Heading to Georgia with the Halloween Tattoos

We left Bock Marine yesterday and are now at St. James Plantation Marina near Southport NC.  Traveling with Joe and Julia aboard Sea Pearl.  We'll be in Charleston Sunday-Monday.  Then on to Bob and Steph's dock in Georgia on Weds or Thurs.  There are a group of boats going from there to Bob and Steph's secret anchorage for a few days.  Should be a fun place to spend Halloween - we're bringing the scary stick-on tattoos for everyone.   

Vacationing with Rick and Lynnie

We're in Cary NC (near Raleigh) at Rick and Lynnie's house which, as Norm says, has a whole room just for laundry!  We're enjoying being in a home with lots of room and being with our friends whom we haven't seen in person for a year.  We've seen movies, played dominoes, ate KFC and Indian and lots of good food at home, jazzercised, walked, shopped, and just hung out.  Every moment has been a delight.  And tonight, Vicki is conscripting everyone to watch 'Dancing with the Stars' with her.  What could be more fun?

Tide Hiker is having her bottom painted at Bock Marine and will be ready to be splashed again tomorrow.  At one point we thought we might be staying with Rick and Lynnie until Christmas, but no such luck.  Norm had to get an xray after lifting something heavy from an awkward position.  The doc said he was very lucky not to need surgery -- had a severely strained bicep -- it's much better now.   

We made a couple stops on the way here that were new to us...  Smithfield VA up the James River is a delightful town and home to the famous "Smithfield Ham".  River Dunes Marina off the Neuse River was delightful.  We stayed at marinas on the way here because those anchoring were getting deluged with Chinese mosquito's or 'blind' mosquito's that excrete yellow stuff on the boat which takes hours to clean. Luckily, we avoided that fate.

So, it's adieu to Cary, NC tomorrow.  We'll splash the boat, wash her down, reprovision, return the rental car and try to get a good night's sleep aboard Tide Hiker.  Then, on Wednesday, it's off to meet up with Joe and Julia aboard Sea Pearl at Morehead City, NC and south to the Mile Hammock anchorage (near Camp Lejeune, NC).

Catching Up and Slimming Down

Welcome back everyone. We know we have been negligent in updating the blog and we apologize for our lapse in timeliness. Here's a summary of how we got here. We've done a lot since our last update in August. But first, here is a link you can click on to see our cruise route to Urbanna, VA from Rock Hall, MD (Lot's of new places):

Rock Hall, MD to Urbanna, VA    

Late summer on the Chesapeake has been full of friends and travel.  In mid-August, we cruised the rivers north and south of Baltimore.  Niece Aimee and her fabulous fiancee Brian joined us to anchor in the Magothy River where Roger and Lisa pulled in on their boat. Aimee and Brian were the first into the kayak's.  They were gone a long time and explored much of the surrounding shore.   Later, Rog and Norm caught crab dinner while Aimee and Brian sunned and Vicki and Lisa kayaked.  Perhaps we shouldn't mention that Lisa had to be pulled off a shoal twice - the same shoal, coming and going.  Lisa was using Norm's kayak which has both pedals and paddle -- and the woman still couldn't dodge the shoal!

Brian and Aimee in the kayaks

Crab feast aboard Tide Hiker. Norm, Brian, Aimee, Lisa, Roger

Middle River, north of Baltimore, is beautiful.  The Middle River Yacht Club offers reciprocity with no fee - not even for electric.  What a deal, and a nice place with nice people.

Toward the end of August we landed at Anchorage Marina in Canton, walking distance from the inner harbor of Baltimore.  This was our base for three weeks.  During that time, Vicki traveled to Tucson to see Mom and on to Portland for the wedding of the son of family friends.  Norm went to Milwaukee to see the kids and grand kids who all gathered at Katie's cabin for the Labor Day weekend.  Colleen, the oldest daughter, confirmed that she and husband Brian are expecting their first baby in May.  Great news!

Brian and Colleen (daughter 1), newly expectant parents

Katie (daughter 2) and Jake (grandchild 1)-Waiting for the bus for 1st day back to school

Katie and Evan (grandchild 2).  Just showing off.

JoycE (grandchild 3).  Just showing off too

 Christine (daughter 3) and JoycE.

The MTOA (Marine Trawler Owners Assoc) Rendezvous was held at the Anchorage Marina in mid-September.  Unfortunately, Vicki caught a bug on one of her six plane flights and was down and out for the whole rendezvous.  Norm saw some great seminars and did the bachelor thing at the social events.  It was great to see lots of friends there.  We had fun connecting before the rendezvous with Pam and Jim Shipp, Chuck and Pat Berry, Jim and Robin Roberts and Jeff and Karen Siegel and after the rendezvous with Diane and Steve Koch.

