38°41′27″ N 76°31′55″ W

Chesapeake Beach

We arrived at Chesapeake Beach Rod N Reel Resort & Marina at 3:30pm yesterday afternoon.

The last 90 minutes of our journey was in a heavy rainstorm. Thank goodness that the wind did not come up too strong during that storm. The wind came shortly after we docked though so our timing was good!

We encountered several problems yesterday. First, when we saw that the rain was going to reach us before we arrived at the marina we started closing up windows, etc. & prepared to move to the inside helm for the last few miles.

Just a few minutes after we got set up at the inside helm station I asked Ed to take over steering while I turned on the navigation lights & fine tuned our course on the chartplotter.

When the rain started coming down really heavy Ed began to have a lot of trouble keeping the boat on course. At first we thought it might be the current combined with the wind but no matter what we did the boat just wanted to go in a circle.

This was getting frustrating & dangerous so I donned a raincoat & went to the upper helm station to see if it worked any better. Thankfully the upper helm steered the boat properly &, other than me getting soaking wet we were able to get into the marina safely.

Marina staff met us at the dock & helped us tie up. By then the rain was still coming down heavily & the wind had also increased quite a bit.

After changing into dry clothes we had a drink to unwind & think about dinner. It was a short discussion & we both agreed that dinner at the marina & resort restaurant was our preferred option.

It was dark by the time we got back to the boat & the situation was not good. The wind was very strong & the boat was rocking wildly from side to side & banging up against the dock.

Unfortunately this marina is right on the shoreline & there is virtually no shelter from the wind or rough water. To make matters worse, the breakwater in front of the marina has a low profile & it does not take a lot of wind before the waves break over it & the water in the marina dock basin gets very rough as well.

The boat was in serious risk of significant damage from banging against the dock so I called the Dockmaster & asked permission to move to another slip, much further in the basin.

Unfortunately by the time we were ready to move the wind was even stronger. There was no way I could safely move the boat without risk of colliding with other boats in the marina so we had no choice but to stay put & tie the boat up as best as we could.

People in two of the neighboring boats (who are locals & livaboards) saw that I was in trouble & they came out to help – God Bless their souls. They stayed with us for almost an hour in the pouring rain & helped us get the boat tied up in the best position possible.

After we were done I thanked them profusely & invited them on board for a drink. They politely declined & headed back to their own boats, saying that my thanks was all they needed & that boaters should always help other boaters in need.

The photo below shows me with Tami & her husband Tim on board their boat. They own the boat in the slip next to me. Tami was one of the Good Samaritans who lent a hand when I needed it most.

Ed & I were so exhausted after wrestling with the boat that we said goodnight to each other & went to bed – even though the boat was still rocking heavily – but at least we were secured safely midway between the dock posts. We both spent the rest of the night trying not to get pitched out of our bunks.

This morning was not much better & the weather forecast predicted even stronger winds through the day. The Dockmaster suggested that I move the boat further into the basin so we gave it a shot but things did not go well. The wind was too strong for the boat to maneuver in & we ended up crossways between the outer dock posts.

After about 30 minutes of messing with extra lines, forward & reverse & the bow thruster I finally got the stern of the boat into a slip just 3 spaces from where I started out. This was not an ideal location but it was better that the other one, so we called it quits & tied the boat up to as many posts as we could reach.

You can see in the photo above how much the boat “rolls” in the slip – but even this motion is less than what we experienced last night.

During our relocation into the dock the wind pushed me backwards into one of the dock posts. The photo above shows the results of that encounter. 😩 Oh well, the swim platform can be fixed & the damage could have been a lot worse.

The photo above shows the results of what another boat did to one of the dock posts during a previous storm. So you can imagine if the post looks like this then what does the side of that boat look like?

The weather forecast for tomorrow looks promising so we will head out as early as possible & try to make it to the Chesapeake & Delaware (C&D) Canal, near the top of Chesapeake Bay. That’s about 55 nm from our current location.

Keep your fingers crossed for us & stay tuned for our next report tomorrow.

Cheers!

37°53′3″ N 76°15′7″ W

July 27 – Smith Point Marina

We arrived at Smith Point Marina last evening at 5:30pm & left this morning at 6:30am. This marina is in a beautiful little bay but it’s off the beaten path – no cellphone service & limited wifi connections – so we had a pretty quiet night.

It rained hard around 2:00am this morning & the weather forecast for the next few days is deteriorating. As a result we want to get as far north as we can today while the weather is OK.

I use an app on my iPhone called “Windfinder” to help me figure out the weather & wind forecast. Over the past several years I have found it to be quite accurate. The screenshot below shows the forecast for tomorrow at Chesapeake Beach. I’ll check the forecast again tonight but if it doesn’t change then we will spend an extra day at this marina because the winds are going to be strong & that will result in very rough water.

