it's over!

this is embarrassing - i have not blogged at all and the SAIL rally is OVER!  i seriously need to get caught up....

the fabulous ravenel bridge at charleston

charleston:  from mcclellanville, we stopped for a few days in charleston, staying at the charleston harbor marina at patriot's point, an ENORMOUS facility - you had to do some serious walking just to get to the marina office and bathhouses.  although the marina is across the cooper river from downtown charleston, the resort has a trolley that can take you across the ravenel bridge or if you are like us and have a dog (not allowed on the trolley), you can take the water taxi.  or you could bike - we did not attempt this although we did break out our bicycles to go out to the sticky fingers restaurant to get our favorite smoked wings.   it also so happened that the charleston harbor marina and resort was hosting the "smoke on the harbor" bbq throwdown competition.  lucky us - MORE wings!  we really enjoyed charleston since we practically missed it last year.

sunset at the fenwick island north anchorage

fenwick island north anchorage:  we stopped one night here to time a troublespot for the next day's passage to beaufort.  there wasn't much in the way of a doggie beach.  thankfully, it isn't necessary for aurora but we managed to find an empty lot for sale that had a dock so that she could at least be walked to get a little exercise.  unfortunately, i can't trust her off the leash so she didn't get much exercise at all.  and the dock was bird-poopy - yuck.  but it was a gorgeous night at anchor.

sunrise at beaufort, SC and the lady's island swing bridge

beaufort:  like last year, we stayed a few days at the downtown marina at beaufort.  because it is a small place and was full up, some of the fleet stayed at lady's island marina across the river and we had to walk over a couple of times for meetings and such, crossing over the river on the lady's island swing bridge.  tom got a refill on his bottle of fancy olive oil and i got to eat a lot of gelato.

shrimp trawler - we sure ate a lot of shrimp!

savannah:  there was a shrimp market beside the savannah bend marina but a couple of ladies from the fleet encountered a shrimper and bought 30 pounds of shrimp directly from the boat at $2.00 a pound for our very own SAIL rally shrimpfest.  they asked if everyone could help peel.  unfortunately, what they didn't realize was that the shrimp was cheap because they were small shrimp!  tom and i were not part of the peeling committee because we were both busy doing other things but when we checked on them later, it was plain to see that it was a case of the blind leading the blind.  i think the marina staff took pity on these people and lent a big steamer.  someone made a phone call to get instructions and then they put the guy from michigan (who had never cooked shrimp in his life) in charge!  the shrimp that did get peeled got cooked in several different yummy ways and the rest became peel and eat shrimp that came out just right (beginner's luck) and i think everyone had enough to eat - we all had a good time. 


queens island anchorage:  we left savannah bend marina in shifts depending on where in the marina you were located, what direction you were facing and the state of the current.  timing is everything in the states of SC and GA because of the tides, currents and the trouble spots.  we wound up at the queens island anchorage but the fleet was scattered all over the GA ICW that night. 


saint simons island:  we all wound up at the golden isles marina at saint simons island which has an on-site restaurant and the food is excellent!  tom had to go to his bank and instead of breaking out his own bicycle, he borrowed one of the marina's rentals, a single-speed clunky thing with a rusty chain - he was afraid that the bicycle wasn't going to make it back!  it's a good thing that saint simons island is mostly flat but the bank closed at 4:00 p.m. and we had 30 minutes to get there - it was a photofinish!


cumberland island:  from saint simons island, the fleet scattered again because of the thanksgiving holiday.  some stayed at golden isles, some went to the saint mary's river anchorage for the cruisers' thanksgiving potluck and some of us went to cumberland island.  we love that place but aurora and i were chased by one of the attack wild horses - unprovoked!  we were nowhere near that horse and i was making a wide circle and aurora didn't even bark - i just ran towards a nearby building, dragging her with me.  yeah, i was scared.  horses are BIG!

the path to sea camp

gnarly live oaks

the beach at cumberland island

tiny sea urchin

the gate at dungeness mansion

the one on the left was the attack horse

the dungeness mansion ruins

fernandina beach:  we spent thanksgiving at fernandina beach.  most everyone else car pooled from wherever they were to st. mary's for the cruisers' thanksgiving potluck.  tom and i were just not up to the crowd so it was a nice, quiet and relaxing time for us.  i also think our food was better :)  we had breakfast the next morning with mark and diana doyle - that breakfast date was almost a year in the making.  we kept planning on it and it just never happened until the day after thanksgiving and then the day after that, diana and i went biking over to fort clinch state park.  fernandina beach is really a cute little touristy town.  thanksgiving day, it was dead.  the next day and into the weekend, it was crazy.  the bad thing, though, was the soot from the paper mill - it was all over the boat :(

thanksgiving dinner

just about the longest fishing pier ever

at fort clinch state park, fernandina beach

st. augustine:  we arrived a day before everyone else.  some opted to stop at a marina in jacksonville and others opted to anchor but they all arrived the next day at more or less slack tide.  tides and currents are insane in SC, GA and portions of FL.  again, as i have said before, timing is everything.  tom calls it a three-dimensional chess game, making plans for the next day. 

we had our SAIL rally arrival party this evening and now it is over and everyone is on their own, graduates of the rally academy.  i'd say that it was a lot less stressful than last year.  the weather was better for one thing - it also helps to leave earlier, before it starts to get really cold.

i am looking forward to settling down in cocoa for a while.

chesapeake bay magazine, december 2015

you needed a technician?

plugging along

other magazine articles by tom: 

tadhana blog: tom's magazine articles

myrtle beach and mcclellanville

last word on the propeller.  it did sustain some damage and lost pitch and one blade was off by 4 inches.  it is a high tech prop and though we have a spare, tom prefers this one as it is more fuel efficient and we still have a long way to go.  also, it is a five-blade and our spare is a four-blade.  the prop shop guy said that if it had been the four-blade, we would have felt the vibration a LOT more.   in any case, the prop got reconditioned in no time the next day, was installed, we sea trialed and all the numbers were good.  off we went to our slip to enjoy the rest of our stay in southport, certainly a very hospitable town. 

