cruising on the Mary T

We started our voyage to the Caribbean by moving Mary T a few miles south down the Bay to Deale, MD. We’ll be berthed at Shipwright Harbor Marina for the summer and then take off in earnest in October.  Although we’ll miss the location and amenities of the West River Yacht Harbor in Galesville, we’re happy to be in Deale. The staff are very friendly and helpful, it’s affordable to us, and it’s one of the few places we’ve found that graciously welcome live-aboards and do not require a 12-month lease. We’ve been here before. Shipwright is where we kept Mary T until heading off on our first major voyage in 2007.

We’d like to thank our good friends Spencer and Carol for helping us with car logistics and docking.  The sail down was delightful and their company was much appreciated.

Thanks go out to Adam Cort of Sail Magazine for putting “Cruising on the Mary T” on their Web site. Scroll down to “Destinations + News” and look for “It’s Pirate Friday!”

Also, we are thrilled that Good Old Boat Magazine will be sending out a very positive review by Susan Peterson in the June Newsletter.

Tuesday, April 6, was unseasonably warm with a perfect breeze out of the south west. We took Mary T out for a day sail just to see if all was in order. All mechanical and electronic systems  seemed to work fine with the exception of the batteries. Even though they had been charged all winter, pressing the autopilot button caused a low battery alarm to sound. The autopilot continued to work and the motor started when needed so we’re not sure if the alarm is false or what.

The crew, although a little rusty, eventually remembered how to sail. We toasted Posidon, Neptune, and all other gods and supreme beings, asking for a safe and happy season on the water.

We’re currently living in West Annapolis for two weeks while daughter, Kai-lee, and family vacation in Hawaii. While here, we’re doing more interior varnishing as well as other odd chores that are difficult to do while living aboard. We still haven’t found another slip for the summer. The slip holder where we are currently docked, will be coming back in a few weeks.

We’ve moved our blog from ClickBert.com using Blogger to CruisingontheMaryT.com using WordPress. This was due to the fact that Blogger will stop supporting blogs that use FTP. But enough of the technical stuff–it’s all the same to readers, anyway.

We’re seeing the last of the snow melt away, the Canada geese are starting to head north, somebody’s already prepped and painted the bottom of their boat, and we find ourselves turning the heat down from time to time. So, we figure spring may be truly on its way.

We abandoned ship for the Superbowl weekend storm and instead spent the weekend at Kai-lee’s house. After shoveling out on Monday, we shoveled in to Mary T and rode out the Feb 9/10 blizzard onboard. It wasn’t too bad as the wind was off the land. We heeled a bit but it wasn’t uncomfortable. We did not go outside until Thursday. Things are back to normal for now.

The film you’ve all been waiting for is finally here. Amy recently completed the editing of our 2007-2008 trip up to Nova Scotia and down to the Bahamas. We call it a docu-comedy. For more information, go to www.cruisingonthemaryt.com

We are back in slip C-61 at the West River Yacht Harbor in Galesville. Our thanks to the Tates for renting us their slip again. We’d also like to thank our dear friends Tim, Viki, and Annie for allowing us to stay at their house while we renovated our V-berth. The work involved removing the head-liner, cleaning all the mold, painting the fiberglass, and varnishing the teak. We hope to continue cleaning, painting and varnishing the rest of the boat as weather permits.

We also had our diesel inboard repaired. There was a messy fuel leak and an oil leak that had nagged us throughout our trip back from Newfoundland. The oil leak from our raw water pump was the result of sloppy work by a mechanic in Maine. The arrow in the photo points to the broken gasket he covered up with a new gasket. To their credit, Robinhood Marine Center fully reimbursed us for the cost of this job after we e-mailed the photo at right.

Another important item we were able to cross off our “to do” list was the replacement of our wind speed instrument. This device had not been working for a number of years. We lived without it for most of that time but missed it at night when looking up at the wind indicator at the top of the mast becomes very difficult.

