Cusk Eels in Block Island

We completely forgot to tell you about the "cusk eels" in the Great Salt Pond on Block Island.  When dusk begins to fall, there is a sound that almost sounds like a woodpecker.  One will sound, then another will answer.  We figured since we were sitting in the middle of the water it was probably not a woodpecker.  We had to do some research and Greg finally found a reference to it (what in the world did we do before google?!)

This is a water critter that apparently does its mating call after sunset (and ALL through the night!)  The strange part is that we are above the water, they are below the water and we can hear them.  What other critter is like that?

Actually, though its name includes eel, it is actually a fish.  Here is a link to a great article from Points East magazine and a sound clip so you can hear what it sounds like.

Click here for article in Points East

Click here for SOUND of a cusk eel

That is your science lesson for today!  :)

Block, Newport, RI and the South Fork of Long Island Sound

It's been a week and a half since our last installment and we have been on the move!  After a great night's rest on the hook in Block Island we decided to check out the island a bit and rented bicycles.   It was a very hazy and humid day, so you couldn't see much of the ocean.  We biked around the perimeter of the island and saw a great deal of natural and architectural beauty. It reminded us of the country roads throughout Martha's Vineyard; grey cedar shake cottages, farms, ponds and occasional ocean views.  The terrain is very hilly, so we had to earn our gliding time.  The heat and humidity was a bit daunting, but worth every minute.  Here are some photos of the view along the way.

The famous bluffs 

Resident cows trying to stay cool

That night, it rained and rained, and coupled with thunder and lightning, it washed away all that humidity (and assured us that the leak that has been haunting us all year is now fixed) and dawned a sunny, dry, beautiful day.  That day, we walked to the beach, strolled the sand, went into town for lunch and shopping, and generally enjoyed being outside.  

Finally rested, and happy with the wind and wave direction, Friday morning, we headed for Newport.  It was a happy sight to see the Beaver Tail Lighthouse blinking strongly, from five miles away. We watched a sailboat race from a few miles away - they were "12 meter" boats from the early America's Cup days. They carry a great deal of sail for their size and are always a pleasure to see.  We found out later that good friends of ours were on one of these boats the following day, racing against another old America's Cup yacht. Very cool! 

After filling the fuel and water tanks, we snagged a great anchor spot right off Ida Lewis Yacht Club, near the channel where we could watch all the action coming and going.  Nothing like watching the boats go by in Newport Harbor.  Sail and power yachts from all over the world spend time in Newport in the Summer.  From this special anchorage we can watch them come and go all day.  It's a very special place for sailors.  We feel so lucky! 

That night, we shared our favorite heirloom tomato salad and fresh sushi at The Clarke-Cooke House. What fun it was to tell our neighboring bar patrons that we "live on our sailboat".  The thing is, in Newport, sailing is so common that nearly everyone "gets it" immediately!  One young guy next to us was leaving soon for a stint on a large private yacht in Croatia.  No matter who's there, the chances are pretty good they are also hard core sailors.

Greg's favorite morning photo - Ida Lewis in background, Corinthian sailboat, fog, early morning Newport - click to enlarge

Saturday, we walked all over town, checked out the local bike shop for rentals and had a late lunch at another favorite, The Moorings.  So fun to catch up with the bartenders who always make it a pleasant experience.  Sunday, we rented bicycles and rode out to Castle Hill and all around Ocean Drive, down Bellevue and lunched at La Forge at the Tennis Hall of Fame.  Very cool to sit and watch the "vintage" style match on the grass court.  The next day, we sailed over to Dutch Harbor on the West Passage of the Narragansett Bay and dropped the hook again.  We were invited to Roger and Chrisy's house - folks we met on "Sanderling" in Cape May, on our travels south last fall.  We have seen them on and off all year as we have traveled similar routes to Florida and the Bahamas and back.  They have a home in Jamestown, Rhode Island, and they were treating us to dinner and an opportunity to do laundry (something no cruiser ever turns down!).  We had a great night catching up on all the doings in each other's lives and sharing a lovely meal in their very special home overlooking the ocean.  Thanks Roger and Chrisy - such a treat!  BTW, Roger and Chrisy are the couple who were racing on the America's Cup yacht....a 30th anniversary gift to each other! Very cool, indeed!

