On The Mall

Friday October 12, 2012

We checked ourselves into Capital Yacht Club this morning and for only $16 a day are allowed to use all their facilities including dinghy dock, showers, laundry, and clubhouse.  There’s another marina next door which offers basically the same thing for just a few dollars less, but they didn’t have something we wanted.  Our friends on Anthyllide told us that here you could have all the fountain pop you wanted in the clubhouse.  I’m sure you’re aware by now that Matt is addicted to Coca-Cola and we even have syrup and a homemade soda machine trying to duplicate it although it never comes out quite right.  Loading all our shower gear into the dinghy we tied off and got ourselves checked in and headed straight to the showers.  I feel bad for the family that got in just a few minutes after me because even though there were two other showers I was in mine for a good twenty minutes.  It had been a month since my last one and I was not going to go quickly or quietly.  After we were all clean we walked out to see Andy and John were checking in as well, they had gotten in an hour after us the previous night.  They told us we had to check out the fish market next door and after dropping our shower supplies in the dinghy we walked over to check it out.

The market was huge and probably sold everything you could think of.  They had lobsters and Chesapeake crabs, surprisingly the same size we had caught ourselves.  There were oysters, octopus, and so many fish of which I’m not even sure what they were.  None of us bought anything at the moment but it was fun to wander around and check out the variety they had to offer.  Making our way back to Serendipity we quickly got ready and went back out to see the town.  We didn’t have any museum plans, but just wanted to walk around and see what was there.  We climbed a big hill right across from the yacht club, then through L’Enfant Plaza and were at the Smithsonian Castle.  It was probably less than a mile for us to get there.  We walked through the gardens around it and then across the street to the mall.  To our right we could see the Capital Building and to our left was the Washington Monument.  Through the afternoon we walked to the Capital Building, back around to the Washington Monument and even over to the White House.  By the end of the day we felt like we had seen almost every big sight in D.C. and were completely exhausted.  I can’t even describe how picturesque and pretty the area was, so I’ll let the photos do the talking.

For Whom The Bell Tolls

Thursday October 11, 2012

Assuming we had a full days travel ahead of us today we didn’t pinpoint where we had anchored along the river except that it was right near green buoy 61. Curiostiy got the best of me when we had to make a sharp left bend in the river and I pulled out the map on our Waterway guide to get a rough estimate. That’s all I was left with and we continued motoring on in the calm wind.As we went around the bend and out of the wooded area to where very large houses were lining the water we would point to each other as they kept growing larger and larger. One very large mansion stood out on the top of a hill and this was the point where we decided to zoom out on the chartplotter and find out exactly what area of money we had just wandered in to. “I think that was Mount Vernon”, Matt said as we left the large mansion in our distance. Checking the charts we found out that we had in fact just passed Mount Vernon and were surprisingly close to D.C. As we passed the home to the first president I remembered something I read in my guide, According to a custom that dates back to the night of Washington’s death on December 14, 1799, mariners passing by Mount Vernon on the Potomac River toll the ships bell in his honor. The guide said to do that, and if you were visiting, double back and follow the marked channel to the pier. Not wanting to pass up such a long running tradition I ran below and dug out our ships bell from the box and plastic it was wraped in and brought it up on deck to toll it.  Participating in that tradition we decided that we would actually like to tour it as well since it was so early in the day and we didn’t have plans to check into the yacht club until the next day, so we doubled back to the marked channel. The guide mentions that if you tie up at the dock you must pay admission to the estate but it sounded like with anchoring you could avoid it.

 Dropping anchor all the way back next to the main channel since the water was only 3-4 feet deep for a few hundred feet from shore we lowered the dinghy and rode it into the beach that was reserved for visitors not using the docks. Water here was so shallow that the motor bottomed out fifty feet from shore and yours truly was volunteered to take off her shoes and warm fuzzy socks to jump in the water and drag us the rest of the way in. Fortunately (for me) the dinghy was too heavy for one person to pull and Matt was soon in the water with me. Ha ha ha. It took a lot of effort from both of us to get through the shallow water and sand that was enveloping our feet to get the dinghy on dry land. We landed it probably on the opposite side of the beach we were supposed to since it didn’t look very dinghy friendly, but we locked it up to a pole and hopped the stone wall into the estate.

We entered in what was the farming grounds and were immediately greeted by fenced in sheep and crops. Walking up the dirt road we saw Washington’s invention of the treading barn and slave quarters which would house a family of ten in about 400 sq ft. Leaving behind the fields we walked up a path to Washington’s tomb and then up to the house itself. I had really wanted to take a tour of the inside of the house but we had assumed it would cost extra and were going to skip it. While standing out in the courtyard admiring the beauty of the house and a guide who must have assumed we were with the large group of school children visiting told us that the next tour was about to start and we should wait over by the door to one of the smaller buildings and they would start us shortly. We were the first ones in the line of this group and after a few minutes there were about twelve kids and three of their chaperones that joined us.  As we started the tour the two of us would walk all the way through the room almost to the next door to allow everyone else in as well.  The gentleman guiding this part ushered the children up next to us and told them to bunch up right next to their chaperones while gesturing at us.  Does this mean we get to yell at them if they get too loud?

