Posts in category: Chesapeake

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.

Sunday September 30, 2012

Today I was on a mission to find internet.  We needed to pick up a few groceries since Between The Sheets had invited us over for another roast that night and we needed to bring a dish to pass.  Since Matt was still immersed in boat projects I offered to go myself and let him stay to get things done.  With my laptop secured in my backpack I had written down the names of two groceries stores in the area and directions to them so I could leave the phone with Matt and still communicate with him if necessary through my laptop.  Making me start the outboard on my own to make sure I could do it myself on the way back as well he chuckled in the cockpit as I had to use all my force and even put my foot on the motor leverage as I yanked back on the cord to start it.  On a 3.3 horsepower.  I swear it wasn’t this hard before.  Finally I got it started and pushed off, weaving through the other anchored boats on my way to shore.  Not sure when to put full power behind the motor and then cut it so I would easily coast to shore I stopped a little too soon and had to jump in the water to pull myself up.  Yanking with all my might to pull the dinghy up on to dry land with me it didn’t get as far as I’d hoped but our lock was long, so after wrapping it around a bench I knew even if I had to wade back out a little to get it, it wasn’t going very far.

Pulling the hand written directions out of my pocket I followed the streets to the first grocery store listed.  I had lucked out since it was only a half mile from the boat and large enough to carry everything I needed.  Filling up the backpack I walked out toward a shopping district hoping to find a cafe or restaurant that offered wifi.  Walking all the way down the road it was filled with galleries and and little shops but no cafes.  Basically ending up where I had started that morning I walked into a Mexican restaurant thinking that I could sit and enjoy a margarita or beer while working at least.  As soon as I got in the door I asked if there was wifi service and one of the employees told me they had gotten rid of it because of too many people in the area hacking into it.  Okay, did he know anywhere in the vicinity that might carry it?  Nope, they all got rid of it for the same reason as well.  Looks like I was in for another long walk.  On my handwritten map for the other grocery store I knew there was a Starbucks near it and debated if I should walk the two miles that way or search for something closer and possibly come up empty handed.

I was on a time constraint since Matt still had projects for me to do on the boat (as soon as one sewing project ends another one always starts) and I also had to prepare food for dinner and be there by six.  Doing my treadmill math in my head I thought if I walked really fast I could get there in thirty minutes, spend an hour there, and then have another thirty minute walk home.  Making my way out to the main road I followed another until I came out to the spot where the bus had dropped us off the previous day. Hmmmm,  I didn’t remember that being a short walk the first time and according to my map I was only half way there.  Walking and walking my thirty minutes had lapsed and I was hot and sweaty.  The backpack was heavy and that pesky little pain in my leg was coming back.  But the mission was strong and I continued forward with what seemed like no end in sight.

Coming up to the last intersection which would then lead me to the Starbucks on my map I saw there was one on this corner already.  Hallelujah, the end was in sight.  Almost wiping back tears of joy I hurried toward it when out of the corner of my eye I saw golden arches.  The first McDonald’s I had seen in about six miles of walking through this town.  If I walked just two blocks further I could enjoy an iced coffee and a sandwich for just the price of the coffee at Starbucks.  It was worth it. (Quickly while I’m on the subject, I’m all for the preservation of cute little towns, but you have your first fast food restaurant this far out of my way?  Throw a bone to us little guys.)  I walked in to find a bunch of students from the Naval Academy sitting around and enjoying a little freedom.  Once I had my food in my hands I did the normal ritual of wandering around and looking under each table for an outlet.  I was coming up empty and thinking there may still be a Starbucks run in my future when a gentleman sitting at one of the tables eyed me and asked, “You looking for an electrical outlet?”.  I’m guessing he had seen a lot of people do this dance before me.  I admitted that I was in fact searching for one and he replied that the only ones he knew of were in the ceiling.  Not really hearing that one before I asked him to show me and indeed they were embedded in the ceiling tiles.  Five feet above my head.  Pulling out one of the chairs from the high tops I positioned it under the outlet and hoping I wouldn’t be scolded by one of the employees, stood on it to plug my laptop in.