How about that big snowstorm December 18 & 19? We heard it was coming so we abandoned ship and headed to the home of Ken’s daughter and son-in-law. It wasn’t so much the snow that concerned us as was the very strong winds that were predicted to blow from the northeast. The slip we occupy is exposed to choppy seas when the wind is out of that direction and that makes life aboard quite unpleasant. We returned on the 20th and spent about 45 minutes shoveling the snow from the boat and the dock. Hopefully there won’t be any more blizzards like that this winter.

We’ve been back in the Annapolis area since Oct. 5 but were too busy to finish the blog in a timely manner. So, here’s the belated recap of where we’ve been and what we’ve done since leaving Robinhood Marina–the end of the last major blog entry:

We left the foggy, foggy Sheepscot River on September 13th. The pea soup gradually dissipated and by mid-day the sun was out. Our destination, Cape Porpoise, was about 45 nautical miles away. The sailing was good fun until the last hour or so when a front approached driving some big waves and gusty winds. And, just like when we arrived back in June, the entrance to Cape Porpoise was congested with an inordinate number of lobster pot buoys that added to our other challenges.

We navigated through without mishap and again found an unoccupied mooring. It was right next to the one we had used on the way up which, at this time, was holding the boat of the fellow who owned it. He happened to be aboard so we invited him over for a drink. Peter didn’t quite remember us at first but we jogged his memory with a reminder of how we ran in to him at the town dock. The course of the conversation covered sailing, lobstering, Buddhism, and small town politics among other things. Peter departed as the sun set and wished us fair winds and flat seas.

We set out for Gloucester on Monday with hopes of seeing our friends from Windfall, Raffi and Lisa, as well as Amy’s sister, Molly, and brother-in-law, Tim. Despite a somewhat light wind we sailed most of the way and arrived in the late afternoon. We picked up a city mooring in Smith Cove and Molly and Tim drove out from Littleton to join us for dinner. Amy cooked up a delicious pot of lentil stew as well as the leftover moose stew that Tim was eager to try.

Raffi and Lisa were away with charter guests, so, we decided to stick around to see them when they returned the following day. It gave us an opportunity to get some walking in and see parts of Gloucester we’d missed before. We were also able to have our refrige ration system examined by a fellow whom Raffi had contacted. The system had been quitting on us at random intervals since Shelburne, NS. Herman, the repair man, diagnosed it as needing a new controller but he didn’t have one to replace it with. So, we figured we’d deal with it in Maryland and just continue to buy ice.

Raffi and Lisa returned later that day and invited us to join their charter guests for cocktails. The guests, a couple from New York, were eager to hear of our trip to Newfoundland.

The following day, Windfall headed to the Misery Islands near Salem, since the forecast was for rather strong northeast wind. We were heading for Scituate or Provincetown and figured the strong winds would get us there quickly. However, after a few hours, we found the very large following seas to be a bit too unpleasant. So, knowing that Misery loves company, we decided to rendezvous with Windfall.

The Misery Islands are part of a conservation organization and there are many moorings available used mostly by day-trippers. Raffi saw us approaching and got in his dinghy to assist us since the moorings do not have pick-up lines. We threw him one of our dock lines and he attached it to the mooring for us. Such service!

Windfall departed shortly afterward due to their guests’ schedule, but we decided to spend the night. Although there was a wee bit of ocean swell that rolled through the very small break between the islands, the anchorage was very protected from the 25 knot north east winds that were blowing. We remained at Misery for two nights waiting for the seas to settle down. Although we were not actually miserable, the swell made us have to hold on as we walked around the boat.

We left Misery behind on Friday and had a lively ride to Scituate. The wind was still in the 20s but the waves were somewhat kinder and gentler. Saturday brought even stronger winds but we thought that the waves would be smaller since we believed the wind would be more offshore. Our geography was a little off, however, as the wind had a lot more fetch and thus produced some rather large waves. We moved quite fast under reefed sails and hit the Cape Cod Canal on schedule and rode the tide to Onset, the first town on the western side of Buzzards Bay.

