Where is aCappella?

The final posting

2007-03-18T10:57:00.000-04:00

When we created this blog it was "The cruising adventures of Karen, Jeff, and Tucker aboard M/V aCappella." Sadly, that has unexpectedly ended. This will be the final posting.

We've heard it said that there are just "dog people" and "not dog people." We assuredly are of the first group. Tucker was our family and our life.

We know when a dog finds us that we are striking a bargain. They will love us totally and unconditionally. We will bask in that love and see them through their old age. We know when we do it, that day of pain will surely come but we do it anyway because the reward is so very great. We were cheated in our bargain. Our pain came too early.

In the life of every "dog person" there will come one dog that will touch them in a most profound way. We believe that Tucker was that dog for us. He was the most affectionate and loving creature that we have ever encountered.

In our head we know that we will be happy again and will let that next love find us. But our hearts and souls can't believe it right now. Thank you for the many emails, comments and thoughts we have received. Your love has helped.

For us, we are not continuing on to the Bahamas. We doubt that we can manage to bring the boat home to Maine. In fact, we're not sure we can even keep this boat any longer as much as we love her so. "Dog people" may possibly understand this.

We'll close with pictures celebrating our puppy. Rest in peace, Tucker. We will never, ever let you out of our hearts.

(please slowly click videos twice to view)

Tucker...

2007-03-15T20:24:00.000-04:00

He was the most affectionate dog we have ever known. He was most happy when he was with other dogs. He loved to catch a frisbee. And dinghy rides. And being near people. And he was such an integral and important part of our lives.

Cancer took Tucker today. We never really got to say goodbye. It wouldn't have been fair to allow him to come out of surgery - he wouldn't have lived past the recovery. There were no signs and symptoms until it was too late. He had the very best of care available anywhere. We've searched for some type of answer. There just isn't one.

We don't know what we're going to do. We can't move the boat right now. We just need to swing around the mooring we're on until we can somehow pick up and move on.

Karen & Jeff

It's bad...

2007-03-15T15:22:00.000-04:00

Tucker had many tests this morning. He was poked, stuck, X-rayed, and analyzed. The results were evaluated by two veterinarians. The facility that he's at is exceptional. It's more of an animal hospital than a clinic.

He's getting blood transfusions now. He'll be in surgery this afternoon. He has some type of growth on his spleen. It is most probably hemangiosarcoma - a common aggressive cancer in dogs. There was no way to know that he had it and there was little that could have been done. He hid it so well showing minor, if any signs of tiredness. The videos of him yesterday don't show a sluggish dog. If he were here now, he'd be calling to the dolphins swimming around the boat.

There are some other remote possibilities but you can see in the face of the surgeon that the probable outcome here isn't good.

We'll be at the hospital this afternoon.

Vero Beach

2007-03-14T19:14:00.000-04:00

It was an easy ride down the ICW to Vero Beach. We left around 9 and entered the lock that separates the ocean tidal waters from the ICW. Locks take some practice but we've done a few and it was pretty easy.

After the lock, we transited through the Barge Canal (I always say Canal Barge for some reason) and turned south onto the ICW. After a handful of hours we reached Vero Beach and pulled into their municipal marina facility. We're on a mooring (#49) in this protected and lovely spot.

On the way down Florida's ICW we continually pass dolphins. Tucker has a special relationship with dolphins. He has this high-pitched, different type of bark that he uses to call them. Dolphins mainly play in boat bow wakes but Tucker stands on his stool in the stern when calling for them. Interestingly the dolphins line up at the stern of our boat and jump and play there squeaking back.

Tucker's vet appointment is at 8:30 am tomorrow. Gene is picking us up at 7:50. Now I just have to convince Karen that she would be way better than me at collecting a urine sample from Tucker for the appointment...

Tucker is sick...

2007-03-13T19:37:00.000-04:00

He doesn't want to be sick. He wants to be in the Bahamas where he'll swim, see his old cruising dog friends, and shuck coconuts. But there's something wrong and we can't go until we know.

His urine has gotten very dark. It could be a sign of dehydration or it could be something worse. He often doesn't drink when the engines are going and we're aware of that. We noticed this dark color a few days ago and even though we just finished a double-overnight passage, we got him to drink a lot (he can't resist playing with the hose even if we're 20 miles offshore).

We talked to our vet back home and have done a ridiculous amount of research on the internet about canine biological systems over the last few days. There are people who have had open heart surgery who haven't had as much research done as we've done with Tucker's amber urine. The bottom line is that we have to see a veterinarian.

There is a veterinarian in the Abacos. The important word there is "is". There is only one and he runs between all of the different islands. It would be a mistake to leave for the Bahamas when we can have great care right here. So we've modified all our plans. We're leaving for Vero Beach tomorrow where we'll stay until Tucker has some tests done. His appointment is at 8:30 am on Thursday. Gene and Kathy from back home who Winter in Vero Beach are helping - it would be very, very difficult to pull it all together without help from people we trust. When we get a green light to go, we'll figure out a different path to the Bahamas from there.

There is no way that I'd consider any other compromise to getting him back to full health.

Going, going, going...

2007-03-12T13:13:00.000-04:00

The long period waves continued through the night. We came to the inlet for Fernandina Beach and watched it go by - we're gonna keep going.

Being alone during a night watch can be scary. It takes some getting used to and you have to learn to trust your instruments. Night vision is important and every light and LED must be kept dim. We put blue tape over many of the lights to cut down on the light emitted too. With good night vision, you can see an amazing amount especially when the moon is overhead. Unfortunately, the cell phone doesn't acquire night vision so you're going to get a limited view in the video.

