Kent Island to Galesville

—Blogpost written by Bob 

Saturday afternoon. October 2

In the middle of the afternoon, we motored out of our slip and out through the marina's channel. Getting out through the channel was not a problem despite leaving about 1-3/4 hours before high tide.  As we motored north on the Chester River toward Love Point, I felt the easy familiarity of being on the water.  (I have spent 49 years sailing the Chesapeake Bay and 35 of those years with the same boat.)  The boat moved along at a brisk pace on the river with the light wind behind us.   We turned around Love Point and headed south toward the center span of the Bay Bridge (into the light breeze) and it still felt good being out on the water.  It also felt healthy to be in the fresh salt air.   As we got under the Bay Bridge the wind started to build, eventually to 15 knots.

We were motoring because we had already taken down our jib and put it in storage and the wind was coming from the south anyway—the way we were headed.    S/V Rainy Days does not motor well into 15 knots of wind—our boat speed slowed to 4-1/2 knots (from 6-1/2 knots).   Water was splashing onto the dodger’s front window from the bow as we bucked the wind-created waves.  

Lola was outside in the cockpit with us (and was looking a bit green and actually drooling) while Kali was inside in the main salon (and had vomited, mostly into their litter box).  It was not a good day for them.

As we were coming into the West River at the end of today’s little trip, I was reminded of all the negative times we experienced while cruising (like the “rage” we encountered at Whale Cay Passage in the Bahamas, coming into Southport NC from an ocean passage after dark, going aground for hours in the ICW just north of the Savannah River, etc.).  I had concluded that I finally had enough “adventure” in my life and that I was content to stop cruising at that point.

When we went to drop our anchor in the West River across from Pirates Cove, the switch for the windlass down below had been nudged into the “off” position (probably by the jostling litter box during the afternoon).  We ultimately figured out what had happened and corrected it so that we could anchor but it was one more little frustration during our short day.

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To illustrate how rusty we are as cruisers (or how old and senile we’ve become), when we anchored in the West River overnight and as it was getting dark, we decided to turn on our anchor light.  I looked all over our 12-volt instrument panel twice (with my full attention the second time) for “anchor light.”  After Maggie commented on my time-proven inability to find things, she came and looked over the electrical panel one nameplate at a time with a flashlight—she couldn’t find it either.  Then, like a light bulb came on, I remembered that we have a tricolor/anchor light combo (which we’ve had for years) with its own controls on the far port side of our electrical panel.  (Once put in position of “anchor light” it is self-controlled by the amount of daylight.)  Apparently, we had not used our anchor light in over a year!  Once we figured it out, it worked perfectly as expected.

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We listened to the Penn State football game (7:30 PM kickoff) after having a delicious steak and a salad for dinner.  Penn State beat Indiana by a score of 24 to 0 in their fifth game of the season—they were 5 and 0 after this game.  I dozed off after the game ended (about 11 PM) and slept without a care in the world.  I didn’t hear a single noise through the open hatch right above our heads.

Sunday, October 3

It was surprising how a good night’s sleep can change one’s entire attitude!  In the morning as the sun came up, the West River was as calm and peaceful as could be.  I could again see the beauty of cruising by sailboat, even if it was relatively local.

A forest of sailboat masts at Pirates Cove
glowed in the morning sun.

As far as ending our long-distance cruising, today I am not so sure.  I guess it depends on how our 6-month trip to Mexico goes.  However, while we are in Mexico, I will turn 75 years old—maybe it is time that I give up cruising and use our boat like a summer condo (pretty much like we did this past summer).  Time will tell…

Kali looks out over the West River with
amazement (or so I like to think).

Just before 10 AM we pulled up anchor and motored our boat into Hartge’s Yacht Yard for maintenance and winter storage.  We had to take a temporary slip at the end of the haulout bay until another boat, a J-42 from Camden ME (operated by a couple that looked older than us), left the boatyard.  As soon as they left, we entered a slip in the haulout bay.  Upon entering this slip, I couldn’t get out of forward gear fast enough (the shift cable had hardened up) and we ran into a piling head on.  Our anchor hit the piling and caused damage to the chain stopper and the fiberglass near the bow.  In addition, our chain locker wouldn’t close.  Needless to say, I had to add a couple more things to the list of boatyard work.

A close up view of the damage to the bow,
particularly under the chain stopper.

The lid to our chain locker
wouldn't fully close.

We eventually got the boat settled in with two dock lines, two spring lines, and two large fenders in place.  With the cats contentedly onboard, we went to find the keys to the boatyard’s van.

We drove the boatyard’s van (I call it the beast because the electronica indicator for the gears and the air conditioner doesn't work) from Galesville back to Kent Island, a distance of maybe 35 to 40 miles, to retrieve our car.  (I was fuming inside, mostly at myself--so, we didn't talk much during our trip together.)  We got back to the boatyard at 12:30 PM and promptly went out for lunch (at Panera Bread) in Annapolis.

When we returned to the boat, we started packing up storage containers.

Monday, October 4

I was up early (6:30 AM) because I was concerned the way our packing was progressing.  We were packing way too many things in the “household items” container we just packed yesterday!

The sun was just coming up as I sat outside
with our cats for their morning outside
time--we were in the haulout slip.

A luxury-converted skipjack awaiting work
at Hartge's Yacht Yard.

S/V Rainy Days is ready for a
well-deserved 6-month rest.

We did lots of packing today, things from the boat going with us to Mexico.  We went out for lunch in Annapolis between packing tasks.

