tadhana: August 2014

Saturday, August 30, 2014

back at regatta point.

tadhana stayed at the marina for a couple of weeks and rested after getting a thorough cleaning. tom flew off to seattle for five days and consuelo and i stayed home. i cleaned and worked - is there anything else? actually, it was pretty relaxing except for the weekend. for years, while tom was working in an office, we always made it a point to leave on friday just to be "away" for the weekend. we really had no idea what the marina was like when everyone else came to the marina for THEIR weekend because WE LEFT! now we know - it is busy, populated and noisy. it was good to see old friends and neighbors though and it's too bad tom wasn't around because everyone looked for him and, well, socializing is HIS department. by the time the second weekend came around, i was ready to be gone!

the good news was that the powers-that-be now say that our slip is OUR SLIP until we are ready to leave. good grief... all that hassle for what should have been, from the beginning, a non-issue! anyway, so yeah, it's nice to know that we can come back to our slip and not find someone else occupying it and running up our electric bill.

in the meantime, my two ducks had turned to eight ducks. i knew it was a mistake to feed the mommy duck with the five little ducklings but they were so cute and i knew that we would be leaving soon anyway. i had to feed them separately because my two did not like eating with the children - can't say i blame them - plus they seem to have forgotten about bowl feeding. or maybe, just too many people walking up and down the docks during the boating season.

speaking of boating season, the summer seems to have gone by in a flash! it doesn't help that the weather has been absolutely fabulous - cool nights that remind one of fall. always, in the back of our minds, is the thought that we will be headed south soon. for now, though, there is still the month of september, and we've got stuff coming up. i also need to watch consuelo better - she doesn't hear so well (or maybe she doesn't want to hear) and i think she doesn't see too well either, especially at night, and she has fallen in the water twice the two weeks that we were hanging out at the marina. it's hard to watch her get old.

addendum: one of the things that i did while tom was away was to break my bike out of storage. we thought we would try bringing it with us. tom has a nifty new folding bike and was thinking of getting one for me as well but i had a perfectly good bicycle (not folding) in storage so we thought we'd try that first on our next couple of cruises. omg, where do i start??? i went to the storage unit to get my bicycle. both tires were totally flat. so i got my little compressor out of the car. it ran for a while and then stopped and wouldn't run anymore. grrrr... even the light on the machine wasn't turning on. fine. i put the bike rack on the car and the bike on the rack. i went to the gas station and the machine wanted $1.00 in quarters. i had 3 quarters. grrr... but i had two dimes and a nickel so i went into the store to see if i could get another quarter. there was no one was around. NO ONE. never mind. i went home. i got tom's compressor out of the boat and walked back to the car. that didn't work either. i took the bike off the car rack and put it in a cart and wheeled the whole shebang back to the boat. tested both compressors on a 12V outlet on the boat and only one worked (mine). wheeled the bike up to the finger pier - the compressor's cord just barely made it. tire not inflating. or rather, it inflated a bit and then wouldn't anymore. still flat. grrrr.... so, i put the bike in the cart and wheeled it back to the car and put it on the car rack. walked back to the boat to get my purse and a bag of quarters. drove to the gas station, fed the machine the quarters and tried inflating again. vfffffttt... instant hard tires! sigh...... all that back and forth-ing! in the heat of the afternoon sun, no less! exhausted.... the tires did hold the air though so that was something but three hours to do this job?

tom's magazine articles

Monday, August 11, 2014

little bay

i was going to just post photos and write "it's little bay - what else is there left to say?" but there were a couple of things to note. or maybe three. consuelo did not make it to the beach. she peed in the dinghy instead. oh well, it's a start - she knows the difference between inside and outside. now to get her to do it on the swim platform instead sigh... no big deal. tom pumped water into the dinghy and then pumped it out with the hand-held bilge pump and we moved on. really, it was my fault - i had made her wait too long. those who know me well know that i have this timing down to a science. it was just so nice sitting up on the foredeck enjoying the breeze and the view. i think i hoped that she might try to do it on the side deck where it would just drain out. oh well...

the second thing was the super moon. we sat up on the bridge after dinner to watch the sunset which was not particularly spectacular - yes, we have those days, too. i turned around and said, hey, is that the moon? all of a sudden we forgot about the mediocre sunset! i sort of felt like saint-exupery's little prince who moved his chair so that he could watch another sunset only this time it was sunset and moonrise. it really was incredibly beautiful.