At one point in the video I say that the Palm is showing we have 4.9 nautical miles left to go. I meant 4.9 hours. I can't edit video on the mobile phone (yet!).

When the sun came up we decided to keep going to Cape Canaveral. We'll see Fernandina Beach another time. For now, we'd like to take advantage of the good weather. This means another overnight - our first back-to-back set.

Undocking Charleston...

2007-03-11T17:08:00.000-04:00

What a beautiful day in Charleston, SC. Mid-70's, sunny, calm waters. We couldn't have designed a better day. At 1:00 pm, we undocked from the Charleston City Marina. This shows a little about what it is like to pull away from a dock with aCappella.

A couple of hours later and we're in open water about 5 miles offshore. There is a big difference in comfort when you have long period waves like the ones we're experiencing today.

Charleston City Marina

2007-03-09T14:39:00.000-05:00

As we expected, we're "stuck" in Charleston until the weather clears. It's pretty rough offshore right now. We're on the MegaDock at the Charleston City Marina. This is one of the best facilities that we've come across - it is always nice to stay here. They just drove us to Harris Teeter's (a high-end grocery store in the Carolinas and Virginia) and brought us back. We're doing some small projects on the boat so we'll have more free time in the Bahamas as well as seeing our friends here.

If we could choose a place to be stuck away from home, we'd choose Charleston any time.

Deal or No Deal...

2007-03-07T12:15:00.000-05:00

When we left New Bern we knew the weather might be a problem. It was a breezy passage to Beaufort. As we exited the inlet it became rougher and rougher. I looked over at Karen and knew this wasn't going to work.

We got to the end of the inlet and turned away from Charleston toward Cape Lookout. An anchorage listing in ActiveCaptain led me to an incredible anchorage (thanks, Phil!). It was huge, protected, and no one was there. I let out 200' of chain and we didn't move an inch.

In the morning we had a difficult "deal" to choose: 1) take off now in somewhat better conditions, or 2) stay at anchor or in the area probably for 3-4 more days until acceptable conditions materialized.

We left.

It was pretty rough at first. We were in 3-5' following seas which were growing rougher. NOAA had promised better conditions as we moved south. For once, NOAA came through. We started seeing 3' waves which diminished further as the sun started to set.

We arrived in Charleston at around 8 am. We're at The City Marina studying the weather reports and charts for our next leg to Fernandina Beach. It's the exact same deal or no deal situation once again for tomorrow...

We're off...

2007-03-05T10:31:00.000-05:00

Two quick videos taken as we pulled out of our comfortable marina to enter the unknown of the sea. The first is pushing the throttles forward to move us out of our slip. The second is moving through the Trent River Bridge. Karen and I communicate through headsets so she is talking to me as I'm filming - but you're only seeing one side of the conversation on the video.

The forecast isn't great and I'm a little worred. We decided that we'd get to Beaufort and see what it looked like offshore. We have an anchorage picked out (behind Cape Lookout) and we know a couple of marinas around there. We'll be there around noon and will have about an hour to make the decision to go or stay. The forecasts have been dodging in and out of our comfort zone. That in and of itself causes discomfort! We'll see when we get there. We're in no rush. It's the journey, right?

We're wimps...

2007-03-04T09:35:00.000-05:00

(Click on the graph to show it larger)

We could leave today but we're wimps. The sea conditions are just within the limits of our comfort zone but that is only if the predictions of lower wave heights materialize. Since this is going to be an overnight passage to Charleston and since we haven't been on the boat in a while we're being a little over-cautious and staying in New Bern for another day.

buoyweather.com is a wonderful resource for boaters. I love it. When we are cruising I pay $10/month for it to get extra predictions and extra graphs and charts. It is free for 2 day predictions and simple graphs. The graph above is one of the many additional ones you get when you pay for their service. This graph shows wind on top in blue over wave height in colors dependent on their period. The lower the period, the more choppy the waves. This chart is for the offshore area between Beaufort, NC and Wilmington, NC. It tells me that the winds will be pretty brisk over the next few days (and mostly behind us) and that waves are around 6 feet this morning reducing to under 4 feet tomorrow and Tuesday (and mostly following seas). The pink color of the wave height tells me that the low period will mean choppy waves instead of rolling, nice waves. I'd rather be in 6 foot waves with a 15 second period than 3 foot waves with a 5 second period. Still, the reduction in sea conditions happens tomorrow and Tuesday. That is a safer time to go. Especially for wimps.

Videos...

2007-03-02T14:57:00.000-05:00

The front that came by was pretty huge. Winds have been gusting to 45 knots with downpouring rains and rough sea conditions. It has settled down a little but it will take a couple of days to head offshore with safety. It's an amazing 75 degrees right now. The warm wind feels strange.

If we're going to be stuck here I'm going to experiment with some longer videos. I took two - a quick walk-through of the inside and outside of aCappella and a short video showing the engine room. At times when I'm outside, it is very hard to hear what I'm saying because of the wind. It's probably better that way - you'd rather be watching the boat!

Enjoy!

The day to leave has arrived (almost)...

2007-03-01T08:42:00.000-05:00

After about 10 days of preparation, the deadline has arrived. Today is the day we're starting our trip south. Or is it?

