Tangier Island, Mill Creek, Wormley Creek

We are currently at a marina, Wormly Creek in Yorktown. Over the pst 3-4 days we visited Tangier Island, moved on to an overnight anchorage in Mill Creek and then yesterday moved toward the bottom of the by to Yorktown. Tangier Island was fascinating. It is really only a few feet above the water level. It is inhabited by four main families since the 1700's, one of whom has the last name Park or Parks. We stayed at the marina there, Park Marina, pretty rustic but run by an 87 yo man named Milton Park. Milton lost his wife but as he put it, still has an eye for women, and he spent a lot of time talking to Cindy. When we docked there, the place was deserted. It was mid day and shortly he road up on his scooter in his Sunday suit, coming from church. He helped us and we talked for a half an hour. He said the spelling of our name was the original, and he felt we probably were related, although I know my sister Anne disputes that. Anyway, quite a charaacter. We biked the island, the yards at high tide are pretty wet due to the water levels. The island is full of graves, many of which are in the yards of the families living there. Ate crab and clams at Lorraine's restaurant, Tangier Island's equivalent of Britton's. We moved on to Mill Creek across the bay on the west shore. It was rough to start and had some engine readings that I didn't like. We have been concerned about temps climbing and now the oil pressure readings were fluctuting. Checking engine temps with the infrared pyrometer, they looked fine. When we arrived at Mill Creek, I talked to Alex at Zimmerman Marine, and he felt the issue was likely a loose or corroded connection at some place in the wiring. I had already changed the impeller and flushed the heat exchanger, so knew those were good. I cleaned the terminals, changed the temp sending unit and found that the wiring harness under the engine was a little loose, so cinched that up with a couple of zip ties. Yesterday coming down the bay all readings were perfect. Today, will rent a car from Enterprise and go to the historic sites in Yorktown, Jamestown and Williamsburg. A bit wet this morning, but by the time we get the car, it is supposed to clear up. The Wild won last night and my first social security check was deposited this morning, so all is good.

the loose wiring harness

Milton Park in his Sunday best

The scooter Milton rode up on, he is 87

Milton's boat that he crabbed on since the 1950's

Folks here are pretty conservative

tide coming in flooding the street by Lorraine's restaurant

Cambridge Maryland

We've been at the town wall in Cambridge for an eventful couple of days. The weather was predicted to deteriorate with the passage of the residuals of Hurricane Michael, and indeed it did. We ducked in here to  free dock, tied to a concrete wall along with a couple of sailboats. Ate out last night and had fried oysters with bacon cheese and jalopenos, outstanding! Walked back to the boat 2 blocks in a downpour, which continued most of the night. Lots of wind as well, big blow with the switchover to the northwest as the front passed. Yesterday was in the 80's, today in the 60's (nice). Anyway, we got up this morning and all seemed well, except the back rest of one of the seat cushions Cindy had made for the flybridge was missing. It blew away. We both walked, ran, biked the harbor perimeter looking for it with no luck and Cindy was pretty down. This afternoon, she went back to the thrift shop where she picked up so many treasures yesterday and found some more. I went to the hardware store and found some treasures as well, then found a boatyard and got some spare parts I wanted. While riding my bike across the bridge back to the boat, I saw Cindy talking to a couple and by the time I arrived, I saw her carrying the missing seat cushion, a bit dirty but intact, with a smile on her face. The couple had seen it in a spot she had looked at not 10 minutes earlier. Not only that, but the Wild won last night!! We will pull out of here in the morning and start heading south. Looking at Tangier Island this weekend sometime, then a marina near the York River early next week to tour Jamestown, Yorktown and Williamsburg.

View from the town wall tonight. A wooden mast on that boat.

