Sat May 29: Philly

 In which we buy every sweet carbohydrate in Philly ...

Rick made a tasty breakfast for Karen and Mark (KayDee owners), and then it was off for an adventure.  I may have given you the impression that we were in Philly - but we were actually a $40 Uber ride away. Easily split with our KayDee friends, and we all disembarked at the Liberty Bell.  I thought I had been here before, but now I am not so sure... so we 'rang that bell' again:

 

We had plans for lots of walking, and another of our Let's Roam scavenger hunts, but the wind and driving rain chased us into the Reading Terminal Market.  So. Much. Great. Food!  This place is an institution, and we had to try ALL THE THINGS.  Rick had the famous roast pork/broccoli rabe sandwich from DiNic's, and I tried Nanee's Indian/Pakistani Kitchen.  It would have been criminal not to buy some sweet carbs in the Amish/Pennsylvania Dutch section.  So we hit Beiler's Bakery and Donuts/Salads, and, I can tell you this for free, we did not buy salads. We bought extra sweets so we could enjoy several mornings of breakfast treats - but this plan was somewhat compromised by the fact that we ate tomorrow's ration on the way out of the Market.

As an aside - I was amazed that we were all so quickly comfortable being this crowded once again.  I had been sure I would never again want to be in a place with this many people.  But, as so often happens, food won over common sense.  PA has a mask mandate still in place, but everyone was...you know.... eating.

 

I love that this is where Jack and Jill was published.  Philly has done a great job with honoring historical places.

 

Chinatown!

We had to browse the Chinatown bulletin board for deals.  It was hard to find any.

Philly is well known for its public art.  Some day I will get back for that tour.

We were cold and tired, and Uber-ed back to the boat for a rest.  Rick's back was hurting, but he still had to climb around in the engine compartment to get the heater to work.  Earlier in the week, when I was too hot I admit I DID ask for it to be cooler.  But 47 degrees was not the happy medium I was hoping for.

We had a 'quiet' (airplanes, churning water, freezing rain, floating debris) night in, and enjoyed Escape to the Chateau, an HGTV show loyal reader Dots got us hooked on.

Fri May 28: Chesapeake City to Philadelphia, Anchorage Marina in Essington

 In which we make a spontaneous detour for a Philly Cheesesteak ...

Rick and I lack the spontaneity gene - but upon waking we discovered that we had both decided we must take a quick detour, with KayDee, to Philly.  We have to sit somewhere, waiting for a weather window to get to Cape May, so why not have another adventure!

We took a quick, early morning walk around the little town.  Super cute, but now dominated by a giant overpass leading up to the bridge.  

 

Note road/bridge in background.

We helped the local economy by buying breakfast sandwiches (and CHAI!!) and enjoyed some of the local color:

As Rick likes to say - 'that thing is so camouflaged I can't even see it!'

I feel like there is a story here....  We saw this guy yesterday - walking two BIG dogs, with this sad sack on his back. Can't the little guy keep up?  Is he (the dog) paralyzed/old/other but wants to go with them? Does he dread that harness?  So many questions...

There was a moment of stress when we had to get off the dock in C City - with wind, current and shallow water, without crashing into the $$$ boat behind us, but it went smoothly - Rick's blood pressure stayed almost within the range compatible with life.

Rick had precisely calculated when we needed to leave in order to have max current push us from behind down the canal, and then again from behind going up the Delaware River.  He did a great job as the 6 hour trip only took 4, and we were going so fast (for us - 11mph) I thought about getting out the water skis!!  

 

HOLD ON TO YOUR HATS!!!

Down the canal - we don't have to worry about the height of any of these bridges, as they are designed for big tugboats!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We have mentioned it a few times, but I thought (Rick here) it might be interesting for some of our 'many' readers to have some background information on the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal (C&D). We had never heard of this man-made transport corridor and I imagine you are on the edge of your seats with curiosity.  The C&D canal basically makes a cut across the Delmarva peninsula, connecting Delaware Bay with the Chesapeake Bay, thereby shortening ocean travel from Philadelphia to Baltimore by more than 300 miles. As early as the 17 century people started thinking about how to get goods from manufacturing centers in the north to the frontier areas further south, and the construction began on this 14-mile canal in1804.  It was all dug by hand and wasn’t finished until 1829.  It has been widened and deepened and now handles major barge and freighter traffic coming and going from the northern Chesapeake Bay out into the Atlantic Ocean.  We have read that it is the third most busy commercial canal (after Panama and Suez) - but we are skeptical about this claim.  If you’re interested in learning more:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chesapeake_%26_Delaware_Canal

I guess it's a day to take pix of bridges.

