Chesapeake Bay to Cape May, NJ

Today is Sunday, May 30 and Here and Now is in Cape May, NJ at Miss Chris Marina. Since leaving Irvington, VA which is up the Rappahonnick River about 10 miles we made stops on the Chesapeake at Solomons Island, MD, St Michaels, MD, Rock Hall, MD via the Kent Narrows (skinny bypass from St Michaels)  and the Bohemia River on the upper Chesapeake.

The Chesapeake is a great boating bay and by far the best so far on our trip. All of these places we stopped were unique. We have been traveling with Jerry and Carolyn (no. 2) on the boat Sassy II. They just started the loop in Portsmouth, VA. I cannot do these stops justice in the blog but St Michaels was probably the best stop as far as the harbor and town go. We stopped for a couple of days on the Bohemia River at a small marina near where our friends Tom and Lin Kilburn have a second home just a 5 minute walk from the marina and we spent two nights with them off the boat for a change. We met Tom and Lin through  work several years ago and they are now special friends and it was great visiting with them. On the second day Tom took us up to Chesapeake City in their Grady White for breakfast....great morning. The only problem we had was the spring tides were extreme and there was a full moon. We arrived at low tide and the depth gauge on the boat read 3.5 to 5.0 all the way in to the marina. Needless to say we decided to leave at high tide.

After visiting with Tom and Lin we departed on May 27 intending to go all the way to Cape May, NJ. (about 73 nautical miles). In order to reach Cape May you leave the Chesapeake via the C and D canal which connects the Chesapeake Bay with the Delaware Bay. We wound up stopping on the C and D after traveling only about 15  miles due to a change in the weather forcast for the Delaware Bay including high winds and thunderstorms. We spent the day relaxing at Summit North Marina in Bear, DE and Carolyn and Willi kayaked on the C and D. While there we got reaquainted with another looper boat, Adagio, and traveled with them the next day to Cape May. We waited until 11 am to depart to catch the outgoing tide on the Delaware River to get a 'push' to Cape May. As it turned out the winds were up and our trip across the Delaware Bay was the roughest full day we have had on the entire trip with seas of  'many feet' and water over the top of the boat about every 5th or 6th wave. We arrived in Cape May around 5:30 pm at Miss Chris Marina.

Cape May is a good place with lots of shops and resturants and lots to do including a famous light house which we climbed for a great view and sore knees!  I took Carolyn to Philly today to fly back to Tn for a few days. She will be returning with Tammy and Heather on Thursday for our trip up to New York. Willi and I are hanging out in Jersey for now.

Be Safe!

Goodbye Ditch, Hello Chesapeake Bay

We are finally out of the Atlantic ICW (Intracoastal Waterway) commonly referred to as the 'ditch' . It is nearly 1100 miles from Portsmouth, VA to Miami and we are glad to be through it. The ICW is good and bad...it provides protected water travel except for a few open sounds and bays but you have to pay constant attention at the helm due to a multitude of shallow spots and shifting shoals as well as several places where the current runs through narrow cuts connecting sections of the ICW.  The names of the various places and waterways tells the story.....Cape Fear, Lockwoods Folly, and Hell's Gate for example. 

We spent four days in Portsmouth, VA one extra than we had planned due to bad weather. We are now on the Chesapeake Bay in Irvington, VA at the Tides Inn Marina. Portsmouth was great stop as we visited Norfolk and met up with Greg and Judy Edwards who we met in Naples, Fl. They live in Newport News and met us in Smithfield, VA at Smithfield Station for dinner. Smithfield is home to Smithfield Hams. We will be here in Irvington for 2 days as it is a great little spot to walk, bike , and kayak (Carolyns VA spot). All of the pics are from Irvington and include Christs Church (circa 1735) and the White Fences Winery.  We have now travled over 2600 miles since leaving home and have about that much more to go. We plan to visit 4-5 spots on the Chesapeake before heading to the Delaware Bay, Cape May and on to New York City. The Chesapeake is a great boating bay with plenty of water and lots of neat stops and anchorages. We are now back into plotting courses every day and watching the weather as a lot of the bay is subject to wind and can get nasty quickly.

Later..Be safe!

