July 27, 2008.

We’ve been here in Baltimore for the better part of a week now. The city has really gained a couple of new fans in us. The waterfront promenade makes getting around very easy. On sections of the walkway where there’s too much foot traffic, bicycles are banned, but a 10 foot wide bike lane is provided nearby.

The downtown area of Baltimore was at one time a major seaport. There were rows of huge wharfs jutting out into the harbor. Most of these piers have been rehabilitated and add a great dimension to the harbor front. Some of the piers are completely covered with condo units while others are home for water front attractions.

We went and checked out the Baltimore Science Center. The big draw for us was the Body World traveling exhibit which happened to be in town. The Body World exhibit is in one word, bizarre. The exhibit is comprised of dead bodies and body parts that have been through a plasticizing process. The display bodies are stripped of skin but because the body’s fluids have been replaced by some type of plastic the bodies are rigid and can be posed.

The specimens are posed in various stances. For example there’s a baseball player caught in his batting follow through. The muscles on one side of his torso are frozen in their maximum contraction while the muscles on the other side are at full stretch. It was a pretty big shock to see just how thin and fragile human muscles look.

Since there’s no skin or hairstyles to give you a clue, the easiest way to tell male from female was by genitalia. This brought about a pretty funny exchange between a dad and his young son. The kid said “That ones a boy”. The people around lightly snicker. Dad asked “how can you tell?” The kid replied “he’s got a big thingy”. The people close by bust out laughing and dad said to the kid “we’ll talk later”.

The displays also included diseased and healthy internal organs. There were exposed veins and arteries and even the central nervous system. The best part is because its all 3D you can walk around the displays and see the body from every angle. Some have different layers peeled back as if they were a blooming flower. There was one body that they call the Exploded Man. Every muscle group and internal organ hung from strings from a large grid in the ceiling. The thing looked like a giant wind chime. The exhibit is laid out in such a way that you can’t help but come out having a much more realistic view of what’s going on inside you. Touring this exhibit should be required for anyone taking any type of anatomy courses. When we got done it was time for lunch………

There’s an area called Fells Point that is really a good place to hang out, eat and drink. There’s a central brick paved square bordered
by dozens of small shops and pubs. There’s something for every appetite from ice cream to Indian food, we haven’t encountered any place like this area in our travels up until now.

Another venue on our “must see” list was the Baltimore Aquarium. The building is beautiful, with you entering at the bottom of a 5 story cascading rain forest waterfall.

In the aquarium there are a couple of special things not to be missed. The first was a twenty minute film about the earth and seas. The film was okay but the theater itself was outstanding. They call it a 4D experience. The seats are all wired for special effects. When a fish would splash there would be a spritz of water right in your face. As the film wound through the artic the room was filled with snowflakes and you don’t want to know what happened when a cave full of sleeping bats was roused. The theater made the movie.

After that there was a dolphin show in the large performance tank. Most of the performers were born and raised right here in the facility. It was a good show and the dolphins really did look eager to show off their skills. One of my favorite parts was when one of the dolphins swam along the edge of the tank splashing the audience.


As everyone here on earth knows, the first 4 rows are ALWAYS the splash zone. It’s the same at every dolphin show, it’s not a surprise and as usual they announced that fact a few times as the audience filed in. “If you don’t want to get wet, maybe even drenched, don’t sit in the first 4 rows”. The obvious clue would be the standing puddles of water from the previous show and the signs. So Flipper came along and absolutely drenched these 3 women in the front row and they were outraged. They jumped up, tried to run, but it was too late. They looked like they fell off a boat. They were pissed, it was great, just another reason to enjoy Baltimore.

The displays were the same as found in most major aquariums but held some really nice specimens. While touring the “Atlantic Reef” section we encountered several of the fish we had as part of our diet while in the Bahamas.
Once again we left an exhibit hungry……..

On Pier 6 there’s a shaded amphitheater for concerts. Last night the show was a reggae review including Ziggy Marley. Tickets were $30 to $50 a piece so we figured we could take the dinghy right down between the piers and see the show for free.



So, accompanied by the Makeitsos, we took our dinghies for the 10 minute ride to the downtown waterfront. We scooted right up the fairway between the piers and tied off to a piling in the center of the waterway right up next to the stage. We brought cocktails and reclining seating and laid back in the dinks to enjoy the show. The waterfront behind us was shoulder to shoulder with people watching the show across the fairway. They were doing the same thing we were, we just had better seats. After Ziggy Marley did his first set the flaw in our plan became obvious, no bathrooms, nada, crap, no not actually. So in a break between sets we dropped our mooring and zipped home.

It was a really good way to see the show. There’s a fairly busy schedule of concerts there so if you’re in town I highly recommend it. In a couple of days there’s some big fancy orchestra performing Led Zeppelin hits. I’d like to see it but weather permitting we should be gone south by then.

Speaking of weather. This afternoon we were watching threatening thunderheads come through when we were hit by a fairly vicious micro burst.

The breeze went from 10 knots to over 35 in a heartbeat. The wind was accompanied by a torrential downpour. Visibility was literally zero. Both of us were craning to see Dragging Guy from the other night. Before the storm hit he was 300 feet ahead of us and we were expecting him to be here any second. Mercifully, the ferocious winds only lasted for a minute or two and dropped to a more manageable 15 to 20 knots. Visibility also returned to reveal that the dragger had a repeat performance and was now in the process of slowly dragging past us. He must be using a bent paperclip for an anchor.

The same as the other night, he was totally unaware. I tried the VHF radio and Christy got out the air horn, again. Hooooonnnkk, oh look, he decided to come topsides. By then the wind had died back to 10 knots and he’d stopped moving. So after a quick look around he went back below deck. I almost shit myself.

Then we happened to look behind us and the small sailboat that had come in today and anchored behind us was up against the dock. The 2 guys onboard were trying to get themselves back off the wall to reanchor. It really was a vicious little storm.

We were surrounded by thunderheads, but in a lull. Dragging Guys anchor was just sitting on the bottom, when the wind starts to blow again he’s going to be on the move again. It was the perfect opportunity for him to reanchor but he was down below.

The storm had interrupted me in the middle of a project so I was back on deck trying to finish up before round two commenced. I looked over and there was Dragging Guy in dry clothes, wearing his backpack, getting into his dinghy to leave his boat and go ashore. His boat was 40 feet from the unoccupied boat next to us and sitting too close to us as well, with an unset hook. For the life of me I don’t understand why he wanted me to choke him.