We cruised up the Delaware River accompanied by major shipping traffic, and as we closed in on Philly the weather got colder and darker with quite a bit of wind and current.

We had reservations at the “Anchorage Marina” and pulled alongside the docks only to be greeted by airplanes landing at the Philadelphia Airport!  It was non-stop jet traffic, and we tried to celebrated the noise as the sound of the economy coming back to life!   With the wind and current we quickly realized that this was not going to be an easy docking.  We swung around and Melanie took the helm while I put down fenders and readied lines....once the current got a hold of us we were committed. Melanie took charge and brought us in for a beautiful, picture-perfect cross current docking, impressing everyone on the dock.  It is so great to have a co-captain with nerves of steel!

Our marina in the flight path!  

One of the things we missed out on last year with COVID was the social aspect of boating.  Well, we aren’t missing that now.  There are so many other “looper” boats out here that you almost trip over each other trying to come by and say hello.   We’ve re-connected with our friends from last year on Meander and made new friends with folks on KayDee,  Legacy2, Loop Princess, and many more.   

 

Our new Legacy friends, and their friends!

This is a beautiful, 56 ft cruiser with state-of-the art-everything.   We quickly took them up on their offer of drinks because we were DYING to see the inside of such a boat.  Even their toilet brush was a thing of beauty.

We had such a fun time meeting the crew/owners and have been in contact with them on and off for a few days now.   They will certainly leave us behind as they can cruise comfortably at 20+ mph, leaving us in the “dust” (or is it mist?) as we ramble along at a blazing 8 mph. 

ANOTHER pickle pizza - this one with potato chips!  What is the world coming to?????

Thurs May 27: Swan Creek to Chesapeake City anchorage

 In which we are thankful for Gratitude ...

On our way out of Swan Creek we noticed that the area/town is called Gratitude.  We could all use a visit there more often, don't you think?  

 

And on that note, a shout out to one of the loyal readers we are grateful for - it's her birthday!!!  Here is a boat name just for you, Kim.  

Happy Birthday, Kim!!

Our route today took us up to the top of the Chesapeake Bay, where the sides of MD squeeze together.  This put us into the main shipping channel, where the big car carriers and others play.   I told Rick we needed to put on our Big Boat Pants and step up our game.

 

In fact we are expecting quite a crush of traffic (of cruisers, not barges) as we get further along.  Remember, all the frustrated 2019 and 2020 loopers, plus the 2021 loopers, are out - and the Memorial Day traffic. On the boating tracker app, NEBO, we can see those around us:

 

The symbol is a 'looper' symbol - we are the middle one.

 

As soon as we got out into the main body of water, cruiser KayDee (see, the boat behind us) saw us and sent us a message on Nebo, to say hello.  We got so excited, like Sally Fields at the Oscars!  'Ooooooo - someone wants us to be on their dodgeball team'!!!  They are also headed to Chesapeake City - THE stop at the top of the Bay.  It's the staging ground to enter the C & D Canal, and our friends, Lynn and Carolyn from cruiser Meander, are there waiting for us.  Our path this week will lead us across the C & D to Delaware City, where we will wait for the go-ahead to jump to Cape May, down the Delaware River.  This is a tricky passage, due to current and the unusually wide opening to the ocean at Cape May, leading to big wave action.  It's best to do this with company, so we are happy Meander is waiting for us. (Also - we have their oranges, so they have to wait for us or risk scurvy).

Here we are, leaving the the Bay to Chesapeake City.

 

Here is the C & D canal we will be going through soon - after we leave C. City.

It's was a long day (6 hours of cruising), so we were pretty groggy halfway through - until we were JOLTED awake by HUGE booms.  It turns out that the Aberdeen Cruising Ground on the western shore of MD was 'hot', and  a LOT of our tax dollars were being put to work by the military - those deep, resounding explosions that you feel more than you hear.

Almost to the turn I noticed the engine was making a weird noise.  I was really worried Rick was going to jump overboard if I brought a problem to his attention so soon after all the 'preventative' maintenance.  It turned out to be the roar of the infamous cicadas, overlying the engine noise.  You just can't describe such a noise!

 A right turn, a big bridge - and we were into C City and hoping for a spot on the free dock (there are only 3).  There was only one space left, so Rick jumped into the driver seat (I don't dock when there are other boats close by) and we made it look like a piece of cake.  Even though I had to jump from the bow of the boat to the dock to get us tied up.  It would not have looked good if I had broken my leg, so I am glad that didn't happen. 

We are tied up right at the mouth of the canal, so we can see the barge traffic. At least that means we don't have to worry about depth.  The canal is dredged to at least 50'!