Tuesday, we took off for Long Island.  Greg had several days of light work commitments and he was happy to have some free time.  First stop, Coecles Harbor on Shelter Island.  A lovely spot.  It's a pond in the middle of an island surrounded by the two north forks of Long Island!  It turned out to be a quiet, beautiful and protected anchorage.  Our friend Renee's family has property here and she spent many of her childhood summers here.  Sharon texted her and got a quick reply that this, too, is a very special place.  Next time, we will go ashore, rent bikes, and see the island.  Maybe September?

Coecles Harbor, Shelter Island

Next stop, Three Mile Harbor near the tip of the south fork of Long Island. This is a very large harbor with a long channel and several marinas leading into the town of East Hampton.  We walked three miles to town (whew!) after we got the dingy to shore.  Greg said he hasn't seen such a concentration of high end women's clothing stores anywhere other than NYC (there had to be over twenty within a few blocks).  We did find a really nice gourmet grocery where we drooled our way through the isles and treated ourselves to a few items.  

Osprey Nest on the mark entering Three Mile Harbor

Seagulls having a fish fest - fishingboat heading into the harbor

Then on to Montauk - the very end of LI.  As you enter the harbor, there is one marina after another, a very large Coast Guard Station and lots and lots of fishing boats - both commercial and sport.  We skirted all that and made our way into Lake Montauk where we could anchor off and away from the buzz.  Gosman's has it locked up in Montauk harbor with a large fish market, three restaurants, clothing and trinket stores and a couple of take out cafe's and ice cream stands.  There are souvenir shops, t-shirt shops and all kinds of spots to drop money.  We treated ourselves to their version of Tuna Tartare in tiny cones.  Yum!!

Campers lining the beach as you enter Lake Montauk

Another gorgeous day on Friday.  Three in a row!  Those crystal clear, dry, sunny summer days that we experience in New England on a fairly regular basis.  We have sorely missed these days as we wallowed in heat and humidity in the Chesapeake.  We hauled anchor and headed across the sound to Watch Hill, Rhode Island.  This is a little village within the town of Westerly, Rhode Island.  Pretty famous for wealth, large homes, the Ocean House and Taylor Swift's house.  (we didn't see her, although we did sail by her house).  We made our way through the long channel and joined the crowds of anchored boats off Napatree Beach.  A lovely spot, albeit a bit more dense than we have enjoyed these last few days.  The tiny village boasts lots of little shops, ice cream stands and the oldest continuously operating "flying horses merry-go-round".  We watched the little girls ride round and round and grab the brass ring each time they went by.  

Early that evening we experienced a violent thunder, lightning and rain storm.  We watched it come at us and watched it go by, bringing heavy wind and rain for about an hour.  The wind was so strong that a couple of boats dragged (their anchors didn't hold them in place) but we held fast. Everyone was in their cockpit at the ready, should it be necessary to start the engine and hold the boat in place - or move to open water.  Comforting to see we weren't the only ones staying secure.  Here are some photos to try to show the clouds, the rain and the beautiful aftermath.  

Ocean House at Watch Hill

This morning we left Watch Hill early so we could beat low tide in the two mile, shallow channel out of the anchorage.  We headed to Point Judith, RI (a 25 mile run), where we are presently anchored in "the pond", another quiet and safe body of very shallow water surrounded by beautiful cottages, small islands and nature.  Our favorite spot to anchor is adjacent to an oyster farm.  Have you ever seen an oyster farm?  Well, all you see are a few buoys marking the area (which you must avoid).  But, under ten feet of water those wonderful oysters are growing to the right size for a future, delicious appetizer or stew!  A few years ago we met the fisherman/farmer and bought 30 of his oysters for $10!  Greg hopes he'll show up tomorrow morning!  We haven't been here for awhile and it is as nice as ever.