like new once more

there was a reception that evening with the mayor and all, and the next day, a group of us took the ferry to bald head island to spend the day and that really was a lot of fun.  we rented a golf cart together with another couple, bill and amy wargo, and drove all around.  bill went swimming in the ocean while the rest of us just watched.  after lunch, amy and i went to check out the sale rack from the place where we rented the golf cart and we both came away with a new dress that was 75% off.  when the other ladies from our group found out, they ran off to check the rack out themselves hahaha....  two of them came back with dresses, too :)  that evening was a group dinner at mr. p's bistro where tom, whatever it was he ate, got violently ill so we rushed home and he eventually slept it off.  

the beach at bald head island, NC

the next morning, we left for south carolina.  our original plan was to go directly to osprey marina for the evening but there was no room as another rally was occupying space.  we stopped instead at barefoot landing marina which, i thought, was a bit of a treat.  it was a nasty, rainy day, but that marina directly abuts a shopping center and lots of restaurants so we were able to walk around and stretch our legs and do a little window shopping and that evening, we had dinner at the "flying fish" restaurant with tom and mary jeffery.  i can remember when there was nothing there but a little landing that could probably hold two boats, a small park, and a strip mall.  now, it is this huge complex!  something to do on a rainy day.  our group was scattered - some had stayed back and anchored at the calabash anchorage, some were with us, some were at the marina across the canal, one was left at southport, and the doyles were at osprey marina making sure that there would be room for our fleet the next day.

the following day was another nasty, cold and rainy day, however, there was no rush to get to osprey as room had been made by departing boats and we were to be sitting there for a couple of days.  the water level has been quite high and it was a little nerve wracking for some of the sailboats with taller masts to get under the fixed bridges but they all made it and one by one came in to osprey to get dried off.  we pumped out and topped off the fuel tanks and went to our assigned slip which was on V dock, quite a hike from the marina office, however, they had golf carts for us to use to get to and fro.  osprey marina is really a nice little place with friendly and helpful staff.  aurora was fascinated by the neighboring goats and exercised her vocal cords.  tom was busy doing troubleshooting for several members of the fleet and passed one of them off to me who was trying to familiarize himself with open CPN and since i am the family geek...  two things though:  1) we now use coastal explorer so it has been a while since i've used open CPN; and 2) he had a mac.   that evening, we had a potluck dinner together and everyone had a good time.  

today, we all left osprey marina early, some of us for mcclellanville, mostly the shoal draft boats and the ones with the big dogs, and the others for an anchorage past mcclellanville.  i think most of us did a little bump as the water ran out from underneath us.  anyway, with our party of boats, i think this is the most action mcclellanville has seen in a while.  we have had to raft up as there is barely room at the inn here.  the credit card machine wasn't working at the leland oil company (the marina) so we all had to walk to the seafood market to pay up.  well, we were going to go to the market anyway but the men walked back to the boat carrying a bushel of oysters between them and the women followed behind carrying the shrimp.  i guess it's a no-brainer what this group is going to be having for dinner tonight! 

dowry creek, oriental, spooners creek, topsail sound, and southport.

we left elizabeth city on monday, october 26, 2015.  the problem was that the night before, i was told that we were not leaving and then later told "i don't know."  well, that's fine - that's cruising.  no one woke me up the next morning so i figured we were staying but as most cruisers know, the plans can sometimes change from minute to minute.  so i started up a load of laundry and took aurora for a walk and in the midst of that, i was told "we are leaving now." 

so we left.  down the pasquotank and into the albemarle sound where we proceeded to get beat up.  water came in through the cockpit scuppers, the cockpit hawse pipes, and through where the isenglass buttons on to the boat.  i was on my hands and knees trying to plug up these holes which, ordinarily, would have been plugged up if we had known we were leaving.  it's just something that got overlooked.  our shoes were floating in the cockpit.  anyway, by the time all of that got done and i got up off the floor, i wasn't feeling too good, what with us going downwind and all that diesel exhaust coming into the cockpit.  yuck.  so back to the pilothouse - we were rocking and rolling and poor aurora was terrified because i had left her all alone.  tom was too busy driving, trying to get us not too beat up and avoiding crabpots, too.  i just stepped out the port pilothouse door and let the cold air wash over me.  i did not puke and neither did aurora so there was nothing to clean up.  just had to pick up all the stuff that had been put down on the floor prior.  luckily, tom  had made a reservation at the alligator river marina - just in case.  last year, we had made it all the way to dowry creek.  this year, we were ready to stop, especially since we'd never been to the alligator river marina before.  there were many good reasons to stop - fried chicken for lunch for starters.  we also had ribeyes for dinner at the diner.  the boat got washed down and i had internet.  only one other boat from the rally was there with us.  a few had gone ahead and actually made it all the way to dowry creek.  some stopped at the STM 100 mark and anchored for the night, but most stayed in elizabeth city.  two had started down the pasquotank and turned back. 

we left for dowry creek the next day and stayed there three nights.  the internet speed there was terrible.  i was so stressed out trying to work.  even the signal on my aircard was bad.  but dowry creek marina is a really nice little place with such a great staff.  happy hour every night (not really my thing) and on the last evening, milton bullock, the last  surviving member of the group, the platters, sang for us after we had a big BBQ around the pool.  i think we stayed too long in that place - by the time we left, we were ready to go.

dowry creek sunset

shrimp trawler

from dowry creek, we headed to oriental.  we bumped into a lot of old friends over there and it was good to see them.  oriental had a big party on halloween night but i was working and tom was sleeping - we are such party poopers - seriously!  however, i stopped working for a few minutes to listen to the band playing talking heads' song, psycho killer.   i don't think i've ever really gotten to see oriental the two times that i have been there although it is a cute little town.  i've always been so busy working, or people are coming over and i'm stressed because we are docked but not plugged in.  my preference, if we're not going to be plugged in is to be anchored.  however, we got some really nice shrimp from the seafood market and i finally had coffee at the bean and it was really good. 

from oriental, we proceeded to spooners creek - in the rain.  not much in spooners aside from the fact that it is an excellent provisioning place.  the plan was to bring down the bicycles but it rained and rained.  at least we were plugged in so i did gobs of laundry and ran the dehumidifier practically to death.  in the end, we ended up sharing a taxi with some people to do our grocery shopping.

when we left spooners creek, our group split up.  some had gone to beaufort to stage for bumping out.  tom led a group to topsail sound - i call them the broken boats (including us) - as we were to arrive earlier at southport where zimmerman marine is located.  all the boats that came with us needed some kind of yard work done.  the last group was led by mark to mile hammock - this was the party group, docktails every night! 