I stopped what I was doing and stood and stared at him. When he pulled away in the dinghy I called him over and asked him why he wasn’t resetting while he had the opportunity. He looked at me, then at the surrounding boats and said “do you think I moved?” I almost fell off the boat. “Are you kidding me? dragged? you moved at least 100 yards. You were in front of the guy in front of me, I don’t even know how you slipped past him” He looked around again and said “Ya know, I think you’re right” Ya think?

He lamented the fact that he was having such a hard time getting his boat to stay put. I asked if he had a second hook he could put down. He said “yeah, but every time I do that, they get all tangled”. I said “well maybe you should reconsider it; you’ve already hit the dock once and almost took out all 3 of us just now”

He headed back to his boat, pulled the anchor and moved off to try again. We watched in astonishment as he dropped his hook then immediately dropped the second one right next to it. Seriously, one off the port bow and then the other one immediately off the starboard side not 5 feet apart. Geez, I wonder how they get tangled? Where’s my rum?

Boat Name of the Day. Sometimes large powerboats are referred to as "Clorox bottles" because of the resemblance. Big, white, pointy at one end, look like plastic, that sort of thing. Today we saw a power boater with a different point of view and a sense of humor. His boat was named the "Big White Blob"

July 24, 2008.

We’re here in Baltimore. Let me start off with the list of negatives. It’s not really much of a list as there’s only one thing we hate about Baltimore. The water is absolutely filthy.




We’ve transited New York Harbor several times and have seen some pretty impressive chunks of discarded humanity floating around while there. But nothing could have prepared us for this. Every ten feet as you cross the harbor there’s a piece of trash floating about. Plastic bottles, bags and all the refuse of civilization, everywhere. Just today alone I counted 5 basketballs and a soccer ball.

Most of it seems to come from the street drains which empty through culverts into the harbor. The water doesn’t really flow out to the bay from Baltimore, it kind of moves out with the tide but rides the tide back in before it has the chance to escape the city. There are floating barriers across these drains which do trap a spectacular amount of debris. Then everyday a small garbage collection boat shows up and traps and collects most of the trash. There are even small Jon boats with guys wielding dip nets that move about in an effort to collect as much trash as possible. The city really does seem to be trying and I can’t really understand how with all this effort there are not better results. It’s disgusting.

So much for that. So far, everything else about the city has been great. Before we arrived here we had heard about the Aquarium and the revitalization of the Baltimore waterfront. We just didn’t have any idea of the scope of all these improvements. There’s a brick and board promenade that borders much of the waterfront. It’s in constant use by brigades of dog walkers, bicyclists, people strolling and runners. It seems like its miles in length.

There are several marinas convenient to the downtown area. We found a really good spot to anchor with decent protection just off the public dinghy dock. There’s a grocery store and a West Marine within a blocks walk. We’ve seen just about every store imaginable within a few short blocks with the exception of a Home Depot. Enough of my being ambassador to the city.

We’re anchored among five other sailboats in a spot that might hold 8 or 10 boats. On our second night here there was a line of violent thunderstorms moving through the area. At the Francis Scott Key Bridge there was 45 knots of wind, a deluge and golf ball sized hail reported. We’re 4 miles upstream of the bridge and only got 20 knots of wind so things were okay for us. We could see the rain just blot out the lights from that part of the skyline while we never had a drop. The forecast for the next night foretold of similar weather patterns forming.

Since there’s a few other boats in this fairly tight anchorage we are sitting fairly short scoped on our anchor. We’d decided that we’d get up in the morning and move to another even more protected spot just a half mile away. We had seen this spot while on a bike tour of town with the Makeitso’s and best of all it was empty.

But…….it didn’t happen that way. When I got up and checked the weather the forecast had mellowed a bit, although thunderstorms were pretty much still a possibility. The other boats in the anchorage hadn’t dragged or been a threat during the blow so we felt confident that they were pretty well set on their anchors. The new anchorage would also add a lot of distance to our twice daily dog walking so we decided to stay where we were. Actually, it could be argued that I was being lazy.

We spent the day out and about and made sure we were home when evening rolled around. And roll around it did. Ominous clouds swept past us on either side and when we checked the weather radar we could see that it was only a matter of time before something big and ugly set upon us.

As the wind started to build to 15 knots from a day long dead calm a new boat came into the anchorage. He did a quick tour of what was available to him before he decided to anchor at the edge of our little group. He was alone which meant he had to drop and set the anchor by himself. I watched with satisfaction as he did a real nice job of securing his boat without help. Or so it seemed.

Then the rain came and the wind started to howl. We were sitting in the cockpit keeping an eye on the situation when things really deteriorated in a hurry. It was pouring buckets and the water was whipped into a large chop. Then we were hit by a gust so violent that I thought we must have popped the anchor out of the bottom. As I realized our anchor was still set I looked out in amazement as one of our neighbors swung through 360 degrees in about 10 seconds. He was rolling, gunnel to gunnel while pivoting around through all the points of the compass. This was inside a harbor with great 360 degree protection. It must have been a waterspout attempting to form.

The majority of the wind had been from the west, then it hit us from every direction and then built tremendously and came from the east. I looked out and saw that the last guy into the anchorage had broken loose and was dragging away from us. I called him twice on the VHF with no response. The only chatter was from a couple of tug boat captains using phrases like, “penny sized hail, never before seen 4 foot rollers in the harbor and forty knot winds”. Not exactly the topics of conversation I was looking to hear.

Christy grabbed the air horn and gave it a couple of loud blasts in an effort to rouse the Captain. In another minute or two we could see him on deck running around. We realized that he was being blown parallel to the docks and had a good chance of hitting our friends, The Makeitsos. They’re tied to a face dock and are about 100 yards downwind of the dragging boat. Christy called them on the cell phone and warned them to look out, company might be dropping in.

They donned their foulies just in time to watch the wind veer and slam the dragging boat onto an unoccupied section of the dock well behind their boat. They ran down and helped the guy secure his boat and rig fenders to try and minimize damage.

He was the only real excitement of the evening and the wind mellowed for a while but continued to slam us periodically during the next several hours. When dawn came it was the beginning of a beautiful day. In the end we were fine but I was a little embarrassed about being so complacent. It won’t happen again but if it does I hope we’re as lucky then too.

July 21, 2008.

Weems Creek was so nice that we decided to spend 2 nights there. That, and the fact that Tropical Storm Cristobal was waltzing up the coast just offshore. Weems offers a lot of protection so we decided to sit for the extra night to allow the tropical storm to get north of us before we headed back out onto the bay. It ended up being the right decision as we were pummeled by a vicious thunderstorm just after dark.