There are a variety of places that I use for marine weather. NOAA is always a good source and their text broadcasts are the basis of almost all other data. Other web sites take that data and combine it with other sensors and models to give additional forcasting. I like buoyweather.com and have been using it for four years. One of the things it does is that it provides an overview display with green, yellow, or red flags. We use this in our decision about moving the boat. If the flag is green for the duration of the passage, we go. If it's yellow, we usually don't go unless we completely understand the issue and will be well-protected. In addition, sometimes it is yellow before moving to green and we're often willing to put up with slightly more difficult conditions with the knowledge (hope?) that it will probably get better. We never, ever move if there is a red flag. Period.

Today's leg would have had us going offshore, overnight from Beaufort, NC around Frying Pan Shoals and onto Charleston, SC. The overview from BuoyWeater above is for the area just offshore of Beaufort for today and tomorrow. Twelve foot waves at 8 second period? I don't think so. We'll watch this one pass over tied securely to our slip. It doesn't look like this wind will pass completely until the end of the weekend.

The things they don't show you in the cruising books...

2007-02-21T10:02:00.000-05:00

We're back in New Bern getting the boat ready for cruising to the Bahamas. This takes a couple of weeks of maintenance, cleaning, provisioning, etc.

This is our third day back on the boat. So far we've done the following:

- Replaced the GPS (it was acting up - got a Raystar 125 on eBay)
- Loaded everything back on the boat from home
- Did a first pass cleaning
- Purchased about 30% of the food we'll need
- Removed the engine heat exchangers and sent them out for cleaning
- Removed both engine water pumps for new gaskets
- Re-wired the entertainment system (left speaker channel wasn't working)
- Made a master "to-do" list
- Checked scuba tanks (1 needs filling)
- Made 2 trips to Wal-Mart
- Made 2 trips to West Marine
- Made 1 trip to Lowe's
- Made 1 trip to Target
- Made 1 trip to Napa

This is all just the beginning. Our list of things still left to do is two pages long.

This morning we drained the water tanks and opened them completely to manually clean the crud out of the bottom. It's been almost three years since we did this and it was time. Last time I was the one who opened them up and cleaned them. Today, Karen drew the short straw. Ya gotta love a girl who's willing to do this.

We're in New Bern!

2006-11-01T22:34:00.000-05:00

We had a beautiful night in Belhaven, NC anchored behind the town
breakwater. Today was a nice day. Eighty degrees. I feel guilty complaining
about the heat.

It was an easy trip to New Bern. We topped off the fuel tanks and pulled
into the slip where aCappella will sleep for the next few months until we
head off for the Bahamas. Tucker is very happy. Real walks on real grass
every day. Life is good for man and beast.

This will be the last entry until February 2007 when we prep the boat for
the next part of the journey.

Until then...

Grounding at the Alligator River

2006-11-01T17:08:00.000-05:00

When traveling southbound there is a very well known spot that gives cruising boats problems at the mouth of the Alligator River. This exact spot has been discussed recently on the Trawlers and Trawlering list. NOAA updated the chart for this area in August, 2006. A variety of buoys have been moved over the last year or so. We've been through this exact spot 4 other times without incident. Yesterday we grounded to a stop in 5.5 feet of water.

We were extremely prepared for this problem area. We had the very latest in charts loaded on the electronics although the Raymarine's C-Map display still had the older data for this section of the Alligator River. In addition to this, we discussed at length that we would not rely on ANY of the electronics at all. It would be used as an aid to our navigation. Equally important was the view outside the pilothouse windows of the buoys and other boats. As we approached the area, we pulled back the throttles to idle forward which caused us to move about 2-3 knots through the area while staying in control of our position.

There are two bad sections in this entrance to the river. The first is right after mile marker 80. The green buoy "3" has been moved significantly to the west. It used to be aligned with the next flashing green and the magenta ICW line ran in almost a straight line. It is now obvious on the chart that you are supposed to move way over to the west. The chart doesn't properly show what this change looks like in real life - there is a major movement of that green "3". We were looking specifically for this new buoy placement and found it but it was much further over than we expected. About half of the other boaters in the area didn't even see the moved buoy and went straight. A couple of them grounded on the expanding shoal area. We went through this area fine and never saw less than 10 feet of water.

The next problem area happens as you go around the shoal on the other side. The magenta line clearly shows the turn to the west and the alignment with the channel proceeding south. We followed this without problem. Instead of following the magenta line, we moved a little to the west earlier so we would be better aligned with the channel. The chart shows that there is 8 feet of water in this area. The reality is that the shoal has obviously grown much further to the east and south because we were nailed where the red X is shown in 5.5 feet of water. We draw a little under 6 feet but had filled our tanks with fuel the night before and were probably an inch or more deeper and very close to 6 feet. This shoal came up fast and we had no time to move to the east or south. We grounded to a complete stop.

Since our props are 4.5 feet below the surface, I felt pretty confident in using the port engine to power forward with the rudder turned hard to the right while using the bow thruster to the port side to move us horizontally east. It took a full five minutes for us to wiggle off and into 10 feet of water. It felt like it took an hour.

It is obvious now that you have to follow the magenta line much more closely than we did today. In this case, I believe that following the electronics a little more would have kept us 50 feet to the east and we would have avoided this uncomfortable exercise and analysis.

In the end, nothing was hurt and nothing was damaged except I probably lost some bottom paint from the very bottom of the boat. This is the second time that I've experienced a slow grounding. They say that there are two types of boaters - those who have gone aground and those who will go aground. How many times do you have to be a part of the first group?

Typical ICW view

2006-10-31T16:20:00.000-05:00

The ICW is made up of connected rivers and land cuts. The land cuts can be
many miles long. This is the Alligator-Pungo Canal. It looks like this for
more than 20 miles - almost perfectly straight with nothing anywhere for
miles.