After the rendezvous, we putted across the bay to the Wye River, a wild and beautiful place.  Delaware friends Peg and Mike joined us aboard Tide Hiker for four days.  Roger and Lisa anchored on their boat.  We had a wonderful time at the Audubon Center hiking on a bed of pine needles and the first fall leaves.   Roger, Mike and Norm caught crab dinner again.  (Having learned the last time, Vicki decided not to get the kayaks down!)  We had dinner out on the boat deck each night with a remarkably bright moon.  We did, however, need to turn on the spreader lights to play dominoes.  I'm not sure who the winner was -- my recollection is overshadowed by the fact that Rog once again worked himself into a big hole from which there was no escape.

 Carbing up before the big hike tomorrow.  Roger, Norm, Peg, Mike, Lisa

Rog, Lisa, Peg, Vicki and Mike on the Trail

Vicki slurping fungi juice.  Ummmmm!

Tide Hiker at anchor in Pickering Creek, Wye River, Chesapeake  Bay

On to Washburn's Boatyard in Solomons MD for some minor maintenance and sitting out storms.  You many recall from previous blogs that we have been here lots before. Washburn's has some of the most capable, friendly and helpful folks. That's why we come here often. We intended to stop by here for a quick installation of a new exhaust elbow on our No. 2 generator and fix a fuel leak on our No. 1 generator and some other minor stuff. But, as luck would have it, the weather turned. The tropical storm that was moving up the east coast and dumped 21 inches of rain on NC slammed us. We were forecasted for 4-5 inches of rain and wind gusts of up to 35mph. We ended up getting over 12 inches of rain.  Winds were as forecasted for us.  But our friends Todd and Brenda aboard Life's 2 Short, who are anchored south of here recorded sustained winds of 35 and gusts of 45-50. Fortunately their anchor held. Other friends, (Rick and Lynnie aboard Rickshaw) steamed from Atlantic City 95 miles in the Atlantic Ocean and the Delaware Bay to our old home port, Summit North Marina safely and just before the unsettled weather rained down on them. Experience really counts folks!!! Norm says "when I grow up I want to be just a good as those guys".

Tide Hiker pulled into the Town Marina in Urbanna Va on Saturday.  Vicki found a shuttle driver to take us to one of her favorite things on the Chesapeake - Virginia's Li'l Ole Opry at Donk's Theater in Matthews Va.  Very entertaining - fabulous music - a truly unique experience.  Betsy, one of the performer/owners of the theater remembered us.  She introduced us and others celebrating anniversaries or birthdays to the audience before the show.  For us she said "I would like you to meet the Naughton's.  They came here last year and docked at the Matthews Yacht Club and we picked them up.  This year they are docked at Urbanna and hired a shuttle driver to bring them here".  We had to stand up and face the spotlights.  Real down-home country folks here guys.  The next day the shuttle driver, who is also part time dock hand at the marina, took us a couple miles out of town to another unique experience - a local deli/restaurant called Something Different.  The meat and ice cream are from the proprietor's own beef and pigs -- everything is made there -- they insist that you taste everything before deciding what to order --and it's all delicious.  We had the "Kick-Ass-Chicken" and the BBQ Pork.  Scrumptious!!

You'll recall that the No Booze Cruise to Lose was in full swing during this time.  Vicki is easily sustaining a loss of 17 lbs. and many alcohol-free evenings, and enjoying a vastly expanded wardrobe.  Norm is down 10 lbs. and needs to buy some skinny jeans.

The Great Deal that Wasn't

We left Rock Hall this morning, got fuel at Annapolis Landing Marina, and then headed for Eastport Yacht Club just across the bridge from Annapolis.  We thought we'd found an incredible deal -- $1/foot including electric at the yacht club with the reciprocity from the MTOA registration on Yacht Clubs of America.  It turns out that the deal was good, but the electric didn't work for us.  They cater to mostly smaller boats, and while we did tie up at a dock with 50 amp electric  -- it's only 125 volts wheras we use 250 volts.  We didn't have a cord that would hook up, and we wanted air conditioning, so we decided to leave.  Too bad... $1/foot including electric is half price in Annapolis.  We're now in "ego alley"  for $2/foot plus $15 electric...right in the heart of Annapolis... not a bad place to be! 

Arrrgh, you Scalawags...

To see our most recent cruises and current position, Click Here.

As you know, we had a "dinghy mishap" up in the Sassafras River.  Welll, with that fixed at Worton Creek we headed to the Chester River for some water play.  The weather had settled and cooled.  Great anchoring weather.  So, up the Chester to Langford Creek and Cacaway Island.

We got out the toys.  Get ready!  Set!  Play!!!

Vicki paddling on Langford Creek

Norm paddling and peddaling on Langford Creek

A really neat small replica of a Chesapeake Skipjack boat docked on Langford Cr.  These boats were the main oyster-fishing boats when oysters were plentiful.

