We left Shipwright Harbor Marina in Deale, MD, on August 4 amid a serious lack of fanfare. With a very pleasant wind behind us, we sailed up to the Magothy River and anchored by Dobbins Island. This is a big party area but at least there is a 6 knot speed so motorboats shouldn’t go speeding past. Revelers partied way into the night which at first concerned us as we thought they would then be driving their boats homeward. However, they all spent the night which seemed very prudent.
The next day brought stronger southerly winds so we flew up the Bay to Chesapeake City. We thought we’d go to the Reedy Island anchorage but severe weather announcements keep blaring so, we opted for the cozy basin off the Maryland end of the C&D canal. Amy’s back started acting up so, we spent the next day asking around as to whether there was a masseuse in town. We heard there was one down the highway a short bit. A phone call went unanswered so, I made the trek to see what was up. Unfortunately, the spa was closed on Monday.
As it was now noon, we sought liquid remedies. Amy had a double grapefruit crush at the dock bar on the basin which probably did as much to help her back as any massage would have.
A couple of hours later, we headed down the canal toward Reedy Island. This anchorage is located just a stone’s throw from the Delaware end of the C & D canal. If it weren’t for the huge cooling tower looming over the island, you’d think you were very far from the mid-Atlantic megalopolis. There were no other boats there and very little big ship traffic.
We left early the next morning thinking we might go straight to Block Island. Or not. As it turned out, and, as it always seems to go whenever we approach Cape May, we find something wrong with the boat. This time, it was the radar. It was acting like it was working but no blips appeared on the screen. We had not used the radar since who knows when so, we had no idea that this was an issue. After reading the manual proved fruitless, we called Raymarine, the manufacturer. The tech on the other end talked us through how to test the cable as he believed it was either a problem with the radome or the cable.
Once we anchored in Cape May, I took apart the Navpod (the box at the steering wheel with the chartplotter). The test showed that the cable was fine, so we figured it must be the radome (the thing on the mast that contains the radar). We then imagined that the way things go, it would be something we could not fix because they don’t make them that way anymore and thus we’d have to buy some new thing that would not be compatible with the old and before you know it, it’s a $5000.00 bill.
As luck would have it, the problem was solved by simply plugging the cable back in to the chartplotter and everything worked fine. Apparently the cable got jostled just enough to cause certain pins to lose contact.
We figured that we saved $5000.00 all of which could be spent gambling in Atlantic City–out next destination.
The trip to AC was all motoring as the wind had completely died. The night before, we had contacted our friends, Paul and Colleen, who live in AC, to let them know we’d be there. They graciously invited us to join them at a gathering of Paul’s family to celebrate the birthdays of his sister and brother.
So, after our late afternoon arrival, Paul picked us up and offered what every cruiser cherishes–a real, unlimited hot water, pressurized shower. The party was a rollicking affair complete with party games including pin the balls on the donkey and butt darts. Butt darts involves shoving a quarter up your butt and holding it there while you walk over to a bowl placed on the floor in which you attempt to drop the quarter. Of course you do it with your clothes on, so you’re really just squeezing the quarter between your butt cheeks. I suppose if you were wearing super tight pants it wouldn’t work. I was horrified at first, but then I started laughing so hard, I thought I was going to throw up. You know what people look like when they’re trying to walk holding a quarter in their butt cheeks? We were made to feel right at home and were treated to a large feast of steak and potatoes. I even won the “butt dart” competition. Who knew I had such skills.
We’ve been in Atlantic City since Wednesday, mostly waiting for a good weather window to go to Block Island. And, it’s a good place for Amy to work on editing her Matt Rutherford documentary (no title has been decided on, yet). It’s now Saturday afternoon and we’re still getting thunderstorms. Hopefully tomorrow will be the day.
We never did make it to the boardwalk with our $5000.00.