the cushion

Sorting through thrift shop treasures

Wedding dresses, a mink cape and other stuff

St.Michaels, Oxford, Cambridge

We left our pleasant anchorage on Monday morning and moved 3 hours or so to St. Michaels, Maryland. It is up the shore on the Choptank River, Santo Domingo Creek. This allowed us access to St. Michaels from the south side. There is a dinghy dock there and the hike to town is only 3 blocks. Enroute we had some engine temperature issues with normal running temps 185, we were 10 degrees above that. I stopped and changed the impeller for the second time in 10 days, although it looked ok. The temps stayed the same and weren't dangerous for the engine, but weren't right either. Once we anchored, I took the main engine zincs out and inspected them, and indeed they had change a lot in a week since we started. The zinc on the upstream side of the raw water heat exchanger was plugged with zinc pieces and debris, so I plucked the crap out of there and flushed it with a hose, solving the problem. We explored and hiked St. Michaels for a couple of days, at out where I got a whole soft blue crab on a bun, and went to the Maritime Museum, which was pretty interesting. Watched them working on a boat building project from the felled trees on up. Cindy got a great picture of a praying mantis. I'll add it when she gets it to me. Our anchorage there was a little busier, with a bunch of sail boats and a Krogen 42 that had been at the rendezvoux with us. Wednesday morning after a 4 mile hike, we pulled out and moved to Goldsborough Creek just past Oxford Maryland. Nice quiet anchorage all to ourselves and a crab fisherman. We managed to piss him off when unbeknownst to us, he had set a crab trot line before we set the anchor and got tangled up with it. He couldn't get his line up so  we had to pull the anchor to free it and re-set. The biggest issue became the weather with the remains of Hurricane Michael now bearing down on us. We know the weather is going to change, supposed to get 3 inches of rain and winds out of the NNW at 30+MPH, so despite a pretty nice anchorage, we pulled out this morning and moved 15 miles SE to Cambridge MD where there is a free town wall we have tied up to.  2 other sailboats are here as well, hiding from the weather. It is extremely protected and we are tied up, so no worries. We have already hiked the town and know where we want to eat tonight. Cindy found a thrift store, bought a mink cape and two wedding dresses along with some other vintage clothes for her store. Then tonight Wild vs Blackhawks at 8 our time -- GO WILD!!
Engine hours 5152.5
Genset hours 5626.8

At anchor on the Little Choptank

Sunrise on the Little Choptank, a really neat spot

Waterman boat hauling crab trotlines

At anchor near St. Michaels. The nearest boat is a Krogen 42 "Water Dog"

Waterfront homes St Michaels

Waterfront homes St Michaels

Boats at anchor, St Michaels

Oystering near our St. Michaels anchorage, just off our boat

Spider on a St. Michaels hike

Another beautiful church

eautiful church

Tied to the town wall in Cambridge waiting for the rain and wind to start

Episcopal Church in Cambridge

Krogen Rendezvoux

I haven't posted in a week or so. We were at the Krogen Rendezvoux in Solomons, MD. It is an annual gathering at the Calvert Marina there. There were around 50 different Krogens for the get together and also folks looking at Krogens as potential buyers. There were associated seminars/educational sessionsevery day and most of the meals were part of the program. We met a ton of nice people, a few of whom we had run into in our travels. We arrived on Monday, a week ago and departed yesterday, Sunday morning. On Monday we took the opportunity to re supply, biked to the grocery store and the beer store. I literally ran into an issue with my bike, launching off a curve onto the busy street, avoided being hit by traffic, but manage to bang myself up pretty good. I rode back and had to sew up my foot and dress some road rash. The rest of the week was a bit more mundane, but Cindy had concerns about the food that was catered all along. There seemed to be a lack of refrigeration at times. Well, that caught up to both of us by Saturday, which was spent on the boat close to the head. We are both much better now, but it was a long day. Yesterday we pulled out of the marina mid morning and traveled up to  secluded bay on the east shore where we are all alone. Much more our style. I think today we are going to head up to St. Michaels on the east shore of the Chesapeake. We feel well enough to eat some seafood this afternoon and there are supposed to be some good restaurants there.
Engine Hours: 5143.5
Genset Hours: 5615.3

A long lineup of Krogens

Our boat is 3rd from the right

Cindy taking the sunshades off before leaving yesterday

Our anchorage this morning

All alone this morning, much more our style

Anchored on the Chesapeake

After spending the summer at home, we are back on the boat for most of the fall. Our fall chores got cramped into the month of September, but we got 'er done. The boat had some work done at the Zimmerman boat yard in Mathews Virginia on Mobjack Bay where it was stored inside for the summer, safe from storms and sun. We flew to Norfolk on Friday and Uber'd to the boatyard, spent
Friday afternoon and Saturday morning getting stocked up on things, and got underway yesterday afternoon. We put on 35 miles or so heading north and anchored in Little Bay, just north of the Rappahannok River. The bay opening as we approached was blocked by fish traps and I presume nets, looking like a fence across the bay for several hundred yards. We skirted them and anchored with  half dozen other boats in a calm anchorage. Today will move further north to the Soolomons area, find an anchorage and get ready to go into Calvert Marina tomorrow for the Krogen Rendesvoux activities. The boat hasn't been run for several months and so needed to shake things down a bit. Our anchor light didn't work so I'll check that out later today. Passed two other Krogen 39's headed south yesterday, Bon Voyage and Limerick both headed for Florida, otherwise pretty quiet afternoon on the water.
Engine Hours: 5130.6
Genset hours: 5612

