Day 8: German Chocolate Cake, Smith Island Style

Somehow the card for my Olympus has become corrupted. I can still see the photos on the camera, and can still take pictures, but can't download. I will switch cameras tomorrow, but meanwhile, another BORING text-only blog, interspersed with Internet photos.

We left Crisfield Friday morning, and made a long sail and motor sail to a very weird anchorage off Kiptopeke (KIP-toe-peek) State Park on the southeastern shore of Virginia. There had been a ferry landing there before the building of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and Tunnel, and so the state sank a bunch of concrete ships of WWII vintage to provide a breakwater for the ferry. Now its just an anchorage; the old ferry dock has been replaced by a long fishing pier, and there is a beach at the northern end of the anchorage. We found one sailboat there when we came in, and two more joined us later. It was a little bit rolly, but very comfortable, if a bit eerie. If I can recover the photos, I will post them later. Meanwhile, here is one from the web.

On Saturday, we set off for "The Ditch"; we made good time and hit the Great Bridge Lock (and Bridge) in time to snag a spot on a little dock just south of the bridge. Warm enough for gin and tonics, followed by Beef Stroganoff and round three of our German Chocolate Smith Island Cake (another picture that is sitting on the camera; here is one from internet photos instead).


Peaceful night despite the proximity to the bridge.

Today we motored another 37 miles or so to Coinjock, NC (goodbye Maryland, goodbye Virginia) where we are tied up at the Coinjock Marina and Restaurant for the night.

Think good thoughts for my camera card; we do have two other cameras on board, so not a disaster.

Day 5: Smith Island

We have long wanted to visit Smith Island, which is Maryland's last inhabited island (reachable only by water, unlike our own Kent Island). We finally got the chance today when the weather cleared and after a morning exploring Crisfield (photos on the Google site), including a visit to my friend Cindy's family home on Somerset Avenue just off Main Street, we set off for Smith on the local mail boat.

The island is beautiful; those are pomegranates that are growing there. The visitor center was not open when we arrived, although we did get to stop in before we left on the 4pm return. Here are a few pictures; what they perhaps do not convey is the total intimacy of island life - you have to like your neighbors, or at least find ways to live in harmony and cooperation with them.





Stopped here for a shared crabcake sandwich (Susan and Leigh) and a softshell crab sandwich (JP); they offer Smith Island Cake but we had bought a whole one earlier in the day at the Sweet Shoppe Cafe (run by two Smith Island natives; I'll post about that separately).



We walked a little ways into the marsh but it was warm again today, so the mosquitoes were having a little resurgence.


Saw a gorgeous great blue heron.














This was the mail boat, and a few pictures from the boat when we were leaving the island.







A lovely day. We will head south again tomorrow, to take advantage of a wind shift to the NW, though the seas will be a little bit higher than ideal. Heading for Kiptopeke State Park, a bit of a stretch but we will head out early. We will be on the hook and then just have a few miles to hit Mile 0 on the ICW.

Day 4: Crisfield, cats and dogs

Raining like mad here today, so we will probably stay until Friday morning so we can visit Smith or Tangier Island in nicer conditions tomorrow. Expecting some heavy winds.
Meanwhile, our forward macerator has quit, so after JP and Susan tackled it this morning without success, we have a local marine plumber, and he is here now. We can manage with one head, but...

ERRATUM: I am instructed by the Raconteur Local 410 that it must be said that the even the plumber had to take the offending part back to his shop, and use some combination of a table vise and a locking wrench with a two or three foot handle in order to get the job started. I am so corrected, and meant no disrespect whatsoever to my hardworking maintenance team.

Meanwhile, some images from our first few days, starting counter-clockwise from lower right with a picture taken by our boat neighbor at Castle Harbour; a close encounter with a racer off Annapolis Harbor; JP helming; sunset on Mill Creek (the one near Back Creek, off the Pax); and Leigh helming out of Castle Harbour. Yes, I am still struggling two years later with posting pictures inside the blog!

Day 3: Back to the future

Just exiting the Patuxent River; after two days of sailing from Chester we are back to our 2008 starting point. Good airs, the sun is out, and we are making almost seven knots under sail. We are heading for Crisfield, Maryland, probably for a two night layover.
We did +/- 35 nauticals each if the first two days, but Crisfield is 40+ from Solomons.
Thinking we will hit the Virginia Cut by Sunday.
Posting from iPhone. Pictures later!

Last Day at Willoughby Harbor

The cold front is finally moving north and east, so we will set off early tomorrow to make at least the first lock on the Great Dismal Swamp. We spent today re-prepping the boat, which had slightly reverted to "cottage" status during our stay here, dropped some of the extra lines, and made an excursion to the Norfolk West Marine (very helpful folks, thanks Mike for finding and holding our new Fortress anchor). Our neighboring J will be doing a three hop outside run, probably starting Saturday, but we will stick with the inside plan at least until Beaufort NC.
Here's a picture taken from the Sunset Grill at Willoughby Harbor - gives a little bit of the gray-on-gray that we've seen since early Tuesday.
Next news from the Swamp, or beyond - not counting on a connection until maybe Elizabeth City - Saturday night?
PS to Aude: I was up until after 1 a.m. on Tuesday/Wednesday, celebrating by texting with Alex, my mom, my sister and Dawnna. Hope you are well and not working too hard (but of course I know better. Best to Rus.)

