Making Great Time and THE Decision . . .Our Journey is Over

Thanks, Martha, for this photo
of Pekabu at sunrise this morning.

    We had a wonderful breeze when we left the anchorage.  Then we had to change our angle and lost our point of sail for a while. Once on the Chesapeake the winds subtly changed direction and speed all day. Even with the changes we made good time, 6.8 to 7.5 knots as the current will be with us all the way up the bay.

 A reminder that we share
 the waters with those who make a living
while we use the waters for recreation.

    Unfortunately, the fact that we were making such good time also forced us to make a decision.  We could stop at Solomons around 1:30 PM and possibly be stuck there for a few days. .  . OR we could continue and be in our home dock tonight. If we stay in Solomons, we will be only a few miles from John and Betty’s home . . .so close and yet so far!  The bad weather tomorrow and then the winds on Thursday will keep us here until Friday.  We could take a direct route from here and be in our home slips for Andiamo around 7:30, Brunelle by about 8:30 and us about 9 PM providing the winds continue consistent.    As we discussed our options my first reaction was simply “it’s over!” “No hugs and kisses, no final clink of glasses and toasting to another good day and fantastic cruise!”    

    We are all in agreement.  We are homeward bound.  Our wonderful adventure will be coming to an end. I am, but I am not quite ready. It seems to be true of most cruisers, once you get close to home, you push on to get home for any number of reasons.  For us, we have people to see and places to go. This is the longest we haven’t seen our kids. They might be all grown, but we still miss them.  Pete’s Mom had surgery this past January and we have not been able to see her since Thanksgiving. We have spoken often, but it is not the same thing.   And then there is my truck. It is still in Florida with Ann and Howie. We will fly down to see them, pick it up, perhaps stop to see my sister and her family in the Charlotte area on the way out to Ohio to see Mom and then head home. Then Pete will have to set up meetings for work and I will have to figure out just what being retired really is all about.

The time has come for us to part and head for our home ports.
Andiamo is far off to the left; Brunelle is close on the right;
the lines are from Pekabu. 

     Around 3:30 we reached a distance where we said our final farewells over our handy walkie talkies that only reach 2 miles.   At 5:30 we hailed over the VHS to go to another channel and raised our glasses for a final toast to “another great day, wonderful friends and, to borrow from Martha’s Dad’ secretary, a G---  D---- Great Cruise!”

The confused skies sum up today's emotions.

    We followed Brunelle right up to Kent Narrows as the sun was low in the clouds. Brunelle parted to head to Lippincott Marina while we continued up to wait for the 8 PM opening of the final bridge of our voyage.  The tide was very high due to southerly winds blowing all day, so we had no problems with the skinny spots in the northern channel of Kent Narrows or the entry to Castle Harbor.

Brunelle entering Kent Narrows

     By 9 PM we were snuggled in to our slip as darkness was finally upon us.  SPOT was set as to our location and the email to our friends, family and cruising family letting them know that we had arrived at our homeport safely. Tomorrow, will be the final 70 miles at a considerably faster pace on land to home.

Pekabu heads into Kent Narrows and the final bridge.
Thanks, Martha, for the great photo.

    As for the statistics. . .6 months, 193 days, 7 states, 2 countries, 3 thunderstorms with 4 additional smatterings of rain, ever-changing vistas, countless magnificent sunset and sunrises, over 5000 photos (only the best or most relevant of which have been placed in the blog), unforgettable memories , priceless friendships and 3623 miles at 7 miles an hour! Would we do it again? We both agreed we would not answer that one too quickly, but there is so much we didn’t see and so many wonderful experiences that are worth repeating.  It is a definite . . . “maybe.”

     We are sad that something so wonderful is ending. However, we are so very thankful that we have been given the opportunity to experience all the places, the people, the acquired knowledge, the weather, the water, the images and most importantly the friendships that will forever be treasured.

~  ~ (\_~ ~ ~     Kathy and Pete  
  


Pekabu crossing The Bahama Banks February 22, 2011



War Ships, Loose Belts and a Creek Called "Antipoison"

Naval ship yard with ship completely
out of water!

     As we were preparing to leave Tidewater Marina, we met the owner of Saving Grace, the Valiant sailboat that traveled through Dismal Swamp with us yesterday. He is taking the boat from Kentucky to sell her in Annapolis. It has been a series of adventures including getting stuck in the mud in Alabama for a month, broken batten in the main and miscellaneous crew problems, but all and all it has been a very interesting voyage.

Returing war ship receiving help into slip.

    As we were approaching the naval docks, the announcement was made that there would be a naval ship departing. We were able to keep to the outside of the channel and watch as she was eased out of her berth. There was another naval ship being assisted back into her dock at the same time.