Just as we settle in this flashy $$$ boat decides to dock between us and another boat.  Because they have a $$$ boat they have rotating engines, drive with a joy stick and can just move sideways.  We are not bitter AT ALL. I do realize that it's bad manners to dislike someone, without meeting them, because they have a yacht.

We met Lynn and Carolyn, and our new friends, Mark and Karen from KayDee, at the local restaurant for dinner.  It was great to be able to hug Lynn/Caro - the last time we saw them last Aug we couldn't even see half their faces behind their masks, much less get into their personal space...

Lynn/Caro are across from me - in their 80s and totally our role models for active aging.

I had a Pickle Pizza!  I didn't even know that was a thing - it was great.  Rick was skeptical, but then he ate most of it...

Wow - it was prom time!  A scene from 'the time before'! No one in MD is wearing masks anymore because they are 'optional'.

For this small town this is the local version of cruising main street!  The cool guys get their small boats out and cruise loudly up and down the canal before dark.

The town is absolutely hopping.  Pandemic?!  What pandemic...

We can stay on the free dock for 24-hours - but we can't make the jump to Cape May until Tues, due to weather.  We will see what adventure awaits in the meantime...

Wed May 26: Kent Narrows to Swan Creek mooring ball

 In which we FINALLY come unstuck ...

It took a massive effort, but we finally pried ourselves away from the dock at Kent Narrows.  Do you remember that scene from the Steve Martin movie, The Jerk? - 'all I need is this trashcan....and this....oh, and this....'   It was sort of like that.  So many delays - There was a load of laundry, I needed to get some work done while we still had good power/internet, Rick needed to buy (WHAT?  WHAT could we possibly need that we haven't ALREADY BOUGHT in this forsaken neck of the woods?) something something (had to make another run to a hardware store so as not to have hardware-store-withdrawal) and a bag of oranges for the friends we are planning to meet soon. It took forever to decouple the water, power, lines, etc - we had forgotten, again, how to do things. It was frustrating - nothing was happening, you know, Wright Aweigh!

This one amuses me on a couple of levels.  Like, do it quickly, or give the right of way!

But, nine-years-later, we were on the radio asking the Kent Narrows Bridge operator for permission to pass and we headed north.  Mr Weather reported that the lovely day was going to 'fall apart later' (a technical term, I assume) so we only went 15 miles, and then tucked up in Swan Creek on a mooring ball.  You know how I love a good mooring ball.  I know it's safe, I know we won't have endless anchor noise and it's usually peaceful.  Other then the machine pounding in a piling, making my expensive dental work rattle, it was peaceful.  It's a generations-old family-run marina, which we like to support.  The owner told us that Memorial Day was going to be the busiest they had seen since 2007, right before the crash. Lots of pent up demand ...

I'm not going to lie - we were pretty much sitting in puddles of our own sweat.  Rick said 'but we went north - it's supposed to be cooler north' and I pointed out that we had come all of 15 miles north'....but after the sun went down the storm rolled in, and brought cool air.  As well as menacing winds and tornado-ish clouds.  The 30-35mph gusts made me so nervous I had to go down below for a little while, and hide under the covers.  That always-spooky sound of wind moaning through the sailboat rigging, at the near-by marina, didn't help.  It was like the time my friend, Deb, visited us and started thinking of all the derelict boats and couldn't sleep for worrying about ghosts coming aboard.

But soon the wind passed, and our favorite part began - rain, thunder and a spectacular lightening show that lasted for 45+  minutes.  It was wonderful to have a front row seat to nature's raw show.  We ended the night be watching Eurovision: Fire Saga.  OMG - so silly; Will Farrell, need I say more.  But the show nature put on was the better one...

Lightening in the distance.

Mon May 17- Tues May 25: Sitting here in Kent Narrows

In which we experience the good, the bad and the very ugly ...

We were so long in Kent Narrows that I sort of lost my will to live, not to mention my will to blog.  But I need to get back on that horse again so here we go.  Longest. 10. Days. Ever.

Here is Rick:

So I’ll start by giving you the reason we stopped here in Kent Narrows - In my defense the idea for the stop was a well intentioned one.  It's just that we hadn’t intended for it to take 10 DAYS!  We bought the boat, here in Harrison Yacht Yard, in Sept 2019 and at that point we had some engine maintenance and repair work done by a great mechanic from a company called Dock Call.  So my thought was, “let’s stop in again for a day and have him do an annual inspection/maintenance call”.   I anticipated a day or two at most - an oil change, fuel filter change, etc.  Then Andy (the mechanic, who we love) suggested that, given the engine was made in 2004 and had not had any major maintenance done, that we take off all the heat exchangers (like the radiator on a car) and have them cleaned and serviced.  Which is not a quick process.

