Favorable Tides

Tuesday-Saturday, June 13-17

We has a great visit at home, but it felt good to be back on the boat! Lots of sunshine and no rain. Tuesday afternoon the mechanic found and fixed the leaky fitting on the upper drive station. 

Sunset at Holiday Point Marina MD

We left Holiday Point Marina in Maryland at 6 am Wenesday to take advantage of a push from the rising tide up the Chesapeake Bay. The bay was lumpy, but mainly from the wind.

Gravel barge on the Chesapeake Bay

Thomas Point Shoal Lighthouse

Sailboat on the Bay

Chesapeake Bay Bridge

Sandy Point Shoal Lighthouse

We finally get to the upper bay and it narrows down like a river and the water smoothed out. Easy travel through the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal to the Delaware City Marina. 

Turkey Point Lighthouse

Bethel Bridge Signal Light

Bridges over the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal

We made it in time to hear owner Tim's advice on transiting down the Delaware Bay. Looks good for a Thursday trip. In Tim's briefing he told everyone to check their boat gears before untying lines. The C&D Canal has a swift current. We were up at 4:15 am and ready to go at 5 am. BUT we have no gears!!! We are his second boat this year with gear problems. He says historically he has 3 boats a year to have gear problems. He has a mechanic that gets us fixed within 2 hours after he arrived at 7, but the significant pull of the outgoing tide from Delaware Bay has passed. We will try again tomorrow.

Delaware City Marina

This is the 3rd time we have been at the same marina as Mark and Karen on Captain's Choice. We went out to dinner with them both nights and had a great time.

Mark Karen Terri Kelly

Friday was a decent cruise down the Delaware Bay. Some bumps and lumps, but the tide was in our favor! 

Miah Maull Lighthouse

We caught up to Time Out and The Journey in Canyon Club Marina at Cape May. The great part was Jim and Cindy on The Journey cooked dinner for all of us, lucious shrimp and scallops!!!

On Saturday, Captains Choice arrived for burgers and docktails! Eating and sharing travel stories!

Terri Kelly Jean Dan Jim Cindy Mark Karen

Just Like Home

May 22 to June 13

We found a decent place near Annapolis, Maryland to leave the boat for a couple weeks so that we could go home. I had to laugh when I saw the name of the marina - Holiday Point Marina - the same name as our home marina on the Ohio River. 

We ended up staying home for 3 weeks and had a great visit with family and friends.

Family Brent, Nikki, Carlin, Terri, Keith Ann, 

Mom, Kelly, Lori, Teagan, Eric

Grandson Carlin's First Birthday

 Father's Day and Kim's Birthday

Hillbilly Hotdogs with Helen and Wayne

Blackberry Margaritas with Maureen

Kelly, Kim, Katie

Mom, Terri, Keith Ann

In Deep Ship safe in the cow pen!

This is the Captain Speaking

Tues-Sun, May 16-21

As we were departing Washington DC on a beautiful morning, the municipal marine police showed us his blue lights. He was very nice and inquired if the boat had a safety inspection recently. I showed him the inspection sticker and produced a copy of the inspection report. He was satisfied and off he went. Many thanks to the New Bern Power Squadron for the inspection during the Spring Rendezvous!

On down the river, I saw a large bird flying about 10' above the water. It got closer and I could see that it was an eagle! He swooped down to reach into the water with his talons and flew off with about a 2 pound fish. We didn't get a good picture because it happened so fast, so here are pictures of Mt. Vernon and Fort Washington.

Mt. Vernon, home of George Washington

Fort Washington

Next, the Navy calls on the radio and gives me a course of buoys to follow that avoids the live test firing from the Naval Surface Warfare at Dahlgren. Two days later, we heard a radio call to a sailboat to alter course to avoid the target boat area off the Patuxent River Naval Air Station. Lots of planes circling overhead.

Point No Point Lighthouse

We pulled into Solomons Island, Maryland for a few days before heading up to the Annapolis area to park the boat. We will be visiting home for several weeks. 

Calvert Marina, Solomons MD