the passage to topsail sound was uneventful.  people had been talking about the missing marker at brown's inlet but it was no longer missing by the time we got there. our people came through the onslow beach bridge in one clump as well and there was room in topsail sound for all of  us to anchor.  we dropped the dinghy and took aurora to the beach.  it's too bad that she can't be trusted off the leash or i would have let her run around.  i miss consuelo terribly every time aurora pulls on that leash - it was just one less thing.  we had a quiet dinner that night at anchor and it was nice and peaceful. 

the next morning, we woke up to fog but we left anyway and everyone in our group lined up behind but not close enough and half of them had the figure-8 bridge close on them so we had to wait for them to catch up and take the wrightsville beach bridge together.  passage through cape fear river was also uneventful and we all wound up scattered throughout southport's busy and just about full marina.  we went straight to the travelift and were hauled out.  a friend of tom's from long ago who lives nearby showed up with his car and he and tom took our propeller to the prop shop to be reconditioned while aurora and i wandered around, homeless, until tadhana was plopped back in to the water propless and we spent the night in the travelift slip.  we are supposed to get the prop back sometime this afternoon and they will haul us out again, install the propeller, and then we will go to our assigned slip.  we are, again, docked but not plugged in so have to run the generator to top off the batteries.  it's not as bad as in oriental though - not as congested.  it is kind of embarrassing to run the generator when one is docked - all that noise and exhaust. 

so, anyway, here we sit, waiting for our propeller.  it is going to be a stinking hot day.  last year here at southport, we were all dressed like nanuk of the north!  one thing nice about southport - DECENT internet speed! 

i have been terrible about updating the blog but i've just been too busy and i haven't taken any photos either.  i have to say, though, that this is a really nice group of people that we have for the rally this year.  the whole thing, too, is much more organized with just the two leaders instead of three.  no one butting heads.  and that is all i am going to say about THAT  :) 

one more thing:  here is the link to this year's rally's blog.  it is updated daily by diana doyle but i get to edit it and put in missing commas haha....    sail the icw

temporarily out of commission

chesapeake bay magazine, november 2015

feeling the heat  

for other magazine articles: 

tom's magazine articles

hampton, the dismal swamp and elizabeth city.

two days in deltaville where we did some provisioning and said last minute goodbyes and then it was off to hampton on a drop-dead gorgeous day - perfect for a cruising trawler.  we were accompanied for a little bit by a pod of dolphins that played with our bow wave.  it is always a thrill to see dolphins - it never gets old.  we stopped at the sunset boating center in hampton to fuel up - 300 gallons yikes! - and then off to the hampton public piers to settle in.  we hadn't even finished up tying off our lines when already someone from the SAIL rally came over looking for help.  sigh...  and so it begins.  i swear, i start off these things hating everyone for being so needy and hating tom for being so enabling until i'm too tired to even feel anything anymore and that's even before we get going! 

okay, the snowbird rendezvous first which, as usual, was its typical organized self thanks largely to charlene clark of hampton, who, unfortunately, was recovering from some kind of bug.  we saw some old friends from last year and the year before and made some new ones.  for this year, the SAIL rally members were part of the snowbird rendezvous as well, attending mark doyle's ICW 101.  we were also scheduled to have signature canvas make a set of chaps for our dinghy and it was a production getting the dinghy down on the dock to be measured in that tight little space.  tom was in and out but mostly out and when it came time to raise the dinghy up again to its usual home on the bridge, he was nowhere to be found so i had to supervise that project and find bodies to help.  that is when i discovered that my crocs were missing.  apparently, tom put them on and walked away because all of his shoes were still on the boat!  and he didn't notice that the shoes were a little small???  in any case, that alone was indicative of the week tom was having.  i mostly stayed home and worked or took aurora out for long walks.  as is usual with the snowbird rendezvous, food was plentiful! 

when the rendezvous was over, we had two days before the official start of the SAIL rally - not that it made a difference since the members were mostly there and tom was kept very busy inspecting boats, solving problems and giving advice.  then disaster struck.  aurora went into heat.  she is 7 months old after all and we simply did not have the time to have her spayed and said we would have it done in FL by the vet who took care of consuelo.  it has been a while since i have had to deal with this.  joan conover, the seven seas cruising association representative who was taking care of inspecting onboard communications, brought me a package of disposable diapers - the human kind.  one merely needs to cut a hole in the right spot to pull the tail through.  but it is still a pain and poor aurora was just confused about the whole diaper thing. so, well, there is that to deal with now for the next month, on top of everything else, good grief. 

we finally left hampton on friday, october 23, 2015.  we were to be the "sweeper boat," the last one and let me tell you, when everyone starts their engines all at the same time and then take their lovely time leaving, we sure ate a lot of diesel exhaust.  i was running up and down the dock and telling everyone, "go on, get out of here before you kill the rest of us!"

sunrise at hampton, ready to roll, let's go ducklings!

it got chilly so in celebration, i wore my duckling socks

a railroad bridge had been a problem at norfolk causing a lot of bottlenecks but by the time we left, it was no longer a problem, however, there was congestion at the deep creek lock from the pileup and that took a while and we had to anchor and wait for a bit.  some people dragged.  here we go again...  sigh.  i'd say we dropped and pulled up anchor about five times before we finally got into the lock and by the time we got out, we had just enough time to get to the dismal swamp welcome center before dark.  the fleet was scattered, some rafted up at the welcome center, some at the south mills wall past the bridge, one at arbuckle landing and three at the new free dock north of arbuckle.  the last boat to arrive at the welcome center decided not to stop at the arbuckle landing saying it looked too much like "deliverance" and that really cracked me up. the guy was terrified of snakes.  i haven't seen a snake yet but i did see a beaver that day!

the great dismal swamp canal

that evening, aurora got to let out some steam by playing with a fixed tibetan spaniel named mocha who tried to hump her anyway.  tom and i were worried because we hit something along the way and we had a vibration afterwards indicating damage to the propeller.  we could hardly sleep that night and we had to get up early because the people we were rafted to were planning to catch the first locking at south mills.  in the end, we decided to go on as well, find some deep water and then run the boat hard to do a diagnostic.  al, the lockmaster at south mills, told us that he'd lock us through special if we decided to come back.  that was the temporary plan since we were looking forward to robert peek's presentation at the welcome center.  but it took us forever to find a straightaway with deep water and by the time we did, we were pretty close to elizabeth city.  the good news was that the diagnostic did not indicate a need to haul out and change propellers immediately.  we had our good  friend, aurora's uncle norman, lined up all ready to drive down from norfolk, too, just in case.

