Summer in Baltimore

September 3 thru September 5

—Blogpost written by Bob

Tuesday, September 3

A cool clear morning greeted us as we luxuriated with our pressurized water, now that the fresh water pump has been replaced.  (I will never again take pressurized water for granted.)  The high temperature was expected to reach 85 degrees today--it was only 72 degrees at 8 AM.  The sky was perfectly clear.

After a nice hot shower, I started the project of completely removing the Ethernet cable between the two chart plotters--if you recall from a previous blogpost, this never worked.  (Who knows, it could have been the faulty chart plotter in the navigation station which has now been sent back for warranty repairs!)  In any event, I'm done with it!  I attached a messenger line to the cable before removing it so that next time I need to feed a cable through the pedestal (even though I can't imagine for what purpose at the moment), it will be easier.

A messenger line (at red arrow) was fed through
the pedestal as the old Ethernet cable
was pulled out.  (This view is
looking into the opened
instrument pod.)

Pulling out the Ethernet cable and reassembling the instrument pod only took about 1-1/2 hours.  (Fortunately, I didn't have to get everything out of the starboard cockpit locker to complete this task since we left the cable on top of the gear stored there!)


I've mentioned previously about my concerns about the Abacos and their recovery from the effects of Hurricane Dorian and since then I have found a trusted organization (through the help of YouTube channel "Sailing La Vegabonde") prepared to help the Bahamas recover, Global Empowerment Mission.  Please consider donating (as we have) using this link.

A screen shot of the website for
Global Empowerment Mission.

When I talked to people who lost their homes in West End to Hurricane Matthew, I was told that the Bahamian government's assistance was limited to $9,000 for each citizen's home.  ($9,000 would barely pay for the materials to rebuild even the simplest home in the Bahamas and most Bahamians don't have the personal savings needed to rebuild their homes.)

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Late in the afternoon, the pilot light I had ordered to use in conjunction with our new fresh water pump arrived--however, it was much smaller than I envisioned and it will not help much.  I returned the pilot light and ordered a different one today.  (Actually our new fresh water pump is even quieter than the old one, making a suitable pilot light even more necessary.)

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I am still debating about returning the fresh water pump I had ordered through Amazon.  It hasn't arrived yet and I have already replaced the fresh water pump with one I bought yesterday.  Up until today I had been thinking of keeping it as an onboard spare.  However, I don't have the luxury of keeping spares for everything (due to limited storage space and weight considerations) and since the previous pump had lasted 10 years (and now I'm installing a pilot light to show when it is running), I wouldn't expect it to fail anytime soon.  So, I'm now thinking of returning the previously ordered pump, unopened.

Wednesday, September 4

Today, Hurricane Dorian approached the Florida coast near Stuart, FL.  Fortunately, the eye of the hurricane was projected to stay well offshore.

The projected path of Hurricane Dorian
as of September 3.

Even though we live aboard our sailboat, we are not concerned with the dangers of the hurricane to ourselves or our boat.  The Chesapeake Bay area has been protected from the damaging effects of most major hurricanes and Dorian is expected to stay well offshore as it travels northward.

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When I viewed some of the recent footage of the aftermath of Hurricane Dorian on Marsh Harbor I feel a deep sense of sadness as I recognized landmarks that we were familiar with. I’ve already donated money but that just doesn’t seem enough. I’ve thought about going to the northern Bahamas for the winter and helping with their reconstruction but I’m 73 years old and I’m not sure that I’d be much help. I certainly don’t want to be a drain on their limited resources.  

The long green building in the center of this image
housed a restaurant, and shops. A nearby
bakery made fantastic coconut bread.  In
the long low gray building on the right is
where Lizzie died in the vet's office.

We are at a virtual crossroad and will be thinking over the month (September) how best to apply ourselves to their cause. The possibilities range from: (1) staying in Baltimore for the winter and donating the money we would have spent traveling to (2) loading up all my portable tools and going to Marsh Harbor and helping them get back on their feet.  Of course, there are intermediate courses of action like donating some more money and going to southern FL (or even Bimini or the Exumas) for the winter.  

A beautiful sunset in the late evening.

Thursday, September 5

Are you talking about me?

The sky was overcast as we gathered up our shower bags and headed to the showers.  The temperature was a cool 76 degrees with the day's high forecast to be only 79 degrees!  Today Hurricane Dorian is pummeling Charleston, even though the eye of the storm is well offshore.

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A little before 11 AM we left by car for Annapolis.  I had a doctor's appointment (annual checkup) late in the day, our dinghy's outboard was ready to be picked up after it's annual service, and Maggie wanted to do some organizing in our storage unit.

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I had to complete a Medicare Annual Wellness Visit Questionnaire while waiting in the doctor’s office. Living on a boat was not one of the options when asked about living accommodations. Most of the questions seemed more appropriate for people in their eighties, particularly the ones about falling. (I didn’t mention falling off a pier after docking our boat in Annapolis about 2 months ago because I didn’t think that falling off a wobbly pier is what they were interested in.) The questionnaire reminded me that I’m getting old—I really didn’t need that reminder!

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While I was in the doctor’s office Maggie was organizing our storage unit. Tomorrow, our cats get their annual physical exams and vaccinations.

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We have given a lot more thought to our winter plan. Currently, we plan to travel south to Miami (on the ICW and occasionally outside), then cross the gulf stream to Bimini. From Bimini, we will sail to Nassau (possibly via the Berry Islands) and then onto the Exumas.

By the time we got back to the boat it
was dusk and a soft pinkish glow
surrounded the boats.

More to be done before we leave Baltimore...

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