St Michaels, Tangier, and HOME!

As we were preparing to leave Annapolis, a nice couple in kayaks drifted past and asked if we'd take their pictures and e-mail them to them (Luke was playing photographer on the deck of the boat at that time). Nice couple ...

but you can't tell the old book by her cover, can you ....wanna see what they do for a living??? Check out the webpage http://www.hyperfishing.com/

On to St. Michaels from Annapolis. St. Michaels is just the perfect, old Chesapeake Bay town... definitely more laid back. Beautiful old homes-

Great anchorage with a typical Chesapeake sky in the background

There are a couple of museums. First is St Mary's Square museum, in an old home from the area. Lots of history here.

There is also the larger Maritime Museum, with several buildings. There is a replica screwpile lighthouse from the past. You can go in and see how the lighthouse keepers lived back when the lighthouse was located 5 miles off shore.

They also do restoration of old boats, including this old skipjack. LOTS of work still to be done here!

You can try your hand at oystering with tongs--- not much fun, I would think. Luke did manage to "catch" a few of the strategically dumped shells.

One last shot of the cruisers enjoying their northern sojourn this season

As we left St. Michaels, en route to Tangier Island, an oyster dredging boat passed us, packed full. Glad to see they can still make it here!

Tangier is always fun. They are working on cleaning things up a bit, including this cute arrangement of birdhouses.

In an effort to attract the tourists in this economy, Tangier has opened a really nice museum. One benefit of the museum is the free use of kayaks. Yes, we gave it a try! A two person kayak is not always the best of ideas....

We talked with Milton Parks, owner of Parks Marina, at Tangier. His sad commentary on the state of crabbing is that the crabs are being fished out and the state/federal regulations are making it harder and harder for a crabber to make a living. As many as 70% of the island crabbers are now making livings on tugboats. The work is not as hard, there are benefits, and instead of horribly long days, the men work 2 weeks on, 2 weeks off. Just look at the stack of unused crabpots on one crab shack.

Then, home sweet marina. Back to a slip at Ruarks Marina in Fishing Bay, Deltaville.

If the weather holds, we'll drive up to Annapolis for another cruiser's gam tomorrow, then on the boat for a few days of work, cleaning, and early preparations for the departure south in early November. Can't wait to be back in Roanoke!!!

Luke's new ride...

He wishes! Before we left Baltimore, the harbor master told Luke about the opportunity to "test drive" a Segway at the Science Center in the Inner Harbor. Luke tried it and he's hooked. Now, if we could only figure out a way to keep 2 of them on the boat ...

From Baltimore to Annapolis. Under the Annapolis Bay Bridge

sightseeing at the old buildings of Annapolis
more sightseeing in the old shops!

Finally, a view of the capital building through a narrow alley.

On Sunday morning, off to St. Michaels, MD. Leaving Annapolis, we passed Thomas Point Light, the only remaining screwpile light house in the Chesapeake that is still in the water. A few have been turned into museums. This one is maintained by an Annapolis based conservation group.

The Bloody Point Light, at the head of the Eastern River (towards St. Michaels) is nothing in comparison, but has an interesting history. Near this point, back in the 1800's, it is reputed that unscrupulous Skipjak skippers would literally dump overboard their impressed, immigrant crews, that they had worked all season without pay. The boat laborers were kept on board, working full time, with promises of pay when the ship went to port with it's load after several months in the Chesapeake. The technique was to stand the crew on deck, gybe the mainsail, causing the low boom to sweep the deck - cleaning off the unpaid crew from the deck into the 40-ish foot waters. For landsmen - gybing occurs when the boom (long pole at the bottom of the back sail) is on one side of the boat, the boat is then turned quickly away from the wind, causing the sail and boom to get swept rapidly to the other side as the wind angle changes. Quite a nasty hit, enough to knock a man out until he drowns. http://www.lighthousefriends.com/light.asp?ID=427

We did a quick dinghy ride around the harbor in St. Michaels to find the dinghy landing for tomorrow. We'll "do the town" tomorrow - that would consist of 2 maritime museums, a grocery store, and lotsa shops and restaurants. This big heron was on one of the docks as we drifted along in the dinghy. Just beautiful!

