Chesapeake Lay-over

We are starting to think about heading down to the Chesapeake. Tropical Storm Hermine, over Labor Day weekend, gives us a few blustery days but otherwise is harmless.  We leave our hiding place in Mt. Hope Bay and make a lunch stop at nearby Bristol to stretch our legs.  Bristol is an attractive, nautical town with historic homes and an active waterfront although it is now off-season and things are a little quieter.  Late afternoon as the last of Hermine’s dark skies depart, we leave for a pleasant motorsail down Narragansett Bay to the anchorage in Newport. We take up residence and spend a few days doing last minute errands, laundry, and provisioning.  From there it is an easy hop to Stonington, CT where we have one last day with our Rhode Island family, includingplaying with our son’s new tractor,  dinner onshore, and a dinghy ride through the harbor on “Grandpa’s little boat.”  It is sad but we have to chase our loved ones away as we wish to depart the harbor before sunset to avoid any lobster pots that may be lurking in Long Island Sound.

We decide to plot a course due south and then along the southern shore of Long Island. It is fairly breezy, and we have a lively sail in left over ocean swells through the night.  We see virtually no commercial traffic as we pass well offshore of New York City – something to celebrate as that usually isn’t the case. The wind goes light off the Jersey shore so on goes the engine for the duration of the trip.  Long after sunset we are rounding Cape May with a fair number of freighters but as we head north up Delaware Bay, they, too, disappear.  At night commercial traffic keeps the watch-keeper on his/her toes but also provides interest during the long hours of darkness.  At daylight we are ready to begin the transit of the C&D Canal with many other boats that have spent the night in the upper reaches of the Delaware.  It is nice to finally be able to get on the radio and chat with other cruising friends. We have timed our passage to coincide with positive currents so far, but once we get two hours into the Chesapeake, the current turns against us, the wind builds on the nose, and we get to bash into steep waves for the remainder of the trip into Annapolis.  We have been underway for 47 hours and are delighted to pick up our favorite mooring in front of the Naval Academy.

Our lay-over here will be more work than pleasure.  For two weeks at the mooring ball we attend to a thorough cleaning (mildew removal), organizing, and culling of the entire interior of the boat including all bilges.  Our lift-raft goes to Baltimore for a several week process of re-certification. Chandleries in the area provide replacements of spare parts and equipment. We’ve gotten very adept at using the local bus system and biking side streets in this bustling town.  But all is not work; we also spend evenings socializing – happy hours on boats and in town, dinners at local restaurants, meals and parties at the homes of friends on shore.  It is a time to reconnect with fellow cruisers for the upcoming winter season.

One weekend, the National Sailing Hall of Fame sponsors a classic boat regatta.  To kick things off, America, the replica schooner we saw in Maine, is at the dock and giving tours.  The next day, we head out into the harbor in our dinghy to watch the wooden boat race.  In no way does this compare to what we see in Maine, but around twenty classic wooden boats sail a course just outside the mooring field, and we enjoy our afternoon following along and snapping pictures. 

Tacking upwind

Bull - one of two replica boats sailed out of the National Sailing Hall of Fame

A tippy sailing canoe utilizing a hiking board. Obviously the crew was not pleased with the power boat that roared through the course (a no-wake zone) and almost capsized them.

Another day, we take an afternoon to stroll through the grounds of the Naval Academy.  Once you clear through security, you are able to walk around the grounds at will.  We stop by the boat harbor to admire the large fleet of Navy 40’s and many more small one design boats.  Sailing is certainly a mainstay here.  And in a prominent position we find Summer Wind, a new addition to the Navy fleet and a beautifully maintained wooden schooner.  

A classic schooner donated to the Naval Academy - Summer Wind

We hear days earlier, Jimmy Buffet was visiting Annapolis and took the helm of this gem. Sadly, no one offered us the same opportunity. The grounds of the Academy are pristine and the buildings perfectly maintained.  We note all the nautical references carved into the stone facades and trim of the stately architecture. 

A festooned ship powering through waves - all in carved stone adorning a roof corner of one building.

Decor over a building entrance with references to Neptune

The Chapel is particularly beautiful with its high dome and Tiffany stain glass windows. 