Logging into everything I was ready to get some real work done.  Going to open my Office documents it failed and needed to recover.  Starting the recovery process I was getting impatient.  The walk had taken a lot longer than I thought and even though I didn’t get a scolding from the McDonald’s employees for climbing on furniture I was pretty sure I was going to get one from Matt if I stayed out all day.  Document failed, would you like to recover?  Yes…yes I would like to recover that document very much.  Each time I got the same message though.  Once again I had all my work done and no way to transfer it.  Shut down again.  I was ready to pull out the tall chair once again just to throw my computer down from it and stomp on it a few times.  I think if I shut everything off and started it back again I probably could have recovered my documents but I had already wasted my time and my computer is sooooo slow (Christmas gift mom & dad (in-law)?) that I think I would have spent all afternoon there but I had to pack it in and head home.

Getting back to the boat I saw that Andy and John were visiting and everyone had a beer in their hands.  Double plus for me because it was a good excuse to crack open a much needed one for myself and they were also keeping Matt busy enough that he forgot I promised to finish my ‘chores’ before dinner.  As soon as they left I got to work preparing food to bring over to their boat in just a few hours.  In addition to the (real) salad I was bringing this time I thought I’d also whip up some chocolate chip cookies for dessert.  Although the batter looked and tasted great there was an issue while baking where the cookies didn’t really rise and came out a little hard and dry.  Messing up a cookie recipe that’s printed right on the bag of chocolate chips?  I’m starting to think the issue is with the oven and not the chef.  Throwing in some more cooking oil and lowering the temperature for the next batch I pulled them out of the oven just as it was time to head over for dinner.  Just as we settled into the cockpit a light drizzle started outside and I was glad I threw on long underwear since the nights have started to become very chilly.  Of course we were in the company of Canadians though who probably thought it was good beach weather.  (You know I’m just kidding and I love all you Canadians out there).  This time it was just the four of us as even though our other friends from before were in town they were in another creek.  There would be no Heart of Gold for us to sing along to that night but spirits were lifted when Andy pulled his bacon wrapped roast out of the oven.  Nothing like a good meal with great friends to lift ones spirits.  Maybe my life is more like a roller coaster than I thought, but at least I’m ending this night on a high.

*While I’m totally kidding about the new computer for Christmas (mostly), if anyone has an old or non-used laptop in their home that they’d like to get rid of, I will gladly take it off your hands.

The things I go through.

Passing the Naval Stadium on my way back.

A fine bottle such as Three Buck Chuck must always be presented before pouring.

Saturday September 29, 2012

With my leg feeling slightly better (I’m guessing it’s a pulled muscle or torn something from NY that never fully healed) and having been cooped up in the boat for two days it was time for another excursion to shore. Today we wanted to stock up on groceries at Sam’s Club and get a few things at the mall. Or Matt wanted to stock up on groceries and get things at the mall. I wanted to get internet. Thinking our touchpad would save us a lot of space in the backpack compared to my laptop I transferred over all my Office documents and photos to a card which I could throw into the touchpad and retrive. We set out on the three mile walk (each way) to the mall. When we arrived there our fist stop was at the Taco Bell in the food court. This is something we have been craving ever since we left Michigan and have searched out in every town with no avail until now. Sitting at a table with our gorditas I pulled out the touchpad ready to get some work done. Matt took it out of it’s protective case to search for the spot to insert the card I had downloaded all my information to only to find out that our touchpad did not have one. Five days I had been waiting to do this work and I was shut down. I was very disappointed to say the least, but at least I had Taco Bell to lift my spirits.

The next stop along the way was to search for new phone carriers since we are still not happy with our T Mobile service. Wanting to get back to AT&T we found one of their stores in the mall but when explaining to them what we’d like to do they said they did not offer their services for pre-paid plans. Looks like we’ll still be stuck with T Mobile for the next two months. Before crossing the street to pick up a few things at Sam’s Club we wandered through the mall looking in all the store windows. It had been a long time since we’d been in a mall, or really any place that had so many material goods in one location.

If we were back at our normal lives, this is probably where I would be on a Saturday afternoon. It’s hard to tell if I would actually be buying anything since for the past few years I’ve had it ingrained in my mind that I need to save for this trip. But I let my mind wander as if this trip had never been planned at all and I was just a regular girl out to spend some cash. I kept looking in the windows of things I wanted but now could not have. A new lamp or decorative pillow for the house. A comfy sweater and boots that would be great for Fall. The pair of sky blue skinny jeans that I had been looking all over for. Getting rid of all our possessions had been so easy at the time we had done it but for a few moments in that mall, all I wanted was to have it all back. The house, the car, the dog, and the wardrobe full of new clothes. Shaking myself out of it I just kept reminding myself of the tropical beaches that await me. This is all going to be worth it.