We're on our way to Belhaven, NC and should be there by around 3:30 to
anchor for the night. We had an "event" this morning at the mouth of the
Alligator River where we grounded to a halt in 5.5 feet of water. It was
pretty rotten for 5 minutes until we wiggled off. I plan on doing a full
analysis of this tonight with chart clippings and will make a posting about
it.

Great Bridge lock

2006-10-30T20:19:00.000-05:00

I had intended to take pictures of each bridge for the first 20 miles of the ICW. Then we got to Great Bridge lock. This is a lock that separates the tidal ocean waters from Norfolk from the Intracoastal Waterway.

We pulled into the lock and secured ourselves against the wall. There were about 8 other boats in the lock with us. The lock is timed to Great Bridge, a bridge just to the south of the lock. The doors of the lock closed and the water rose about 2 feet. The forward gates opened but we were not instructed to leave the lock. We all just sat there. About 10 minutes later we were informed that Great Bridge had malfunctioned and could not open. We were stuck.

It took two hours of waiting until someone must have come with a big enough hammer to get the bridge to work. This made for a very complex and long day. The next two bridges have restricted openings and required careful timing to get through so we could still get to Coinjock today. I couldn't take time to take pictures of the remaining bridges or make the postings.

We got through the bridges and barely got to Coinjock. It was after dark when we finally got to Midway Marina. Coinjock is right after a very annoying section of the ICW through Currituck Sound where the water gets very shallow at times. A sailboat in front of us grounded completely. They got off and we guided them through the remaining 10 miles of the sound. We've been through this section four other times and it has never been fun. It is ten times worse in total darkness.

We got to the marina, slipped against the wall, and filled our fuel tanks. Coinjock is one of those places with very good fuel prices. I paid $2.10 per gallon. It's great to go cruising near a major national election! We didn't need fuel at this point but it is best to leave the tanks full over the months that the boat will sit in New Bern.

We're tired. It was a long day although it was a beautiful 75 degree, sunny day. We were on the flybridge throughout the entire passage. Tomorrow we'll leave at sunrise to get to Belhaven - another long day.

Gilmerton and Norfolk/Southern RR bridge

2006-10-30T13:21:00.000-05:00

The Gilmerton and Norfolk & Southern RR bridge. ICW mile marker 5.8

Jordan lift brige

2006-10-30T13:17:00.000-05:00

The Jordan lift bridge. ICW mile marker 2.8

Bridges, bridges, bridges

2006-10-30T13:11:00.000-05:00

The beginning of the ICW is filled with bridges that have to be opened for
us to pass. I'll try to document the bridges that we encounter today.

This is the N&PBC RR lift brige with the Jordan lift bridge in the
background.

Everyone knows it's windy...

2006-10-29T15:49:00.000-05:00

Another windy day in Norfolk. We could have gone with the 30% of the other
boats that left this morning. It just didn't make any sense to leave in 30
knot winds when everything is clearing tomorrow (our limit is 25 knots and
there really are 30 knot winds today). Current conditions in North
Carolina show that it is calm there with the calmness moving overnight to
this area and the Chesapeake.

We had excellent sushi and Chinese food at a restaurant right next to our
boat last night. Karen says we have too much meat left and we can't go back
again tonight. She doesn't know that I spotted a Ben & Jerry's in this same
center. Let her try and stop me from going there after dinner!

We're doing some small projects and goofing off all day. The bridges open
at 8:30 am tomorrow and we should be there waiting. We've met three other
boats leaving tomorrow and we'll make a little convoy along the ICW
from here. Anyone have a CB radio?

The final routes to New Bern

2006-10-28T17:01:00.000-04:00

The chart on the left shows our final routes from the Chesapeake to New Bern. Yesterday we traveled from Solomons to Norfolk - a 100 nm long day.

Norfolk is the starting point of the official part of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway (ICW). The ICW weaves completely within the coastline from Norfolk to Miami allowing boats to stay away from any bad ocean weather. The ICW has its own set of issues too but it is generally safer than going offshore in the Atlantic Ocean.

The route to Coinjock is only 50 miles but includes many bridges with restricted opening times. There is also one lock that opens hourly. All of this makes the trip take much longer. Fuel prices in Coinjock are pretty good. We'll fill our tanks there in preparation for keeping them filled during the boat's stay in New Bern.

Coinjock to Belhaven is about 70 nm and is a fairly long day. We'll anchor behind the breakwater of the town of Belhaven and grill out for the last time during this cruise. It's a nice quiet spot - we've anchored there before.

Belhaven to New Bern is about 60 nm. We'll depart the ICW about 20 miles from New Bern and take the Neuse River up to the marina where aCappella will spend the next few months.

Windy in Norfolk

2006-10-28T16:20:00.000-04:00

We made it to Waterside Marina in Norfolk, Virginia in a windy downpouring
of rain. We tied up the boat, connected power and water, and took two hours
to dry off and warm up. There was a lot of cold rain.

It's too windy to go anywhere today. The marina is full. We're being pushed
against the dock by strong winds. We have 6 fenders out to protect the boat.

As long as we're here, we walked for miles around the town. There are a
variety of shopping malls, restaurants, Navy and ship services, and even
battle ships.

We'll leave for Coinjock, NC in the morning if the weather clears. Right
now, there's no space in any marinas there because everyone there is
waiting to see what tomorrow's weather will be like too. It's like we're
all a bunch of dominoes working our way down the eastern coast.