the third thing was the bugs - AGAIN! we have been coming to little bay for years. we got swarmed the last time we were there and we thought that it was just one of those things. well, we got bugged again this time - only it was ten times worse than we ever had before! everything in the cockpit was covered and in the morning light, the bugs were still there and the ones that had died left little green stains on everything. horrible :( interestingly enough, this time, it wasn't me that lost it and went on a rampage. it was tom's turn. it really put a damper on our little bay visit. thankfully, we have good screen doors so bug entry into the interior of the boat is minimal. nevertheless, there is nothing like a swarm of bugs, whether they bite or not, to make one feel that one's personal space has been violated! NO, I DID NOT TAKE PICS OF THE INFESTATION. GRRRR...

ok, having said all of that, here it is: it's little bay - what else is there left to say?

super moon in all its glory

super moon rise

sunset at little bay

sunset

enormous fiddler crab

salt marsh

mmm then roll in the sand after

the salt marshes of the northern neck

like floating in the air

you were gonna give me a bath anyway

the chesapeake side of little bay

i gotta pee

Sunday, August 10, 2014

tangier island

it was time to get our tangier island fix and see milton again. our neighbor boat at regatta point, halcyon, had originally planned to join us last weekend at cape charles, but backed out because of the weather. this time, they were bound and determined to accompany us to tangier island. we left the marina at 0700h on a friday. as i had mentioned earlier in this blog, milton's reservation system at parks marina could use some tweaking. halcyon is a BIG boat, not to mention "dad" depends on his little electric scooter to get around so getting off from the bow on a tiny finger pier was not really an option - this boat needed a bulkhead slip - and WE were the reservation system. in any case, tom had called milton the day before and was a little worried when milton called him "bobby." now, milton calls all the men "george" so that he doesn't have to remember their names. he calls all the women "love." but milton remembers tom's name (and mine) - if he had called tom "george," it would have been one thing, but "bobby?" who the heck is bobby??? milton turned 83 the end of july this year but still...!!!

in any case, the Bay crossing was uneventful, "OUR" slip was unoccupied and there was one bulkhead slip left so i made some "RESERVED FOR HALCYON" signs, taped them on the pilings, and tom stood on the dock to shoo away any potential invaders. so much for the reservation system - not exactly high-tech but it worked and halycon eventually showed up to take the slip. and milton was just fine and happy to see us :)

tylerton.

it rained quite a bit the morning of the next day. our plan had been to take the dinghy out to smith island so we had to wait for the rain to stop. tom and i were at four brothers crab deck checking email and the weather and staying out of the rain. the four from halcyon showed up there one by one in varying degrees of wetness. it was kind of funny how we all ended up in the same place - impromptu party! in any case, once the rain stopped, tom, consuelo and i set out in the dinghy. it was still way before noon and the workboats were out in the waters between tangier and smith. i'm sure that it's nothing compared to what it was during its heyday, but it was good to see workboats at work nevertheless. there was no wind and tangier sound was flat calm. it took us a little more than half an hour to get from tangier island's harbor to tylerton, smith island.

there are three towns on smith - ewell, which is the main town, rhodes point and tylerton. you can't get to tylerton from either of the two other towns by anything other than shallow draft boat - it is completely isolated. it also has, in my opinion, the best crab cakes in all of the chesapeake! they can be had at the drum point market in tylerton. anyway, that was our goal - LUNCH! absolutely, totally, and without a doubt, worth the time and the gas it took to get there. duke marshall is the proprietor of drum point market which is a combination grocery, deli and greasy spoon cafe. the crabcake recipe is his mother's. ironically, she is allergic to crabs and does not eat her own crab cakes! but they are heavenly - baseball-sized and oh so mouth-watering good. i challenge anyone who says they have had the best crab cakes ever to head out to tylerton and try these and then talk to me. there is something to be said about an item that is not so easily procured. everyone knows that i love tangier island and the islanders make good crabcakes, too, but even the tangier folk will admit that the drum point market crab cakes are truly very special. seriously, they are, as tom put it after we both finished our crab cakes, sat back and sighed in contentment, "ahhh... phreaking phenomenal crab cake!" i had a slice of smith island cake, too. did i really need that? i am such a pig but how often do i get to smith island anyway?? we brought some back for our friends, milton, and dan, another neighbor boat at parks marina. no one argued that they were the best crab cakes ever. EVER.

now THAT is a crabcake!

smith island cake

on the way back to tangier from smith, there were no more workboats out on the sound but there were long lines of crabpots in the water that almost looked like the road back that you had to follow. the water was the same color as the sky - it was just amazing! i thought about how much tom and i love the southern Bay and the Eastern Shore, the salt marshes and tangier island. and when we bring friends and show them what we see when we come out here and watch their eyes light up in understanding... well, there simply are no words. you either get it or you don't. and if you don't, well... i'm sure you have other good qualities :)

the serenity of the salt marsh

leaving smith island

the water having the same color as the sky

Wednesday, August 6, 2014

milford haven.