Willoughby Bay, Part Deux

We are still here. We looked at the forecast last night and it was pretty clearly going to be a challenge just to get out of the slip, never mind to make our way down the Elizabeth River to Mile 0 on the ICW. In fact, we have seen sustained winds of 30+, and gusts up to 50+. Susan and JP (with the help of our marina neighbors, who are planning to sail their J outside to the upper Keys and then cross in January to the Bahamas) doubled our lines. We even stayed on board for dinner. It's been fun, actually - just being here together, doing some planning, having lunch at the Sunset Grill at the marina (really nice local place, home-cooked food, friendly staff - we had dinner there last night also) - though getting a sense of how long this trip is actually likely to take is a bit daunting for me. My so-called "plan" seems to involve trading Raconteur for a trawler...oops.
In any event, we will try to start toward the Elizabeth tomorrow late morning, if the forecast holds and the winds drop to a more manageable 20-25. We'll probably make the lock opening for the Great Dismal Swamp on Friday...marine spirits allowing.
Here's a photo of Raconteur tied up at Willoughby Harbor: BEFORE the big blow got going.

A few photos

Judy and Tom See Us Off














Pooh at the Helm














Pirates of the Chesapeake?














It WAS a bit chilly (er Great Wicomico-Bennett Creek)

Willoughby Bay: Last Stop in the Bay

We're making great time. It took a while to extract from Bennett Creek this morning, but we can proudly say we did NOT run aground going in or out. Not for the faint of heart. We left there on the late side, around 9, and made it to Willoughby Harbor Marina before 3. We are tentatively planning to try to start the ICW tomorrow, which seems to involve one lock and an overnight at another marina before we make the rather long 40 mile run to Coinjock, NC.
Here are a few more photos...perhaps marginally less boring than my blow-by-blow?
Hello Dawnna, thanks for the update: I'm betting 350+, 6.1%.

75 Miles in 2 Days

We left Solomons at 0900 Sunday morning, had a lovely if chilly sail, and dropped the hook as planned in Mill Creek off the Great Wicomico, at 1600. After a celebratory pre-prandial, dinner, and post-prandial chocolate, we were all in bed before eight! Raconteur was a total champ - what a great first day.
Today we were up and off by 0830, and with continued ENE winds at 15+, sailed until early afternoon, then motorsailed for an hour or so when the wind dropped and the current picked up, then sailed again. Got a bit farther south than originally planned, though the chosen anchorage is one of those that makes the Chesapeake....well, the Chesapeake. We are in Bennett Creek, off the Poquoson (a Native word for meaning "Great Marsh", and yes, there were STILL mosquitos around!)...not really enough room to swing if there are any wind shifts, but Captain JP, ever cautious, dropped a second anchor so we are here to stay the night, I'm guessing.
One note for our Rosslyn colleagues: just as we dropped anchor here, we could hear, clear as if we were on base, the National Anthem being played at Langley, at 1700, of course. We thought of you all. The base is perhaps no more than a mile or so away, but we have about 30 sailing miles to get into the Norfolk area tomorrow
Happy birthday to Gladys and Cass today, and welcome to our Lauderdale digs Jack and Fred!

Last Night on Shore

The waiter at the CD Cafe in Solomons took this - I'm posting it this morning to say hello to Cal and Lois, parents of Susan (seated, in black) and Judy (seated, in white).
Also, I told Cal that I would post our DRAFT sail plan...just so everyone can have a good chuckle while they track what we really do. (JP just shut down the power, so I'll be quick)

Sunday 2 November through Wednesday 5 November: Down the Chesapeake to Norfolk

Thursday 6 November: Hang out

Friday 7 November through Monday 10 November: Down the Elizabeth River and the ICW from Norfolk to Beaufort, NC (HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM on the 9th!)

Tuesday 11 November: Hang out

Wednesday 12 November: Sail outside from Beaufort, NC to Southport (near Bald Head Island)

Tuesday 13 November: Hang out

Friday 14 November-Saturday 15 November: Sail outside from Southport to Charleston, SC

Saturday 15th-Monday 17th: Hang out in Charleston

Tuesday 18th-Wednesday 19th: Sail outside from Charleston to St Mary's River

Wednesday-Friday 21st: Hang out

Saturday 22nd-Monday 24th: Back inside, to Fort Pierce

Tuesday 25th-Wednesday 26th or Thursday 27th: Sail outside, Fort Pierce to Fort Lauderdale (home port!)

Now you can start chuckling...we're off in the next half hour. Winds 15-20 from ENE, en route to Mill Creek on the Great Wicomico.

Another Chesapeake Photo

We took this at Rock Hall Landing during our September shakedown. I'm posting it lest anyone think we haven't loved being here (complaints about the weather notwithstanding). Just don't want the blog to be all words.