passing the south mills wall in search of deep water, getting ready to enter the south mills lock

so we never got back to the south mills wall as was the original plan and ended up docking at elizabeth city instead.  at least we got to go to the albemarle museum this time.  that same afternoon, three boats from the fleet arrived.  we were a bit disappointed with them not staying for the scheduled presentation - they missed something really good.  but they got turned off by the raftup at the welcome center and i suppose i can understand that, but there was lots of room on the south mills wall and a van came to pick the others up to bring them to the welcome center - they could have stayed.  the explanation was that they didn't want to run out of space at the free docks in elizabeth city.  geez...  oh well, you get all kinds.  those who stayed were blown away by the presentation.  yes, robert peek is definitely worth the price of admission!  we managed to get caught up with him while we were at the deep creek lock since he was working there that day.  we told him that the same day he had us trapped there for three hours last spring on our way north was the day uncle norman drove us two hours one way to pick up aurora at the beagle farm!    

anyway, today, the rest of the fleet arrived and this afternoon, was the rose buddy reception for cruisers that i did not attend because i was too busy working.  the original plan was to leave for dowry creek on tuesday, october 27, 2015, because we were supposed to tour the blimp factory tomorrow.  unfortunately, that tour got canceled because some military blimp arrived and they shut down the place secondary to security reasons so the plan changed to leave tomorrow instead of the next day but now weather has come up and everything is up in the air about whether to stay or go.  i would just as soon stay and avoid getting beat up on the albemarle sound and alligator river but the rest of the week is not looking much better either.  the advice to the fleet was to stay one day and go the next, but ultimately, each boat will need to make its individual decision. tom will be up very early in the morning checking the weather and conferring with mark.  some of the boats were STRONGLY advised to stay and i think they had no problems with that.  quite a few members of this rally have a bit more experience than last year's group.  but not all....

the elizabeth II was visiting from roanoke island

quite frankly, there isn't a whole lot in elizabeth city to recommend it even though it calls itself the "harbor of hospitality" - the courtesy docks are nice but the museum wasn't open today nor will it be open tomorrow.  i have to work anyway so it makes no difference to me.  i just wish aurora would quit bleeding all over my boat.  she keeps picking at the diapers.  i hear this "heat' thing takes at least three weeks.  wonderful.  oh well, just this once.  and when we get settled in cocoa, off she goes to the vet to get spayed!

annapolis.

the journey south actually really begins in annapolis at the boat show.  we only stayed one night in oxford, unloaded the stuff from the flying bridge and brought them to henry's and then left quickly for mill creek to beat the coming weather. it was a very easy and uneventful cruise but john had already warned us that their little sailboat, moonjelly, was occupying "our" slip as they had just installed a lift for her in her own slip and she had not been moved yet and so we were supposed to sort that all out once we got there.  no problem - we anchored in front of the house, dropped the dinghy, moved moonjelly enough so that we could get our butt into the slip, dinghied back to our boat, picked up the anchor, backed into the slip, tied up, and then rafted moonjelly up to our starboard side.  however, it rained a little bit before all of this and then it got really steamy afterwards and by the time all of it was said and done, tom and i were both just soaked in sweat.   "marinas by menocal" looked like a "real" marina with four boats at the dock and the neighbor's enormous sailing catamaran just adjacent.  but we were there and secure except that sometime around 9 or 10 that night, tom, who had already gone to bed, was awakened by TADHANA moving around more than usual in her slip (the weather had been progressively deteriorating).  he said that he had not expected the current wind direction which is why he didn't bother with  OUR storm lines that were supposed to go on the neighbor's piling especially since getting moonjelly situated had been so involved.   well, he stewed about that for a while until i said why don't we just put them on since we're both awake anyway?  the dinghy was already down but it was full of rain water and, in fact, the gas tank was floating upside down in it!  so the dinghy had to be bailed out first and the motor started and run to make sure it wouldn't conk out on him out there.  i took our two long lines up to the bow and tom came around with the dinghy to bring the ends over to and around the neighbor's piling and back to the boat.  all of this was going on in heavy rain and howling winds and by the time that things were secure to tom's satisfaction, we were, AGAIN, for the second time that day, both soaking wet! 

for the next few days, everyone was watching the weather very closely with hurricane joaquin looming in the background but it eventually turned out to sea and all of us in the chesapeake breathed a collective sigh of relief.  a repeat of hurricane isabel could have been really ugly so we were extremely lucky!  however, there was still the nor'easter to deal with and water levels were very high with lots of coastal flooding.  we did have to wear boots one evening to wade back to the boat after dinner up at the house as the water had come up over the fixed dock.  we also went from having to run the A/C to running the heater.  when that weather system finally petered out, people came crawling out of their burrows and the days were gorgeous.   

annapolis was home for tom and myself for a number of years and it is ALWAYS good to return, get caught up with what's new and improved, get together with old friends and eat food we hadn't had for a while!  carolyn came to visit and meet aurora and brought a ledo's bacon pizza for lunch - my favorite!  teresa picked us up and drove to adam's ribs in edgewater (tom was very happy about the ribs).  teresa also brought me a pretzel dog from the amish market the day she and i went out just us girls together to do some shopping - it was just like the good old days where she would mutter over my lack of good taste and despair over the fact that i don't care whether things match or not.  we had dinner at a thai restaurant and i had to bring half of my meal home because although it was very good ("drunken noodle"), it was also very spicy and i didn't want to have to pay for overindulging the next day.  there were, of course, our meals up at the house with john and heidi - good food, great conversation, and, as always, fabulous company.

aurora got to play often with millie, the golden doodle next door (they were like mutt and jeff!) and we got to personally thank sally, heidi's mom, who sent us aurora's baby quilt - such a wonderful gift!  we certainly saw a number of old friends and made some new ones and had an absolutely GRAND time with our hosts.   although we do love anchoring, it is very nice to be docked and plugged in to run the A/C, heat or the W/D.  mill creek is certainly close enough to annapolis city dock to dinghy over on a good day and because we were there nearly two weeks, we did have some really good weather days (and some pretty bad ones at the start!).

