Blue Horizon Adventures: 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!