This morning after leaving Weems Creek we had to go down the Severn River to the bay. The river was crowded with navy cadets getting their first taste of sailing at the academy. We had to stop in and get fuel while passing through Annapolis. The fuel wasn’t the issue, it was water we were in need of. So after 30 gallons of fuel and 150 gallons of water we were headed to the Magothy River.

There’s a small island in a cove off the Magothy River that’s been recommended as a nice anchorage. We’re able to motorsail right into the cove and tuck in behind Dobbins Island.

On the weekend this place is a local’s hangout, but since its Tuesday we’re pleased to find only a half dozen boats here. We’ve heard that on the weekend there can be 200+ boats here. It’s a small island with very steep cliffs on 3 sides, on the backside is a crescent shaped area of “beachiness”. We dropped the hook in ten feet of water and after rigging our sunshades we both dropped in for a swim. The water is chocolate brown (gross) and I can’t begin to explain how warm it is. Its way warmer than anywhere we’ve been, even the Bahamas. It’s kinda creepy and there's no jellyfish, that can't be good. I cleaned the boats water line while Christy floated around a bit. The water was so warm that it was not refreshing.

What Dobbins Island does have is flies; thousands of little biting flies. We both had to slather on the bug killer, then I had to spray poison on all the sunshades and we still killed them by the hundreds with the swatter. We skipped going through Georgia and South Carolina primarily because of the flies. These are worse. Down south as soon as the boat stopped, the flies disappeared, here it was the opposite. We’ve got screens and poison everywhere, it’s miserable.

We did have to take the dogs to shore and I was kinda surprised when Christy opted to go with us. I can’t begin to accurately describe the algae/ seaweed that lines the shore of the island. Picture every pinch of hair anyone’s ever cleaned from the shower drain; it’s all been saved and lies here at the waters edge. When we pulled up to shore in the dink we both just looked at it. I found myself longing for the good old days of medical waste washing up on the Jersey Shore. Finally we had to step in and haul the dink up on the shore so the dogs could romp. Mercifully, the dogs were quick about their business and we were back in the dink and swarmed with a cloud of flies. As soon as we got back to the boat Christy got me the can of Yard Guard and I doused the dinghy and killed a hundred flies in an instant. We had been considering a couple of nights here, but now that we’ve been here we figure we could make it to Baltimore by noon tomorrow.

July 18, 2008.

We left Wye Island yesterday with every intention of heading across the bay and spending 2 nights in the South River. Didn’t happen though.

While underway Christy called the marina in Baltimore we’re headed to in a couple of days, to make a reservation. We’re having mail and some items that we’ve ordered sent there to meet us. It’s actually being sent to our friends the Makeitso’s as their spending two months there.

We thought we’d be arriving on the 20th for a weeks stay. A couple of days ago when we first called, the woman told us that if we stayed for at least 8 days the price would be calculated at the monthly rate, based on an 8 day stay. Its $80 a day to stay there, but only $588 for a month so we were figuring 10 days would be less than $200. Then yesterday, on the phone the story had changed. If you stay more than 8 days they just automatically charge you $588 (plus $10 per day for electric) for the month. There is no weekly rate. Shit. $588 to stay a week is more than we want to part with, so we decided that since we’d be paying for the month we might as well go straight there and spend closer to 2 weeks rather than just a week for the same money.

So that meant to hell with South River and we reset our course for Baltimore. The only problem with this plan was that the breeze was exceptionally light and the tide was running out against us. This gave us way too many hours to weigh our options and flip flop back and forth on our newest plan.

After a few hours of northward progress we finally decided that we didn’t want to spend so much money for time at a dock. So when we get there we’ll anchor for a few days, maybe take a slip for 2 nights and then anchor once again until all our mail arrives. Normally, we would just opt to spend the entire time on the hook but from what we’ve heard the anchoring possibilities are fairly bleak. We’ll see what happens when we get there.

So in the meantime, we turned hard to port and we headed into Annapolis once again. We had been internet-less for a few days and we can get online in Annapolis and catch up on mail and check the shipping progress of our soon-to-be new watermaker. We yet again dodged a hundred tiny sailboats as we entered the harbor. We decided to anchor right in front of the Naval Academy. There seemed to be a spot in near shore, just our size. As dumb luck would have it, Sapphire turned out to be our neighbor.

They’ve been hop scotching around the bay as we have and they arrived here 2 days ago. They actually tried to leave here and head north earlier today and had the same lack of success that we did so they turned around and came back.

They were here to pick up their new sewing machine and have been pretty busy with projects. We ended up having dinner with them ashore followed by cocktails on the Veranda afterwards.

The next evening we spent a few hours on their boat and enjoyed the start of the Annapolis to Solomon’s Island race. It’s an overnight race and at least 2 hundred boats in several divisions set sail for the overnight race.

The next morning Sapphire headed south towards their scheduled haulout in Deltaville, Va. We went into town and rode the bus out to the grocery store to do a little reprovisioning.

In the afternoon the winds veered a bit and made the anchorage very uncomfortable. We decided to pull the hook and head up the Severn River to Weems Creek. The allure of Weems Creek is that the Navy maintains several hurricane moorings there for their small training vessels. You’re allowed to pick up a mooring on a first come first serve basis whenever there’s no Navy boat on them.

We arrived in picturesque Weems Creek and picked up the last mooring available. Usually a mooring will have a pennant (a piece of line) on top that Christy will grab with the boat pole. Once she has the pennant onboard she secures it and we’re all set. The navy moorings turned out to be a little different. Instead of a line they all had just 1 foot of heavy chain hanging from the top of each mooring. The bow of our boat is so high that the chain can’t be pulled up high enough for Christy to attach a line to. So we had to adapt. We decided that she would be able to reach the chain if I brought the boat alongside the mooring about amidships instead of under the bow. I pulled the boat up alongside the mooring and let the breeze push us down upon it. Christy laid on the side deck and slipped a dock line through the last link of the mooring chain. Then we switch places and as she backed the boat away from the ball I walk the attached line to the bow and cleated it off. Perfect, secure and set for the night.

July 16, 2008.

Wye Island is desolate and beautiful.
Last night we took the dinghy down the river to take some pictures of a plantation that’s visible from the water. The dogs both really enjoy flying along at 15 knots in the dink, especially when it’s hot as hell, like it is here.

