Living Our Dream: May 2016

Just About Finished!

Tuesday we arrived here in Deltaville safe and sound. We actually were a sailboat for a few hours. After leaving the Potomac River and rounding Smith Point Lighthouse we put up all our sails and

were doing about 6 1/2 knots. It felt great I even took a video but the wifi here is too slow to upload it. Oh well! I'm thinking about putting videos on YouTube when I have a strong signal. I'll then link it to our blog.

The picture is of a Menhaden fishing boat. There were several out in the Chesapeake bay. They come out of Reedville where the Menhaden fish are processed and used in many of the products you'll find in your house. Some of which are dog food, medicine and fertilizer.

We spent Tuesday night tied to the gas dock at Waldens marina. Wednesday morning we were hauled to do our much needed maintenance. The picture is Larry backing our boat into the lift.

Up, up and away. Being lifted and moved into the work yard.

Dirty muddy bottom. Power washing works wonders.

Larry and I cleaned, compounded, waxed and waxed again on the hull. It took two and a half days but she shines beautifully. While we waxed Calvin here at the yard gave her bottom two coats of paint.

Me checking for spots I may have missed!

She is almost done! Today is Friday and we are waiting for a part for the knot meter to arrive by mail. Once it gets here we will be floating again. It's tough not being able to use our sinks cause the waste water will pour over the fresh paint job. I don't know how some sailors can live on the hard. It's too much like camping to me. I like my creature comforts too much. Air conditioning will be nice tonight. We do have a wonderful breeze but we also have flies. They hide and wait for us to open the companion way then the fly past us into the cabin. I do have to admit I'm getting good at swatting them.

Farewell not Goodbye!

We did take our site seeing trip as planned. This is where General Robert E Lee's birth home is located along the Potomac River. Stratford Hall is the name of the plantation. We had a very informative guided tour of the mansion and we walked the grounds after to see all the outhouses around the Great House.

This shot is if the four of us standing in the foreground of the mansion. From left to right Larry, Gail, Rich and Greti. As you can see the rain subsided and the sun was trying hard to shine.

After we went into the town down the road to Angelo's for a bite of lunch. Greti and I walked across the street to see what the little shop had to offer but found it closed. It amazed us that they had all these beautiful glass birdbaths sitting outside but they were closed. In most towns they wouldn't be there long before someone walked off with them. I guess some safe places still exist. The picture is of Larry and Rich waiting in front of Angelo's for us to return.

We decided to extend our day into the evening seeing that it would be our last night to see each other for awhile. We all wanted seafood seeing that we couldn't get it for lunch. We stopped at a seafood market on the way back to the marina to buy shrimp and crab. This is Greti, Rich and Larry at the table in the boaters lounge as we were sitting down to crab cakes, shrimp and salad that Greti and I prepared in the lounge kitchen. Yum!

Rain, Rain and more Rain!

This is a screenshot from my phone of the weather radar. We are the blue dot. This is what it has looked like for the last three days. Yes we are still at Olverson's. The bay forecast is not a comfortable ride and we can't do our boat jobs in Deltaville anyway so we are staying put. Besides we are enjoying visiting with our friends Richard and Greti.

We met them several years ago in Deltaville Va and have stayed in touch with with them ever since.

After 10 hours on the water on Friday they graciously invited us to dinner on their M/V Uschi. It was great seeing them again and catching up on what's happened in our lives since we last saw each other.

Saturday, Greti and I went to the store, Larry washed the deck of the boat in the rain, but other than that Larry and I were catching up on some much needed rest.

Yesterday, Sunday we felt rested but it was still raining. I baked cookies and made manicotti. We invited Rich and Greti to our boat for dinner. Of course as it was time for them to come over the rain increased. It never stopped all night. If I didn't live on a boat I'd be tempted to build an arc.

We talked last night about going out to do some site seeing today. I'm not sure how far away Gerneral Robert E Lee's house is but that is the plan for this afternoon.

Right now the rain has let up but looking at the radar it won't last long. Our plan is to leave tomorrow if Mother Nature allows it.

Old Habbits!

The beautiful morning sunrise taken from the bow of our boat!

It is amazing how we fell back into our pattern of waking early to get under way. It certainly didn't take long. We had intended to leave our anchorage by 7AM but instead we were driving away at 6AM Friday morning.

The dew was extremely heavy during the night and our dodger windows continually insisted on fogging. Which made visibility very difficult. We took turns driving and using the window scraper. Once the sun came up we could see again. One of the intended jobs while we are in Deltaville, Va is to replace all of our enclosure. It will be great to have clarity out of our cockpit again.

Larry at the helm!

The view of our anchorage for the night. We we just West of Tim's Bar, a popular spot for some of the members of CYC to visit by boat and anchor for the weekend.

We passed this big barge and tug port to port. He was the only traffic on the water for hours. We did have some power boats pass us later in a hurry to get to were they were going. An option we don't have so we just sit back and relax. Just the way we like it.

Going under the 301 bridge. The last time we went over this was when we were on our way by car to Fredericksburg, VA. This marks about the half way mark for us down the river.

This is Saint Clements Island light house just off Colton's Point. Another popular spot for boat work with CYC members.

The sky was so beautiful with all the scattered puffy clouds. They were very nice to look at even though I knew they were building for the forecasted storm that was brewing. Hence why we took a dock at Olverson's marina to wait out the weather in comfort. Olverson's is tucked up on the bank of the Yeocomico River. The Yeocomico River is not far from the mouth of the Potomac River on the Virginia side and where it meets with the Chesapeake Bay.

Leaving DC after 6 years!

After 6 years stationary at a dock at Capital Yacht Club (except for two summer cruises) we finally cast off our lines to head to Florida. As you can see our boat transformed from houseboat to sailboat once again. We cast off at 11:45 today and arrived at our anchorage at 8:15 tonight. The in coming tide slowed us down some and we arrived at our anchorage just as the sun was setting. All in all our trip was quite uneventful. Just the way we like it. I'm posting some shots I took during our trip today.