boat show week arrived and it got busy for tom.   i took a day off from work and went to the show and enjoyed walking around and looking at stuff while tom worked.  the days went by very quickly and before we knew it, it was time to leave.  we got up early on the day of departure so that we could get going with the sun.  tom decided to have my leftover "drunken noodle" for breakfast which probably didn't go well with his morning coffee.  it certainly would not have been my choice for breakfast food!  at least he didn't eat ALL of my leftover pizza which i had on sunday when he wasn't around to fry bacon for our usual sunday morning pancakes and bacon.  the fact of the matter is that we ate maybe a little too well while at annapolis.  and i forgot to mention the pit beef sandwich which we ALWAYS get at the boat show.  yummy yum yum.

sunrise as we left mill creek with the Bay Bridge in the background

our original plan was to stop at solomons to fuel up but because of weather concerns, we decided to make it a long day and head directly to deltaville while the going was good and get the potomac river crossing out of the way in good weather.  we will fuel up in hampton instead.  and wouldn't you know it, the SAIL rally hasn't started yet and we already have one of this year's ducklings with us.  needless to say, tom is, again, on the phone, on the radio, and i can't hear myself think, let alone work.  well, here we go again....  and i also have a bored little puppy whom i have to entertain from time to time while underway.  poor thing - we should have been settled in solomons at 1400h and instead we kept going and reached deltaville at 2000h, in the dark!  at least she is pad trained so that part is not an issue.  if this had been consuelo, i would have been a wreck about such a long cruising day, but aurora did spectacularly well.  getting here in the dark wasn't too bad except that tom goes absolutely bonkers if there is any bit of light in the cabin including the lights coming from the instruments, while, i, on the other hand can't see anything without "some" light.  he talks about night blindness but it just doesn't bother me to the same degree. if anything, his constant agitation about it bothers me more!  bottom line - cruising in the dark, for us, really isn't ideal.  it's hard when you're not on the same page about critical things like light. 

in any case, here we are in deltaville after more than 12 hours underway and staying an extra day because of weather.  it doesn't seem too bad out there right now but deltaville is a good place to provision and quite frankly, both tom and i are tired.  today is my birthday and i tried to sleep in - "try" being the operative word.  tom thought i should have pancakes and bacon for a birthday breakfast and he fried up a mess of bacon but i had to make the pancakes and do the dishes!  hahaha....  and trying to catch up with the greeters...  good thing birthdays come only once a year.  i swear, i didn't think i had THAT many friends!  it is nice to be remembered though :)  i may take the day off from work - maybe...

sunset just north of windmill point - we knew that we were going to cross the rappahannock river in the dark!

chesapeake bay magazine, october 2015

flame out

for other magazine articles:

tom's magazine articles

and off we go.

after practically sitting in place at regatta point for about two months, we were starting to get antsy about cruising again.  we sat because it was HOT and it was nice to be plugged in with the A/C running.  we sat because there were things to do.  tom drove up to new england to see his kids before driving down to orlando to drop off my car with my brother so that we would have a car when we got to florida.  we also emptied out our 10 x 12 storage unit - that certainly was liberating!  we ruthlessly got rid of stuff.  my keepers went to my brother's house.  tom's keepers are currently up on the flying bridge on their way to his brother's in oxford. and, in the meantime, there was regular work for me and projects for tom.  we were busy.   aurora grew tall with long legs and while tom was away, i worked with her - relentlessly - she is better now, i.e. terrorized into submission.   basic dog training, as far as i am concerned, is that the worst thing that could possibly happen in a puppy's life is for mommy to be mad.  that is the end-all and the be-all:  "at all cost, do not make mommy mad!" we are getting there.  honestly, i do not understand why this is so hard, but then she is daddy's girl and after ten years, tom still has lapses, not to mention that i did not get him as a puppy!

we had planned a trip out to tangier island to see milton but that got canceled when CJ's dad ended up in the hospital and we had to babysit her.  the girls did get a lot of play time in for five days before we finally sent CJ to her mom who was camping out in richmond.  i'd say that poor little puppy had about reached her limit of being without her people. 

we hauled out last friday and because we had sat for so long, we had barnacles in the running gear so those got scraped off and bottom paint touched up and put in some hull waxing time as well - just a short haul - and then back afloat.  tom watched the weather very carefully - we had sustained high winds for over a week.  we left today because it was one of those deals where you get beat up now and then you might be okay or wait and find out you left too late and then get beat up even worse.  the original plan had been solomons for a night and then oxford to drop off tom's stuff at henry's but that got changed to a straight shot to oxford instead - a very L-O-N-G cruising day - 12 hours!  from there, it's off to mill creek in annapolis, doing our usual overstay at john and heidi's - they are such good and patient friends!  more weather is coming in later in the week and we want to be settled in annapolis for the boat show and the ten million  other things that need to be done before that happens.  at least this time we don't have a wedding to attend on top of everything else.   we are fortunate in that we do not have to battle it out with other cruisers for an anchorage spot at spa creek - thank you again, john and heidi! 

tom went to bed early last night because we were supposed to leave at first light.  not me - i watched the supermoon lunar eclipse along with the other luna-tics.  the mega-hemorrhage blood moon was fabulous!  and then it was up at o'dark early to get going. 

it was initially rough when we started out - a lot of banging and crashing and poor aurora puked (and pooped) sigh...  apparently, she does not have consuelo's cast-iron stomach (yet).  i'm glad that i did not feed her this morning or the cleanup would have been worse.  things settled a bit once we crossed the MD/VA border and then turned downright pleasant after we crossed the mouth of the potomac river. with the humidity dropping off nicely.   later, the wind picked up but it never got nasty again.  still, it was a long day - 11 hours underway.  an hour got bumped off from the predicted 12 hours with the help of the current.   aurora slept most of the way until we got deep into the choptank river, at which point she was full of beans so i had to quit working and play with her. 

tom's brother, henry, was waiting for us with a slip at the hinckley yard in oxford and helped us tie up after which we all went for a walk to stretch our legs.  it is nice to be secured and plugged in with the A/C on and doing laundry as that puke had been sitting in the washer for a while!  TADHANA got a nice little rinse because she was very salty.  tomorrow morning, we will unload all of the stuff that is up on the bridge and bring them over to henry's for safekeeping.  thank you, henry! 

so...  what are the plans?  well, tom has to work the sailboat show and we have to see our friends.  after that, we head down to hampton for the snowbird rendezvous and then co-lead the 2015 SAIL rally down the ICW with mark and diana doyle.  yes, we are doing it again good grief...