Blech...

2006-10-27T15:46:00.000-04:00

It was suposed to be nice for the next few days. The 3 am forecast changed
all of that. There will now be strong and dangerous winds on Saturday and
possibly Sunday. High winds on the ICW cause some bridges to stop opening.
It's a mess.

We left Solomons before sunrise to try to get as far as we could. It's been
2-3 foot waves with rain all day. There's nothing to take a picture of -
just endless hours of watching the gray water outside through windshield
wipers while following the instruments on the helm.

Our plan is to get to a marina in Norfolk. It's really the safest thing
given the bad weather expected. We've never been to Norfolk either so it
will be fun to explore it. We'll probably stay all day tomorrow after
arriving after sunset tonight. It will make this a 100 nautical mile day
which is long, especially in the Fall when the days are shorter.

Solomons, MD

2006-10-26T15:17:00.000-04:00

Well, the winds never died down yesterday. We hung out out at anchor on the
Tred Avon River. We hadn't watched TV in a month and it was a good chance
to catch up on world changes.

Today we steamed to Solomons. It was calm enough although Tucker didn't
like it until we turned down the bay with following seas. Solomons has more
trawlers (boats like ours) than any other place we've been to. We took down
the dinghy and motored all around the thousands of boats here. Tucker spent
all of his time watching the water go by from the dinghy bow. He literally
hangs over the boat to get closer to the water. He's done this since he was
a puppy.

Tonight we're taking the dinghy to go to a restaurant called Stoney's. Then
starting tomorrow we'll get serious about heading for the ICW and North
Carolina. This will probably be our last night in Maryland for this cruise.
It all went by so quickly.

The most difficult boating maneuver

2006-10-25T10:12:00.000-04:00

We left the well-protected Cambridge Creek at 7:30 am. There were small
craft advisories being issued by NOAA for 3 foot waves and 10-15 kt winds
gusting to 25 kts. As soon as we hit the Choptank River the wind meter
started showing 30-35 kts of true wind with gusts to 40. How can NOAA be so
wrong so often? I'd rather see a report that said, "it'll be windy today
but we have no idea how bad it might get."

After an hour of this nasty, choppy weather, we perfectly executed the most
difficult of boating maneuvers: the 180 degree turn. It isn't difficult in
a mechanical sense - it's difficult in an emotional one. The turn was
actually only 135 degrees anyway.

We're anchored in a protected spot on the Tred Avon River just outside
Oxford, MD. Even anchored here in this cove, the wind is sustained at 20
kts.

We'll leave for Solomons in the afternoon if the winds die down otherwise
we're here for the night.

Electronics all fixed...

2006-10-24T17:21:00.000-04:00

FedEx delivered our new TrackVision board this morning and by 11:00 am, we
had our full DirecTV capabilities back and working. A small fix to a cable
last night stopped the radar resetting we had experienced for the last
year. These Mid-Shore Electronics guys fixed all of this and only billed me
for 2.5 hours of time. I had to argue with them because they weren't going
to charge me for staying at their dock (and using their electricity) for
three nights. I actually had to demand that they charge me more!

It's been very windy so it's been nice to be at a dock. Now that everything
is fixed, we'll leave in the morning.

Cambridge, MD

2006-10-23T14:44:00.000-04:00

We've been having some minor electronics problems with our KVH TV dome and
our Raymarine radar. Mid-Shore Electronics came highly recommended to fix
these things. We're at their dock and Sam has been getting everything
debugged. We're waiting on a FedEx delivery for a part tomorrow.

Coincident with that, my nephew Adam is looking at colleges and is
scheduled to see one here on the eastern shore today. Robie and Mike came
along and they all slept on the boat last night. If Adam is more willing to
wash the boat next time, we'll give him a warmer place to sleep...

Crossing the Bay Bridge

2006-10-22T08:35:00.000-04:00

We've only been north of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge until this morning. The
brige is a long one and spans the bay between Annapolis and Kent Island to
the eastern shore. We left the Magothy River anchorage early to give us
more exploration time in Cambridge this afternoon.

Magothy River

2006-10-21T17:51:00.000-04:00

We're anchored on Sillery Bay, tucked behind Dobbins Island on the Magothy
River. This is all just north of the Chesapeake Bay bridge and Annapolis.
It's a beautiful Saturday so there were thousands of boats out all around
us today and we're anchored among a dozen other boats.

When we're anchored, I've been testing some new software that implements an
anchor alarm on a cell phone. If we move just far enough away from our
initial position taking into account swing angle, GPS offset, etc., the
phone starts making noise. Karen is getting a little tired of hearing the
exact number of feet that we currently are from the anchor.

Right now we're 134 feet away with 150 feet of chain out. I figured you
wanted to know.

Wildlife Weekend

2006-10-20T20:29:00.000-04:00

"Tonight is my favorite night of the entire year," a Chestertown shopkeeper
told us this afternoon. This evening all of the offices, shops, banks, and
churches opened up to serve food and display wildlife art especially wood
carvings of birds. We snooped around all of the exhibits and found some
decoys that we like. We'll make a quick pass through the town again
tomorrow and hopeully leave without too much damage to my Visa card.

An overview of where we've been

2006-10-19T17:28:00.000-04:00

The small chart on the left shows an overview of where we've been over the last three weeks and two days. The blog site shrinks the picture so the text is a little hard to make out.

We have another two weeks of exploring the Chesapeake before we'll leave the boat in New Bern for a few months and eventually pick up again and head for the Bahamas.