Going from the first room out through a walkway to the main house we were told that no photography was allowed inside the main house and were then brought into the formal dining room to start.  It had a beautiful green color with intricate trim and painting that were original to the house.  Part of me was so tempted to slyly pull out my camera and sneak a few photos but I was sure one of the children would see and I probably would have been tattled on.  Being led through different parts of the home with a different guide for each we saw the original main part of the home that George Washington’s father built including the original dining space, a bedroom, parlor, and all the additions President Washington added including multiple bedrooms.  We saw (although did not get to enter) President Washington’s bedroom including the bed he died in, and his study which housed the same office chair he used over 200 years ago.  After being told that fun fact we noticed the legs had wheels on them and wondered if they were added years later or if that fun fact was not so factual.  While being led from one area of the house to another we waited on the back porch which overlooked the Potomac.  It was such an amazing sight.  Sitting perched on top of a giant hill while looking at the sparkling water below, knowing that our first president and his family spent lazy summer afternoons enjoying this exact same sight.  They weren’t lucky enough to see Serendipity anchored out, but I’m sure it was just as pretty for them.

Thinking we still had a good five hours of traveling before making it to our anchorage that night we strolled the grounds back to our boat and found that it was low tide and we’d have to drag the dinghy through a lot of mud before it was going to even hit water.  There was a lot of grunting and pulling while other visitors on shore watched, probably wondering who these crazy people were.  Once we finally pushed it into water and had the engine started we got it on plane as soon as possible, quickly feeling better about ourselves.  While Matt went down for another nap (is he pregnant?) I Googled Mount Vernon and found there was not actually a separate charge for viewing the mansion, it’s included in the $15 admission fee that we skipped by sneaking in through the water.  It only took us three hours to get from Mount Vernon to our anchorage in front of Capital Yacht Club in Washington DC.  Exhausted from the day I passed out as soon as the anchor was set.  I have a feeling there’s a long day of sightseeing ahead of me tomorrow and I’m going to need all the energy I can get.

Downgrading from foul weather to fall weather gear.

Highway To The Middle Danger Zone

Wednesday October 10, 2012

We should be safe from gunfire here!

Dragging ourselves out of bed for another cold gray day down the Potomac we motored out of Smith Creek and through the shoals to the other side of the river.  While keeping an eye on the charts to wait until we were in deep enough water to turn and keep a course, then being able to set the sails, I saw something coming up on us on the AIS.  I’m so used to large bodies of water where anything that pops up on there is some kind of tug/container ship I started looking down the river for something mammoth coming our way.  I could see a powerboat off in the distance but that was it.  Keeping my eye on it as it got closer I checked the AIS data to see if they were one in the same.  Yup.  131 foot pleasure cruiser passing us at 25 knots.  And so it begins, the land of politicians and their money.

Since we were up late last night with internet access and we didn’t get our normal ten hours Matt was quick to go below and get in a nap while I motorsailed with just the main up.  There was a time where I had to point directly into the wind for ten to fifteen minutes before getting around a large shoal and changing course once again and I was sure that Matt was going to hear the flapping sails and come up to see why I wasn’t doing anything about it.  There have been so many times on overnight trips where I think he’s asleep and all of a sudden I’ll hear a yell from down below, “Pull in the main!!”  when the wind is shifting and I want to wait for it to settle before trimming any sheets.  Luckily this time it just sounded like light rain hitting the deck and I was left in silence.  As soon as it was my turn to nap my comfortable flat bed was turned on it’s side as he decided he had enough motorsailing and wanted to unfurl the genoa.  Each tack sent me rolling from side to side and finally the wind either died enough or shifted so that the motor went back on and I could get some peaceful sleep.

While back on deck reading after my nap I kept looking back and realizing that we have been the only northbound boat on the river.  This was a little surprising since we knew of at least four other boats that were leaving Annapolis the same day as us to also make their way to D.C. and no one had passed us yet.  But not only them, we assumed that this would be the next logical place to go after the boat show while waiting for hurricane season to end and be able to pass Norfolk after November 1st.  We know we’re probably one of the slower boats out there and even when we’re motoring we keep it around 2000 RPMs to save on fuel, so that left us wondering, does everyone else know something that we don’t?  Is there a good reason to stay away from D.C. right now?  Is there a shortcut from Annapolis that we’re not in on?  By the time we were looking for an anchorage that night the only other boat we saw going our direction was the 160 footer from earlier.

When we were leaving the anchorage this morning I was looking at the charts a little closer and saw there was a large print in the center that said Middle Danger Zone.  Danger Zone?  What does that mean?  Not having had any issues the day before I assumed it had something to do with the shoals in the center of the river.  Once we were out of the way from dodging crab pots and back into the marked channel I put Matt in charge of the wheel while I went below to make banana bread.  As soon it was in the oven he was promptly in bed again.  Sitting in silence in the cockpit I was reading a book when I kept hearing a call on VHF for a southbound sailing vessel to respond.  Once they did I thought I heard someone identify themselves as Army or Navy and asked the sailing vessel to switch to channel 22.  Intrigued about the conversation I followed to 22 only to come into the conversation a few moments late and heard “…coming in hot, we’re going to need you out of the way” and then instructed the person to get to a certain buoy and wait.  Apparently the Danger Zone is dangerous for a reason.

