Ice on Deck

The prime rib and fried chicken were delicious as was the chocolate toffee cake. We're living high on the hog in North Carolina. Today is a 10-hour trip to Belhaven. Ice on the boat deck this morning. Norm said the eisenglas on the bridge was covered with frost. Brrrr!

Prime Rib Tonight

We're headed toward Coinjock NC where the Coinjock Marina is famous for it's prime rib. Left at 6:30 this morning, now stopped for fuel in Portsmouth, planning to arrive Coinjock around dark. This will be Vicki's first experience with bridges - there are a bunch of them on this leg of the journey. Jim (we're buddy boating with Adventures again) tutored Vicki over cocktails last night in the art of timing bridges. We're planning to make the 11:00 opening of our first bridge and if we don't make it, we have to wait for the Noon opening which will delay our arrival until well after dark.

Hampton VA was a good place to be for two nights. We had good Thai and Chinese food the first night with Robin and Jim. Went to the Air and Space Museum yesterday. It's a wonderful museum with lots of hands-on exhibits and flying simulators. On a cold Friday afternoon there were about two other people there, so we got all the fun toys to ourselves.

In the Dark

It's Thursday morning and we're on our way from Solomons MD to Norfolk VA. We left at 5:00 a.m. - it's now 6:00 a.m. - and it's dark outside. This is our first experience driving in the dark. Norm has to drive up top from the bridge because the instruments in the pilot house are so bright that they interfere with the ability to see outside - guess that's our next project! He also has to drive with the window panel down so that the instruments up there (which are dimmer) don't reflect from the window. Gotta keep a look out for crab pots. This would all be fine if we were in the balmy tropics, but it's 30-something chilly degrees. Had to dig out those winter gloves and hats. Luckily, the sun will be up in an hour and we'll be enjoying hot oatmeal and pumpkin bread in the pilot house. Can't wait!

It's 11-12 hours to Norfolk. If all goes well, we'll be pulling in before dark. Afterall, that's the point of leaving so early.

Frost on the Boat Deck

It's time to head south! It was slippery on the boat deck this morning when we left Annapolis. You know it's cold when Captain Norm chooses to drive from the pilot house instead of the bridge.

We're heading to Solomons Island MD and will be there tomorrow for a minor repair and to wait out the 30kt winds forecast for tomorrow. Solomons Island is also the home of Vicki's favorite flavored coffee - Coconut. Good thing Norm made some extra storage room for those beans of fresh-roasted coconut coffee. Yummy!

Speaking of coffee, we just made a fresh pot of coffee while underway. We've never done that before because we were always conserving electricity. Now that the electrical repairs have turned us into a "Powerhouse", we're brewing whenever we want. Such freedom!

On Wednesday, it's off to Deltaville near the Potomac, then Norfolk. We're hoping to make Morehead City NC by Thanksgiving to have turkey with friends Rick and Lynnie.

Weeeeeee're back, "my friends".

Dear Friends,
It has been a while since we posted on this blog, so open an adult beverage, sit down and get caught up. Since we last reported here, we have laughed, cried, worried, worked, rested and voted. There’s a lot to report, so, here's the cliff notes...............
Sadly, Vicki’s father passed away on October 25 after a long illness. Fortunately, we were able to spend some quality time with him and Avie, Vicki’s mom, two weeks before. Vicki is back in Tucson now helping her mom with all the arrangements and Norm is with Tide Hiker in Annapolis attending to some much needed, long overdue and previously-contracted electrical upgrades. Shortly, Norm will join Vicki and her family in Tucson for the memorial service on Nov 13. With all that has been happening, our long-awaited and desperately needed rest from retirement was extended. If all goes as scheduled, we will return to Tide Hiker on November 15 for the continuation of our journey to warmer climes. In the meantime, both of us completed our annual medical checkups and except for our weight gain, we got clean bills of health. Norm successfully installed the new water heater with some initial heavy lifting help from friends Jerry and Roger on Dock B. Thanks guys!! Vicki re-provisioned the galley and household items. The freezer, and every dry goods nook and cranny, and most importantly, the spirits locker is once again stocked with sustenance for 4-months. BTW, we would not have been able to do this easily were it not for our friends.

