost from the current in the canal, up until we came around a corner and saw a railroad bridge ahead that was lowered. Aaron had flashbacks to about 30 minutes earlier when he had built a case to Anna that there were no low bridges to worry about. The bridge operator hailed us on the radio and said he figured if we slowed down then he would have it open for us in time. That worked out and shortly we emerged into Buzzards Bay. It was beautiful with the late afternoon sun, tree covered shores on both sides, some islands, and calm waters.

A couple miles south we turned off to find a place to anchor behind Bassets Island. We saw a group of mooring balls that didn't appear to be part of a business (for rent) and about half of them were unused so we used one of those instead of anchoring. It was a very quiet and scenic spot. At night Aaron noticed that there were lights in the water like fireflies! When we splashed in the water more of them would light up. Not sure what they were, but in the morning we saw a lot of minnows in the water so maybe "fire-minnows" haha!

The next day we went to Edgartown on Martha's Vineyard, motoring the whole way. We anchored just outside of the inner harbor. It isn't protected at all from the north but the winds were forecast to only be from the SE. We hurried into town to see some sights and learned a lot at The Carnegie which was an old Carnegie library turned into a museum about Martha's Vineyard.

We spent a few days exploring Edgartown and the island. One day we rode the bus around the island--pretty reasonable at $10 per person for the day. We went out to the west end where we saw some colored cliffs and were surprised by a nude beach. Then we went to the town of Oak Bluffs where we had a late lunch with two other young couples from Connecticut who were vacationing on the island. Hi Matt, Annie, Mike and Richelle! We walked around the Camp Meeting Association grounds where they have hundreds of quaintly decorated cottages ("gingerbread houses")…they are so cool! Another day we took a walking tour of Edgartown and some of the scenic buildings. The Old Whaling Church was very cool, with trick painting inside that reminded us of similar painting in a mansion we toured in Portland, ME. The next day Aaron changed the engine oil and we poked around on shore a little more.

We had intended to leave very early in the morning to go to Cuttyhunk Island but came up with the pretty good excuse that the current would not be favorable until 9:30. That current did give us a nice boost and we arrived in the early afternoon. We were hoping to get fuel there but nothing was open. Aaron went to explore the island and Anna stayed on the boat. She noticed a boat from Minnesota coming into the harbor so when Aaron returned we both went to say hi. They invited us aboard (Susan and David on SV Winneduma) where we had a great long chat and arranged to have supper the next night.

The following morning Aaron caught the attendant at the fuel dock and filled the jerry cans with 10 gallons of diesel and poured them in the tank. Then he took Louise to the beach where she ran around like a maniac and barked at waves. She needed a bath after that. Susan and David came over for supper. Anna made a pot roast with potatoes and carrots and they brought bread and salad. Very delicious!

Today we had a very lazy morning and didn't leave until 10:30. But we only had 38 miles to go so made it to Block Island by 5:30 where we got fuel and water and then anchored. Tomorrow we will explore Block Island! Then we will make our way to New York City by Tuesday. Aaron is going to fly to Fargo Wednesday-Saturday for a little work and a doctor's visit, and Anna's mom is coming to stay with Anna and explore New York City.

What we look like after re-anchoring late at night.

We had just crawled into bed when we heard a very odd noise. Aaron popped out of bed, looked outside, and learned that we had moved! A full day of bouncing on moderate waves must have worked it loose. The noise was probably us hitting a mooring ball. We hurriedly dressed for the cold and wind, pulled up the anchor, and moved back to a clear spot to drop anchor.

Lessons learned: use more chain and use an anchor alarm when things are lively. We were pretty lucky to receive notice before drifting into the jetty, onto the beach, or into a boat. Probably the easiest way possible to learn that lesson!

Now off to bed again, good night!

On Sunday we left Isles of Shoals and made it to Gloucester. We sailed 15 or 20 miles to Rockport where we wanted to stay (haven't been there yet). But when we tried to anchor, the sound of the pointy tip of the anchor dragging across granite was clearly transmitted up the chain. We tried five different spots but all we found was rock, which was frustrating because others had reported good holding mud in that area. We radioed the harbormaster for advice and to maybe just stay on a mooring ball but he was busy "looking for someone" and they had a boat out in the harbor with six divers in the water. We never heard back from him so we motorsailed around the peninsula and stayed in Gloucester.

We were able to find a spot to anchor in Gloucester's inner harbor where there is room for 6-8 on anchor. Then we rushed to shore to try to watch the second half of the Vikings game. It was not nationally televised so we were not successful. On the way back to the boat we stopped to chat with Steve from the boat Thursday's Child. We met them in Stuart, FL and had seen them about six weeks ago at the SSCA gam in Rockland, ME. He had been up to Nova Scotia while we explored Maine.

The next day we stayed put as the winds were not favorable for moving on. Louise got a walk, we had Domino's for supper, and Anna got a key lime pie. As we were walking around town we saw a large film crew near the waterfront filming for a movie called Coda.

On Tuesday we sailed to Provincetown, MA out on the tip of Cape Cod. The wind was a solid 15 knots just off of the stern so we made pretty good time, averaging 6.5 knots. As we left the protection of the Gloucester peninsula the waves built up to 3' and fairly close together so we were rolling back and forth the whole way. Aaron went to shore to walk around for an hour.

Today we woke up and figured that the waves would become unreasonable as we approached the entrance to the Cape Cod Canal--20+ knots of wind. So we stayed and will go tomorrow when we should get close to Martha's Vineyard. We plan to spend a couple days there. Now we (all three) are heading to shore for a walk.