After a wonderful few weeks on Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket, we returned to Newport, our boat-soul home. We were eagerly anticipating another trip to the Chesapeake in early September. Over Labor Day, we had a visit from friends Nancy and Ted, enjoyed a spirited sail with them in Narragansett Bay, hung out onboard, and enjoyed some of Newport's restaurant offerings. The plan was to head offshore the day after we said goodbye to them. However, it was not to be. With Hurricane Jose' heating up south of us with an uncertain path north, we knew we needed to stay put and to wait for Jose' to commit. We conceded to another week in Newport - not a bad place to be all in all.
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| Friends Nancy and Ted |
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| Scenes from the Cliff Walk |
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| A beautiful, sunny day in Newport! |
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| The Breakers |
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| The detail and the overall building are fabulous! |
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| Click any of these to enlarge them |
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| Note the buttons on the wall to call up the servants! |
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| The view out to sea! |
We had a couple of good bicycle rides around Newport, a walking trip to and around
The Breakers (the Vanderbilt Mansion), and a bit of lazy shop hopping. The weather in Newport was nothing like what was raging in the Caribbean. It has been so sad to see the devastation from all the hurricane activity this year.
We finally got a good weather window between the storms. Heading out of Newport Harbor on Friday, September 15 in a thick fog we were bound for the Chesapeake, two days away. In just a few hours, the fog lifted into a beautifully, sunny day. The seas were so calm it again reminded us of how different it was in comparison to what was going on south of us. Sharon was fortunate to get a visit from a couple dolphins while Greg was napping, and she happened to look in the right spot at the right time to see the back of a whale and then its tale as it took a dive. The joys of being at sea on a good day!
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Chris Parker, our weather router, on the air via laptop at 7:15AM, explaining the wind and wave forecast along our route before our departure from Newport. You may be able to see Dream Catcher's interaction at bottom left, although the type is quite tiny.
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The trip was so smooth it turned out to be a total motor trip, but nice to have flat seas. The toughest part was a foggy night when we navigated totally by radar and AIS (visually blind) and later the midnight rounding of Cape May to enter the Delaware Bay. It is always tough to navigate a place like that in the dark. The various navigation lights on buoys, lighthouses and ashore can be very confusing, and you definitely don't want to hit anything! Dawn broke around 5am on Sunday as we approached the entrance to the
Chesapeake and Delaware Canal. We entered around 7:30am to catch a favorable current, which is very important in the canal. If you time it right you have a one to four knot current pushing you. If you time it wrong, the same current is against you, and you never get to your destination.
By 5:30 Sunday evening, we had the anchor down in Weems Creek, Annapolis. We enjoyed a warm meal and were early to bed. We felt very fortunate to be safe and having gotten such a great window between hurricanes as Maria was on her way up the coast.
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Sunset in Newport Harbor - click to enlarge
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| Sunrise in Delaware Bay with nuclear reactor |
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Coming at us in the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal!
The canal is not wide! |
Annapolis is always a favorite spot for us to hang. Sailing friends Jim and Cynthia are across Back Creek from our dock at
Bert Jabin Yacht Yard. Fenwick Island is an easy car ride away and lots of friends and family are not far. We keep a car in Fenwick, so we rented a car one-way to retrieve it, and spent several days there. We had a perfect beach weekend the third weekend of September. The water was a perfect temperature and the waves were reasonably calm enough for Sharon to swim in the ocean - her happy place! We celebrated friend Pat's birthday, and enjoyed time with some of her family at their home in Ocean City, thanks to Michael and Rebecca.
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| A perfect beach day at Fenwick Island, Delaware |
Last weekend, we traveled to see friends Lori and Tom in Delaware. We spent a wonderful weekend with them, visited Lori's Mom (who Sharon knows well from her earlier years with Lori), and had a wonderful visit to
Longwood Gardens. If you are ever in the vicinity of Kennet Square, PA, a visit to Longwood is not to be missed! The highlight of the evening was the lighted fountain show set to music and lights. Beautiful! It's the largest show of its kind in the world. Thanks to Lori and Tom for our free admission with their member passes. It was a delight to be there and share time with them.
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Lori wouldn't let us post a photo of them,
so you get us instead! |
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| Rosemary! |
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| It was hard to stop taking photos of the beauty! |
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| Bamboo wall |
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| These water lilies grow to 8 feet in diameter in three weeks time |
We returned to
Dream Catcher to enjoy Annapolis, work on the boat (an endless endeavor), and plan a haul-out before heading south. The haul-out includes having the boatyard pull
Dream Catcher out of the creek, pressure wash the bottom to clean any scum off, then put the boat securely on blocks. Once she's settled we go to work (again) to prepare the bottom for a few new coats of bottom paint. Cleaning, sanding, washing, and taping are preludes to the actual painting. The paint is specially formulated to hold heavy amounts of copper to ward off plant and animal life. One gallon weighs about twenty pounds and costs $200. (Filet mignon!) This chore is waiting for us later this week.
This weekend we had a lovely time at the Annapolis Sailboat Show, where we were able to spend time with family and friends. We're headed back to Fenwick for a few days before
Dream Catcher will be hauled for us to get our work done. We will give you the rundown of our accomplishments in the next few weeks.
'Til next time -