Abandoned Point Comfort Lighthousee

Abandoned Wolf Trap Lighthouse

At Our Destination
Yesterday  afternoon, we reached Put In Creek, a little bay a mile or two from immerman Marine in Cardinal, Virginia. We left Coinjock, after a walk early in the morning copromised by a million deer flies. There were 2 bridges we needed to have open, and they only open on the hour or half hour, so trying to time things was a bit of a challenge. The two bridges were 5 miles apart, so if I put the throttle to wide open, can just make the half hour timing, and it is good for the engine to run hard periodically. But, there was a submerged vetically floating log in the middle of the channel we heard clunk. There was no way to know it was there and it was floating. No damage that we are aware of but the boat will be hauled in a few days and can be inspected. There is a free dock between the Great Lock Bridge and the Great Lock, 12 miles before Norfolk. We tied up there early afternoon, stayed the night and took a hike. There were geese everywhere, on the water and off, so had to watch where we stepped. Yesterday moved on to the Chesapeake and we are now only a mile or two from Zimmerman Marine, in a pretty litle inlet called Put In Creek, a mile south of Cardinal. There is a boat ramp nearby and will likely get the bikes out and go to town just to see what's there. We really don't need anything and will be leaving the boat on Wednesday. The next 3 days will be filled with boat chores for the most part, and trying to figure out how to get to the Richmond airport.

Not sure what these are yet, on a tree near Coinjock

Geese at the Great Lock free dock

Video of a brge passing us from our frree dock site at the lock

Keeping America safe again

Making China great again

Fort Wool, Civil war era

There are navy ships everywhere

The USS Comfort

The view this morning on Put In Creek

Heading for Coinjock
After leaving Oriental, we crossed Pamlico Sound and the "cut" up the Neuse River, across more of the Pamlico Sound, but it skirts the shallows and a lot of the big water. Our route took us up a river that looked a lot like home, pines and less inhabited areas, andd very pretty. We anchored just south of Belhaven. Initially we considered the free dock at Belhaven, but decided we would prefer to anchor out and found a beautiful private bay in Slade Creek. I changed the racor filter, changed the oil and filter on the main engine, inspected the raw water impeller at engine hours 5097. Yesterday we went through the 20 miles or so of the Alligator/Pungo Canal which looked a lot like the Dead River, but a bit bigger. Lots of swamp. Exiting the canal, the wind picked up out of the east, the temp dropped, but we plowed on. Thjis part of the trip has lousy cell phone signal, so no internet, and despite the choppy conditions, moved on to the south side of Ablemarle Sound. The Alligator Bridge normally opens on demand, but due to construction, is opening only sporadically. A sail boat ahead of us probably waited for half an hour, but our wait was more like 10 minutes. Made camp last night in the lee of Durant Island with the winds out of the NNE. This morning crossed Ablemarle Sound without issue although it was pretty choppy. Currently at anchor for lunch 10 miles south of Coinjock where we are going this afternoon for a night at their marina along the narrow part of the waterway. Their restaurant has a reputation for having a really good prime rib which we are going to eat, and give the boat a good washing. We are only 90 miles from our destination at Zimmerman Marine and I think the plan is to keep on to the Chesapeake, find a protected spot for the last 3-4 nights and do remaining boat maintenance to leave it for the summer. We need to work on logistics of getting to the Richmond airport and not sure if Uber is available from Zimmerman's. We will figure it out.
Engine hours 5108.2
Genset hours 5597.3

Durant Island this morning

Albemarle Sound this am

Ablemarle Sound sunset from Durant Island

a bridge coming out of the swamp on the Alligator Pungo canal

Alligator Pungo canal

looks like the Dead River

Tug pushing a barge on the Pungo River

Sunrise on Slade Creek

huge mushrooms in Oriental

Shrimpers at the free dock in Oriental

Pamlico Sound

Home in Oriental