My brother Mike said, and I repeat, "If wealth were measured by family and friends, I am a rich man." So are we. We have been inundated with never-ending love, generosity, compassion, comarade and.................great food and spirits! Our friends loaned us a car for the month, helped us with maintenance; scared a transient boater out of a slip so we could return to Dock B and be close; stored some of our provisions while we were in Maine this summer; helped Norm bring Tide Hiker to Annapolis then returned the following weekend to make sure he was not lonely and was appropriately fed; hosted several lunches, dinners, parties for us; and, arranged secure and scenic dockage in Annapolis at significant savings. Also, friends on a DeFever like ours stopped by our marina and we, you guessed it, dinned with them a couple of times, including picking some crabs. We are blessed with so many great friends we have been confused for John and Cindy McCain. Yes, we breakfasted, lunched, suped and snacked our way back into their huge open hearts and enjoyed every last bite, ooops, I mean minute of it. Most importantly, we reconnected, got caught up and laughed, sometimes till it hurt. Thanks to each and every one of you for your love and generosity. And again, each one of you are invited to join us aboard Tide Hiker for a part of our cruise. You are very hard to leave again and we’ll be looking forward to seeing you soon.
What’s next? We will continue our journey to North Carolina and meet up with friends Rick and Lynnie aboard their DeFever and buddy boat south to the Keys; to the DeFever Rendezvous in Ft Myers; and, on to the Bahamas. More later, my friends.

Land Ho!

We'll be home (Delaware) this afternoon. Yea! We've missed everyone. We're looking forward to being Land Lubbers for a few weeks.

A new water heater has been ordered. The old one was corroded and leaking from the bottom. That means no hot water on the boat until the new one is installed sometime after we return from Tucson. Until then we'll shower at the marina, do laundry using the marina machines and (most aggravating) do dishes by hand, heating water in the microwave.

Fortunately for the Dock B neighbors, we were able to shower last night at the marina in Cape May.

Good news - Vicki's hair stylist, the wonderful Lorraine, will do Vicki's hair Sunday so that she won't frighten Mom and Dad on the trip to Tucson next week.

The Calendar

We're in Atlantic City NJ - almost to Delaware. Two more cruise days. We'll arrive Saturday afternoon. Just checked the weather and there is a small craft advisory today due to wind (15 knots, gusting to 25), so we'll stay put rather than punish ourselves for the 6 hour trip to Cape May. Tomorrow and Saturday look like fabulous days on the water, so we'll take advantage of them. Unfortunately, this means that Vicki will have to cancel her Saturday haircut and color which she really wanted to get before going to Tucson to see Mom and Dad. We hop on the plane Monday and return Saturday, Oct 11. Then we're in Delaware through at Oct 22. Hoping to get to Annapolis at the end of that week to have Bob Smith beef up our electrical system (more power to the people).


Another DeFever (53 RPH) is cruising with us. Joe Nekolo aboard Sea Pearl dropped anchor next to us at Sandy Hook. We introduced ourselves on the radio and he dinghied over with Salty Dog, his very cute and laid-back puppy. We're buddy boating to Delaware and he's going on to Annapolis for an engagement and then on down to Florida, so we may be able to travel together again. Yesterday we......

.....News flash... Norm just emerged from the engine room saying that he thinks the hot water heater is shot. He heard the bilge pump working this morning and went to investigate a leak in the in the hot water heater. I'm not sure what the implications of this are other than we may be a little ripe when we arrive in Delaware!

Yesterday we strolled the boardwalk of Atlantic City and gave Donald Trump a wee bit of money. Joe cooked us a scrumptious feast of linguini and Long Island Sound clams in red sauce. He'll be here tonight for meatloaf. (Guess you can tell who's more the gourmet.) Today we're going to Harrah's to try to cover the maintenance expenses of this trip or at least the cost of a new water heater.