Colonial Chestertown

2006-10-19T14:22:00.000-04:00

Twelve more miles up the Chester River is Chestertown. The town is full of
historic homes, buildings and shops. We've come for the Wildlife Exhibition
that starts tomorrow. The show specializes in duck and bird carvings. The
brochure says that there are retriever demonstrations too. Tucker would
certainly like to meet some of the pro's.

Afternoon sun on Langford Creek

2006-10-18T18:18:00.000-04:00

It was a spectacular day. 75 degrees, sunny, light breeze. Perfect cruising
weather. We left Baltimore, crossed the bay, and are now anchored on a cove
on Langford Creek off the Chester River. Geese fly in formation all around
us squalking to announce the setting sun. The "Cruising the Chesapeake"
book gave this area 5 stars out of 5. I think it could use a couple more.

More/Balti...

2006-10-17T16:11:00.000-04:00

Since it's supposed to rain all day, we decided to stay at the Baltimore
marina for another day. After walking around town (breakfast at Jimmy's)
we got some DVD's at BestBuy to watch with Tucker back on the boat.

Touring the Patapsco

2006-10-16T14:10:00.000-04:00

Karen's parents came out to the marina in Baltimore and we toured the
Baltimore harbor and surrounding areas. It's a pretty nice day until we
turned against the wind!

Eat Bertha's Mussels

2006-10-15T17:28:00.000-04:00

It's a treat to pull into a large city by boat. There's always activity and
excitement. It's even nicer when it's coupled with getting together with
long term friends. DJ met us outside the marina right by Baltimore's Inner
Harbor. From there we walked a few blocks to Bertha's Mussels, a well known
seafood restaurant. We had a great time catching up with the present and
remembering the past.

Bodkin Creek grill

2006-10-14T18:53:00.000-04:00

We love being on a mooring or at anchor. It's different than being in a
marina. We've only been at marinas for 2 nights over the past 20 days
although that is about to change. We'll have to stay at a marina in
Baltimore and it makes sense to stay at marinas in St. Michaels and
Chestertown. For now, being at anchor on Bodkin Creek means we can grill
some of that meat we picked up at the Amish market yesterday.

Our neighbor

2006-10-13T16:58:00.000-04:00

The mooring next to us has the cutest 30' pilothouse ketch motorsailer on
it. We both really like this boat. It is a Fisher 30 and was built in
England in 1976.

Georgetown, Maryland

2006-10-13T16:22:00.000-04:00

We were directed onto one of the larger moorings from Georgetown Yacht
Basin. "These are 400 pound moorings - they'll hold you," said Ivan, the
dockmaster. Now I own three moorings in Castine. The two for aCappella have
5,000 and 10,000 pound stones on them. 400 pounds didn't seem very large
but it was dead calm six miles up the river in Georgetown.

Needless to say, we experienced wind gusts of 40-45 MPH just after dark.
The boat swung around and waves developed around us and it was quite an
event. Thankfully, the mooring didn't move but I was wondering for a
while...

Another launch into town for Tucker this morning. We walked a mile or so to
Galena and found a new Amish market called Ripples. It isn't in any of the
guidebooks and is an incredible find for cruisers. They had the best meats
and vegtables we'd ever seen. We lugged back 4 bags of goods.

Tonight we're going to the Granary for dinner. It's one of those things you
have to do when you come here.

The Chesapeake

2006-10-12T15:07:00.000-04:00

Karen and Tucker dance on the bow as we finally reach the headwaters of the
Chesapeake. Oncoming sailboats pass us with a wide berth.

Bridges on the C&D

2006-10-12T13:45:00.000-04:00

The C&D Canal is a small commercial passageway between the Delaware Bay and
the Chesapeake Bay. There are big bridges and an occasional ship to make
it interesting.

We called ahead to Georgetown Yacht Basin to find out about their moorings.
The current push we got on the Delaware will allow us to get to
Georgetown, MD earlier so we figured we'd grab a mooring and go into town
in the morning. Tucker will enjoy knowing that they have their own launch
service and that dogs are welcome.

It's always gray on the Delaware Bay

2006-10-12T09:45:00.000-04:00

That rhymes. Maybe the sun comes out but every time we've been here, it's
been gray and rainy. Rain is forecast for later in the morning.

We're just outside the ship channel. There are tugs, tankers, and container
ships visible all day (and recreational boats). We track them on our radar
using its MARPA mode constantly. It's like a video game (but you only get
one life).

The bay here has current all the way to the top and across to the
Chesapeake via the C&D Canal. We've lucked out and will have a favorable
push all day. We'd like to stay on the Sassafras River to start our
Chesapeake explorations by the end of the day.

Cape May and fuel

2006-10-11T14:56:00.000-04:00

Once again, very rough seas. This time it was bad in the Atlantic City
inlet out to the ocean and then the entire way to Cape May. It's only a 35
mile trip so we were willing to put up with the discomfort for a few hours.
We would have turned back if we had to put more miles under the keel today
- it wasn't fun.

We're now at Utsch's - one of our favorite marinas in the US. They are
super friendly and love dogs. When you arrive they give you a basket of
wine, baked goods, local information, and other assorted gifts. They are
reasonably priced and we always come here. Many marinas throughout the
coast could learn a lesson from Utsch's.

In addition to charging up everything with real shore power, we're filling
up on fuel and filling our water tanks. We've been away from water for 13
days and we're 3/4 down.

Fuel prices in New Jersey are always pretty good. The pump shows $2.29 per
gallon and I was able to get another $0.10 discount for quantity. We took
574.3 gallons.