the last time we were in milford haven was in 2011. we would have bypassed fishing bay altogether if we could have gotten through the hole-in-the-wall channel from the chesapeake. unfortunately, it's too shallow for us. one has to go around gwynn island if you're coming from the south, into the piankitank river and then call the bridge tender for an opening to get into milford haven. i like to describe it as "faux" outer banks because of the barrier islands. it really is quite lovely and it's a great anchorage for those hot summer nights because it is so open. however, there isn't much protection in the event of a squall. in any case, photos of the area (at least from my camera) simply don't do the place justice and don't really tell you what we see so i tried taking a video instead. it's a tad better as far as trying to convey, but like everything else, you had to be there. and, of course, this blog site didn't want me to upload this video for some reason so i had to go through youtube. not to mention that i can't put it where i want it on this page so it is going to be down on the bottom. it's always something...

consuelo decided she was going swimming again but later, we took the dinghy to morningstar marina by the gwynn island bridge to put some gas in the tank and while there, i borrowed their hose and rinsed off all the sand and salt. it cuts down on what i have to clean when she gets back to the boat. in any case, it was so nice being all alone in that wide expanse of water, sand and breeze that we thought we would stay one more day before heading off to little bay but the weather forecast was changing hourly the next day and the wind was progressively picking up so at about 3:30, tom proposed, after looking at his weather websites (he is a weather geek), that it would be best if we went back to deltaville while it was still early. he ran consuelo off to the beach - she got cheated out of a decent walk but she did what she needed to do and in fact, when she was done with business, went right back to the dinghy. her afternoon walks just aren't the same without mommy, you know? i, on the other hand, stayed on the boat and started getting things ready. when they got back, we got the dinghy up on the bridge, pulled up the anchor and got underway.

incidentally, management at regatta point had called some days prior stating that the contract for the new slipholders would start september 1. really? he must have been suffering from selective deafness when tom told him back in may that we were staying until november 1! in any case, our slip was still our slip when we got back so that's where we tied up. and, so much for unsettled weather. although milford haven got some rain, NOTHING happened in deltaville! oh well, but we are plugged in with the A/C on, consuelo got a bath AND a decent walk in a place with grass, and i have wifi. the plan is to stay at the marina tomorrow and then leave for tangier island the next day.

cute little house on the top of the gwynn island swing bridge

the chesapeake side of the barrier island

tadhana on the milford haven side

must have been some oyster!

not quite sunset but getting there

Tuesday, August 5, 2014

fishing bay.

after leaving cape charles, the original plan was to anchor at milford haven but it was getting close to taking-the-doggie-out time and it would have been an extra half hour to get there so we just decided to stop at fishing bay instead.

we very rarely venture into the piankitank river in the summer because it is a noisemaker's playground with jet skis, water skiers, tubers, kneeboarders, you name it - all creating not just noise but wake as well. now that we no longer have to worry about getting back to the marina in time for work on monday morning, we can go to places like these during the weekdays and have some relative peace and quiet. one would think. but no, the yahoos come out after 5:00 p.m. and take advantage of the longer days and later sunsets. one little carolina skiff was buzzing around the anchorage pulling both a water skier and a tuber and generally being annoying when it just got too close and pushed tom too far. he grabbed his camera and jumped into the dinghy and went after them! two boys were in the water and a girl was driving. no spotter either. tom took pics of them and said that he was reporting them to the marine police and when they said that they were members of the fishing bay yacht club (as if this was supposed to mean something), tom said that he was reporting them to their commodore. anyway, they certainly got an earful and eventually slowly motored away, very much subdued, their parade having been rained on. my goodness, don't try to tell me that this is the first time they've been told off for buzzing other boats? please. a little later, the boat came back and stopped quite some distance away. after a while, they motored slowly over and called out. first they apologized and then they started to argue about the boating rules. this is where i turned my hearing off and went back to work so i didn't hear the whole conversation. as far as i'm concerned, it doesn't take a rocket scientist (or any marine rule book) to know that if one vessel is going at top speed very close to another vessel, it is highly likely that the people in the stationary vessel will be irate about being waked. i don't think it is necessary to quibble about exactly how many feet. too close is too close - there is plenty of water out there where the kiddies can play! anyway, when that conversation was over, they slowly motored away. tom said that they came back to apologize because it was the right thing to do. i contend that they did so in the hope that tom would not report them to either the marine police or their yacht club commodore. there is always the possibility that their youthful exuberance could have been misinterpreted and daddy might unjustly take the boat privileges away, you know. hey, i was a brat once, too. tom, obviously, was never a brat. besides, one of us has to be the cynical one. it certainly wouldn't do if both of us were the "good one" - people would walk all over us! and since i've had plenty of practice anyway..... my younger brother, mikey, was always "the good one." i was perfectly happy settling for being "the smart one." :)

last but not least, it turns out that fishing bay yacht club's commodore's name is commodore WAKE. oh, that just cracked me up!