 So, on the one hand we will be very happy to have a newly maintained boat that will safely continue to take us northward, but in the short term we were frustrated by all the waiting and the fact that the boat seems to be living up to its reputation as a “hole in the water into which you throw money!”.  We keep telling ourselves “it will be worth it”, but honestly “preventative” maintenance is hard to handle as you are  “fixing” something that does not actually appear to be broken... Or at least that is how Mel sees it.

The view from Mel's office - total chaos with even the refrig involved.

Mel now:

I'll summarize by saying that we saw the good, the bad and the ugly while in Kent Narrows.

Good:  Andy lent us a car! He loves old Mercedes and has several - it's probably the only time we will ever drive one!

Good:  We had some great adventures.  We enjoyed the Blue Rooster a couple of times - it's a local breakfast coffee cafe that Andy told us about. 

We got to go to Baltimore and have a wonderful brunch at Paper Moon Cafe, which I have wanted to visit.  It's completely crazy pants, as you can see.

 

Good:  We found some great walking trails.

Good:  The rocket launch that was supposed to happen when we were in Chincoteague finally happened!

 

 

 

Great: Rick made a cute little spice rack using some spare space under the galley cabinets.  He also spent time on some other little maintenance chores - tightening loose faucets, cleaning drains and sump pumps and generally cleaning things.  And I got lots of work done.

 Good: We got to stop by and see Herb, an old salt who opines on the Great Loop website.  Rick has been communicating with him. He's a c h a r a c t e r.

Bad: Had to pay taxes.  : (

Very Bad: Rick threw out his back helping the mechanic lift the heat exchangers on to the dock. Lesson - Do NOT helpfully offer to lift 50 pounds of equipment from boat to dock.  We very much hope that the popping noise sounded worse than it will prove to be.

UGLY:  I was working in the lobby of a near-by hotel and witnessed one of these awful 'Karen' rage events you read about in the papers (do people still read the paper??).  This women was so abusive and horrible to the staff that we were all shaken by the time she stormed out the door.  Then, unbelievably, she came BACK and threw things and was even, if possible, WORSE.  I tried to video it, but was shaking so hard I couldn't press 'play'.  Afterward the staff and I just stood around crying - my whole world view about the basic good of humanity upended.  I am very hopeful the hotel will press charges, as that is just about the only recourse decency has these days.

I can't end on that note, though, so I will give you the Cool: We saw this thing fly by that looked like a flying boat.  It IS, in fact, a flying boat!  I guess amphibious ultralight flying boats are a thing!

And finally, this boat name sums up how I felt about our time in Kent Narrows:

Here's what our next leg will look like - if we ever stop Wastin Aweigh in the Narrows....

 

Sun May 16: St Michaels to Kent Island Narrows Harrison Boat Yard

 In which we end up back where the whole thing started ...

We had my favorite thing - a slow start!  Rick was feeling some nerves about approaching the Harrison Boat Yard with the swift current that can come through Kent Narrows, so we waited for slack tide.  Once again we were alone in a peaceful anchorage.  All the day-trippers went home last night - we acted all superior and rolled our eyes and said 'dilettantes', not like those of us who LIVE on the boat.  Then I reminded Rick that we have been 'living' on said boat for less then a week, and he was all 'WHAT?  No WAY?!?!'  It does seem like a month - not sure if that is a good or bad sign.

Rick had enough time on his hands to MAKE BREAD.  ON A BOAT.  Gosh, I married well.  

 

We almost left with a stowaway - It gives a whole new meaning to the term Duck Boat!

 It was a sunny and windy day out - perfect for regattas:

It was a quick jump to Harrison, and  Rick made the bow-in docking look like child's play!  Harrison is where, just about two years ago (back when we had disposable income) we bought the boat - with the help of our friend Rick Dillman (boat broker extraordinaire).   Thanks Rick!  (I think).  It's apparently now just as hard to buy a boat as it is a house.  The piers around us, usually bursting with boats for sale, are pretty empty - and almost every boat has an 'Under Contract' sign on it.  So, basically, the 'essential workers' stayed on the front lines, and fell further behind - and the rich got to work from home and get richer/buy boats.  On that happy note I'll leave you with the requisite ridiculously-pretty sunset shot.

Testing out my new zoom camera! 

We are a stone's through from the hopping crab restaurant area - fortunately it's Sunday so it's a LITTLE quieter than usual.  Happily (that's sharkcasm) the noise of the express way drowns out other ambient noise...

WAIT - why ARE we here at Harrison's??????????

Uh-oh.  Rick's favorite mechanic is here.....  Rick has some 'splainin' to do.....  I need to get to the bottom of this.  I'll be back.