We're Looking Good

The sandbar next to which we are moored kissed us a night ago. At 3:00 a.m. (low tide)we heard a scraping sound – not good. Norm cinched up the mooring line as far as it could go and the boat was still touching the sandbar as it swung. Yesterday afternoon as low tide approached again Norm and Gil (from the yacht club) put out a stern anchor to hold the boat away from the sandbar. That worked wonderfully.

Yesterday was ‘new do’ day – we both got haircuts. Norm’s was administered on the back of the boat using the clippers. He’s now proudly sporting a ‘#1 all over’. This was the second time Vicki had buzzed him and she’s gaining expertise – the hairline is even this time – he’s looking mighty fine. Vicki used a rigorous method of selecting a salon – walked into the first one with their door open, asked how much for a haircut - $15… that’s right, $15! You have to be a bit skeptical about what a $15 haircut will look like, but how can one resist such a bargain? It’ll grow back, right? It actually turned out to be a decent cut.

While Vic was getting the new do, Norm found a store with used DVDs for sale and got 7 for $11. No Academy Award winners in that bunch, for sure. We’ve been scavenging DVDs from whoever we can since we don’t have television and sometimes we want to see a movie and aren’t in a place where we can rent one. Norm’s nephew, Keith, gave us several when we were in Youngstown, including the Abyss –perhaps now the best choice for boaters, but we’re appreciative anyway. Rick and Lynnie brought several when they visited. Mom bought some for Vicki’s birthday and brought them out from Arizona. We’re hoping to be in a marina that has a take-on, leave-one policy so we can exchange the ones we’ve watched for new ones. That’s often the practice for books at marinas, we’re not sure about DVDs.

Good news about the Olympic opening ceremony on DVD – daughter Colleen recorded it and after she and Brian watch it (which we’re sure will be very soon, hint hint), they’ll be shipping it to us. Vicki can’t wait! She missed the Olympic experience a lot. We actually did buy a rabbit ear antenna – after all, Dancing with the Stars will be starting in September. It’s worked decently in some locations and not in others. We’re hoping to be able to see Barack’s acceptance speech this week( a cool moment in history), but if we can’t see it, we can get the speech on XM radio. Unfortunately XM radio is not a back-up for Dancing with the Stars-- Norm is worried that he’ll be shuttling the rabbit ears around the boat deck to get reception and keep it when the boat swings on Monday nights!

We’re heading to dock at Donnell’s Marina on the York River today. We were there in June, but missed seeing the swinging bridge. We’ll do that today and some laundry.

Kindness Abounds

We have run into the most helpful people! This situation is just one example...

We blew a high pressure stabilizer hose on the way to Saco from Portland on Saturday. After anchoring near the mouth of the river, Vicki started calling around to find who could make a hose for us while Norm cleaned up the oil in the engine room (yuck). We called two local boatyards and, of course, they weren't open on Saturday. But then an amazing thing happened... we got call-backs from both on Saturday afternoon. And they went out of their way to figure out who could make the hose. One guy called around, found out that Napa could make it, called us back to tell us, and offered to take us there in his car. That didn't work out because we couldn't get to his boatyard in the dinghy and then to Napa before they closed. The other guy told us about someone 30 miles away who makes hoses and offered to take us there when they opened on Monday.

It turns out that we cruised upriver to the town of Saco, moored at the yacht club, and Assistant Commodore Gil took us to Napa in his truck... and also to the grocery store... and to the gas station to fill up the dinghy gas can... and would have taken us pretty much wherever we needed to go. We gave him gas money plus a tip and invited him aboard Tide Hiker for lunch. He does canvas work, so we gave him a dinghy cushion and the dinghy cover to repair which he did in an afternoon and delivered back to the boat.

Take a look at this bay. What a pleasure. We are moored in a narrow channel with the Yacht club to Starboard and a sandbar to Port. As we "horse" around on the mooring, we come within 10 feet of the sandbar. Gil told us when we arrived, "don't panic when you see the sandbar, but you will be ok with 10 feet of water under you". We trusted him and it all worked out alright. There are two towns here, Saco and Biddeford separated by the Saco River. We walked to both yesterday. We will stay 3 days here and relax and get hair cuts and pizza. You can see the sand bar below and the dam on our stern, also below. We'd come back here in an instant.