Onset has a very nice anchorage and quaint atmosphere–at least in the waterfront area. We didn’t get to walk around as much on our previous visit in 2007 and were quite impressed with the place this time around.

We set out for Block Island on Sunday but were not making very good time. The wind gradually picked up but it was against us. Feeling that we were in no hurry, we decided to go up the Sakonnet River rather than beat all the way to Block Island. The Sakonnet is east of Newport and the Naragansett Bay. It has grand mansions like Newport but not the heavy boat traffic.

It was around this time that we decided to head down Long Island Sound rather than spend several days waiting on Block Island for favorable winds. We figured we had time to enjoy the Sound and didn’t relish the thought of meeting up with the fleet of commercial fishermen during the overnight portion of that route. During the next few days we hit Fisher’s Island, NY, the Thimble Islands, CT, Stamford, CT, and finally City Island in NYC.

In Stamford, we visited with Amy’s friend, Michelle, who treated us to a fine, home-cooked meal and much needed hot showers. We were also able to hook up with cruising friends Lou and Jane from Nyack, NY. Our visit with them was quite memorable for a variety of reasons, including seeing Lou and Jane’s house; being chauffered by them around the treaherous NYC metro area in rush hour traffic; going to the fabulous Donald M. Kendall Sculpture Garden in Purchase, NY, and seeing a very large gathering of Hasidic Jews involved in Tashlikh–the practice of casting off the year’s sins by throwing bread into the Hudson River and preparing for the new year.

We had heard on the news earlier in the week, that a record number of the world’s leaders would be gathering at the UN starting around September 21. These events happen about once a year and back in 2007, our friends, Bruce and Ester, aboard Con El Viento, got hung up in the East River during that year’s meeting because the Coast Guard closes the river to all boat traffic. Their story was quite scary, and we didn’t wish to be caught in a similar situation.

Therefore, we decided to wait until Saturday, when there were no scheduled meetings with bigwigs at the UN. We had telephoned the Coast Guard and they informed us there would only be the standard security zone. After we started to head down the East River at Hell’s Gate, we heard on the VHF radio that the Coast Guard moved the security level up a notch so that we had to transit on the east side of Roosevelt Island. It wouldn’t be such a big deal except that there is a bridge there that must open for us to pass under. We had a very difficult time finding out the opening schedule due to the very busy VHF radio traffic. Although you would think the Coast Guard would help mariners by giving out the schedule, they insisted they did not know what it was. Another boater heard our conversation and said it is simply every hour and half hour. How hard would it be for the Coast Guard to relay that information in their radio announcements?

Anyway, we arrived at Atlantic Highlands, NJ, around mid-day and settled in for an extended stay waiting for favorable winds. When the wind finally shifted to the north, we had an exhilarating ride down the coast of New Jersey. The wind was truly offshore this time, blowing in the upper teens. The waves, however were non-existent so it was like sailing on a lake.

We arrived in Atlantic City after about 12 and a half hours and found a spot in the Brigantine anchorage. The next day was a shorter run to Cape May where we ran in to our favorite good Samaritan, Paul. Paul lives in Atlantic City but was in Cape May aboard his boat, Journey, headed for the Chesapeake. We had dinner together and shared many cruising stories. Fortunately for Paul, Journey fits under the Cape May Canal bridge. Mary T’s mast is just a couple of feet too tall. This means that Paul can shave about two or so hours off the trip up the Delaware. We, on the other hand, have to head back out the Cape May inlet into the Atlantic and go around the very bottom of the Cape May peninsula. We, along with all the other cruisers poised to head up the Delaware the next day, had the choice of leaving in the wee, wee hours of the morning to catch the flooding tide, or wait until the afternoon. We figured we’d just leave at daybreak.