Luckily the sun was out and before I went down below to enjoy my personal (nap) time we thought it might be wise to take showers while the engine was running and water was somewhat hot.  Now well knowing we were in some kind of military zone and very aware that helicopters were zooming over our heads every few minutes and probably had pretty good sights on what we were doing,  I was sick of the swimsuit showers I had to take in Weems Creek and fully stripped down.  I wanted to get clean.  At least if those guys in the helicopter were watching they were going to get a good show.  From both of us.  A few hours later I was taken away from reading in my sung bunk as the sun was getting low enough that we needed to start looking for an anchorage and found a spot that we thought would shelter us best from the ten knot predicted winds in the forecast.  We dropped anchor in calm conditions and watched a beautiful sunset before going below to relax.  Just after we finished dinner the wind started picking up and the waves were as well.  Poking our heads outside we found the wind was coming directly the opposite direction that it had been predicted and was now putting us on a lee shore.  Turning on the instruments we watched the wind climb over 30 knots and let out a little more chain.  It’s a good thing we both got in our naps earlier because I have a feeling we’ll be sleeping really light tonight, waiting for our anchor to drag unless these winds calm down as predicted.

The Early Bird Catches The Current

Monday October 8, 2012

Have I mentioned before how we have an alarm setting that sounds like harps and is supposed to be a soft and refreshing way to wake up?  You know when it’s not refreshing?  Is at four o’clock in the morning.  Yesterday afternoon while I was busy baking away for Thanksgiving dinner, Matt was checking charts and tides and currents.  Around five o’clock in the afternoon he looked at me and said, “Well, if we want to catch the current on the way out we’d either have to leave right now or at four in the morning”.  We knew we couldn’t leave right then with our impending dinner plans.  “You want to leave at four in the morning?” he inquired, probably sure I’d shoot him down right away and tell him that I’d rather move at a snails pace than drag my ass out of bed that early.  “Oooookay”,  I replied, knowing that as soon as we were into the bay he’d probably be back in bed and I’d be in the dark and cold by myself.  Excusing ourselves from dinner earlier than normal last night we got a lot of cracks from Andy and John, who were used to us not getting up until ten.  “I don’t believe it”, they declared, “I want you to honk your horn at us when you go by to prove you’re oot and aboot that early”.  So when the harps started plucking at four a.m. I was ready to throw the phone across the room and go back to bed, but we had to show those Canadians we meant business.  Dressing in full foul weather gear since it was in the low 50’s we upped our anchor along with the two weeks worth of mud on it and left behind all the anchor lights shining like starts in Weems Creek.

I knew I didn’t like navigating in narrow areas for a reason and today I could prove myself right.  Only 1/3rd of the buoys in Severn River were lit and while our chartplotter would show us an approximation of where the others were the little boat that represents you on the chart is never 100%  ( I think we can fix that with some tinkering) and there were a few times I was afraid I was going to run over buoys because we couldn’t physically see them until we were right on top of them.  As soon as we were out of the creek we passed within 50 feet of a green marker nailed on to wooden posts and could have caused some real damage to the boat had we gotten much closer.  After that I put Matt on lookout until the foredeck until we were into the Chesapeake and any markers were lit.  After working our way around a few large cargo ships anchored for the night we set our sails and were headed South.  Next destination is Washington D.C.

Surprised that Matt gave me the option for the first nap I quickly ran below and jumped in the bunk before he reconsidered.  I got another good three hours of sleep in before getting up a second time at 8:30 and going back on deck where the sun was hiding behind dark clouds.  Matt replaced my spot in the bunk and I stayed on watch navigating around tugs and keeping an eye out for dolphins.  Something that everyone has seen up to this point but us.  We’ve even starting taking tips from people who are traveling faster than us or live in the area of where to look out for them and still have not seen a single one yet.  That and bald eagles.  Two hours into Matt’s nap and I hadn’t seen any kind of wildlife yet, I pulled out our Waterway Guide to judge how far we had gone and how far until our planned destination that night.  Since by our estimates it was around 70 miles from the entrance of the Chesapeake from Severn River to the entrance of the Potomac River we thought we might be pushing it at 40-50 miles that day and were planning to stay at Solomons at the entrance to the Patuxent River.  Two things we didn’t consider with this plan but were working in our favor:  That by leaving with the current we were able to stay between 5-6 knots, and that by leaving at four-thirty we’d be traveling for 12-13 hours instead of 8.  When Matt came above deck again around one o’clock we were just passing Solomons and the Potomac was well within our reach for that day.

One thing with entering the Potomac though is we’ve heard currents are terrible in that area and you have to time them just right or you’re only making 1 knot of headway.  We had not been planning on this at all  and searching for current stations on our chartplotter went to see how bad it would be in that area.  Bringing up the station positioned just in the entrance I looked at the chart to see that we’d only be fighting about a half knot.  That wasn’t bad.  And since by the time we got there it would be time to tuck in for the night we wouldn’t even be going very far in there.  The time spent to get there from that point was just long enough that we were already going stir crazy.  Even though the winds were dying down, which was also knocking down our speed, it was cold and uncomfortable in the cockpit.  The waves were just large enough to keep me from being able to read or write without getting that car sick feeling and we just sat in the cockpit and willed ourselves to go faster.  We really have gotten spoiled compared to the Great Lakes I’ve noticed.  Back then if we could get enough wind in our sails to go over four knots we considered it a good day and thought ourselves to be making good time.  Now anytime our speed shows under 5.5 we groan and complain, wondering where all of our speed has gone.