"Ball mur"

Or as some of you may know it, Baltimore..First, we made our way up the Delaware Bay, spending the night beside the ever beautiful nuclear plant.

Then, we entered the Chesapeake!!! I didn't think that it was particularly important to make it back to the Chesapeake, but you know, when we entered it...well, it was sort of like being "home". Anyway, We decided to take a side trip to Baltimore, as neither of us had ever seen it by water. Great decision! Now, Baltimore by water is not exactly the pristine, bucolic Maine coastline...

A real working port, outside of the "inner harbor"

But a very busy sailing/boating harbor once you get inside the inner harbor area.On the way in the channel, we passed under the Francis Scott Key Bridge, with old Fort Carol at the side. Check out http://www.bytenet.net/rmscaronia/Main%20Fort%20Carroll%20Page%20old.htm for more info on the old fort.

Also, we passed Ft Mc Henry http://www.nps.gov/fomc/index.htm This is the "home of the national anthem".

There is a great city municipal dock, cheap (relatively speaking) in the middle of the inner harbor, and all the inner harbor businesses, etc. We took a slip there and spend Thursday exploring. First was the National Aquarium. We saw cayman crocodiles...

and jellies ( I hate jellyfish....)

and these upside down jellies, which we saw PLENTY of in the Bahamas

Next, a dolphin showThese guys are wonderful, but somehow, I feel guilty watching them.... they are SUCH smart mammals... is this what we should be asking of these intellegent beings?

oh, yes, let's not forget the poisonous frogs, barely 1 inch long

After most of the day at the aquarium, we visited two ships. The first was the late WW II submarine, built in 1944, the USS Torsk. It was very cramped. It sank the last 2 Japanese navy ships in WWII. Here's the small control area. But with LOTSA STUFF!!!Then we visited the USS Constellation. It is a square rigged sailing ship build in 1854, last all sail warship build for the US Navy ---anachronism in the rapidly developing age of steam. Congress had authorized budget for building replacements, not for new ships. The Constellation replaced a sailing ship, so she was limited to sail only.

I enjoyed the tour, Luke loved it.

It's really interesting to consider that in only 90 years from the Constellation to the Torsk, naval technology advanced from wooden sailing ships with muzzle loading cannon to welded steel, diesel electric, torpedo equipped submersible boats, capable of depths of 400 ft. Even more interesting to realize that that's essentially the same technology the Germans developed for their U-boats by 1916 (?) in WW I, only 62 years after the Constellation was built.

We also saw, from a distance in the outer harbor, the NS Savannah, the world's first nuclear powered cargo/passenger ship (remember that from the late 50's?). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NS_Savannah She's in Baltimore for removal of the remainder of her radioactive material.

Tomorrow, we set sail for maybe Annapolis. It's good to be back home in the Chesapeake.

oh, and we thought 11.5 hours was long...

We just made an overnighter from Block Island to Cape May --- 30 hours, 200+ miles. That is our longest voyage yet. It's a long time underway. But before I go into that, after we got to Onset, we went into town for a little walk. The beach at Onset is over 2 miles, the longest in New England (I think....). It is beautiful, if not a little cold this time of the year.

While we were headed for the beach, we encountered a young man with 2 of his 8 children, standing waist deep, in the cold waters, digging quahogs (big clams). It looked like cold, hard work. They had long tined rakes, scraping the ocean bottom for the clams. He generously let us buy about 30 of the big boys from him for a very modest price. Here is Luke holding 4 of them...and the finished product, sauteed in garlic and wine (what could go wrong with THAT!)I used the leftover clams to make clam dip, yum. There were a few parts that were a chewing challenge. I could use some recipe ideas..

Anyway, we tried to leave Onset at 6am....not to be. Our anchor windlass labored at bringing up the anchor. When it finally did, we could see why. An old, metal lobster pot had been pierced by one of the anchor flukes and dragged up with it. It took Luke some fancy maneuvering, an extra rope, and a pair of wire clippers, but a mere half hour later, we were on our way, sans lobster pot. I wish I had taken a picture, but honestly, it was cold, blowing drizzle, barely light, and not a fun time. I didn't think about a picture.