Today was even hotter and we decided to hang around and do some boat projects. Christy cleaned the BBQ grill and then we decided that since the water was dead calm and there was no breeze whatsoever, it was time to go to the masthead and replace our windex. The windex was destroyed when some type of condor tried to land on it about 18 months ago. I’m not really crazy about heights so I’ve been patiently waiting for the perfect anchorage to take replace the windex.

I got the new windex (which has been on board for 18 months since its purchase) assembled and got the lines rigged to haul me aloft. This involves me strapping into the bosun’ chair and Christy using the anchor windlass and the main sail halyard to haul me up. Christy tails the line and controls the speed of my ascent until I’m at the masthead.

Then she cleats off the line while I work, before hand belaying me back down. The installation of the new windex went smoothly and I was back on deck in five minutes.

A good portion of the island that we’ve been able to see is planted with various crops. All afternoon there was a crop duster spraying all the surrounding fields on the island. It was actually a pretty good private airshow as he barreled overhead at tree top level from field to field. We decided to take the dogs in for an afternoon walk. I’ve been taking them to a spot that runs the length of a barley field, but we weren’t real happy about taking them for a walk there since it had just been sprayed with some chemical, so we decided to try something new.

This area of the park including the gazebo, a pavilion and some other buildings can be rented out for private functions. There’s a small dock at the edge of this area with a sign that says “No pets in the pavilion area”. We decided to land the dogs there and turned towards the very long driveway that leads away from this complex. There’s 30 foot wide strip of grass on either side of the half mile long gravel driveway.

So technically we’d landed the dogs in an area that’s against the rules but then walked them straight away from the area. Of course, when our walk was just about over a Park Ranger on patrol spotted us and stopped to watch. To get back to the dinghy we had to walk into the restricted area, get past him and get into the dink. As soon as we start through the area he hopped out of the truck and walked over to intercept us on the way to the dock. I’ve already got my “we used the driveway, poor puppy bladders, chemicals from the sky” speech ready to go. I was expecting the worst but the guy couldn’t have been nicer. He said “hey” to us, played with the dogs and just explained about this being a rental area which includes the dock we tied up to. It wasn’t a problem today since nobody was using the place. He just wanted us to realize that it could be a problem the next time we come back to Wye Island, since everybody comes back to Wye. I don’t blame them either, it’s a nice place.

July 15, 2008.

We’ve finally arrived at Wye Island. It took us a few more days to get out of St. Michaels but that’s okay, it’s a great place to hang out.

This morning I was awakened by the very closely anchored boat, directly behind us, running his generator at 0630. At first, I thought that I must be dreaming because nobody, but nobody could be that inconsiderate. I was wrong. I was laying there trying to decide, should I go topsides and debate the issue with him at the top of my lungs when I realized that I’ve had a few encounters of that type lately. First there was “speedboat guy” towing his kids then there was “tiny little bitch, dog hater guy” and now “crack of dawn generator guy”. Is it me? Am I getting testy, to easily? I’m mellow, I’m quiet, I’m a “half full” kinda guy…. this isn’t me. I decided to relax a bit……..Om, Ommm….and hopefully somebody else would lose their mind so I wouldn’t have too.

Then the screaming started, no not me. Some dipshit power boat guy was yelling for his wife. It was like a 25 foot boat, is there really any reason to yell? Anyway, I got up to ascertain what was going on and I saw him lying on his belly on the swim platform. He was crabbing with a drop line and couldn’t reach his dip net to nab his catch. Who lies on their belly to catch crabs? Especially at 0645? Christ, it must be me; I’ve become an asshole magnet.

So, I’ve had 2 encounters before 0645 and the day has just begun. I was wide awake now, so with morbid curiosity I was waiting to see what the rest of my day would bring.

The trip to Wye Island was less than 5 miles and was a motor trip straight into a very light breeze. Once you head up the Wye River the western end of the island presents itself to you. The island is several miles long and about a mile wide and most of it is a state park encompassing 2550 acres. The water is deep all the way around the island so you can go either left or right when you arrive.

We turned to starboard as the southern shore of the island seemed to present more opportunities for anchoring. It’s a wide meandering river that we were sharing with several small boatloads of crabbers. We discounted one anchorage after another as we moved along. One was too exposed, one was full of crab pots and then we arrived at Dividing Creek. One of the guides we have reported that they’ve seen as many as 99 boats in Dividing Creek on a weekend. As the mouth of the creek came abeam we could see all the way up the fairly straight creek. There was only one cruising boat anchored in the creek, so there was plenty of room for us but we continue on as we were looking for a little more privacy.

After another mile we turned into the total seclusion of Granary Creek. Another of our considerations when choosing our anchorage is whether there is a place to land the dogs ashore. On the western bank there’s a small gravel patch that runs down into the water, and at the top of the riverbank there is a rack full of canoes and this is their launch site. So this must be part of the park system, perfect. We dropped the hook in 8 feet of water and settled in for our 2 day stay. Once we were set we started to examine the shoreline more closely and that’s when we saw it…….

We have friends that were married here on the island back in May. We had been invited but had to decline as there was no way we were going to be able to get this far north by May. We got to see photos of the ceremony which took place in a quaint woodland gazebo. Not 40 yards from our boat is what I’m pretty sure is the same gazebo.

It was their invitation that was the impetus for our trip to Wye River. We didn’t even know the place existed until we got the invitation. Since we weren’t going to be able to attend, we never paid attention to the actual location on the island where the ceremony was to take place and now by dumb luck and guided by the bowelular requirements of the dogs we’re anchored in exactly that spot. Dumb luck or incredible intuitional navigational abilities…..you be the judge. Of course for all we know the island could be sprinkled with dozens of these gazebos. But I’m a “half full” kinda guy so this is definitely the only one.

July 14, 2008.

Well, we’re still here. When we first arrived in Saint Michaels the inside anchorages were overflowing with boats at anchor. So we opted to anchor outside amongst a half dozen other boats. By the time Saturday night rolled around the anchorage around us had swelled to some fifty boats.

So our plan was to get up and take our time heading out to Wye Island for a few days. By the time we got up several boats were gone and as we ate breakfast we watched a steady stream of boats depart the anchorage. I guess the majority were here for the weekend and were now on their way home to start the workweek. Even most of the boats inside the harbor were leaving.

So instead of heading over to Wye we decided to relocate to the protected inner harbor here in Saint Mikes. So, at 1100 we weighed anchor, motored three quarters of a mile and dropped the hook once again.