and off we go once more into the sunrise

proptalk magazine, october 2015

proptalk magazine, october 2015, p. 44

icw cruising and the slow pass

others:   tom's magazine articles

chesapeake bay magazine, september 2015.

tom has two articles in this issue: 

phoning it in

the swedish connection

for others by tom, please go to this link:

tom's magazine articles

more from tom, proptalk magazine, september 2015

the long cruise: last minute preparation for casting off

see the bay: solomons

here is the link to a list of tom's scribblings:

tadhana blog: tom's magazine articles

blogging, or lack thereof.

yes, i have been remiss - no real excuse other than the usual - too busy, too lazy, no inspiration, other than trying to keep up with posting tom's writings.   well, let me try getting caught up then....

it seems that i pretty much missed the whole month of june and most of july.  notable for june was a lot of social butterflying.  friends from norfolk, norman and betsy mason and long-legged hound, peggy sue, arrived for the monk rendezvous at regatta point and uncle norman got to see a "bigger" aurora.  we went to cape charles to see the tall ships and even got to see ALL of them under sail on our way back to deltaville - it was quite a sight! 

we went to st. mary's to meet up with tom's son and daughter-in-law and we got to see tommy and marie armstrong at their home on the little wicomico river.  aurora played and played with the armstrong's 2-year-old brittany spaniel, suzie, and please don't ask me about the baby rabbit - i will forever be traumatized by the squeak and am just thankful that it was not aurora who caused it!  friends from the 2014 SAIL rally, steve and patti beringer, and little darla, their bichon frise, came to visit on their way driving south to their new home on the west coast of FL.  aurora had many play dates with her buddy, CJ, that did NOT involve baby rabbits.  she also got her last set of puppy shots and is now on annual checkups instead of every three weeks.  despite the fact that she barely eats, sometimes only every other day, she is, apparently, a healthy shiny puppy, albeit a little gangly, like her legs are growing too fast for the rest of her. 

we spent the Fourth at smith island, meeting up again with norman and betsy, and had a crabfeast together with another couple from HHN who were staying at the smith island marina with us.  we hauled out for the fourth time to change the propeller yet again and then left to cruise the middle and northern chesapeake to visit with friends, mike and carmen nemeth, at queenstown, as well as john and heidi menocal on mill creek in annapolis.  we went up as far as chesapeake city on the C&D canal before heading back south, stopping by fairlee creek before hitting annapolis again.  we also visited tom's brother in oxford.  we are currently at little bay, just chilling out before going to kilmarnock for an MTOA rendezvous and then, finally, back to regatta point to sit for a while.  phew... quite frankly, i don't have any violent objections to sitting for a while....  some days it has been extremely hot and between job work, housework and aurora, and all of this going on in a different place every time with the plans changing constantly, i simply have run out of steam. 

i think it would help considerably if i didn't have to work for a living although i suppose i really can't complain.  my job allows me to cruise and i am only limited by internet connection.  it would probably help, too, if i weren't so anal about keeping things clean, but well, i am what i am - and i have standards.  as it is, i just can't seem to keep up with it like i used to and it depresses me when i sometimes just have to let it go.  and aurora...

well, aurora...  she is NOT consuelo, that's for sure.  things are taking a little longer than i had hoped and expected.   all puppies are cute but beagle puppies, i think, are the cutest.   and then reality sets in.  it's hard not to compare even though there SHOULD BE NO comparison.  it might even be easier to blame tom for what i think are aurora's shortcomings because i have never had to "share" a dog before.  as a puppy, consuelo was not easy because she was extremely bright and very sensitive.  i guided her with an iron hand and she shaped up to be exceptional, considering that beagles are difficult to control to begin with.  and 14 years ago, i was also younger, not as busy, not as tired, and probably a lot more patient - you get the picture.  the bottom line is that i haven't really found a way to communicate with aurora the way i did with consuelo and it rankles.   the frustration makes me miss consuelo even more.  i miss the silent communication and understanding that we had.  yes, objectively, i know that aurora is still a puppy and that these things take time - something that i seem to not have anymore.  everything is different.  i live on a boat.   we are not in the same place every time.  things are always changing and the little puppy is bound to be confused, i suppose.  my lack of patience doesn't help - i was never the most patient person to begin with and it gets worse as i grow older.  oftentimes, i just lose interest and that, i know, is a terrible thing to say!  but sometimes, late at night, when everyone is asleep and all is quiet and i am not: 1) working or 2) cleaning something, i just sit in the dark and try to assess.  the things that used to be simple no longer are.  or is that i am making simple things too complicated?  i don't know.  having to say that - i don't know - where my dogs are concerned - that is a new one for me and it is hard to swallow.  i always used to say that i am crippled without a dog and i guess that maybe that is what it is - i don't have the dog that makes me "whole" - not yet anyway.  am i expecting too much?  probably - because making me "whole" is not
aurora's job. 

and i will probably regret publishing this blog entry. 

tom hale, chesapeake bay magazine, may 2015.

another one that i missed. 

true measure

tom hale, proptalk magazine, may, june and july 2015

i missed posting these magazine articles so here they are below.  also, here is the link to the blog page with the entire list of tom's published magazine pieces: 

blog page with tom's published pieces


southern bay destinations, may 2015, p. 50
southern bay destinations

st. michaels, proptalk, june 2015, p. 40
st. michaels

choptank river, proptalk, july 2015, p. 36
choptank river

tom hale, SAIL magazine, august 2015, page 52.

here is a link to tom's article in SAIL magazine, august 2015 about preparing for a long cruise.  it goes hand in hand with mark and diana doyle's series of articles "south bound with the snowbirds" which comes right before tom's piece.

it begins with a P

tom hale, proptalk magazine, august 2015, p. 38

tom has two articles in the august 2015 issue of proptalk - they are back to back in this magazine.  

cape charles, VA and preparing for the ICW

tom hale, chesapeake bay magazine, july 2015

i haven't been blogging much.  TOO BUSY!

but i would be remiss if i didn't keep up with tom's published articles.  here is the latest on AIS in chesapeake bay magazine:

AIS for the rest of us

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/9779634/cbm072015%20AIS.pdf

social butterflying.