We're off to walk Tucker around the area then a dinner at the local
restaurant. We should touch the Chesapeake Bay waters tomorrow.

Lights

2006-10-10T19:14:00.000-04:00

Atlantic City is one of the most colorful anchorages that we go to. This is
the sixth time that we've anchored in just about the same place.

Down the Jersey coast

2006-10-10T09:40:00.000-04:00

It's a wonderful morning off the New Jersey coast - 70 degrees, bright sun,
and a light breeze behind us. This is the first time we can pilot for an
extended period of time from the flybridge.

We're on our way to Atlantic City to anchor for the night. We then have
reservations at a Cape May marina for fuel and one night. With a little
weather luck, we'll be on the upper Chesapeake this weekend.

We've had enough

2006-10-09T17:33:00.000-04:00

The sun is directly in our eyes. The wind has picked up to 25 kts and the
waves are now over 6 feet and coming directly at us. All of this is opposite to
NOAA's latest marine weather release of 45 minutes ago. We're changing our
plans to anchor around Sandy Hook, NJ tonight. It feels like we're giving
up but it's the right thing to do. We'll make it to Cape May in a few more
days.

Diversion point:
lat: 40 degrees 31 minutes N
lon: 73 degrees 16 minutes W

Thinking about ships

2006-10-09T15:06:00.000-04:00

In a couple of hours we'll start to cross 6 lanes of shipping channels
to/from New York. Although we haven't seen a ship all day, that will change
soon. These ships travel fast and are obviously dangerous. We'll go through
most of the lanes after dark.

The seas have calmed slightly. Karen wants to evaluate pulling into Sandy
Hook, NJ instead of going on if there's not more of a reduction in waves.
We'll face that between 5:00 and sunset.

The seas are odd. The big ones are coming from behind (following) but there
is enough wind against us to create choppy waves coming towards us on top
of the larger waves. The net result is that it's been bumpy.

Still bouncy

2006-10-09T11:08:00.000-04:00

The seas are still bouncy at 11:00 am. We passed our main turn around point
and decided to push ahead. It's still a little rougher than we like (the
picture doesn't do it justice) but the forcast calls for better conditions.
There is a good chance that we would have turned around if not for that.
The 4-6 foot seas are not terrible but it would be hard to go like this for
21 more hours.

Karen has taken over the helm and I'm going to try to sleep for a couple of
hours. We've found that it is best to catch up on sleep early in the
passage. We're now on a 3-hours-on/3-hours-off schedule.

South of Montauk

2006-10-09T08:23:00.000-04:00

We just passed south of Montauk heading offshore on our overnight passage
to Cape May. It's a little rough right now although all indications are for
conditions to subside in about 3 more hours. We have a "turn back" decision
to make in 19 more miles at about 10:30 am (2 hours from now).

Of course, Tucker has assumed his offshore position.

If we don't make a posting from land by Tuesday at noon, something is
wrong.

Planning an overnight...

2006-10-08T20:22:00.000-04:00

I don't care who you are. Doing an overnight passage in a cruising boat is
scary. We've done our share of them in the past - every one of them is different and
every one of them has issues.

We walked around Block Island all afternoon. Lots of tee shirt shops,
fudge, ice cream parlors, etc. While doing this we've been weighing the
possibility of going overnight to Cape May. On one hand, we'd be just one
day away from the Chesapeake. The problem is that the weather forecast is
right at our wave height limit. Sure, we could take 5-6 footers for a
couple of hours. But what about 18 hours of it? And of course, 12 of them
will be in the dark although the moon is almost full and visible through
95% of the night. There are many things to consider..

Right now we're planning to go and have written down the details of the
passage. We'll check the weather in the morning to make a final go/no-go
decision. If we go, we have to be moving by 6:30 am in order for the timing
thru the shipping channels to work out safely.

Block Island

2006-10-08T15:53:00.000-04:00

Finally. We were out early. It was a cold night - 40 degrees. There was a
sea-smoke type of fog coating the surface of the water. We experienced 2-4
foot following seas just as predicted. As we crossed from Massachusetts to
Rhode Island, the thermometer popped up to 70 degrees with sunny, bright
skies. We'd earned this one.

Last day in Marion (?)

2006-10-07T17:48:00.000-04:00

Another day in...Marion. It better be the last. Buzzards Bay was calm
enough today but it was too rough west of there on the Rhode Island Sound
and the Block Island Sound.

We saw our friends Paul and Annette (it's a long story that started when I
dove on their boat three years ago in Maine to free some snagged lobster
pots). We also walked into town and got some last minute food things at
the General Store - we might be at anchor for the next few days and we
realized that we needed hot chocolate. Finally we did more boat projects -
rebedded a railing that was never quite installed properly and cleaned and
waxed every inch of the heads and showers. The boat has never been so
clean or in such good shape.

Still in Marion

2006-10-06T12:37:00.000-04:00

We keep telling ourselves that it's better to wait for acceptable weather
than venture out into something uncomfortable or even dangerous. Still,
it's hard to not go.

We're putting this extra time to use by working on projects that we planned
to do later. At a calmer moment in the morning I went diving to clean the
props, shafts, rudders, and check on everything. The bottom looked great
and is now clean of marine growth. Tucker came 1/2 step away from diving
in with me. I could hear him whining while I was under water.

We might be able to leave on Sunday. Maybe. It's a bad sign that we're
starting to look at local real estate listings here...