We spent most of the rest of the day sitting on the boat watching boats come and go. In the late afternoon we decided to head out for a little dinghy tour to see the sights. The larger boat was towing the smaller boat, that much we got although the Queen Anne sofa on the roof did throw us.

The reason we had intended to go to Wye Island was to hide form a front that was due to hit. Once we were inside the harbor, we decided that we had enough protection to handle the forecast winds.

As soon as twilight started to settle in, the winds started to pick up. We had been facing south but in 30 seconds we were facing west, then northwest. The wind picked up to about 15 knots and there were gusts into the low twenties but we rode it out in relative calm.

So once again we’re off to Wye in the morning……maybe.

July 12, 2008.

We woke to a glorious day here in Saint Michaels. The dog walking here is accomplished on spectacular fields of lush green grass. The dogs were actually skipping along at the end of their leashes. I swear.

After returning the dogs to the boat, Christy and I went in to explore town. First off, there’s a centrally located dinghy dock right in the heart of everything (<~I know that’s redundant, but I don’t care). We started the day with a short trek to the Saturday morning Farmers Market where there were about a half dozen stands of local produce. The only downside of buying fresh produce grown locally is that we’ll probably miss out on that whole Mexican vegetable salmonella craze. First the Macarena and now this, sometimes we’re just so out of the loop.

After procuring some veggies we were off to see the town, and what a town it is. Its got all the same touristy crap that so many other waterfront towns have except this place just seems a little different. It has somehow managed to maintain some of that small town wholesomeness. The main drag is lined with one charming store front after another. The street was packed with nothing but tourists but it just didn’t seem touristy, if that makes any sense. This home was built in 1766 and was moved to its present site in 2000 and there’s not a crack to be seen. After spending the morning walking town we headed back to the boat for lunch.

After lunch we decided to hit the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum. The place reminds me very much of Mystic, Connecticut.
The first thing you encounter when coming in the front entrance is a lift bridge that has been moved to the museum, after it was replaced by a high rise bridge. Instead of shitcanning the old bridge they reinstalled it across the entrance to the parks grounds. It gives car bound visitors the experience of passing under a lift bridge, like a boat, rather than driving across it as a car would. It’s kind of bizarre to see.

We came in through the back door so to speak, from the water. We went from building to building seeing exhibits concerning everything to do with the bay. There were of course boatbuilding displays and several examples of skipjacks, bugeyes and log canoes. The log canoes were very reminiscent of the Bahamanian sailing dinghies with the hiking boards hung way out over the gunnels.

There was an entire building dedicated to waterfowl hunting. There was an impressive collection of firearms confiscated by the state game wardens in the last hundred and some years. These guns were huge and could be heard for miles. They were mounted in a small boat pointing out over the waters surface. The “hunter” would use small paddles that looked like ping pong paddles and sneak up to the edge of a sleeping flock of ducks or geese. He aimed the gun by pointing the bow of the boat at his targets. Some guns had several barrels that all fired in unison while others had a single barrel that was big enough that you could fit your hand into. Some of these guns were twelve feet long and had to be lifted into the boat by 2 men. These huge guns were loaded with birdshot and when fired they could maim a hundred sleeping birds in a single fierce explosion.
These monstrous guns were outlawed in the 1800’s and confiscated whenever one was found. James Michener describes this type of gun in his book The Chesapeake and seeing some examples in person really drove home the destructive capabilities of these huge weapons.

We also learned a lot about what’s going on in all those Waterman’s boats we see out fishing the bay. The whole oyster and crab fisheries are explained really well with a lot of interesting displays. This picture is of a “keeper” oyster from the present time and of a “keeper” from the 1700’s. They were so plentiful that the oystermen back in the day didn’t have to take all the oysters, just the big ones. That shell was twice the size of my hand. I can’t swallow an oyster in this day and age, an oyster back in those days would have been like trying to swallow a puppy fetus. Yeah, visualize that the next time you’re having oysters. (Editor's note~> Sorry)

They have one of the old “screwpile” lighthouses on display. They’re called screwpile lighthouses because several large augers were screwed into the bottom and acted as the foundation for this style construction. We’ve been in a few but this was by far the best example we’ve seen. Theres more room than you would expect, but would have been a very bleak existence for the light keeper. We did learn something that we didn’t know about this type of lighthouse.
The keeper had to get up in the morning and draw the blinds around the Fresnel lens. The reason was to prevent the sun from beating in on the lens as the lens would refract the sunlight and magnify it possibly setting fire to the lighthouse. Who knew, not me.

After the museum we went to the Crab Claw Restaurant for dinner. The place was packed, by dumb luck we got the best table in the place, the food was top notch and I went home fat and happy.

Tomorrow’s trip will be an hour or so to Wye Island to hide from the blow that’s been forecast.

July 12, 2008.

We had a twenty couple mile trip to Saint Michaels on tap for the day. While leaving the anchorage this little girl seemed to be asking herself WWND? (What Would Nancy Do) We slipped our mooring at 1100 and soon had the sails up and the engine off. Our direction of travel was to be southeast, exactly where the breeze was coming from.

It was such a beautiful day we decided to tack our way down the Chesapeake and into the Eastern Bay. We moved directly across the bay at about 5 knots. Unfortunately, the wind started to diminish almost immediately. We ended up sailing between 3 and 4 knots for hour after hour as we tacked back and forth while we made our way down the bay. As we made our final tack towards the Eastern Bay there was a north bound sailboat nearby. It turned out to be Sapphire on their way to Annapolis. We said a quick hello and watched them disappear up the Chesapeake.

Finally, when we entered the Eastern Bay our point of sail changed to the northeast and we were able to ease the sails a bit. Then we were reaching along at 4 1/2 knots for another hour until the wind finally died as evening approached. We ended up starting the engine and motoring the last hour of the day into Saint Michaels. Or should I say next to Saint Michaels.

Saint Mikes has a tiny little “Y” shaped anchorage. Each branch of the Y has enough room for about a half dozen boats. There were already 8 or 9 in each branch so we were forced to anchor outside the harbor with a half dozen other boats. It’s very calm out here and we’re protected from the prevailing winds so things are good for now. We’re only spending 2 nights here and then moving 6 miles away to the Wye River for better protection from a hoolie that’s due on Sunday.

Late Friday night the wind started to kick a bit. Two boats were forced out of the overcrowded inner harbor. So they had to join the rest of us outside. By the time they arrived the wind had already died and it’s a good thing too. They had obviously spent the early part of the evening drinking their faces off.