From our late departure, we made the 60 mile trip to Block Island. Tired of the rain, drizzle, and fog that accompanied us the entire way, we just stayed on the boat, making it an early evening.

The plan to scoot from Block Island directly to Cape May worked perfectly. It was a completely non-eventful trip (the best kind). We did pass a very large (about 4 ft long ?) sea turtle off the coast of Long Island. By dusk we were crossing the Ambrose Shipping Channel into NYC, at about 45 miles out from Verrazano Narrows. A lot of boats, but nothing of any problem. By the way, when we do an overnighter or a long, offshore voyage, we file a float plan with a fellow cruiser. That gives them our estimated leaving time, arriving time, and route. We also give this information to 2 cruiser SSR (single side band) radio groups for cruisers. If we don't check in with them by an assigned time, they will notify the Coast Guard that we are "overdue" and the process of locating us will begin. Hope to never use it!!!! Our night went well, with us taking first a 2 hour shift sleeping, and then a 3 hour shift. We ate a fourth meal during the middle of the night. That's a big plus for staying awake. While we had motored for most of the first 14 hours out of Block Island, the conditions became perfect for a great sail, around 7 knots on a beam reach (wind perpendicular to our course) the entire night and the rest of the way into Cape May - quiet and great mileage! As we approached New Jersey, we first saw a pre-dawn band of deep pink with a bit of yellow on the eastern horizon --

then dawn --

then Sunrise

always a very welcome ending to an overnighter on the water.

Atlantic City in the early morning sun.

We had a first --- 2 land birds found our boat as a place of refuge off the coast of NJ. These aren't water birds, but land birds that apparently had gotten blown offshore. The pictures aren't so great, as we didn't want to scare them from their safe perches until they felt strong enough to leave on their own. First, what looks like a Flicker, resting on the propeller blades of our dinghy motor. He arrived when we were about 15 miles off the NJ coast, flew off when we were about 8 miles out.
Then a Carolina Wren, sitting in the shelter of our mast.
We arrived in Cape May just as the winds died down, anchoring next to the Coast Guard Training Center. Water temperature is up to 70 and I finally took blanket number 2 off of the bed! Cleaned up the boat (we took showers while under sail), took another 1 hour nap, then into Cape May for a few fresh veggies and a Chinese dinner. We met a nice gentleman who let us tie our dinghy up to his "eel boat". He catches eels for the international (primarily Oriental, apparently) market. Long, 2 footers, fat and round, for gourmet meals. Yuck. Then his eel-buddy gave us a ride into town. We continue to meet the NICEST folks!!!

We learned that we are "shoebee's" in Cape May. Back in the late 1800's, the only way to Cape May was via train. The day visitors all brought their lunches in shoeboxes. Visitors today are still "shoebee's". That would be us!!!

11 1/2 hours to Onset

We made the non-eventful, motoring trip from Portsmouth to Onset on Tuesday, about 85 nautical miles. Sunny, calm seas. A beautiful New England sunset to welcome us.

Onset is in MA, on the west side of the Cape Cod Canal. We hit the canal at just the right time for a favorable current, and realized about 3kt boost all the way through, doing 10+ kts over the ground rather than our 7 kts through the water. Having passed through the Cape Cod Canal makes us realize that we have truly left Maine and Downeast, and are back in Southern New England. The canal is a shortcut for ships heading from, for example, NY to Boston. This means that they don't have to navigate the rougher, longer waterway outside of the Cape Cod peninsula. Not just small boats like ours, either -- we encountered this behemoth as we exited the canal.

A sure sign of being further south is the weather. The average temperature seems a little warmer, but the true indicator is the water temperature. We saw as cold as 56 in upper Maine. BURR!!! The current water temp is a balmy 65. This actually means a lot to our comfort. Realize that at least half of our living area in the boat is below the waterline. The colder water definitely makes the interior of the boat colder, too. We definitely can feel the difference now.

High winds are probably keeping us here until Saturday, when we plan to head for Block Island, about 10 hours from Onset. We'll be researching the next few days carefully after that, as we would prefer to make an overnight voyage from Block Island to either Barnegat Bay or Cape May. It all depends on Mother Nature, as usual.