Fending off

2006-10-05T17:08:00.000-04:00

As the wind dies and we approach the strong current part of the tide cycle,
boats start swinging differently. With 1,200 moorings in this harbor, they
are packed tightly requiring the fine art of fending off.

We'll be in this tide cycle again at about 4:00 am and unless the wind is
less than 10 kts or greater than 10 kts, we'll face this same situation
again.

Laundry day

2006-10-05T10:53:00.000-04:00

Gale force winds last night and this morning are keeping us in Marion for
another day. This means one thing - it's laundry time.

We have a washing machine and dryer on board but the dryer takes a lot of
power. If the wind is going to keep us here, by golly, we're going to use
it!

Another town, another water taxi

2006-10-04T12:45:00.000-04:00

Taking the Beverly Yacht Club launch into Marion to explore.

Marion & Buzzards Bay

2006-10-03T18:13:00.000-04:00

It definitely becomes warmer as you leave the Cape Cod Canal and enter
Buzzards Bay. Once entering Marion is was obvious that no one told them it
was October. All of their boats are still in the water and it is pretty
crowded. This is an uncommon New England scene this time of year.

True to form with our cruising so far, the weather got really rough as we
were departing the canal. 30 kts of wind with 4-7 ft waves on our nose
greeted us and pushed us around.

The weather outlook is bad for the remainder of the week. Then again, when
you have no schedule to keep, you're already at your destination. We'll
uncover something here...

Cape Cod Canal

2006-10-03T13:55:00.000-04:00

Finally a nice morning of weather. We left Salem and are on the Cape Cod
Canal headed for the Marion mooring field.

Witches

2006-10-02T21:32:00.000-04:00

Another day in Salem due to big seas. It's a nice Fall day on land and we
did tourist things - eating at Reds, exploring Pickering Wharf, and
learning about witches. The Salem Witch Museum had a nice exhibit and tour
of the Salem Witch Trials of 1692.

The bad weather should clear tonight and we hope to leave before breakfast
tomorrow.

Another day in Salem

2006-10-02T21:28:00.000-04:00

Small craft advisories and rough seas kept us another day in Salem. Back
on the water taxi for some tennis ball chasing at Salem Common.

Salem Water Taxi

2006-10-01T17:44:00.000-04:00

Places with larger harbors have launch services that pick you up at your
boat and bring you into town. Salem has Salem Water Taxi and Tucker loves
it. He can't believe that boats come right up and let him get on for a
ride. It's one of his most favorite parts of exploring other places.

We walked all around Salem. October is definitely their month an we saw
our share of witches and goblins. After dropping Tucker back off on the
boat, Karen and I spent the afternoon at the Peabody Essex Museum, a
beautiful facility of marine and art exhibits. It was a very high quality
place and interesting. We saw many Fitz Hugh Lane paintings - more than I
knew existed.

We're now back on the boat. It's been a rainy day with more storms
forecast for tonight. We might have to stay another day if the winds don't
diminish - it's nasty out there now. Weather like this is the reason that
you should never have a fixed schedule while cruising.

Offshore blue

2006-09-30T11:54:00.000-04:00

Eleven miles offshore Ogonquit, Maine and there's nothing but blue. We
have our first fairly calm day and we're headed for Cape Ann and around to
Salem, Massachusetts. Another storm is supposed to enter the area tonight
but we planned to stay a couple of days in Salem anyway.

Staying put...

2006-09-29T13:16:00.000-04:00

The weather forecast looked too bad to head out across Cape Ann (we've
learned better). So after a breakfast out in town we packed up and grabbed
a mooring in Falmouth Foreside at Handy Boat. As the wind started to whip
up and the storm started to touch us, we made sandwiches with some
excellent bread we picked up and planned for a day of reading and relaxing.
Staying put can be pretty good.

Portland, Maine

2006-09-28T13:47:00.000-04:00

Although we've lived in Maine for more than 13 years, we've never been to
Portland by boat. We've been here many times by land but it is somehow
different to arrive on the water. We're at DiMillo's which is expensive
but right in the middle of all the shops and restaurants.

The trip today was pretty easy - 2-3 foot waves with not much wind. The
forecast for tomorrow looks pretty bad.

A rough start

2006-09-27T19:39:00.000-04:00

Although it was completely calm when leaving Castine, it quickly got much
rougher as we left the Penobscot Bay. The 4-6 foot waves brought back
memories of previous choppy weather all too quickly. Karen and Tucker went
down for the count and re-submerged as we entered the Sheepscot River. We
grabbed a mooring and watched the sun set over the bow. We gave up on
eating out and had a quiet (anniversary) dinner on the boat.

Breakfast goodbye

2006-09-27T10:53:00.000-04:00

A short breakfast aboard aCappella with our friends wishing us well. The
lines were untied and we were off. Today's destination is a mooring at
Robinhood Marine and a nice quiet dinner.

Going, going, almost gone...

2006-09-27T10:51:00.000-04:00

The boat is full of food, water, fuel and supplies. The weather outlook is
good. It's time to go.

Welcome!

2006-09-22T09:05:00.000-04:00

Welcome to the adventures of aCappella.

aCappella means singing without accompaniment. We explore the East Coast of the United States and the Bahamas generally without accompaniment although we occasionally travel with other boating friends that we meet along the way.

aCappella's home port is Castine, Maine where we live throughout most of the year.

This blog is designed to be a daily picture archive from our mobile phone to provide a log of our travels and interesting images that we discover along the way. When we're underway, we'll provide our current location and will occasionally post small chart sections showing our position and traveled routes.