Back at the boat we were growing hungry and I was excited to make a BBQ chicken pizza that I had been thinking about all day. Feeling keen on my cooking skills after borrowing a book of ratios from Rode Trip I set out even making my own crust. Going through four difficult to reach areas of the boat I pulled out all the ingredients to get to work. My my wandered to if we were in a house and everything would be at my fingertips. Making a mess of multiple dishes and pans I looked at the sink and thought of all the work I’d have to do later washing them by hand. When Matt tried to ‘assist’ me in the galley topping the pizza crust while I rinsed dishes and put things away we constantly bumped into each other as there is no room for two people in the galley. I thought back to home where there was more counter space than I could ever dream of now. As the pizza came out the toppings were delicious but the crust was as hard as a brick.

I about broke down. For six weeks I had been telling myself that all the changes and difficulties were worth it and after only socializing with other cruisers I had begun to believe it and think that this new life was now normal. But after being thrown back in the ‘real world’ today, even for a few hours I was harshly reminded of how easy I used to have it and how difficult everything now seemed. I’m kind of surprised it took me this long actually, I thought my first breakdown would have been within the first week or two of leaving. But it’s been said of cruising that you’re life is now a roller coaster. When you’re up you’re up and when you’re down you’re down. Thinking about this a little harder I realized I had slid into this life so seamlessly that it hadn’t been much of a roller coaster but a straight line with a few ups which then led me back to normal. I had more frustrating days back on land than I’ve had since we’ve been on the water. Knowing this lifestyle would have it’s difficulties long before I moved aboard I let a lot of the so called bad days go thinking ‘So is the life of cruising‘. So I should be allowed to freak out once in awhile. If my days are usually ‘up’ or ‘normal’ with one bad day every six weeks I should consider myself pretty lucky. There’s always time to perfect that pizza crust and Matt’s rarely if never in the galley. Soon we’ll be surrounded by cruisers again and forget how normal people live with all the land based things we gave up. Plus, there are still a lot of highs to come on our roller coaster.

At least it looked good to start.

Friday September 28, 2012 

For the past two days we’ve just been sitting in Weems Creek on the boat getting a few necessary projects done.  There’s talk about going back in to town soon as there are land based things that have to get done as well but my leg has been giving me so much pain for the past few days that I’m afraid to use it extensively.  Yesterday I wasn’t even able to put all my weight on it.  So I’ve been doing sewing projects on board, the lee cloth is finally done!, and Matt installed the new bilge pump and worked on the solar panels.  Somehow I thought that two straight days on the boat would be relaxing but there hasn’t been a free moment.  Oh, but there has been time to spy on the Navy’s Crew team that practices by our boat every day.  They’re always a nice distraction.

Wednesday September 26, 2012

Getting up today we knew we wanted to check out the town of Annapolis, plus Matt had found there was a West Marine on the outskirts as as always we needed to pick up a few things there.  Like a new switch for our bilge pump that stopped working and possibly a new life sling.  After taking a shower in the cockpit and feeling like I was bringing down the property value of all the multi-million dollar homes around us I put on jeans and a sweatshirt.  We found a very handy dinghy beach half way up the creek and started following our map into town.  As soon as we stepped on to the bridge crossing College Creek the scenery dramatically changed.  Everything became brick and the buildings had perfectly manicured lawns and colorful flower beds.  Making our way to Church Circle we admired the historic buildings and the business men and women enjoying their lunches in outdoor cafes in their suits and dresses.  This may be the sailing capital of the world but I have a feeling that it normally caters to those in their seersucker shorts, polo shirts and Sperry Topsiders versus cruisers like me in cut offs and flip flops.

Randomly picking a street to get down to the waterfront we walked down it a few minutes before spotting a couple exiting from an alley between a few buildings. Thinking that an alley shortcut sounded like fun we took the few steps and path down through the old brick buildings. We were let out on Main St with a mix of tourist souvenir shops and local specialties. We knew we didn’t have time to stop and browse through them today, we were on a West Marine mission after all, but we’d be in town for a few weeks and there would be plenty of time to come back to them. I did stop in my tracks though as I came face to face with Chick N Ruth’s. Again, we never do much researching before we get to a town of what’s located where, but this was on my list of places to hit (the only one really) as soon as I found out we were coming to Annapolis. I had seen an episode a few years back on Man vs Food and they had a 6 lb milkshake there. Six pounds of milkshake! Both of us are huge fans of ice cream and I was really disappointed when Matt told me it was very hard to get outside of the states unless you want to pay a lot of money for it. My logic had been that if we stopped here along the way and forced ourselves to eat six pounds of it (together) that we’d be so sick of ice cream that we’d never want to eat it again. Perfect solution.