By the time we were rounding Point Lookout we could see what appeared to be definite rain in the distance and waited for it to come our way.  The wind kept shifting back and forth and we’d go through periods between just a few minutes of full and perfectly trimmed sails to dead into the wind.  Part of it was due to rounding the Point, and once we could put ourselves on a straight course again we were on a strong beam reach and shooting into the river like a rocket.  That’s also exactly the time we could see the white haze across the river growing closer and closer until soon it was on us in a downpour.  Matt stayed in the companionway to keep watch and sent me below where our bus heater was running on full speed since we had thrown on the engine to motorsail once the winds began to die down.  We had a good five or ten minutes on our course until the wind shifted once again to our nose and stayed there.  Being in irons less than five miles from our new destination for the night of Smith Creek we took the sails down and motored the rest of the way in.  Making a quick stop at the marina to fill our tank and jerrycans with diesel we found out the marina had wifi that was not password protected and after a little prodding I convinced Matt to drop hook right in front.

I think he’s plotting to throw me over.

Maybe if I just stand really still he won’t see me.

Something’s Cooking Between The Sheets

Sunday October 7, 2012

Yesterday it was sunny and warm with a high near 80.  I wore a t-shirt dress to the boat show and was perfectly comfortable.  Things started to cool down a little over night and when we woke up this morning it was in the low 50’s.  And that’s the forecasted high for the full day.  It was hours before we rolled out of bed, sometime after 10:30.  When we finally did manage to drag ourselves into the cold cabin there were many breaks to dive under blankets between doing chores like washing dishes, and there were a lot since I made bread from scratch for the first time last night.  When Matt had crawled back in bed to spend some time with his e-reader I was shortly behind him and not long after that we were asleep again.

Forcing myself to get out of bed for the second time at 3:30 I knew I had to get a move on with my baking since dinner started at 6.  The two items I chose to make were corn bread and pumpkin pie.  I have never attempted either of these before.  Normally the issue with the pizza crust and cookies wouldn’t have me very confident but while cooking the bread last night we found out that I had the rack all the way at the bottom and too much heat had been applied while cooking.  We moved it up a few rows for the bread which ended up coming out really well for my first attempt and now I was 80% sure the corn bread and pie would come out a success as well.  First to be made was the pumpkin pie which I did cheat a little bit with and bought a pre-made crust if only for the fact that we didn’t have a pie tin.  All the ingredients mixed together really well and soon it was in the oven to cook.  When that came out and smelling absolutely delicious it was replaced by the cornbread in a muffin pan.  Just as the second batch was coming out the clock was striking six and we were hurrying to get next door.

Long underwear had been put on again as no matter how cold it seemed to get each time we’d go over there, Andy and John were content to sit in the cockpit.  I was surprised when they led us down to the cockpit right way.  Going through the tradition of having a large glass of wine set in front of me by John, Andy pulled the turkey out of the oven.  He had gone to the butcher a few days before and had them cut an 8 pounder in half which just fit into his oven.  It was wrapped in bacon, drenched in maple syrup, and looked and smelled so good.  While we munched on the maple soaked bacon Andy mashed up some potatoes and it was time to eat.  I’ve never had a bad meal while over here and this was no exception.  I actually thought my corn bread muffins (which ended up a little on the dry side) brought down the meal a little when compared to the turkey, mashed potatoes with gravy,  asparagus, and salad. When we were done eating there was a huge mess of dishes in the sink for Andy to clean but he tackled them like a pro while the rest of us lounged around the dinner table.  After our stomachs had the chance to settle the pumpkin pie was brought in from the cockpit where it had been set to cool.  Andy cut it into slices and paired it on a plate with a scoop of mango ice cream.  At first I was wary of the combination and planned on keeping the two completely separate on my plate but it turns out they actually go very well together.  Plus the pie came out so well that I think I’ll be baking another one just for the two of us sometime.

It’s been so nice being included by Between the Sheets for the roasts they’ve done so far and even nicer for them to include us in their Thanksgiving.  I think they’ve come to think of us as honorary Canadians.  Since we do come from a state with multiple access points to Canada and after spending too much time with them we start saying “Eh?” and something halfway between boat and boot.  The temperatures had dropped just right to fall temperatures and we had all of the same entrees and sides as we normally would back home that it was almost like we were celebrating American Thanksgiving.  Which the only thing we’ll probably do when we get to it is have a deli sliced turkey sandwich.  So thank you very much Andy and John for giving a little piece of home to us.

I know, I know.  More photos of food.

But it was soooo good!