it's been THAT kind of week.  of course, we had dinner at chip and barbara's home after tom and chip brought "sweet pea" to the corrotoman.  the next day, our friends from the SAIL rally, david and brenda, arrived at regatta point, and we all had dinner on TADHANA.  the next day, we had dinner on their boat, L'ATTITUDE IX.  also, our friends, mike and ann of TRAVELING SOUL, arrived at regatta point.  they have a new kitty named spot (mike is a star trek fan and spot is named after lt. commander data's cat).  she is a bengal and just absolutely beautiful!  of course, we had to see her and mike and ann had to see aurora, too.  aurora was curious and wanted to play (her first cat) but it wasn't really a good idea even though spot's claws were mostly sheathed. they got to sniff each other at least.  the next day, we had dinner out with them and left the children at home. 

aurora got her shot #2 this week.  one more puppy shot to go and then the rest will be annual maintenance. 

one "normal" work day and then all of a sudden it was friday and we left in the morning for little bay.  on friday night, we were only three boats at the anchorage and all three of us were from regatta point!  we got aurora to wade by carrying her out to a sandbar a little ways away from the beach.  she wasn't particularly thrilled about the whole thing and was even more disgusted with the quick fresh water rinse when we got back to the boat, however, she was salty and sandy and i wasn't about to let her in like that. 

the next day, more boats showed up at the anchorage, including one more from our marina.  it was VERY windy the whole day, too.  we also crossed a milestone  - aurora finally went swimming!  tom was all for breaking it to her gently.  secretly, i thought the best way was to do it the way my father did with my brother and me - he threw us in and said "swim!"  but, anyway, we brought aurora back to the sandbar (tide was coming in) and walked around in ankle deep water which started getting a little deeper and then all of a sudden, she was swimming when the ground dropped out from underneath her.  she won't go in voluntarily though.  tom thought that was enough for the day but as we were leaving the sandbar, i made him walk to a little bit deeper water, picked up aurora, walked in myself and then put her down where her feet wouldn't touch the bottom and said to tom "call her."  so, there, we now have our sea beagle #2 - all that fussing around for something that comes naturally to them good grief.  then, of course, we had to do it again to get the video.   

video of aurora swimming. 

the other "first" was a REAL bath, with baby shampoo.  she smelled like a watermelon after that!  i wanted her clean though because we were having happy hour on HALCYON, our movie-star-looking neighbor's boat.  it was a big group, too, all of us from the same marina.  well, and it would have been a perfect weekend except that our generator went kaput.  after we got back from happy hour, tom worked on the generator.  the error message had said "no raw water flow" and tom changed the water pump and impeller. 

yes, tom did find all the missing pieces!

but after all of that, we were still getting an error message so it looks like it might be a sensor failure.  there was definite raw water flow!  luckily, our batteries were pretty charged up before the generator conked out so we were in good shape for the rest of the night.  we were headed home the next day anyway.  like everyone says - it's a boat, there's always something. 

back at regatta point, we cleaned the boat and then tom went out in the dinghy to drop some crab floats to mark the channel.  apparently, boats are running aground in the broad creek channel.  gee, it must be because they are OUT of the channel, no?  we have never had a problem.  the red side is clearly marked so tom dropped some fluorescent green crab floats on the other side.  while he was out doing that, i pulled out all of our rugs onto the dock and scrubbed and hosed them down.  love those l. l. bean waterhog mats - so easy to clean! 

the other "first" is that now that we know aurora can swim, i didn't bother leashing her as we walked down the dock.  in fact, we went for a long walk without a leash.  like i said to tom, so far, whipping her into boat dog shape seems to have been relatively easy!  she is really coming along and she is getting to be a big girl :) 

an "explosive" sunset at regatta point

sunset at little bay with HALCYON and KIDZ R GONE in the foreground.

aurora's grown-up pose.  she is looking decidedly beagle-y!

chilling in the cockpit, soaking up some sun

haulout and memorial day weekend.

we hauled out at norview marina on monday, may 18, 2015, to check the bottom and change the zincs.  tadhana looked really good - no barnacles on the hull but the last layer of bottom paint was looking "thin," which is a good sign - it was doing its job.  interestingly enough, the aluminum zincs were covered with barnacles!  we had switched to aluminum because we thought we were going to be in fresh water up the st. john's river for the winter - so much for THAT plan - ha!  in any case, the boat was powerwashed and blocked and we resigned ourselves to at least one night on the hard.  things were a lot easier with aurora pad-trained and not having to go out so often, not to mention that she did not have consuelo's attitude of "don't carry me," plus she is so little that i can carry her with one hand while i go up and down the ladder.  tom did all the work while i only ran errands - west marine, hardware store, food.  most of the time i was at work - it was still monday.  i don't think i'd ever seen tom quite so dirty!  however, he was really hustling to get all the bottom work done.  by late monday afternoon, we knew that we would only have to be out one night so that was encouraging.  it is just so not fun to be living aboard while on the hard. 

in the meantime, aurora had a puppy play date with CJ that afternoon where she got the crap beaten out of her once again.  one day, aurora will be bigger than CJ though.  my new dell replacement laptop also arrived in the mail - happy day!   and since i had so much practice installing software on my last laptop, this time it all went very quickly and is now just waiting for work software at IT's convenience.

the next day, tuesday, disaster struck.  tom tripped over a wooden block, smashed his left elbow on one of the stands and then sustained a puncture wound on his left hand when he fell to the ground.  i iced his elbow down with a bag of frozen lima beans from the freezer, cleaned up and bandaged his wound and gave him some ibuprofen.  he rested for a little while but he was anxious to get things finished up so that we could launch at 3:00 p.m. that same day. he decided to forego waxing the hull on the port side (starboard side already done) and proceeded to finish up, put the propeller back on the bow thruster and a few more little things before the travelift arrived.  i was still working with a minute and a half to go on a report while the slings were being put on.  launching went without a hitch and we headed back to our slip, anxious for the big cleanup - the boat was filthy like it always gets in the boatyard with all that gravel dust, coupled with spring pollen. when tom tried to run the bow thruster to bring me closer to the finger pier, we heard a strange sound and the bow did not move.  uh-oh....  now, tom prides himself in the ability to maneuver the boat without using the bow thruster and that is all very well and good, but, nevertheless, it is nice to have it when you need it.  no problem - i did a "grand jeté" from the side deck to the finger pier and got us all tied up nicely and we were fine, but there was still the matter of the bow thruster.  we dropped the dinghy to investigate the problem but tom couldn't reach it from the dinghy.  it didn't help that he was still so sore - and it was his good arm that was injured, too, so he was a bit disabled on both sides.  oh well...   we left that problem and did the cleanup instead and then another puppy play date with CJ to top off the day. 