The towering dome in the chapel lights the interior.

The alter area. Stain glss window has references to the sea and the inscription above it reads "Eternal Father, strong to save" - the opening line of the Naval Hymn.

A glorious sunset in Annapolis from our mooring with the spires and domes of the city in the distance.

From Annapolis we head about twelve miles further south to Hartge Yacht Harbor and a dock that awaits us. We usually stop here twice a year to do maintenance and cleaning that require a dock with water and electricity.  It is a pleasant, friendly place with lovely vistas overlooking the creek and river,

The serene view off the end of our dock on one of the few pleasant days.

but it is very isolated so a rental car is also a necessity. We figure it will take us a week to complete our chores, but the weather gods have other ideas.  On our first full day we have occasional drizzle.  In between showers we strip off all the canvas.  Earlier this year a kind osprey sat on our mast and relieved himself of vast quantities of poop on our dodger and bimini.  We cleaned what we could but some remained imbedded and mildewed over the summer.  The best way to clean canvas is to soak it in a bath tub in a mixture of Clorox and Dawn for about fifteen minutes.  Problem is, we don’t have a bath tub so creative minds went to work, and I order an inflatable baby pool from Amazon. As silly as we look on the dock, it works and the canvas is remounted just as the heavens open.  We are unable to apply the new waterproofing in time, so a blue tarp covers the canvas for the next four days as it rains incessantly. During the torrents I use the car to re-provision the boat with food and supplies for the next few months.  The freezer is full of vacuumed packed meats from Sam’s Club and all the storage areas are filled with dry goods.  A few days of clear weather allows us to do the waterproofing, clean the cockpit thoroughly (good-by to a summer’s worth of happy hour snacks hiding beneath the floor grates), clean and re-oil the grates and boarding ladder (we use Semco which holds up better than regular teak oil), clean and polish all the stainless topsides (use Spotless Stainless), and buff out the deck and cabin sides with a polymer polish.

It looks like we are ready to head south, but the weather gods are not done fooling with us yet.  Our subscription weather service is sending multiple alerts each day concerning Hurricane Matthew which is currently off the coast of Venezuela. That seems so far away, but its predicted track is very unpredictable and some models even see it coming into the Chesapeake.  This is no time to move from our sturdy, protected dock five miles inland from the Bay.  We monitor the storm closely, even participating in evening video conferences with two well know marine weather experts. As the days pass, the marina fills to capacity with others seeking out protection, and the hurricane path runs parallel up the coast with possible landfalls anywhere from the Florida Keys to Nova Scotia as a Category 4 Hurricane.  Suddenly, our lifestyle is no longer carefree.  We start making contingency plans for stripping and securing the boat and evacuating inland, although we do take a day to enjoy the opening of the Annapolis Boat Show.  We monitor the terrible destruction in Haiti, give a sigh of relief as the Bahamian communities we know see damage but not of the severe, devastating variety. We are in contact with friends up and down the coast who at any given time are in the bullseye.  Fear and panic comes through in the many emails we exchange. It is fortunate that the storm stays mostly offshore, and those cruisers in well protected anchorages and marinas have emerged unscathed. But in some places the damage is considerable.  Historic St. Augustine neighborhoods have been underwater. Barrier islands have been overwashed by the waves and storm surge. Some marinas in Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina no longer exist.  Finally  just south of Cape Hattaras, Matthew turns east and begins to die. We see 24 hours of heavy rain in Galesville followed by gale force winds and a negative storm surge as the NE wind actually blows the water out of the Chesapeake.  We are now aground in our slip in the harmless Chesapeake muck.

Once the gale departs and the water levels rise again, we will begin to pick our way south, but it won’t be an easy trip. On the ICW we will find higher water than normal which may make passage under some bridges impossible.  Some locks and opening bridges may be inoperable. Shoaling areas will have shifted and will not correspond with our charts.  Marina facilities and mooring fields may be out of commission. We may only be able to enter and exit the ocean through the very largest freighter channels. Navigation marks will be missing or moved.  Debris and derelict or sunk boats will lurk along the way.  And, a large number of boats that have stayed in one place for the weather will clog the channels and facilities as we all begin the migration together.