The cruise up the Saco River was beautiful. Here are a couple of pictures. We were the biggest boat on this river in a long while. We got lots of stares; but, we kept focus on the beauty as we motored north.

Today, we got the hose made at Carquest Auto Parts. And, we got a spare. Norm installed the hose and finished the cleanup of the engine room. Additionally, Rick Tierney gave us his old Autohelm 6000 unit since he was replacing his with a Simrad unit. Norm took the controller unit and installed it on the bridge so we will have total control of the auto pilot from the bridge as we have from the pilothouse. We'll tell you how this works when we leave on Wednesday.

We Love our Guests (Anyone Want to Play Blink?

Hi. We’re still here. It’s been almost a week since we posted a blog. .. partially because we were busy having a ton of fun with Lynnie and Rick. Tide Hiker’s first two sets of guests (Vicki’s Mom and Lynnie/Rick) have definitely spoiled us. They slid into the rhythm of boat life, learning the routines and fitting right in. We don’t need to ‘entertain’ guests, just incorporating them into life on board seems to be entertaining enough! Both Mom and Lynnie helped clean the boat (inside) making them a shoe-in to be invited aboard again. Lynnie got double bonus points for provisioning, planning and preparing every other day’s meals. (That’s a good model for longer term guests.) Rick and Lynnie also brought some serious goodies on board – a case of wine, and a huge jar of Nonni’s Biscotti which is now our favorite morning snack with coffee on the bridge while underway. Lynnie further cemented her open invitation aboard Tide Hiker by playing Blink with Vicki, something Norm failed to warn her about and you, too, can experience aboard Tide Hiker.
Rick and Lynnie stayed 10 days, shorter than originally planned, but life intervened and they were needed back in North Carolina. We’re hoping to buddy boat with them to the Bahamas this winter.
Blogging has been delayed for another reason, too… we’ve been busy getting a new computer up and running—actually Norm has been busy doing that. A libation was spilled on the keyboard, the computer sizzled and gave up the ghost. Thank goodness the hard drive was not damaged and our data recoverable. Fortunately Rick was here with all of his techie credentials- he and Norm bought a new computer and all the accoutrements at Circuit City in Portland and then proceeded to load it with data, software and whatever else the thing needs to support our daily lives. While there were many snags, hiccups, and a few expletives deleted, we’re now up and running and learning to cope with Microsoft Vista. Rick earned his perpetual Tide Hiker invitation by using superb troubleshooting skills to resolve issues that would have stymied mere mortals, and by (over the course of three days) loading all of Vicki’s CDs onto a file where they can be uploaded to her IPOD when we get ITunes loaded on the computer again (hasn’t been a high priority – imagine that).
We are now on our way south at our first stop south of Portland, five miles up the Saco River – beautiful river and nice town. This is primarily a river for small fishing and water ski boats, so we got lots of gawks on the way up. The river is dredged to five feet at low tide and since our keel is five feet below the water line, safety requires that we travel the river when it’s at least half tide (tides are 10 feet here). We can tell that we’re getting more comfortable because at one time the narrow serpentine river with low depths would have seemed too risky and we would have bypassed it. That would have been a shame.

Power to the People

This is Vicki’s primer of power management for the uninitiated…

The boat can be powered (i.e. electricity provided) in four ways:

Shore power – When in a marina at a dock, the boat is plugged into electricity similar to what you have in a house. But, just as you can overload the electrical circuits in a house, that also happens on the boat. We have to stay within the constraints of 50 amps.

Large generator – When at anchor or on a mooring ball, the large generator will power the major heat-making appliances (stovetop, convection oven, dryer), more than one at a time but not all at the same time and will recharge the batteries.

Small generator – When at anchor or on a mooring ball, the small generator (Little Genny) will power everything except major heat-making appliances, usually one at a time, and will recharge the batteries.