Tomorrow we head back to Newport and prepare to leave the boat for a week while we visit family and fit in all our annual doctor appointments.  After that, we plan to head to the Vineyard for a few weeks.  'Til then - 

Radar and Chart Plotter install, Passage Galesville, MD to Block Island, RI

July 4th weekend was delightful and relaxing in Galesville, MD, just a littel south of Annapolis.  We shared it with our friend Pat, just hanging out.  Saw lots of fireworks of the local variety as they are legal and for sale everywhere in Maryland.  Sunday, we moved the boat over to Hartge Yacht Yard in order to be ready for a new chart plotter (GPS) and radar install.

Next morning at 8am the guys showed up to start the work.  The first and greatest challenge was getting the old radar wire out of the mast and the new one in.  (For you regular readers, remember the trouble we had in February with the cell antenna wire?  We ended up pulling the mast after a day of failure - a real headache and huge expense.)  We didn't want to spend the money on radar earlier this year when we upgraded other instruments, so we knew this was going to be challenging.  The radar cable is very think, about as thick as your finger.  It had to fit through a 3/4 inch plastic conduit with three other, thinner wires.  Challenging is putting it mildly.  After many tries the techs decided to take all of the wires out, run the radar cable, then put the others back in.  It worked.  It took them all morning and several attempts before they finally got the radar cable all the way from under the floor of the cabin to near the top of the mast.  Greg was right there, pulling wires with them to help make the project go faster.  At one point he said to the lead tech that mast makers should install the same system of pulleys at the bottom of the mast as they do at the top.  Those at the top serve all of the halyards on the boat.  When new wires are needed, it's a very difficult chore to get them through a small hole in the mast, under the floor boards, while pulling the wires in a downward direction (pulling them down to get them out). With a pulley, one could pull up, like raising a halyard. The next day the lead tech arrived with a tool he made overnight: a pulley on a stick that he could insert into the hole to duplicate the fixture at the top of the mast.  It worked great!  Greg told him to patent it!

You know how you hate it when workmen are in your house?  Well, try having them on your boat for four days.  It means everything gets pulled out of those cubbies where you store extra parts, tools, supplies...and all this has to land somewhere.  (We wish we had taken a photo of the mess it makes).  And every project gets done on your hands and knees, contorted to fit into some small space where the electronics and wires are hiding. Lots of work lights, magnetic tools, holders of screws, and little pullers get used regularly.

By the end of the day Monday, the radar cable was pulled and everyone's attitudes readjusted to friendly again.

Richie working - a more convenient way to get there - nice crane

Our view at the yard

Hartge Yacht Yard

The old radar was pulled down and the new one installed.  Then came the chart plotter.  We had to disassemble the whole binnacle stand to be able to get the new wires through narrow stainless steel tubes.  Guy, the lead tech, spent most of his time in the lazarette - a space just large enough for him to get in and squat down to reach forward where the instrument controls and connections are.  That project took another day with Sharon running back and forth to West Marine three times (an hour trip each time).

Cables and wires are running all over this boat - in cubbies, under the floor, through the floor - it's a regular warren.  The actual installing of the "radome" and chart plotter were the easiest part - it's all the connections that have to be made, running cables and wires through tiny openings you can only feel, but not see.  And then when it doesn't work the first time, you have to diagnose the problem and start over.

Anyway - three and a half days later - we had new digital radar and a cool new chart plotter.  Thanks again to Luke, Guy and Richie, our team at Hartge Yacht Yard.  After a couple hours of cleaning, the boat felt like home again.

Since no one would let us leave a car in any lot for a couple months, we toted it down to Fenwick, left it in the garage there, and rented a car to get back.  By this time, it was Sunday afternoon.  After watching weather for a few days, and considering Greg's work constraints, we decided to get moving right then.  We headed out around 5pm and went north up the Chesapeake.  The plan was to get to the  Chesapeake & Delaware Canal and drop the hook for a short rest while we waited for the tide to turn.  However, as we went, and continued to study tides and currents, we realized we would hit the entrance to the canal right at slack tide.  So we entered the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal at around 3am.  We were kind of bummed because we were planning to stop at Schaeffer's Canal House and have dinner with our friends Lori and Tom.  Since we passed Schaeffer's at 3:30am, they weren't open.  We promised to catch them on our return trip.