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I’ve been having an ongoing issue with Delmarva Power—it’s now going on its seventh month!  I gave my routing number to Delmarva customer service for making automatic payments from my checking account—this was back at the end of March.  They messed up on the data entry (my routing number and my billing address) and their failure caused a “no checks accepted” note on my account despite the fact that I kept calling about not receiving a bill and paying by credit card over the phone before the payments were actually due.  I’ve been calling daily for the last two weeks trying to get this matter resolved before we go to Mexico.  Unable to get it resolved today, I terminated my account with Delmarva Power.  (I will call from the road to get the final bill and pay it by credit card and I will re-establish service in Maggie’s name when we return.)  I have never seen such a screwed up company that applies a “no checks accepted” notation on an account belonging to a customer with a credit rating of 760 and who has to call them for an amount due (making every payment by the due date) because of their screwed up data entry!  Plus, I could not talk to anyone in finance directly by phone about this issue—all I get is “sympathetic sounding” customer service people who are not empowered to actually do anything. Maybe we can get our electrical power from Amazon someday.  (Well, enough of my rant!)

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We winterized our composting toilet in the afternoon, completely emptying the solids container and thoroughly washing it.  We also loaded up our travel cooler with ice cubes to get it ready to use.

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It was very warm outside this afternoon (80 degrees with high humidity) and we had our onboard A/C running most of the day.  Our cats slept through most of the afternoon—they will fit right in with Mexican siestas!  We affixed a “calming collar” around Lola’s neck this morning to help her better tolerate her upcoming vet visit and the following 6-day car ride to Mexico.  (I can’t tell if it is working yet.)

Tuesday, October 5

It was cool in the morning and the sky was overcast.  It seemed like perfect sunlight to take photographs of our cats with my favorite Nikon 85 f1.4D lens (like I really need more photographs of them but they are like my kids).

Lola was sitting on the cabintop inside
the dodger at Hartge's Yacht Yard
and the dew on the outside of the
dodger window made a perfect
backdrop.  (She is so
majestic!) 

Kali was sitting on the starboard coaming
in the cockpit at Hartge's Yard Yard.
(She was mesmerized by the
activity in the boatyard.)

This morning, we consolidated our first aid equipment into just one first aid kit to take with us to Mexico and packed some more things into our car.  At 10 AM we moved our boat into a different slip at the request of the boatyard--a big Trumpy (an old Annapolis-built wooden luxury yacht) was coming into the haulout slip for work in the late afternoon--it arrived around 5 PM.

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We found out today that Hartge's Yacht Harbor was sold to the owner(s) of Herrington Harbor--it is no longer in the Hartge family.  (This was sad news for me.)

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At 11:15 AM we left by car with the cats in their carriers to go to the vet in Annapolis for their shots and a check up.  (This was Kali's first vet appointment while with us.  It is always a challenge getting them into their cat carriers but today was a little easier because we put a calming collar on Lola.) 

Kali rode on the center armrest coming back
from the vet.  (Lizzie, who died in Marsh
Harbour in 2018, used to do this!)

On the way back from the vet, Kali climbed up onto the center armrest between the two front seats for her ride home.  (Lizzie used to this!)  Lola preferred the back seat, sometimes laying in the litter box.  Now, I am not as concerned with them on the long car ride to Mexico.

In the middle of the afternoon, we lifted the dinghy up onto the boat's side deck for winter storage using a halyard.  It was a big task for the two of us.  We cleaned the marine growth from the bottom using a dock hose, a scraper, and a stiff bristled brush.  (I wish I could find a bottom paint for inflatable boats that would work better!)  An approaching thunderstorm ended our work outside.  Of course, it was time for Happy Hour too...

Wednesday, October 6

When we woke up the sky was overcast and it had already rained overnight.  It was still raining lightly in the morning, contrary to the last weather forecast we had.  Our A/C was running last night—so we didn’t realize how humid it was outside (or that’s matter how cool it was outside—only 66 degrees just before 8 AM).   It was like we were sleeping in our own little hermetically-sealed compartment with a little constrained boat motion thrown in (because we were tied to pilings on the outside edge of the boatyard with the pilings reducing our boat’s motion).

Even though we still had a lot to do today (filling up our “electronics” container, loading some things into our roof top cargo carrier, and completely winterizing the boat (shutting down the A/C), it felt manageable (probably because we spread the work out over days and weeks with some time to think in between). 

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First up, I winterized the A/C circulating water system and the fridge's supplemental cooling water system--they use the same raw water intake hose.  I filled the inlet hose and the raw water strainer with antifreeze as a final effort on this system.

Next, was the fresh water system, including three fresh water tanks and the hot water heater and all the interconnecting hoses and pumps.  I emptied each tank, beginning with the starboard tank, then the port tank, and finally the forward tank.  Then I poured a gallon of potable antifreeze into each tank and ran the fresh water pump until it ran dry and pink stuff (the antifreeze) came out the galley sink.  Then I emptied the hot water heater and dumped another 2 gallons of antifreeze into the forward tank and flushed it through the hot water system using the sink in the head.

The deck wash system was still winterized from last year and I had not commissioned it this year--so it was good to go.  Then I addressed winterizing the bilge by first pumping it dry--then I poured the remaining gallon jugs of antifreeze into the bilge and flushed some of it through the both bilge pumps.

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After we were finished winterizing, we went out for dinner at Pirate's Cove, a waterfront restaurant (and marina) in Galesville as kind of a farewell dinner in Maryland.  It was our last chance to have Maryland blue crab and Chesapeake Bay oysters.

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Tomorrow morning, we will do our final last-minute packing (bed pillows, etc.) and take off around 10 AM.  Our next blogpost will most likely be from somewhere in Texas...

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