Batteries –When underway or at anchor or mooring, we use the power stored in the batteries. The device that converts battery power to electricity we can use is called the Inverter. The inverter is our friend – it lets us use the microwave at any time to heat coffee or the all-important quiche for lunch.

All this means that we can’t just flip the switch like in a house! We very consciously practice power management. For example, if it’s been a while since we ran the engines (since the engines heat our hot water tank) and when using the small generator in the evening, our typical pattern is to turn on the hot water heater for showers before dinner, then turn it off before using the microwave for dinner, then after dinner run the dishwasher and the coffee maker. If the stovetop or oven is needed for dinner, then we use the large generator. It took us a while to figure out what we could use when – the learning curve was frustrating (it’s easy to feel defeated when all the power goes down), but we’re now pretty savvy power managers.

Lynnie made Clams with Linguine and got acquainted with the necessity of sequential cooking when the boat is being powered by generator. If we draw too much electricity, everything shuts down. So, when using the cooktop which draws big-time amps, we can’t use anything else that creates heat like the toaster, crock pot, or microwave/oven.
Making the linguine meal required heating the garlic bread in the oven first, turning off the oven, and then turning on the stovetop to cook the linguini first, and then the clam sauce.

Another power management accommodation…We carry two types of rice aboard – (1) the type you cook on the stovetop and (2) the pre-cooked shelf-stable version that you reheat in the microwave. The stovetop version is used when we’re plugged into shore power at dock or when the large generator is being used. The microwavable, more expensive type is used at other times – the microwave can be used on the small generator and on the inverter.
Poor Lynnie – twice she’s asked if she could use her blow dryer for a few seconds and Norm told her that we’d have to shut everything else down, so she’s given up! We seem to like her hair curly more than she does.

Attack of the Killer Mosquitos (and Flies)

Two great anchorages Sunday and Monday: Carver Cove on the Fox Island Thoroughfare and Merchant Island near Deer Island Thoroughfare, both in Penobscot Bay.

While at Carver Cove, we met up with Jeff and Karen Siegel on their DeFever and Smokey and Jo (friends of Jeff and Karen) on their Lord Nelson Victor Tug. We all dinghied over to North Haven for dinner. After walking the town, which took 15 minutes going from one side to the other, then back again, we dined. It was great to see Jeff and Karen again and to meet Smokey and Jo. Hopefully we will see them all again on the water.

When we woke up on Monday morning at Carver Cove and started getting ready to go, we were beset by giant black flies. They’re big and they have a big buzz. We’d heard about them in Maine, but hadn’t seen them until now. It was a very still morning and we were anchored fairly close to a wooded shore, so the conditions were favorable for them. One took a chunk out of Rick’s leg that required Vicki to dip into the wound box to get antibiotic cream and a bandaid. (The wound box has been dormant, thankfully, but it was pretty exciting for medical officer Vicki to give it a workout.) And, of course, after Rick got bit, we all started feeling phantom flies on us and jumping when nothing was there. Lynnie was posted on the bridge on swatter duty to protect us while we got underway. We haven’t seen them since – Lynnie must have scared them.

Yesterday’s anchorage at Merchant Island was selected specifically because there were good hiking islands around. We’re getting porkier with each great meal (not to mention chips and wine on the back porch while watching the full moon) and wanted to get some exercise. We dinghied over to Harbor Island which was just 20 feet from the boat. A trail wanders up a meadow into spruce trees and bisects the island. We got as far as the spruce trees and then were attacked by (literally) clouds of mosquitos – and they were hungry. It was a race back to the dinghy and some of them stuck with us back to the boat. Again, we’d heard about mosquitos in Maine, but not experience them until now. We were fortunate that our three weeks of hiking in Acadia National Park was essentially bug-less.

The odd thing was that later in the day other people in the anchorage went ashore on the island, went into the woods and didn’t come flying out, and explored the rocky shore without swatting frantically. Perhaps the mosquitos gorged on us and were napping. Or perhaps those people were savvy Maine hikers and used bug spray in advance.

Cruising with the Tierney's

This blog is a joint effort by Vicki, Norm, Lynnie and Rick:

Friends Rick and Lynnie joined us in Portland on Tuesday. They’ll be with us for about two weeks. It’s already Sunday and time is flying.