We popped out the east end of the canal (Delaware side) going 9 knots over ground (that means we had 2.5 knots of current with us) at around 5am and turned right to head south through the Delaware River and Bay.  Just as we neared the eastern end of the canal, a 900 foot ship, all lit up like a skyscraper, passed by, heading south on the river - wow!  The trip down the Delaware Bay was uneventful, then we cut the corner around Cape May motoring close to shore, dodging several shoals, but saving a couple hours.

Crossing Cape May-Lewes Ferries - note the haze

Cape May

The conditions were great with waves less then two feet as we made our way north about 5 miles offshore.  We plotted a straight shot towards Block Island running at about 50 degrees, moving us about 60 miles offshore, changing course only to dodge fishing trawlers and fish havens.  The day was overcast, but sun poked through now and then.  By the time night fell, we were east of Atlantic City.  Through the night, the ship traffic picked up and Greg had to slow for a large ship heading right for the New York shipping lanes, which we were crossing at the time.

Tuesday dawned with a mix of clouds and sun and another fishing trawler to dodge.  By now, the sea state had risen and the waves were coming broadside out of the southeast.  Not as comfortable a ride as it had been.  We were making very good time.  There were rain squalls around but so far we had dodged them.  By this time, the fatigue had set in, due to only getting a couple hours sleep at a time.  We are still figuring out our watch rhythm.  This time we did two on/two off and then by the third day we did three on/three off.  But by then, there was little traffic coming up the south side of Long Island, and we could be a bit lackadaisical.  Greg was on high alert as to weather and proactively got the vinyl enclosure up to keep us dry just in time for a passing squall.  The windometer clocked up to 54 and we both looked at each other like "WHAT?"  We think it was wrong.  We had the genoa out and it was pushing along quite nicely, so not sure what was up there.  You can see the squalls coming at you and pretty soon,  Greg said, "We need to get the jib in, this one looks much worse."  Again, it was here and gone before you knew it.  It had dissipated before it reached us.  The enclosure kept us nice and dry.

We finally had Block Island in our sights.  Our initial plan was to go all the way to Newport, but we figured it would be better to get into a safe harbor during daylight hours and we were ready for a rest.  So, we motored into Salt Pond around 7pm on Tuesday.  390 miles and 50 hours later, we felt good about this, the longest passage we have done just the two of us.  We enjoyed a shower, a light meal and nine hours of restful uninterrupted sleep.

Greg's planned appointment in Boston for Thursday was changed!  So, we're now in Block Island and don't have to hurry to Newport or anywhere!  Wahoo!  Soon as the weather improves we'll decide where to go next: Newport, Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket?  We'll let you know.....

Bottom Paint, Polish and Relaxing in Fenwick, DE

June has been a great month for us.  Sharon is in her glory as she has spent more time in Fenwick Island this month than she has in the last five years combined.  From hot and sultry summer weather mid-month, to gorgeous, dry 80 degree days, it has been a treat.  We have accomplished lots of jobs, hung out for hours on the screened outdoor room, shared time with family and friends and went swimming in the 72 degree ocean.  Delightful!

While we were hanging out in Fenwick, the boat got hauled in order for the bottom to dry out for a few days.  We got back to Galesville while it was 98 degrees and were fortunate to be able to stay in one of the inn rooms at the marina.  A bit easier than trying to function on board while the boat is on the hard.  That night there was a very dramatic thunder and rain storm.  We watched lightning for hours across the West River.  The good news was there was no damage in the area and it brought with it cool, dry air.  Perfect for bottom painting!  

The next morning, we started at 6am to get as much done as possible before the heat arrived, sanding the black paint to scuff it up and allow new paint to adhere.  It is a very messy job, masks and eye protection required - and of course - not your best outfit.  The ground was covered with a large cloth to contain the old paint, which is toxic. We use an ablative paint which has a lot of copper in it (it is much heavier than a regular gallon of paint) and costs a lot!  Best price Greg found was online, shipped from Florida for $239 per gallon.  We needed three gallons.  We got almost two coats out of the three gallons and noted where we didn't give it two coats so we could see if it made a difference.  According to the manufacturer, two coats should repel sea life for two years, even in tropical waters.  An ablative paint wears away little by little as the boat moves through the water, sort of like a bar of soap.  This was our choice of bottom paint due to the speed of our boat and the waters in which we will be cruising.  