the next day was nice and sunny so tom went deep sea diving.  miraculously, the bow thruster propeller was still there!  the pin, of course, was gone.  tom was probably so discombobulated after that painful fall the day before that he failed to install the propeller properly.  but, we still had the propeller so that was a lucky thing, and we went to the hardware store later that day and procured a stainless steel rod which tom cut and fashioned into a pin.  however, we were still going to have to be hauled out again to install it. 

thursday was a cold, rainy and miserable day in deltaville.  aurora refused to go out with tom for her usual lunchtime walk but by afternoon, she was bouncing off the walls so i dragged her out in the cold rain and howling wind.  what an unhappy puppy!  her ears were laid back and she picked up her paws off that wet grass like ewwww...  it was so funny!  her royal highness, princess aurora of tadhana, i suspect, will NOT be a water dog like consuelo was and that is okay.  if i had wanted a lab, i would have gotten one.  we still don't have her walking on the docks without a leash.  i expect that she will fall in eventually but i don't want her to be afraid of the water so we aren't forcing it down her throat - she likes the beach well enough and she's not afraid of the dinghy - that is good enough for now.  on another note, she has grown and is now able to negotiate the pilothouse steps, which means i can't keep her trapped in the salon anymore. 

friday was a busy day at the marina with everyone and their mother showing up for the memorial day weekend - the official start of summer.  we left close to noon, back to norview for a short haul where tom reinstalled the bow thruster propeller, and then back again to regatta point.  bow thruster worked like a charm - no "grand jeté" this time - i only have so many of those left in me!  although it wasn't raining anymore, it was still rather cool and very windy and not many boats left the marina that day.  our friends, dave and sandy netting, had left their car with us the sunday before while they went out sailing with friends and they all showed up at the marina that day and we joined them for dinner. 

saturday was the deltaville seafood festival which we had never attended prior because we were always gone cruising on the weekends so this time we went.  we took aurora with us and she got handled by SO MANY people, coughed on by a couple (ugh) and dropped by one (sigh) - oh well, socialization, right?  those festivals are deadly where food is concerned - we had fried shrimp and oysters for lunch, then left to run our errands, after which we returned to the festival to get pork rinds and funnel cakes to take home - SO healthy (NOT).  and then, that afternoon, we decided to leave for the corrotoman river.  every year, tom helps our friend, chip wood, bring his sailboat, "sweet pea," which is stored at zimmerman's for the winter, back to its slip on senior creek off the corrotoman and this year was no exception.  the choices were to stay at the marina and drive the car to pick tom up later at the wood's home or go by boat and anchor on the river - was there really a choice?  after all that activity on saturday morning, we were ready for a quiet, peaceful night at anchor!  we hadn't been to the corrotoman river since december of 2013 anyway - it was time to go back.  it was a very relaxing cruise up the rappahannock river and into the corrotoman to our anchorage and it was a very quiet, peaceful evening at anchor.  the only thing was an invasion by midges that night but they were all in the cockpit and none of them got inside the boat.  they don't bite but it's still annoying to have so many bugs hanging about.  i dropped tom off at the senior creek community marina this morning where he was picked up by chip and barbara wood, took aurora for a nice long walk to wear her out and then did the one-hand-on-the-tiller-and-the-other-hand-holding-wriggling-puppy dinghy ride back to the boat where i proceeded to systematically eliminate our unwelcome midge guests from the cockpit.  tom and chip should be going by in a few hours and aurora and i will join them later for dinner.  it is a gorgeous day out on the water today, celebrating the start of summer.  everywhere else is probably a zoo this weekend but where tadhana is today is good!

she has grown.  check out those long legs!

deltaville, aurora and little bay.

we spent the first two weeks back in the chesapeake at the marina, taking care of this and that, settling in, getting into a routine, going to the dentist (ugh), doctors' appointments, and all those other mundane things. 

another dell tech showed up with a new motherboard for my dead computer and you know what happened?  it all worked for one minute and then the new motherboard died!  what???  dell refused to send yet another tech and instead told me that they would send a replacement laptop with no warranty.  oh well, better than nothing.  good thing i was backed up because it was going to be a blank slate.  in the meantime, i had bought a brand new samsung solid state drive from amazon and it arrived in the mail and i proceeded to work on the other dead computer, replacing the hard drive and installing windows.  that went rather well although not as smoothly as i would have liked.  for one thing, i don't do this for a living or even often enough to make it routine.  i forgot that it was not a reformat and that i needed drivers for the hardware!  anyway, once i figured that out (and i did have the disc with the drivers), things just fell into place and so now i have a practically brand new computer that boots up in an instant.  i am very happy about that.  and i am still waiting for the replacement laptop from dell  but i got an email with a tracking number and it should arrive next week.



my mama duck has not returned and i fear the worst.  the boyfriend, however, has come around for bowl feeding. 

aurora is coming along really well as far as potty training.  we have 100% pee on the pad.  not always 100% poop but we are getting there.  i can't wait to move that pad and tray out of the salon to the cockpit.  her crate finally got moved from in front of the helm station to underneath the salon table on my side so i have to eat dinner with my legs on top of the crate for now.  not a problem.  as soon as the pad and tray move out, the crate will go in that corner of the boat.  the problem is that on a 38-foot boat, there really isn't that much floor space for all this stuff.  it would be nice if eventually we could get rid of the pad, tray and fake grass all together and she just did her business on the swim platform and we could simply hose it away with the raw water washdown.  we are working on it.  it is a LOT better system than what we had with consuelo.  now, we don't HAVE to dinghy the doggie ashore AT ALL except for fun long walks.  no more early mornings and late nights or bad weather dinghy rides good grief.  and aurora herself is growing - she really is a doll. 

on our second weekend back, we went for a short cruise to little bay.  we had missed that place and this time, NO ONE was around.  granted, it was a tad windy but nothing really alarming.  we had the whole place to ourselves.  we wanted to introduce aurora to cruising, the dinghy and the beach and the little sweetheart just took it all in.  we had a great time and it was good to be back to one of our favorite places on the chesapeake. 

 back to little bay

eagle on the beach

we did not try to force swimming on aurora.  she was leery of the wavelets but that may be because she is still so little.  she stayed away from the water.  she followed us everywhere EXCEPT into the water:  video of aurora on the beach