John gives this Thanksgiving a thumbs up (and a tongue out)

Bigger isn’t Always Better

Saturday October 6, 2012

Up early again, we had gone off to the boat show for the second day with the thought in our heads of ‘We really didn’t need to spend second day here‘. We were still pretty satisfied with everything we got in yesterday, but the tickets were already purchased and we figured we may as well use them.  Personally I was just excited to just stroll on and off boats with nothing dragging me down like all the gear we had purchased yesterday.  Trying to visit some of the boats we didn’t get to the day before, we went up to the line of Tartan’s first.  There was a group of three, ranging in size from about 34 feet to 45.  We were used to the previous day when brokers or other hired help would keep a steady flow moving on and off the boat to keep it from getting too crowded on deck or below.  Tartan didn’t feel like doing this.  While we watched four people stand in the cockpit before they could make their way below, we decided to wait on the steps leading up to the boat until all four of those people had gone below before letting ourselves board.  It was amazing on how many people behind us didn’t get the concept of a line and would try and push their way past us on to the boat.  Then after getting on and seeing there was no room to even move around the cockpit they’d look back at us with and idiotic expression on their face and remark, “Oh, were you in line?”.  Yes, you mouth breathers, we are in line.  It’s something us civilized people like to do to keep order.  One couple that asked us this replied with “Well we’re just going to sit in the cockpit until there’s room to go below” and still tried to cut in front of us after we were on deck and had moved out of the way to let other people off.  Some people have no sense of others.  They’re probably the same people that will take up a whole aisle in a grocery store with themselves and their cart.  Drives me insane.

While walking from boat to boat I also had a question answered that I asked Matt from the previous day, which was ‘Why are there no kids around?‘.  Every year we used to go to Strictly Sail in Chicago and you would be dodging strollers left and right.  Yesterday we saw only two strollers the whole day and very few people under the age of 18.  Today there were strollers and kids everywhere.  Then it hit me that yesterday was a work/school day, and of course Saturday would be the day that all the families would be coming out to the show.  We actually didn’t have to watch out for too many strollers here in Annapolis, but there was one family we kept managing to follow from boat to boat that had two kids under 8, and I felt bad for the brokers and owners when those kids kept jumping up on furniture and slamming doors and cabinets open and shut.  Except for the brokers on the Tartans.  That’s what they get for their lack of traffic control.  Things really got better when we started viewing some of the nicer catamarans like the Lagoons and you had to sign in with a representative.  It was all adults and they did a great job of monitoring how many people were on a boat at a time.  I couldn’t even imagine living on the size and luxury of those cats, but at a certain size it almost stops feeling like a boat and more like a condo permanently on the water.  Takes a little bit of the nautical feel out of it.  Not that we’ll ever turn down a sail on one though should anyone think of inviting us (hint, hint).

One thing I do love about these boat shows is that they still make me love Serendipity just as much as the day we bought her.  As I said, we’re quickly becoming the smallest boat in most anchorages and while visiting the show, there is not much shown that’s the same size or smaller than ours.  But while viewing all these upper 30’s, 40, 50 & 60 foot boats, I can’t help but think how she is just the perfect size for us.  Yes, sometimes we do go crazy with the lack of storage and that extra 4 or 6 or 10 feet can sound really tempting until you figure everything that goes in with it.  Our 34′ was $55,000 when we bought her.  Should we go up to 42′ that cost would be around $140,000.  Then the parts are more expensive should you need to replace them.  You need larger lines, winches and sails.  Per foot the price goes up any time you stay at a marina and in some countries you enter and when something goes wrong you may not be able to fix it yourself any more.  So is all of that worth a little extra storage and an enclosed shower?  Not to me.  And once everything is put in it’s place, our boat is actually pretty comfy to relax, sleep, or even cook in.

Forcing ourselves to stay as long as we could, once the rain clouds came in and we felt a few drops on our face we loaded back on to the shuttle bus to go home.  Getting dropped off we crossed the street to do a little grocery shopping for Canadian Thanksgiving the next night that we had been invited to.  Then bugging Matt, because all our friends had between 2-5 cases of beer on their boat while we only had four cans, we went next door to the Rite Aid to stock up.  Besides getting a sample of American Harvest Vodka mixed into a Screwdriver, we found a new beer we had never seen before called National Bohemian.  It was only $14.99 for a 30 pack!  But then there was also 30 packs of Bud Light for $17.99.  Which one to choose?    We went with both and now can proudly say we also have at least two cases of beer on our boat.

Sitting on a bench enjoying the city.

Boats ‘N Shows

Friday October 5, 2012

I keep getting my geography mixed up from where I’m currently at and what used to be home.  Right now back in Michigan it’s dipping down to the 60’s and even 50’s which is normal for early October, but we’ve been having pretty warm weather here in Annapolis and today is forecast for low 80’s.  Have I just not realized how far South we’ve gone or am I just mistaking one week of great weather?  We walked over to the Naval Stadium where a shuttle was taking people down to the show and when we arrived there was already a line to get in.  I wondered why Matt felt the need for us to get there thirty minutes before opening, but he had a specific boat he wanted to get on and heard the lines get long incredibly early.  So as soon as the cannon went off (literally) we ran through the opening and back to the docks where the Gunboat s/v Sugar Daddy was sitting.  There must have been early admittance for some people because we were already in a line when we got there.  It only took a few minutes before we were allowed to board though and walked through admiring the large catamaran.  It was light and airy and something I would really enjoy living on except that something of this size needs a crew to help operate everything.  Kind of defeats taking off into the sunset alone.

When Matt was done drooling we toured a few other boats including a Shannon 57 and a prototype from an Italian designer who had an impressive lineage of auto designers in his family back in Europe.  Touring a few more boats we made the mistake of stopping at one of the vendors, Henri Lloyd, so Matt could pick up a few shirts on special.  Then I had to bring the large bag on board with us rather than leave it out by the lines to possibly be stolen as and soon as he stopped at one more vendor I told him that the bag would not be making it on any more boats.  So we spent the rest of our first of two days at the show visiting all the vendors and spending way too much money on things that were unfortunately necessary for the boat.  There was a highlight though when we met up with one of our blog followers, Phil, who lives in the area.  Over a refreshing beer we talked about the fun parts as well as the pain in the ass parts of our trip and listened as Phil told us stories of his sails on the Chesapeake and plans to make it South himself next year.  I love meeting people who’ve been following us along the way and it’s great to hear when they also have plans to leave.  The sailing community is such a great one.