It was a sailboat with 4 complete drunks aboard, I’m talking staggering. Their attempts at anchoring was the stuff of legend. The captain was giving orders to the deck crew over his loudspeaker, the anchor monkey was slurring a reply, a woman was amidships acting as amplifier for the slurring monkey and a useless fat guy stumbling around saying “I gotta pee”. All they needed was three rings and a calliope. The captain was ordering them to drop 70 feet of chain, not nearly enough in the 25 foot deep water. It was wonderful, a guy, drunk out of his mind, giving ridiculous orders to his wasted crew with his hailer so everyone in the anchorage could hear every word. We listened for 30 seconds as the chain just screamed from the locker; it had to be 200 feet if it was a foot. The captain backed down and nothing, the anchor no sticky. Of course, he probably never even got the chain unpiled off the bottom. Then they decided to try again. Somehow while they were retrieving the chain it got jammed in the hawse hole. They had muddy chain tightly jammed so they needed the deck wash and a screwdriver. So then there was the monkey, the big mouth drunk chick and the stumbling tiny bladder guy all with their hands in the anchor locker, with the hose spraying and the screwdriver prying at the chain. Partay! WoooHooo!

After a good 20 minutes the second boat used his hailer and told the sailboat that he was going to drop his hook and that then they could raft to him. He did this with ease and mercifully the rafting took place and the evening resumed its quiet calm. Way better than television.

Watermans Dictionary entry. Hoolie- pronounced who-lee. Excessive wind. As in....Its blowin' a hoolie out there.

July 10, 2008.

Our second day anchored outside Herrington Harbor was to be our last. The wind had picked up a bit and started to veer. We were getting fairly large rollers moving under the boat from side to side. We were not in any danger but some of the crew definitely had trouble sleeping in those conditions.

Herrington Harbor North is a huge marina complex that has about 1500 boats on the hard during the winter. It’s expensive as hell as far as slip rates go, but everything from the grounds to the services are top notch. We’ve decided to have the boat hauled here for the month of August rather than take her all the way back to Jersey. We only have a short list of things to do like painting the bottom, compounding and waxing the hull and topsides, changing the zincs, greasing the prop and re-doing the woodwork. Its labor intensive but they’ll allow us to do our own work, so along with the reasonably priced haulout, we’ll do okay. Then we’ll just rent a car for a week to see our people back in Jersey.

We went in and did laundry at the marina and walked to the ultra convenient West Marine right there on the marina grounds. After lunch back at the boat we headed back in to enjoy the swimming pool. After spending the afternoon swimming, we got together with the crews from Far Niente, Sapphire, Solitaire and Molly Brown for dinner at a local restaurant. The food was phenomenal, as was the company. We were even able to accomplish our biggest “boating upgrade” of the year during dinner. Jay from Far Niente is the man to see about acquiring a watermaker at a great price. It should be delivered to us when we reach Baltimore in a couple of weeks. The installation is something we can do while we’re out of the water in August.

The next morning we were in no hurry to get going because of the whole tidal flow thing again, so Nancy and Christy made a quick trip to the local grocery. Once we said our goodbyes we were under way by noon for the 20 mile trip to Annapolis. It ended up being one of those perfect sailing days. The engine was off as soon as the hook was raised and we were in the Annapolis Harbor 3 hours later after covering the twenty miles.

When we arrived it was in the middle of sailing school sessions. The waterway was thick with small sailboats headed this way and that. Who had the right of way made no difference as we threaded our way through the throngs of tiny boats. It was tense as hell as we wove our 28 thousand pound boat between 8 foot sailing dinghies Captained by 9 year olds. We made it to the anchorage without crushing anyone and treated ourselves to a 2 night stay on a mooring ball.

After dinner ashore we were treated to Wednesday Night racing that takes place just outside the anchorage and ends up with the competitors finishing up after slaloming through the mooring field. It was intense as some good sized boats were skimming along within a foot of our boat.



We weren’t really planning on hitting Annapolis until the boat show in October but slaying the Lenscrafters Dragon had become a priority.
I won’t bore you with a rehash of the whole Lenscrafters debacle. Let’s just say they suck, we’re pissed, they’re trying to weasel out of a refund, we’re pissed, they’re trying to hide from us and we’re pissed.

Christy found a store manager who would give us our refund as long as we could come to her store, to see her. Thursday morning we were on the bus to the mall outside of Annapolis. After two and a half months of eye exams, incorrect prescriptions, bad lenses and frustration we’re in and out of the store with our money back in less then 5 minutes. This manager unraveled the web of red tape we were caught in and in minutes we were sent on our way, semi-satisfied.

Tomorrow its on to Saint Michaels on the eastern shore…….

July 8, 2008.

First off, I’d like to thank Windows Word for being so smart. All I have to do is type the month at the top of the page and it automatically fills in the rest of the date. I may not know what day of the week it is or the number that goes with it but I’m still pretty sure about the months.

We spent the 3 day weekend in Solomon’s Island, Md. We watched the fireworks, walked hither and yon taking care of our chores and finally met a dog hater.

Not like the guy from Vero Beach 2 years ago. He was just a Jersey hater and it manifested itself directed at the dogs. I could understand his psychosis, after all, its Jersey. But our dog hater from yesterday caught us completely off guard.

We were in the dink on the way in to go food shopping. The guy on the next boat was sitting in his cockpit, we waved, he waved back and then waved us over. Let me preface this meeting with a little background information. They were anchored here when we first arrived. It’s been several days and they still haven’t launched their dinghy and gone ashore. Not once. This was the first time I’ve seen either one of them on deck in the daylight. They stay below all day, we might catch a glimpse at twilight and that’s it. I’ve got a theory that they might be vampires who silently launch their dink after dark and have it back on deck before daylight. Christy thinks my theory is stupid but I think she’s just jealous that “I” have a theory.

Anyway, this tiny little bitch, er, I mean this guy starts to whine that the dogs bark non-stop every time we leave the boat. For the first time in as long as I can remember I was speechless. Molly’s practically a mime, you should see her do “dog in an invisible box”, she never barks. We know that Tucker will sometimes howl when we first leave the boat. For Christ’s sake, the dog only weighs 14 pounds, how loud can he be. We’ve had friends tell us about his howling and we’ve heard it ourselves upon occasion but I just didn’t think it was that big a deal. Everyone said that he stopped after a few minutes and that they thought it was adorable. We’ve even had friends drive by the boat and encourage him to “sing”. I’ve heard louder noise from wind in the rigging.