Voted best dressed for sanding and painting a hull

We worked much faster than we expected because the sanding went so well. By 8:30 we were finished applying the first coat.  That meant, we needed to let it dry, so we moved on to polishing and waxing the freeboard (or topsides....the part of the hull you see when the boat is in the water).  (Sharon's favorite job - ergh)  We used a cleaner/polish that accomplishes both at once.  As Greg says, "Wax on, wax off."  It is hard work on a car, but on a boat you are usually having to raise your arms above your head to reach the spots you need, or angle yourself around a ladder and move the ladder every 10 minutes.  We have an electric polisher, but this job is better done by hand. So, that job took us the rest of the morning and our shoulders and arms were sore when we finished.  We welcomed the convenience of the marina restaurant for lunch and a beer.  

Afternoon meant a second coat of paint.  It went on pretty easy and we were done by 4pm.  A shower and lay down was never more welcomed by us both.  

The next morning, it was more detail polishing (see that nice white stripe below the green one....sore shoulders again!). Then the waited for the yard to be ready to return Dream Catcher to the water.  It is always so fascinating for us to watch the boat being pulled or launched.  Sharon wants to learn to operate a travel lift when she is no longer cruising.  The wheels each work independently and will pivot in a circle on any one wheel.   They drive right over the boat, secure the large straps under the hull and chain the two straps to each other so that they don't slip apart.  Then, they lift the boat a bit (over 20,000 pounds) and remove the stands that held it upright on land.  Once secured like this, they just drive it to a special slip with reinforced docks on either side, the lift goes along each side on a purpose built track, then they lower the boat into the water until its floating again and remove the straps.  We hop on board and drive away.  Amazing!

So pretty!

It looks so small, but the travel lift is 20 feet high.

On her way back to the water

Click on any picture to enlarge.

Floating again

Once back in our slip, we were eager to get things back to normal.  As we tried to get the air conditioner to run, we found there was no water pumping through it. The AC circulates seawater as a coolant, like a geothermal unit does. For those of you who are regular readers, you may remember we (i.e. Greg) replaced the air conditioning motor in March when we were in Boca Raton on our way south.  So - the pump failed - again.  When we tried to locate a new one, we found that two had been returned for defects to the nearest West Marine.  Hmmm.  We found one at another of three West Marines in the Annapolis area and by the time Sharon went to get it and returned, Greg had the old one out and was ready to install.  West Marine took the old one back for a full refund.  Still - we have to wonder how long this one will last.

The next morning, we polished the cabin top and deck.  This has not been done since we have had the boat as we were always concerned about making it slick and unsafe under foot. But, the cabin sections are mostly vertical, and the deck is mainly non-skid material. What a difference it makes!  Dream Catcher is looking good all over!  Next week, the new chart plotter and radar will be installed.  Our current chart plotter (which we had installed ten years ago) has been occasionally blinking off and on for over a year.  Once we got new instruments and Sirius Weather, it got worse.  We think the processing power is so low that any other upgrades have a negative effect on its performance. A reliable chart plotter (GPS, RADAR, etc) is something we are not willing to live without.  Unfortunately, the new ones require digital radar, so that has to be replaced as well.  We are on the schedule at Hartge Yacht Yard in Galesville for Monday.  It should only take a couple days.  Then, we start our trek north.  The plan is to head up the Chesapeake, through the C and D Canal (Chesapeake and Delaware) that links the two bays, down the Delaware Bay and poke into either Cape May or Atlantic City.  From there, we plan to do an overnight sail to Block Island and then on to Newport.  We plan to spend several weeks in the area, visiting our old haunts, catching up with our New England families and friends and enjoying the fabulous sailing in that area.

Maybe we will see you there!  'Til  then -