Then it was on to Rock Hall; first, to Haven Harbor Marina.  We had a free one-night coupon we won at the last MTOA rendezvous.  Then next door to the only marina that had room for us for a week.  The weather again turned to "Scorching".  The lack of marina space was due to the upcoming "Pirates and Wenches Fantasy" this weekend.  It was a hoot.  More on that later.  First, we got a call from Roger and Lisa (from Dock B at Summit North Marina).  They said they have not overdosed on us yet, or the short time we were apart reset the dosage meter a bit for more time.  We think that was a compliment, but not sure.  Anyway, on a lark they left the dock with no place to go and were wondering where we were.  Two hours later they showed up in rock Hall and we celebrated with a tasty meal of garlic shrimp - 8 shrimps per person.  You see, they are on this "No Booze Cruise to Lose" too.  Here we are with the breadsticks which are a staple at every meal - gotta be able to crunch on something!

This minimalist eating has got to go.  Rog, Lisa and Norm savoring the skinniest breadsticks we ever saw. 

Rog and Lisa left the next day.  Guess the dosage meter had topped out.  Vicki and I could not let the lack of calories or energy stop us.  So we used all our energy to WAIT for the Pirates and Wenches Fantasy.  This was the third year for this event in Rock Hall.  Reenactors came from afar to play pirates, buccaneers and wenches.  All kinds of garb was on sale to make oneself a pirate look-a-like.  Also for sale were savory culinary treats, the smell of which sent us into epicurian depression.  Not to mention the grog!!!!  But, we survived with only minor setbacks.  We're real proud to still be alcohol-free though.

The wench from island  of Tide Hiker. (She had to put on a belt to hold up her shorts!)

And the pirate from island of Tide Hiker showing off his skeleton tatoo.

Queen Ann's Carriage

A Buccaneer from PA

A couple buxom wenches

The Rock Hall pirate encampment fire-roasting a ham.  (No, we're not fixated on food.)

The weekend included tavern sing-alongs, pirate skirmishes, Queen Anne's search for Graybeard, a decorated dinghy parade and race, beach parties, etc.

A pirate dinghy

Another pirate dinghy

Don't ask.  We don't know either!  But it was neat!  this was Graybeard's transport.

We captured one of the on-water skirmishes.   Take a look--a real blast!

The No Booze Cruise to Lose!

The deprivation is paying off - Vicki is down 9 lbs and Norm has lost 9.6 lbs in 9 days.  Our shorts are now too big and our belts are a notch tighter.  No need to buy new wardrobes, though, as we have smaller size shorts that haven't been worn for awhile - quite a while!  Two more weeks to go on the strict calorie-restricted, no alcohol diet  Then another 3 weeks on the no-starches maintenance diet which does allow a small amount of alcohol  -- key word "small".  Then a lifetime to eat sensibly like we used to before indulging in the cruising life.  That will be a challenge, but we'll be motivated by never-ever-ever wanting to do this diet again! 

Bad Luck on the Sassafras River

Upon leaving Summit North Marina on Tuesday, we cruised 4 hours to the beautiful Sassafras River, intending to stay a few days to explore the creeks by dinghy and hike a local park off one of the creeks.  After anchoring in a lovely spot, we dropped the dinghy in the water and... it wouldn't start.  No amount of prodding, probing, or bribery would start it.  Time to start calling for a small-engine repair service, except that we're out of cell phone range and couldn't hail the upriver marinas on the radio.  So, up comes the anchor and we pull the dinghy upriver toward civilization.  While Norm is on the phone trying to find a repair person, Vicki is toodling around the river checking out some area by shore that might be good for anchoring when she grounds Tide Hiker - oops.  Norm comes to the rescue and backs out of the mud and we're off again.  After about 15 minutes of proceeding upriver, Norm looks back and says those dreaded words "Where's the dinghy?"  It's immediately evident that when backing off the mud, we cut the line to the dinghy.  Turn around the boat to search for the dinghy.  There it is -- floating on the side of the river in an area too shallow to take the big boat to retrieve it.  So, we anchor on the opposite side of the river, hail the boat next door and they happily take Norm in their dinghy to get Tide Hopper.  (Boaters sure are nice people.) 

That was quite an adventure and we still hadn't found a repair service.  Our best hope was one in Worton creek, about 2 hours south, which was supposed to call us back the next day.  And they did!  Off we went to Worton creek the next day -- to the fuel dock of Green Point Landing Marina.  Jack's repair service had Tide Hopper running in a few minutes and pronounced our problem an anomaly.  We were tripped up by an anomaly!  He also adjusted the carbuerator and Tide Hopper is purring now.

This is going to be a beautiful weekend for anchoring, so today we're off to the Chester River, a few hours south of here.  And we'll be using Tide Hopper alot to let her know we appreciate her.  On Monday we'll head into Haven Harbor Marina in Rock Hall to have an adjustment made on a loose support on our new awning.