We were both dumbfounded; I was sitting there like my parents were brother and sister. He was making all these contorted, disgusted faces while he was complaining. Finally I said “what would you have us do?” He said “you could put them below” Christy said “no, it’s too hot” then I added “don’t worry, we’ll be back” and we continue on our way. Who knew vampires were so sonic sensitive?

On our way back to the boat with our groceries we spied our closest shore bound neighbor cleaning his fishing skiff at his backyard dock. We pulled up in the dinghy and asked if he’d heard our dog and was he really that obnoxious. He replied that he’d heard Tucker ‘singing” and thought it was kinda cute. He said it only lasts a few minutes. Then he said once in a while his dog and Tucker will bark back and forth across the water but “that’s what dogs do, they’re just talkin” Christy recounted our previous encounter with the vampire and the guy said “if he don’t like the noise let him go anchor someplace else”

Then it struck me how the Solomon's got its name, the locals just ooze wisdom.

The next morning we bade Bella Lugosi and Solomon’s Island farewell and headed north for Herrington Harbor to see friends. We knew we would be bucking the ebbing tide so we waited until 1000 before pulling the hook in an effort to catch some of the late flood tide.

We had just enough breeze to keep the sails full and we motorsailed the entire 30 miles. Herrington Harbor is a big marina inside a fantastic seawall. The only problem is that there’s only a channel and a couple of marina’s inside the jetty, so we have to anchor outside the jetty and dinghy in to see our people.

The anchorage is fairly rolly but as long as the wind stays out of the west it’ll be doable. We went in and had a great reunion with Jim & Nancy from Solitaire and Phil who we haven’t seen since this time last year. This was the birthplace of Captain Rumboy and there was potential for a Rumboy spotting but through the use of maturity and self discipline I was able to keep the Captain at bay. That and the fact that Christy said no.


Boat Name of the Day. It was a sailboat we saw named Saline Solution and his dinghy was called Dropper.

July 4, 2008.

First off, Happy Fourth of July all.

After breakfast we decided to take a quick walk to the strip mall near the dinghy dock. We weren’t sure what would be open since it was the holiday. As luck would have the 2 biggies on our list were both open for business. That’s right, West Marine and a liquor store. After spending $20 at one place and $100 at the other, I’m not saying which was which, we headed home.

After returning to the boat Christy did a little internet research while I finished up a book I’ve been reading. Then we had a little Fourth of July barbeque for two on the boat.

As soon as we finished eating we had a nasty squall come through the anchorage. It literally went from dead calm to 25 knots in 20 seconds. The gusty winds also brought a deluge, this picture was taken in broad daylight. It poured while the wind howled. The winds died several times only to build once again.

There are 6 boats in the anchorage and the furthest one from us started to drag. The shoreline of the anchorage in Back Creek is mostly marinas. We watched as this unattended sailboat dragged ever so slowly and came to rest across the pilings at the end of a row of slips. The wind blew steady from the north for about 15 minutes and the boat seemed to be pinned to the pilings quite nicely. Of all of the places that boat could have dragged, this seemed like the spot that was least likely to cause any damage.

Christy and I discussed whether or not I should go see if I could pull this boat to safety and secure it. It was raining buckets but the problem was that it wouldn’t be prudent to go off trying to help someone else when I wasn’t really sure that the front had passed and that our own boat was safe.

Once the wind died down it also clocked around. Now the sailboat was being pushed back off the pilings but had become tangled with a boat tied to the dock. It was still raining pretty good but we had to do something. I launched the dinghy as Christy spotted one of the other guys in the anchorage watching the situation, she pointed him out to me so I headed over and asked if he’d help me secure the sailboat.



He hopped in the dink with me and I took him over to board the sailboat. First, while he fended and untangled, I towed the boat clear of the dock. Our first plan was to side tie the boat to a clear spot on the dock. The still deployed anchor kept us from getting the boat close enough to secure it properly so we went to plan “B”. We decided to launch and hand set his second anchor. When I got to the bow I almost laughed, his second anchor looked like a toy. It was a 25 pound Lewmar Claw and there was no second anchor rode for us to attach it to. Secretly I was relieved because using that anchor would have been like trying to keep a car from rolling down a hill by sticking gum under the wheel.

There was a more suitable Danforth anchor hanging from the stern pulpit so we figured there had to be a rode for it. We searched through the cockpit lazerrettes and eureka we found an anchor line. We dumped it into the dinghy and while I brought it around to the bow the other guy brought the stern anchor to the bow as well. I fed the line up into the hawse hole while the other guy drew it in and then he passed the big Danforth down to me. I shackled the anchor to the rode and took the anchor out as far as the line would allow. Once in position I dropped it over the side and the other guy started to haul in on it until he was sure he had a good anchor set.

Confident that the boat was secure and away from the dock the other guy got back in my dink and we headed back to our boats. It’s funny that even in a driving rain all I had to do was ask one guy for a little help in securing a wayward boat and he jumped right into the fray, we never even introduced ourselves. I love this community of boaters and I’d kill to be a fly on the wall when the people get back and find their boat 100 yards from where it started. Since it’s getting dark they probably won’t even notice that they have a second anchor out until morning.

Back at the boat I raised the dinghy again and stripped out of my wet clothes. The wind was gone and the rain slowly died off. Then it was dark and the fireworks started. We had seen them loading the barge with tonight’s display but had no idea where it would be towed to for the presentation. Turned out it was straight behind our boat, close enough to terrify Molly, but not so close as to actually kill her.






Once again, Happy Fourth everybody……..

July 4, 2008.

Yesterday we woke up in Jackson Creek, Va. It was a very peaceful night in spite of a constant breeze. We left the anchorage accompanied by a pair of sailboats. One of the boats was from the local yacht club. They passed us as we were about to head out the entrance channel. The 4 man crew looked to be out for a bit of racing and looked smugly at us as they motored quickly past. Following them out fit in real well with my plans as the tide was lower than when we had come in the previous night, and we had only 8 inches of water under our keel.

Once clear of the entrance channel Christy and I had the main sail up and had turned out towards the bay. The tide was to be in our favor for the first half of the day so we motor sailed east for 2 miles before heading north.

Depending on which weather service you believed we were supposed to have winds anywhere from 10 to 25 knots from the southwest. We shut off the engine and unfurled the genoa and it was like somebody had yelled “Go”. We had both sails up and pulling hard, along with the current pushing us, we were doing over 8 knots in comfort. We slowly walked away from the other boats leaving them a few miles behind us. We had a steady 16 knots until lunchtime when the winds started to slowly abate.