Birthdays and Learning to Swim the Fast Way

OK, folks I have a lot of stuff to inform those readers who want the 'real story' from time to time. We left Morehead City, NC and traveled a long day to stay on the hook ( I am getting this lingo down) near the entrance to the Alligator River/Pungo River Canal. We went through some big waters including Neuse River and Pamlico Sound which for about 2 hours we were rocking and rolling and I DID NOT LIKE IT AT ALL. Big ol waves and lots of pounding and things falling down everywhere.....don't think Mom and Dad liked it either. Dad kept saying something about how somebody sure missed the wind and wave predictions. Next day we made another long day crossing the Albemarle Sound to Coinjock, NC to a neat marina where I could walk right by the boat.....also it was my Dad's birthday and Mom had some stuff for him and they ate a 32 ounce prime rib....and get this....brought NONE back to me!!

Now here is the exciting part.....my Mom has this deal where she is kayaking in every state we are in and this was the last stop in NC and Mom had to get the kayak in the dirty brown water and as usual wanted me to go along. Now I have been on the kayak and few times and like it and don't mind the life jacket too bad. After doing some exploring up a few little creeks and other neat places we stopped at a boat in another marina close to ours for a short visit with some folks from Texas who are doing this same trip we are. Mom was talking to them and next thing I know I am under the water and in the dark under the kayak all alone! Mom had flipped the thing over somehow sitting by the boat and then turned the kayak up and got me by the life jacket and put me up on the boat....it was wet, salty, and cold!. Anyway it was a big deal for me and good thing I had on the goofy looking life jacket. We got back on the kayak and headed back to our boat. Well , guess what? Next thing I know is over we go again!! Well, by then I had had enough and let Mom know it. She got all wet too and we got back to our boat and told Dad all about it....I barked at Mom all night to let here know not to do that again. Not sure I will go with her next time...matter of fact I think I will chew up the life jacket and that will be the end of it.

Yesterday we were supposed to have an easy day going about 50 miles (we had traveled about 75 miles each of the last two days) and get in early....not to be as we sat in a lock (first lock we had seen since the Tom Bigbe Waterway) for over 2 hours waiting on the lock guys to get something dislodged from the gate before we could get out. Then there were lots of bridges we had to wait on to open and wound up just idling around with lots of other boats near the bridge...made Dad nervous. Anyway, we got in here at Portsmouth, VA yesterday for a couple of days and I know today is special because it is my birthday....a whole year old!! I know Mom and Dad will do something special for me...if not I will let you and them know about it. Lots of big Navy ships.....Mom and Dad left me in Condo today to visit Norfolk and a big Battleship.

Over and out for now....bark more, growl more!!

Rendevous, Back Home, and North Carolina

We left Charleston on April 23 and stopped in Georgetown, SC for one night and then on to North Myrtle Beach, SC for the Looper Rendevous. Rendevous was great and we met a lot of new loopers and had great sessions from speakers describing the next portion of our trip all the way to the Tn river. After the rendevous we rented a car and traveled back to Tn for a week. We got to see family and friends and Jamey flew in from Houston to visit for a couple of days as well. Water was up on Tn river by @ 17 feet and we lost the flagpole on our dock at home when a huge tree took it under. It was good to be back home for a few days.

We returned to Here and Now and departed on 5/9 to Southport, NC then to Surf City, NC and now we are in Morehead City, NC at ICW MM 205. Weather has been a little windy and cool but we have traveled around 50-60 miles a day and will be here 2 days and then plan to make Norfolk by this weekend. We had a few skinny spots along the way.....but did not touch bottom as a number of other boats have through this stretch of the waterway. Along the way we saw the US Marines as we passed Camp LeJune doing drills and the Navy jets strafing old targets...lots of noise. It was neat seeing these young folks doing their jobs and training to serve our country.

We are doing a lot planning for the next few weeks as we will be exploring the Cheasepeake Bay and have to pick our stops as there is just too much to see for the time we have to spend there. We are now in a move mode and travel 4-6 days per week. We are looping though and are not schedule driven on a day to day basis...just have to keep the big loop picture in mind and make sure we get out of the north before cold weather sets in.   Later....a few more pics......