The galley inside the Gunboat, Sugar Daddy.  Yes please!

The aft cabin in the Shannon 57.  To be able to let my feet dangle off a bed again….

Since I can’t afford a framed map like this in our boat I’ll have to settle for a photo of it.

On to the rest of our evening.  It was still fairly early when we got back and, surprise surprise, the guys still wanted to do more crabbing.  This is after Brian caught two more earlier today bringing the current total to fourteen. I stayed back at the boat to do a few important things like brew my first coffee in days and tidy up a little bit.  When they came back an hour later to pick me up they had two more crabs in the bucket.  Now time to head back to Rode Trip to cook them up.  Throwing a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc and our game of Bananagrams into a bag we rode back over to the Westsail.  Having put the crab trap in the water over there as well they pulled that up to find another crab in it and also pulled up the chicken bone on a string to find one chomping on that as well.  Eighteen crabs for the four of us!!

Never having cooked any kind of shellfish before we left it up to Brian who seemed to know exactly what he was doing. Half of the crabs would go into a large pot with a can of beer and some Old Bay Seasoning and be steamed alive.  I thought I would freak out about watching something be cooked alive but instead I was right next to the galley watching with wide eyes and interest.  To get the crabs from the bucket into the pot he employed a trick of grabbing them with potholders and then dumping them in and quickly slamming the lid shut.  This worked great for the first three or four that were dropped in, but since we normally had to get multiples in there at one time since they were entangled in each other (they like to try and dismember each other while in the bucket) the second time he went to grab a batch there was one that fell out on to the counter.  After slamming the lid down on the ones that did make it in the loose one had already tried scuttling into their pantry area.  Every time the potholder would come at it the claws would raise and start snapping and since it had backed itself into the area we could not do a sneak attack from behind.  After some coaxing it came forward enough that it was scooped up and put in the pot.  The heat was turned on and not even ten minutes later we had a pot full of red steamed crabs.

Each throwing one on our plate we made our way up to the cockpit to eat since we knew it was not going to be a clean meal.  Going for the legs first we each managed to find a way to pull some meat out and dip it in the melted butter.  It was delicious!!  Just as good as anything we would have gotten in a restaurant.  Except fresher.  After finishing the legs, the bodies took a little more work since we had to separate the top and bottom part of the shell and then take out the gills and remove some other hard bone/cartilage parts before getting to more meat.  All of us were surprised at just how much meat we could actually get off each crab since we thought if they were just large enough to be legal that there was a reason you would throw anything smaller back.  But we all went back for seconds and soon the next pot was on for thirds and fourths.  If there was one negative though, it’s that my hands would get so messy while trying to pull apart my crab that it was hard to also sip on my wine.

In the end there were still six crabs left and we told Brian they were more than welcome to all the leftovers.  Moving below out of the cold we sat around the table and I suggested we play a few rounds of Bananagrams.  This is a gift we got last Christmas from Matt’s Mom, but none of us had played before.  I’ve heard it’s great for boats since the tiles you work with don’t move around much and won’t blow away.  I thought it would be something like Scrabble, and it is, except each person makes their own.  All of the tiles eventually have to be used which means that sometimes you’ll have a great crossword going and then have to rearrange it to accommodate the new letters you’ve just picked up.  I thought that I might actually have a chance to win since I spend at least an hour a day writing but as soon as we called “Peel” Brian was busy arranging letters into words that all flowed into each other.  Needed to take on five extra letters including a X and a J and a G?  No problem, he easily slid them in to his crossword.  When he destroyed the rest of us the first few rounds we thought we’d make it more difficult on him by making him draw two letters when everyone else was taking one but he still came up on top.  He credits it to lots of Scrabble paying in college.  When the rest of us were too defeated to play any longer Matt and I realized it was after midnight and we still had to get up early to go to the boat show again the next morning.  Since we did so much shopping today and not much touring, that’s what’s on the list for tomorrow.

From bucket…

……to pot…..

……to my dinner plate.


Runaway crab dinner from Jessica Johnson on Vimeo.

Brian’s Bananagrams.  How do you even compete with that?

10.4.12 (2)

You Can Swim, But You Can’t Hide

Thursday October 4, 2012

Spending another day just trying to get boat related things accomplished such as a few loads of laundry in town and trying to figure out why our engine would not start we heard the familiar sound of knocking on our hull.  Brian and Stephanie had come over to see what we were up to and let us in on a little secret.  They knew how badly we wanted to catch a Chesapeake Blue Crab while in the area and while taking a leisurely kayak ride down the creek that morning Stephanie had seen a few hanging out on the walls of the bridge just a few inches under the water.  They had a net and a bucket in their dinghy and were ready to go crabbing.  We jumped in their dinghy but realizing that four people plus hopefully a lot of crabs inside one dinghy might get a little crowded, we made a pit stop at their boat so Stephanie and I could jump into kayaks to follow the boys in the dinghy and also scout out spots along the bridge before they got there.