tadhana at fishing bay

cape charles.

off to cape charles for the clam slam festival. we went last year and they had NO clams! when we asked why they called it the clam slam, they said it was because it "sounded good." huh? whatever. this year, however, they had clams and they were good! it was also the weekend for an MTOA rendezvous. time to get together with friends, old and new.

on the way over, we ran into pods and pods of dolphins who came to play with our bow wave but because we are a slow boat, i think they got bored and went off to find a faster, more fun, boat. we must have had about six beneath our bow at one time. the sight of these magnificent creatures is always so uplifting. i tried to take photos but i only have a PhD (press here, dummy) camera and it just can't take them one after the other that quickly. next time, if i remember, i'll try video instead.

i managed one decent dolphin pic out of XXX?

the clam slam pretty much got rained out which was kind of sad for the town of cape charles which has done so well coming back from the dead. but it really wasn't that bad, especially for boaters who are used to dealing with weather, i.e. it is what it is. we just put on our foulies and break out our umbrellas. the rain was on and off and it really was mostly at night anyway. the rain did not stop the fireworks on saturday night either. and the highlight of the clam slam is the boat docking contest - it did NOT rain on that day. in fact, it was an absolutely fabulous day for it! one can't help admiring the skills of the men who drive these boats and cringe at the thought of what the exercise is doing to their transmissions. in any case, the other thing was people watching. we certainly had our share of cleavage - bleached, bejeweled, tattooed, heavily made-up and heavily-stacked women strutting around displaying their wares, good grief! tom nudged me and said "that one is store-bought." HOW does he know? one woman sitting in front of us kept standing up, turning around and bending over, giving us quite an eyeful. quite frankly, i'm not sure how well i would do with all that weight up there. it has got to be uncomfortable!

all in all, we had a great time and we only went to the brown dog ice cream parlor once, which is unusual for me. just got busy, i guess. all of us who were there enjoyed and to those who canceled because of the rain, well, you guys missed out is all i can say. to go watch the boat docking contest alone, if you have never been, you should.

sunset at cape charles

Saturday, August 2, 2014

regatta point marina.

so..... back to deltaville. the cars still work. the wifi still has the same password. hey, there's a new cafe in town! we did some mega cleaning and tom had a number of boat projects. we had originally planned to start heading south at the end of october but that has been bumped up to the middle of the month instead. tom will work the annapolis sailboat show for both cruising world magazine and waterway guide and then after that we have to be in hampton, VA by october 16, 2014 for the snowbird rendezvous. but that is far (not really) into the future. in the meantime, because we're leaving this area earlier than expected, there are a great number of things to be done to the boat so tom has gotten started on those. boat units are being spent right and left at an alarming amount! (for those who don't know, 1 boat unit = $1000. it just makes it easier to accept the inevitable. for example, $500 is only half a boat unit, which seems small when you can say only 0.5, right?)

we had a nasty surprise the other day when tom went over to talk to the marina office. apparently, he was told that our slip has been rented out from underneath us and that they had every right to bump us out in favor of slipholders with an annual contract, but that we could have any other empty slip in the marina, including one that is two slips from where we currently are! tom was so furious that he let it go that day, however, he went back the next day and said that the reason that we were on a month-to-month contract was that they would not give us an annual contract to begin with since there had been plans to build a travelift slip in our section of the dock. it would mean losing two slips and, apparently, the boats in the last two slips that were going to be taken had priority over us since they'd been in the marina longer. well, guess what? the plan for that travelift slip has been scrapped. besides, the electric meter is in our name. idiots.... none of it makes any sense except that someone doesn't have it all together. in any case, when we left the marina august 1, 2014 for cape charles, we took ALL of our lines with us, including the long storm lines. who knows what we will find when we get back in two weeks? supposedly, our slip was rented out starting august 1, 2014! and the people it was rented out to are from another part of the same marina. well, they can have any slip they want, too, until we leave, good grief... the whole thing just makes me want to push someone overboard. it may well be that when we go back, slip G-30 will no longer be ours for reasons i cannot fathom except that someone is being stupid and inconsiderate. as someone else told me the other day, it is good to have an opinion and to express it. i have NOT begun to express my opinion regarding this situation.