When the winds dropped to 10 knots our speed stayed above 6 knots. The guys on the boat behind us pulled out a spinnaker but weren’t really able to cut into our lead. It was a fabulous day of sailing but all good things come to an end.

We caught up to 3 boats that had left an hour before us and as soon as we did the wind just about petered out. We had to start the engine at 1500 and motor the last 8 miles of the day.

We dropped the hook in exactly the same spot we usually do when we stop here. The anchorage is full but not crowded so things are pretty good. We’ll probably spend the weekend here before heading north to Deale, Md.

A new addition to the blog is going to be a section called Waterman’s Terminology. As we travel through different areas we hear a lot of sometimes amusing local terminology. For example, down in Florida whenever 2 fishermen get done talking to each other one will invariably sign off with the mantra “Ketch em’ up”

Today’s entry. One fisherman asked another if he was catching anything and he replied “I got enough to make the pot stink” I dunno, I laughed.

July 2, 2008.

Today we were continuing north and going through the Great Dismal Swamp. There was a scheduled bridge opening in Elizabeth City at 0730 that we needed to make in order to make it to the first lock on the Dismal Swamp on time. The bridge is directly adjacent to the free slips in town so we backed out of our slip at 0715 and waited patiently.

We established communication with the bridge tender and he raised the bridge, well, most of it. When the bridge started going up only one span worked. We called him and asked if that’s all we were getting and he tersely replied that one span was not working. Okay, fine but he could have mentioned that 2 minutes ago when we were talking to him.

After the bridge the river is a winding, but very beautiful trip. After 18 miles we arrived at the first lock of the Dismal Swamp. We’ve decided that we are the very last cruising boat headed north and as such we locked through alone.
The lock raised us up 8 feet and released us into the swamp.

The Dismal Swamp is very beautiful but very boring at the same time. We had fairly thick smoke from nearby forest fires drifting through the trees which created an eerie effect. We had to take turns steering as driving was mentally exhausting and demanded constant attention. You had to stand at the helm and dodge one stump or log after another. The last time we came through here we decided that it would be our last because of the amount of debris that we “tried” to dodge in the water.
But alas, we are back again. Besides the smoke we had another first for us while in the swamp…..

Flies. An unbelievable amount of flies. We had to light bug torches, spray ourselves with repellent and wield fly swatters the entire time. If you weren’t driving, you were swatting. We were actually thankful for the smoky sections as it cut down on the flies.

After dropping back down 11 feet at the second lock we decided to anchor right in front of the lock. The locks only open 4 times a day and since we made the last opening for today, there would be no more traffic for the evening and we can stay right here until 0800 tomorrow. It’s a great spot with a tiny park for the dogs and some sketchy wifi for us.

The next morning we were up early and underway at 0800. There are several bridges in the next 10 miles and most are closed until rush hour is over so there’s no hurry. Of course, the first bridge that we came to was a railroad bridge. The rail road bridges are usually left open and only close when a train is coming or for MAINTENANCE, Shit.

We arrived at 0830 to hear a tugboat complaining that he’d been sitting there since 0630. Finally the bridge was repaired and we were through at 0930. We had been planning a short 20 mile day today but once we were through the bridges we were making excellent time as we were sucked out of Norfolk by the outgoing tide. We entered the Chesapeake doing 8 1/2 knots. Of course, when we turned north it started to work against us but only for a short while.










Once the current turned in our favor we were able to make it to Jackson Creek, Va. The anchorage here is very protected but has a ridiculously deceptive entrance. You literally have to drive the boat right up to the beach before making a hairpin turn back into the entrance. Very scary stuff.

June 30, 2008.

We enjoyed our stay in Manteo very much, but it was time to leave. The weather forecast was for 15 - 25 knots with higher winds as the day went on. Yahoo, we will be sailing. We motored down the long channel and raised the genoa as soon as possible.

We should have been beam reaching for over 20 miles but the forecast was also filled with the threat of very violent thunderstorms. If beset by one of these fast moving monsters its easier for me to douse the genny than drop the main sail and stow it properly. So with this in mind we sacrificed a balanced sail plan and headed out under genoa alone.

The 15 to 25 turned out to be more like 8 knots and we were sailing along at just over 4 knots. Crap. We weighed our options and decided to put up all sail in spite of the threat of storms. With all sail up we were moving at close to 6 knots, which also cut 2 hours off our trip up to and across the Albemarle Sound.

While enroute the Coast Guard announced a major squall with gusts to 45 knots just 20 miles away and headed right for us. Fortunately, our increased boat speed enabled us to out run most of the squall. It hit bringing a driving rain but no spectacular winds. We could see it coming across the surface of the water, so duly warned we rolled in the genoa and kept sailing under main alone. When the storm left it took all our wind with it, we were forced to start the engine and motor for over an hour in the storms aftermath. It all worked out for us and after the weather passed we once again put up all sail and sailed to within 3 miles of Elizabeth City.

We arrived in Elizabeth City at 1630 and pretty much had the place to ourselves. There’s only one other cruising boat at the docks and it looks like it might be a permanent fixture here.
After walking the dogs and squaring the boat away Christy and I walked into town to find Thumpers.

Thumper’s is a non descript pub type eatery. When we were here last time some other boaters were raving about the meals they had there. So we walked a couple of blocks and sat down and got the best store bought meals we’ve had in a while. Christy’s portion of stuffed flounder and black beans was huge and tasty while I opted for a cheeseburger. Not just any cheeseburger though, this one was completely covered with a crab cake and then finished off with melted provolone. I was torn with indecision about whether or not I should put catsup on it. The burger cried out for it but I just couldn’t do it to a crab cake, it was an epic struggle. Next time you’re home having some crab cakes throw one on top of a burger with some provolone. That’s good eatin’, trust me.

While we were finishing up our dinner we looked out the window to see that it was once again pouring. We could have sat there and had a drink or two and let it blow over or we could run 3 blocks through the rain to close up every port and hatch on the boat. Shit. We left everything open on the boat because the evening sky held so much promise. We got back and closed the 8 ports and 3 hatches we had left open, we even had the hatch over the bed open, shit. While that was bad, the worst part was that we had left the front of the enclosure open to give the dogs a better breeze. What we found were two completely drenched, very sad looking little dogs. They were sitting in the cockpit with no real protection from the rain as it swept through. Luckily for us though they have short memories
and after a little extra attention, and an extra trip to the lawn they completely forgot about being abandoned to the elements.