This was not a good decision. Although the wind was favorable (from the southeast), the current was against us. Despite the conflict, we were making good time at the start. But later in the day, as the current grew swifter and the wind stronger, we had some serious gybes both planned and unplanned. We were motor sailing with only a reefed main but the reef was coming undone with each gybe. The conditions were so rough we figured it was better to live with it than take a chance on the deck. We knew we’d eventually get to some protected waters but we had a bit of a struggle to get there. Our nerves were severely tested by the weather as well as the large ship traffic, the shoals, and the crab pot buoys. This particular Saturday won the award for the worst sailing of the whole summer. Luckily, no one got hurt and nothing got damaged.

In order to help recuperate, we treated ourselves to the marina at Summit North, DE, and then sailed into our beloved Chesapeake on Sunday, October 4.

After about four and a half months and 2,950 nautical miles, our second sailing adventure was over. After much thought, we decided to stay put in Maryland for a year rather then continue heading south to the Caribbean. We plan to continue cruising in October of 2010.

Amy is currently working hard on the docu-comedy of our 2007-08 adventure which we hope to make available for public consumption in the coming month–just in time for Christmas. Check back here for the release announcement.

That’s all for now. Thanks for reading.

This is just a quick entry to let you all know that we changed plans regarding how we’d get back to the Chesapeake Bay. We were going to sail from Block Island, RI, to Atlantic City, NJ, but the forecast for the coming week didn’t look promising. So, we opted to go through Long Island Sound and down the Jersey coast. We hope to be back in the Bay by late September/early October.

We weathered the remnants of tropical storm “Danny” while in St. Peter’s, Cape Breton. It was no big deal compared to “Bill” the week before, still, we had some significant wind for a few hours. We let the sea settle down before heading for Sambro on Monday, August 31. Sambro is a small harbor south west of Halifax. The wind was perfect until about 10pm when it quit requiring us to motor through the night. The moon was almost full so we had great visibility.

Our progress was so good we decided to bypass Sambro and keep going to Lunenberg, NS one of our favorite places. We picked up a mooring and enjoyed the great view of the harbor before heading off to our favorite bar in Nova Scotia, the “Knot Pub.” It felt almost like going home. The fish and chips dinner and the scallops were as good as we remembered from before.

We contemplated staying there another day because the wind was going to be against us but decided to push on anyway to Port Mouton. However, after thrashing about for a few hours in opposing wind and seas, we changed plans and headed into the LaHave River. We’d heard good things about the area, so it was not a hard decision to make.

One thing local cruisers and guide books rave about is the LaHave Bakery. Not only do they have great baked goods, but they have moorings as well. This was our destination. You can’t miss the bakery as it’s on the water and has the name painted on in very large, block letters. The moorings were harder to locate. The one that we initially tried seemed way too small, so we dropped it and headed towards some larger ones that were just a stone’s throw away. After picking one up, we relaxed in the cockpit for a few hours before heading over to the bakery’s wharf in our dinghy. We had only gone a few yards when we saw a man on a dock off of a nearby house, waving his arms to get our attention. We figured we were on his mooring.

“Welcome. My name is Grant. Would you like to tie up your dinghy to our dock? Want showers? Can I take your garbage for you?” It was like Newfoundland hospitality all over again. He went on to say the mooring was not the bakery’s but that the owner hadn’t used it all year so, sure, go ahead and stay there. Then Donna, his wife, came out to greet us as well. Grant and Donna are cruisers who recently retired and moved from Halifax to their new home on the river. They invited us to come back after our visit to the bakery and our walk around town.