We provisioned on Tuesday afternoon using their car which is now parked at the marina. Discovered that it’s easier to navigate Portland with a map than without. Kudos to Lynnie for spotting the Enterprise car rental and grabbing a map from them.

Wednesday got off to a rocky start when the water went out on Vicki in mid-shower. Norm had changed from dock water to tank water and forgotten to throw one switch, then left to take a walk. Lynnie saved the day by filling water bottles from the dock for Vicki to rinse with. The day improved with a beautiful cruise to Five Islands Maine on the Sheepscot River.

Thursday we ran in heavy fog and decided to bail out early at Boothbay Harbor. Took the dinghy into town for a lobster dinner which was delicious. On the way to Boothbay Harbor the lobster trap buoys were everywhere, and Capt. Norm did an excellent job of picking a path through the “Crayola” field with aplomb.

Friday we ran in fog again for the 4-hour run to Tenants Harbor. Jamie Wyeth (famous painter) owns the estate on the point. His studio is in the pyramidal building which was a bell tower. As the launch was taking us to town, the launch driver pointed out Jamie’s boat moored in the harbor, and we saw Jamie and two dogs in his dinghy.

Saturday was on to Rockland—yes in dense fog all the way—1/8 mile visibility. Fortunately, the route was in deep water and there were not many other boats out. Lots of cool galleries in town. Also the Farnsworth Museum which has a lot of paintings from the Wyeth family, but we didn’t visit – our art appreciation sensibilities are not that well developed. Instead of the Farnsworth, we chose to appreciate the largest iron lobster sculpture in the universe.

Today there is no fog and we’ll be cruising the Fox Islands Thoroughfare in Penobscot Bay and anchoring in Carver’s Cove with Jeff and Karen Siegel and friends of theirs. We plan to spend the next week in Penobscot Bay and then back to Portland to drop off Lynnie and Rick. We’ll leisurely head south from there, arriving in Delaware sometime in October or November.

Mom Tuckered Us Out!

Mom’s visit was lovely, but too short. She returns to Tucson today. It’s been good to see her relax – she’s usually a whirlwind of activity. Mom got a sampler platter of life on the water which is just what we intended. Marina and anchoring (but no mooring ball), rain, fog and sun, calm waters and rolling (but no waves more than 2 ft), hiking, shopping and exploring, waste management, water management and energy management (more about these in an upcoming blog)—and, of course, an adventure around every corner.

For the last two days we anchored in the crotch of Cliff Island, Casco Bay, Maine. Saturday we dinghied over to Eagle Island where North Pole discoverer Admiral Robert Peary built a home resembling a boat (scuppers on the porch, portholes, a simulated bow). Yesterday we dinghied to Jewell Island for a couple hours of hiking and a picnic lunch. Jewel Island was an observation outpost for spotting German U-Boats during World War II. There were over 400 troops assigned to the island during the war and they had two 6-inch guns that could hurl a 100 Lb shell 10,000 yards and several 90mm anti-aircraft batteries. While they did not see any fighting action, they did spot one U-Boat.

Later in the day we landed the dinghy on Cliff Island in search of a Sunday paper. The locals on the beach gave us directions to the lone store on the island. It turns out that you need to sign up for a paper in advance and the store proprietor has that many papers delivered to the island – we were out of luck. A disappointment as we wanted to read about the Olympics.
Vicki was very disappointed not to be able to watch the opening ceremonies of the Olympics. We were at a marina in South Freeport Maine on Friday night when the broadcast occurred and thought we would be able to plug into cable there, but no such luck. And there wasn’t a TV available in a public area nearby, and we couldn’t access any online streaming. So, if any of you recorded the opening ceremonies on DVD (not tape) and wants to send us the disc, we would be grateful. Generally we like not having television because it’s too much of a sedative, but we’re thinking that we’ll get some rabbit ears to try to bring in a program now and then (Dancing with the Stars and Boston Legal come to mind). The rabbit ears may not work, but it’s certainly worth a try. The onboard satellite TV systems cost several thousand dollars – not worth it for us, in spite of missing the Olympics.