 Ice cream too would have to wait for another day and we kept walking towards the West Marine. We passed over Spa Creek where the sailboat show will be held next weekend and stood to look at some of the big money boats already there. We almost anchored in this creek as it was in the heart of town with easy access to everything but we didn’t want to fight the constant crowds and noise of the area. Stopping at a gas station for some cold drinks (it ended up being much too hot for a sweatshirt) the man behind the counter handed us a paper map marked with the location of WM and told us we had about a mile and a half to go. After the mile and a half we had just walked to get to this point. It didn’t sound hard on paper after walking five times that each day in NYC, but something I did to my leg in the city was still giving me problems and it was already aching. When we passed a sign for a bus stop along the way I was pretty sure we’d be using it on the way back.

Finally at the West Marine Matt searched for bilge pump switches while I had an employee running around looking for men’s flip flops. Matt bought a pair back near Albany and two pairs and one return later they were still falling apart on him. When we cashed out an exchange was performed for a better brand and when being asked where the pair he was returning were he replied “On my feet”. They didn’t even blink an eye and that is one of the reasons I love West Marine. We did not pick up a Lifesling, thinking it was more than we wanted to add to the September budget, but we did scoop up a handy little crab trab. Supposedly they’re all over the Chesapeake and we figured that even one caught for dinner would pay for the trap. On our way out the door again my leg was giving me serious problems and I was ready for that bus. Heading back the direction we came from it was a good mile before there was a sign for a stop. The bus got there at quarter after the hour every hour and it was only half past. Even though I was almost in tears of pain at this point we knew there was another stop a half mile up and thought if we had all that time to kill we may as well make it up there. Trying to read the map posted we saw the gold line would take us closest to the creek but didn’t have any stops on this route so when the green line came up five minutes later we saw that it would take us close enough and got on. The driver asked us where we were going and we said that we didn’t really know. He then asked if we were going downtown. Sure, why not. “Then you want the red, you need to get off” “No, that’s fine, we’ll go wherever you take us” “No, you want the red line, you need to get off”. Kicked off the bus? What the heck? Ten minutes later the red line was the next bus to pass our way and we got on without saying a word. Taking it just past the downtown area we jumped off on a main road where we thought a few short cuts through other streets would quickly lead us back to the creek. They did not. I haven’t pulled out a map to check yet but I think we did more walking from where the bus let us off than where we had initially been.

Happy to finally be able to sit down we were dinghying back when we saw Rode Trip on a mooring ball. We swung by to say hello and after talking about our separate trips to Annapolis that Matt and I would quick drop our stuff off and come back with a bottle of wine in exchange for fishing tips. It seems that Rode Trip catches fish everywhere they go and we were eager to learn for ourselves the best way how. After scarfing a quick snack and grabbing a bottle of three buck chuck we were back on their boat catching up over the past few days. When the talk got to fishing they said their only luck was keeping a lure out at all times. If you’re always fishing you’re bound to catch something sometime. Wanting to put that theory to the test we showed them our fancy new crab trap and asked if we could throw it over. Snapping some weights to the doors to make sure they’d fall open and tying a piece of sausage in the center the trap went overboard as we talking about cruising more over he bottle of red wine. Going back to the trap every so often the guys would slowly lift it up after feeling a tugging weight at the bottom, but it was always empty by the time it got to the surface. Us girls were happy just to sit back with a drink in our hand and after the wine was gone we moved on a Brooklyn Brew. I don’t know if Stephanie was in the same (figurative) boat as me but I hadn’t had more than an orange and a pack of trail mix all day and I think the wine was going to our heads. As the guys fished we became more animated in our storytelling and she’d pull out her touchpad to show us photos of their trip, scrolling through with lightning speed before any of the photos could actually be seen. Matt could tell it was time to put me to bed and we gathered our empty crab trap and said goodbye for the night. After my day of limping through the heat I was sure I was going to add this to my ‘not so great days of cruising’, but I love how new friends and a bottle of wine can turn that all around.

Yacht Club at Spa Creek

We caught a jellyfish!

‘I’m totally not planning on stealing this Lifesling behind me!’