F16s patrol the harbor

 Add to this was a barge with a diver in the water further south in the channel and an air craft carrier beginning her entry into the harbor.  Unfortunately, Saving Grace did not have her radio on when we tried to alert her to the naval traffic.  Saving Grace was centered in the channel with the “war ship” (as they are now referred to on the radio) was bearing down on her.  The war ship actually had to blast the horn twice to get Saving Grace to respond.  Dan finally told him he had to give the navy ships 500 yards clearance.  After making a joke about not having a tape measure, he exited the channel. We were surprised the chase boats didn’t go after him. We had noticed the increase security, which is probably due to the news last night that US Special Forces took out Osama Bin Ladin in Pakistan last night.

Coast Guard escourts the very large air craft carrier into Norfolk Harbor

     After that little bit of excitement, we headed towards the north and into the Chesapeake Bay.  The winds were able to give us a little bit of a push so we motor sailed for most of the day.  Andiamo once again saw the temperature increase slightly so John checked and tightened the belt and we were once again on our way.  Then the temperature started to increase again, the instruments were also behaving a little bit flakey.  After some walkie discussion between the boats, John decided it might have something to do with the gain on the autopilot being too high. Once he lowered the gain, things seemed to settle back to normal. So we continued on, but changed our destination from Fishing Bay to Fleets Bay off of Antipoison Creek.  It offered better protection from the south wind and a more direct entry to the bay in the morning.

The beach - complete with a volley ball net
with osprey on each post!

    As we were heading towards the anchorage, Betty called to announce she had dinner ready for us once we anchored.  Dan offered to provide shuttle service.  Martha and I just had to add a few items to round out the meal and we were all set.  The anchorage is very pretty, close to a sandy beach with a volley ball net already installed.  It is not protected from the north, but if we were to head up the creek we would not have to worry about the wind from any direction.  It is a good place to keep in mind for a future trip in this area.

     At dinner, we discussed how quickly this cruise is coming to an end.  Tomorrow we will be in Solomons.  The weather doesn’t look good for Wednesday, storms and wind; then Thursday, cool and windy.  We are just not used to this weather!  Since the weather might come in early, we will be heading out at 7 AM. So it is back to the boats and getting ready for tomorrow for us.

~  ~ (\_~ ~ ~     Kathy and Pete 

The Beauty of Dismal Swamp

The morning is quite with the muted colors on the trees
 and mist slithers along the water's edge as we begin our day.

     We all have been looking forward to this portion of the trip.  We bypassed the Dismal Swamp on our trip south, but we would not end this trip without seeing this place that George Washington surveyed “back in the day.”

The railroad bridge tender's house.

One of the side creeks

     The trip needed to be timed as the locks and bridge only open at specific times each day.  So we needed to be at the South Mills Lock at 11:30 for the opening. Pekabu was fortunate to have the lead today.  It gave me the opportunity to take pictures form the bow. With the cool morning temperatures, there was even some early morning mist rising from the water in amongst the trees.

Entering the 1st lock

     As we traveled further north, I spotted an osprey with it's breakfast.  He also spotted and squawked at us.  As we got closer, he flew further up the creek.   I once again spotted him; he spotted us; he squawked more the closer we came, then few further up the creek.  He actually repeated this 4 times before he few down the creek with his small fish.  I don’t know if he repeated this with the other boats, or if he went up another branch of the creek, away from the “terrible boats.”

  

  The beauty of the ride was simply magnificent.  We removed the canvas connector between the dodger and the bimini just so we could appreciate the vista. Though the trees had completed their blooming, the honeysuckle perfumed various parts of our ride while unknown sweet floral scents drifted from other areas.  Surprisingly, even though this is “The Dismal Swamp“ we never encountered a “swamp” or “bog” smell in our travels today.

I finally got "the" turtle picture!

     What we DID encounter today was one grumpy trawler captain, who didn’t want to be passed (rammed our dinghy in the lock, blaming it on a bad port engine and never apologized), two sail boats, who wanted positions in the first lock so that they would be able to grab the dock at the Visitor’s Center, two logs in the canal and a couple of dead heads on the bottom that gave us significant bumps while we were traveling in 8 feet of water. . .and an ever changing spectacular view.

The lush, but narrow canal that was 8' deep with some submerged debris
that we bumped at 5' below the surface.

    Once we exited the canal we had to wait 50 minutes for the Glimerton Bascule Bridge, which had changed from an on demand to an hourly schedule last November. Dan dropped the hook and we rafted for the first time in 7 months.

We are not in the Bahamas anymore!

It was a great time to spend a half hour rather than circle.  By the time the bridge lifted, there were 8 boats and a tug pushing a barge, which was thankfully traveling extremely slow and was the last to go through the bridge. Unfortunately,

Rafted and waiting for the bridge
to open.

Andiamo needed to drop anchor just at the edge of the channel due to the engine overheating. Martha maneuvered Brunelle over and enabled Dan to transfer over to lend a hand to replace a belt.  After about 40 minutes we were on our way to Tidewater Marina in Portsmouth.  We had already decided to eat at the restaurant at the marina, which was a definite plus tonight considering we were all tied up by about 7:30 PM.

    The ICW Cruising Guide has been put away. Tomorrow we will be back to the Chesapeake and our home waters and well dog-eared charts.

~  ~ (\_~ ~ ~     Kathy and Pete