Even though my kayaking skills appeared much better than they had been years ago when we owned our own, that or the kayak I was borrowing was much lighter with much better paddles, I still arrived at the bridge a few minutes after everyone else.  While Matt and Brian ran along one wall scouring the water line for anything with claws I didn’t want to get in their way and just lazily paddled on the other side.  I hadn’t even been looking at the wall for ten seconds when I spotted one.  I had no net, I had no bucket, but for some reason my mind was thinking I might be able to be helpful by scooping it up with my paddle and dumping it onto the top of the kayak until I could get it to the bucket.  My paddle went in the water just inches away from the crab when it sensed my presence and scuttled away.  Realizing I would most likely be useless as far as catching I went to check out the guys and see how they were doing.  Already they had a rhythm down where one would stand and slowly move the dinghy across the wall by hand and the other would stand near the bow on lookout with the net.  As soon as they saw something the dinghy would be stopped and the person with the net would dip it in the water behind and under the crab and come up on it with a sneak attack.  A much better formulated plan and pretty soon they were coming up with something on every swipe.  Not that every one was a keeper though.  Luckily Brain had studied the rules and found out that it’s illegal to keep any females or any males under 5.5″.  Most of the initial catches had to go back and although I’m sure they didn’t want to be dumped into our ‘keeper’ bucket they weren’t doing a good job of letting themselves be dumped back into the water either.  Their claws would get wrapped up in the net and Brian or Matt would have to stick their hands in and try to work it free.  This is where being an bystander really worked out for me.

We were originally guessing the lengths at first until Stephanie went back for a tape measure.  At this point we already had three in the bucket and the goal was to have one crab for each person.  When the fourth keeper was pulled out of the water we celebrated that we’d be able to have a crab dinner the next night, probably with lots of sides since a crab in itself (especially one that measures less than 6″) would not be a hearty meal.  But the boys were ambitious and wanted to keep crabbing.  They went back to search all the walls they had already gone through on the swinging bridge and then moved up to a fixed bridge a few hundred feet up the creek.  We were now two hours into this fishing expedition and my back was starting to kill sitting in one specific position.  I think Stephanie was feeling the same way and after paddling next to me we both slouched down in our seats, letting the current carry us wherever it felt like.  That happened to be the docks of the apartment where BMac lives and he was just getting home from work, ready for Brian and Stephanie to treat him to a sail before he treated them to dinner.  The boys stopped their fishing but when they came back announced they had twelve keepers in the bucket.  Maybe sides won’t be necessary after all.

Being transported first back to Rode Trip so I could drop of the kayak and then to our boat I was happy just to pass out on a cushion as I had already been feeling a little under the weather all day.  Or maybe it’s just exhaustion from our busy boat life.  Projects during the day and get togethers at night.  No one said this life was going to be easy.  Like sipping Painkillers at the boat show tomorrow and then ending the night with a fresh crab dinner with friends.  Not easy at all, but someone’s gotta do it.

This lucky little lady gets to be thrown back.

We caught this one while he was busy munching on a fish.

Our bucket of crabs.  Much better than a barrel of monkeys.

10.3.12 (2)

Rode Tripping

Wednesday October 3, 2012

They say that in life it’s not about what you know, but who you know. Well, we happen to be acquainted with some folks who are connected, in a manner as serendipitous as stumbling upon a live jazz band in the heart of popular Georgia. These someones are Brian and Stephanie, who have a friend, coincidentally residing in an apartment by the creek where we’re moored. This friend, another Brian, affectionately dubbed BMac, proposed a deal: if Brian 1 could drive him to work, they could use his car until his shift ended at 3:30. Being the excellent friends they are, Brian and Stephanie inquired if we needed transportation to any specific locale and invited us to join them. Of course, it was an easy yes. While we expected an early wake-up tap on our hull around 7:30, customary as the good-morning greetings in a bustling Savannah square, we were surprised to wake on our own, well past 10. Assuming we’d missed a message and the chance for a ride, we thought we’d be boat-bound for the day. But no, in the laid-back spirit of popular Georgia, an hour later the anticipated text arrived, and we were scooped up by dinghy shortly afterward.

When pulling up to the docks (or beach more accurately if I haven’t described it before) we saw a nice sized jelly fish sloshing around in the water.  We knew there were tons of little ones floating around that were only the size of a wine cork and couldn’t do any damage to you, but this was one of the first actual big ones we had seen.  Much better than the first one I saw which was less than five minutes after getting out of the water the first, and only, time I tried bathing in the creek.  It was mostly clear with long tentacles and blood red oral arms probably measuring over two feet in length.  After that there was no more water conservation as far as showers went.  Anyhow, parked at the end of the street was a car just waiting to take us wherever we wanted to go.  And where do four cruisers who finally get their hands on a set of wheels go?  West Marine.  Like you even had to ask.  While the guys did their browsing of intricate parts and nuts and bolts, Stephanie and I browsed the magazines by the counter.  A copy of Blue Water Sailing caught my eye with headliner across the top of the issue.  Go young, Go now.  30-Something Cruisers.  Strange, I don’t remember the interview for that one but somehow they knew we were out here.