We bought some bread at the bakery and left it there so we could walk unencumbered and pick it up upon our return. Nearby we found a an historical site and museum commemorating the original French settlement. After reading all the information plaques, we sat on a bench to stare out at the river. Within a few minutes an older gentleman walked up and started chatting about the history of the place, why we should move to LaHave, US health care reform, world-wide food shortages, the Clans in Scotland and on and on concerning a wide variety of topics. Although he was very pleasant and interesting, we were rather tired and concerned that the bakery would be closed before we got back to pick up our bread. We finally made our move to leave. He, it turned out, was headed in the same direction. So, we chatted and chatted some more while walking.  We left him at the post office–his destination–and continued on to ours.

The lady at the bakery said she wondered if we had walked to Halifax as we were gone so long.

“No, we just ran into a very talkative guy at the park” I said.

“Was he wearing boots and shorts?” she asked.

“No, but he was Scottish.”

Then she described someone else that did not fit the bill and noted that there are quite a few long talkers in town. We got back to Grant and Donna’s house and planned to just say thanks and move on. However, they invited us in for drinks and to talk about our recent cruising adventure. We thought that sounded like a fine idea. Their house is right on the water with a beautiful view of the La Have River. They had just moved in a few weeks prior and were planning to cruise on their sailboat, Mr. Bill in the coming years, so they were eager to chat about boats and destinations. It turned out Donna was from Newfoundland, so we felt right at home. We thoroughly enjoyed the several hours we spent there and will definately look them up again the next time we pass through.

The following day, the wind was still against us but we did manage to make it to Port Mouton. Mary T was thoroughly coverd with salt from all the spray we took. Port Mouton is a place we’ve been to before and enjoy it every time. There is a beautiful sandy beach and very clear but cold water.

From Port Mouton, we went to Shelburne where we planned to wait until favorable winds would carry us to Portland, ME. The Shelburne Harbour Yacht Club was sponsoring a sailboat race and cook-out. As we were sailing in to the harbor, the racers were headed out. We felt like Muslim pilgrims at Mecca walking the wrong way around the Ka’ba. We recognized one of the participants–Blue Chip and a short time later they called us on the radio. After the race, we met up with Darrel and Janet on their boat and had a fabulous cocktail hour with them and their friends. Turns out they quit the race and motored back to the club as they were getting bored by the whole exercise. They insisted we join them at the cookout even though we had nothing to bring except our giant box of red wine. Everyone in the club was very gracious towards us, even though we lacked a covered dish for the pot luck table. We didn’t end up lingering in Shelburne, but headed out the next day for Bar Harbor. The wind would be favorable and, we felt like visiting Acadia National Park on Mt. Desert Island.

As it turned out, there was hardly any wind at all and we motored the whole way–about 26 hours. Boring but efficient.
Arriving at Mt. Desert Island from  the water is quite spectacular and reminiscent of Newfoundland. Bar Harbor was hopping with activity which was somewhat of a culture shock for us. We enjoyed a few of the local restaurants and the free buses sponsored by LL Bean were still running throughout the national park. We did a rather strenuous hike and ended up at the Jordon Pond house, a restaurant in the park famous for popovers. The other dishes were nothing to write home about, but the Popover a la mode (chocolate Sunday in a popover) was to die for.

We anchored the following off McGlathery Island in Penobscot Bay’s Merchant’s Row. Close by was the 145 foot schooner, Heritage. Heritage is a charter vessel and the crew had just rowed the guests to a beach on the island. Amy, every curious, decided to go over and see what they were up to. Turns out they were having a lobster bake and Captains Doug and Linda invited her to join in. They were even kind enough to send one lobster back to the Mary T for me.

We’re  currently at Robinhood Marine Center waiting to visit with our friends, Corning and Tita Townsend, who live in nearby Edgecomb. We had also hoped that the yard here would re-install our water pump which they had installed back in June. It has leaked oil ever since. We were very disappointed when we were informed that they would not do a re-install gratis. There is much we like about Robinhood but we would not recommend the place for mechanical repairs. We shall continue heading toward the Chesapeake Bay on Sunday September 13, because it is getting chilly. It is time for the snowbirds to fly south. (more…)