The forecast for Sunday looks much better.

I also use another app from Waterways Guidebook that shows you locations of marinas, marine supply stores, etc. It’s been really helpful to me when looking for the next day’s destination.

So tonight we will be staying at the Rod “N” Reel Dock Marina in Chesapeake Beach. The chart plotter tells me that we should be there around 3:00pm. I’ve already phoned ahead & reserved our dock slip.

Ain’t technology grand? It’s sure making this entire trip a lot easier for me. 👍👌

Cheers!

36°50′28″ N 76°17′29″ W

July 23 – Tidewater Marina, Portsmouth VA

We left the marina at 6:45 am this morning. I copied the photo above from the Waterway Guidebook. It shows the Tidewater Marina near the top centre of the photo.

Our trip today will be about 61 nautical miles.

On our way to the Chesapeake Bay we passed a lot more naval ships, including several aircraft carriers.

It’s just coming up to 11:30 am & we have now travelled about 1/3 the distance to our next destination. The Google Maps screenshot below shows our position right now (blue dot) & the red dot up near the top of the picture shows the relative location of our destination-which is just at the mouth of the Potomac River.

Other than a few freighters anchored at the mouth of the bay & some fishing boats we have not seen many other boats. It’s cloudy & cooler today with a light breeze coming toward our port side, which is great for this long passage.

I will post another update after we have tied up on the dock. That should be sometime between 5:00 & 6:00 pm.

Cheers!

36°50′28″ N 76°17′29″ W

July 23 – Tidewater Marina, Portsmouth VA

Today (Wednesday) we stayed at the marina & worked on a few maintenance issues.

First on the agenda were the heads 😝

There is a head in each cabin but both of them stopped working properly after we left Jacksonville. They would flush away anything that was in the bowl but could not bring in water to assist with the flushing, so we had to keep bottles of tap water handy to pour into the bowl to make the toilet flush into the holding tank.

The flushing procedure is pretty simple, just pull the handle up & down 4 or 5 times, but it doesn’t take much to put the toilet out of action.

After disassembling the hand pump mechanism I found one the little flapper valves in the forward head was broken right off & the one in the aft head was so corroded that it would not seal the (flushing) water intake valve properly. (circled in red in the photo below)

I purchased two new repair kits from the Marina store & after spending only about 10 minutes installing the new parts both toilets are now back in action! Hopefully they will continue to work properly until we get home.

This winter I intend to replace these toilets with new electric flush/macerator toilets – similar to what you find on airplanes. I had them on the Nauticat & they worked great!

Next on the job list was an engine oil change. My maintenance practice is to change the oil & filter after every 100 hours of operation.

The engine has a special hand pump on it that you use to pump the oil out of the crankcase. It doesn’t pump very much with each stroke & the engine holds almost 16 liters of oil so I had a pretty good case of tennis elbow after that job was done!

This stuff costs US $25.00 a jug so routine engine service is pricey. However, it’s money well spent & my philosophy is “that if I look after the engine then the engine will look after me!”

Now we are all set to cast off our lines early Thursday morning & head towards the upper end of the Chesapeake Bay.

Cheers!

36°50′54″ N 76°17′41″ W

USS Wisconsin – Norfolk VA

Today we took the (10 minute ride) pedestrian water ferry from Portsmouth across the Elizabeth River to downtown Norfolk.

The ferry lands in downtown Norfolk, right in the middle of all the action & is only a few steps away from the battleship USS Wisconsin, which is now permanently berthed as a floating museum.

The battleship is supported by an excellent discovery center & maritime museum.

Ed & I opted for the full visitor experience & signed up for the VIP tour package which included guided tours of the command centers & the engineering sections of the ship that were not accessible with “only” the general admission fee.

As VIPs we saw all the cool spots behind the scenes. The Captain’s private head has a red light for night vision & even has a hotline phone to the President! As our tour guide said, when the President calls, you answer right away – no matter what you are doing!

Our guide also took us into the gun & missile firing control center where we experienced a simulated attack on the ship. This was a really neat experience.

After the command center tour we saw the engine rooms & engineering sections below decks.

I cannot imagine what it must have been like when the ship was under way & in battle.

It was also very cool to see the main engine control center where the engineer responded to speed & direction commands from the helm, which was several decks above the engine room.

The guides had many great stories about navy life on board this ship. If you are ever in the Norfolk area then touring the USS Wisconsin should be at the top of your list of things to see & do.

Today we toured a battleship. Tomorrow I do battle with a couple of malfunctioning heads (toilets) on board my ship. Ahhh, the cruising can be so glamorous!

Cheers!