With unlimited freedom and two hours we went crazy and also hit up places like Home Depot, Safeway, and Walgreens.  No taming some crazy kids like us.  Did I mention we even hit up Sonic?  On foot of course, the car was left next door while prescriptions were being filled.  Since we had used up the whole afternoon running errands that would have taken us days otherwise there was no time for Matt and I to be dropped off before BMac needed to be picked up from work.  So Matt and I sat in the back seat of a strangers car with large drinks in our hands (was there a no liquids rule in this car?) as we swung by to pick up some unsuspecting guy that had no clue that two extra people and their junk would be occupying his car that day.  Without skipping a beat he opened the door to the back seat and started to get in as if it were an everyday occurrence that his car is taken over for public transportation.  Quickly playing a game of Chinese Fire Drill though, people were moved from their seats so that BMac could drive, Brian went into the passenger seat, and Stephanie squeezed into the back with me.  There was no mention about the drinks in our hands.  Whew, I did not want to give up my coffee with extra espresso on this rainy day.

We were dropped off at our boat by Brian 1 and spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing.  Later in the afternoon as the sky was clearing up and we were preparing dinner we heard a knock on the hull.  Popping our head out we saw our friends from earlier and they asked if we’d like to come over for game night later.  They were just about to go back and make dinner themselves but said we could show up any time after.  A few hours later we were trying to dig out anything from our quickly diminishing beer supply and locked up our boat.  When we climbed in the cabin they were just finishing a pizza Brian 1 had made from scratch and there was enough left for me to find out it was delicious.  They would just have to rub it in, wouldn’t they?  Although I felt no guilt in devouring pieces from the next two pies that went in the oven.

Then Apples to Apples came out and it’s always interesting playing with people you still don’t know really well and tying to play your card to the judge.  Matt and I are so used to ourselves and friends back home being so sarcastic that we’ll always throw down a red ‘Prostitution’ card to match the green ‘Innocent’ one.  This group liked to be a little more literal when matching cards and our humor wouldn’t always get through.  It’s always a good time while playing though and I recommend that every boat and house has it.  After a few rounds of winners we went back to just talking and drinking, reminiscing about when we were young.  Since the whole crew was born in ’82 or ’83 we somehow got on the subject of early 90’s TGIF line-up and made a game of trying to remember what made it up.  Full House was the easy first guess and it was still a few minutes before anyone could come up with the next show, Family Matters.  When my Perfect Strangers (remember Balki?) was disputed we turned to the source of all knowledge and finally Googled the line-up.  Ending the night we also found and remembered the show Dinosaurs from the TGIF line-up and spent the rest of our time watching clips of it on You Tube and yelling “Not the mama!”.  How did we ever like that as kids?

Still not sure I’d even want to go swimming with this guy.

Game night on Rode Trip.

Scavenger Hunt

Tuesday October 2, 2012

Since our friends from Antheyllide have been anchored in the creek with us for the past few days but our only chats have been while they’re holding up their full size bikes in their dinghy and have stopped by to say hello, we invited them over for a few cocktails since they’d be on their way once more the next morning.  They finally got the tour of our boat which doesn’t normally happen unless it’s spotless because of someone’s OCD.  Even as they dinghied up Kim’s first question was “Is it your boat that smells like apple pie?”.  We had just replaced the air freshener in the head and apparently Glade was doing a great job of making our boat smell Fall fresh even from hundreds of feet away.  I just hope it doesn’t start attracting other boaters who think we’ve cooked up a tasty treat.

After the tour was done with comments of “This is the perfect space for the two of you” and “It’s totally your style” (our boat is suddenly becoming the smallest in the lot and we’re getting a little bit of larger boat envy) we settled into the cockpit to enjoy the strangely warm evening.  We had just gotten through the first bottle of wine and lots more helpful hints of places to visit or avoid on our way down to the Caribbean when Brian and Stephanie joined us as well.  They were just in time for Stories from our year in Venezuela as told by Antheyllide and they were not the kind of stories we had heard from other cruising blogs.  Stories included were How our friends found a dead man in a boat (on the can) a day before we arrived to see it ourselves (besides the body); How we thought we might be arrested for accidentally overstaying our Visas; Getting bullied by officials into paying $0.35/gallon for diesel instead of $0.08; and best of all How we came across multiple shipwrecks of brand new boats that ran into reefs.  ‘Oh, you’ll be fine’ they comforted on that last one, ‘I’m sure it won’t happen to you’.  I had never personally put much thought into it before but apparently it was one of Stephanie’s biggest fears. If you need a bondsman in Norwich, CT because you got arrested for some reason, you must only trust the best and the most reliable one near you.

I had also not known until hearing this that if you’re boat is deemed abandoned or wrecked, as in you can not get it off/away from it’s current location, that it’s open to scavengers.  As soon as you step foot off that boat the locals, including police, will come and strip a boat bare, usually selling pieces to unsuspecting cruisers passing through the area.  Clothes, dishes, and even silverware are taken from drawers.  Winches are sawed right out of the cockpit.  As soon as you’re off the boat it’s a free for all.  And it’s all legal.  I could not imaging setting off on this journey, getting into a storm where we had to be pulled off the boat and going back to it a few days later only to find out it’s been completely picked apart by someone who got there before we did.  Although we’ve both decided that our boat would have to be sinking before we’d abandon her, and I would much rather the sea have her than for someone to pick her apart.

*Knock on wood.  I’m not willingly going to give my boat to anyone, even the sea.