HMMMM.......

 

  I holed up here at Bohemia Bay Yacht Harbor yesterday due to "small craft advisories" on the Chesapeake, 15 to 20 mph west winds with gusts to 25, not my idea of fun. Out of curiosity I asked the BBYH harbor master when they pull the boats for the winter, to my surprise he said almost all of the boats stay in the water through the cold months. They winterize the boats and have a "Bubbler System" to keep the ice from forming. HMMMM......

  The cost for winterizing and dockage here is roughly 30% of what it would cost me in fuel and dockage if I sailed back to Myrtle Beach (not to mention the 10 gallons of oil my Driptroit's would use). 1,600 mile round trip saved by docking here and 10 days less sailing in the spring when we head back to Cleveland.

  After a solid 30 seconds of serious thought, I signed the dockage lease.

  I guess I can't complain about this falls trip. After all, we managed to pack the essentials for a memorable voyage into just 15 days on the water: engine troubles, generator problems, non functioning depth sounder, hung up on a sandbar, bad weather, good weather, cold and hot days, new marinas and old favorites, some really great crew hands (new and experienced), and more memories to share with my grandkids Kate and Charlie.



                                       The 2013 Crew


Dave

Uncle Walter (and friend)

Bill



Mo

Kate and Charlie with Mom and Dad

Time to retire Old Glory after 7,000 + miles

Home for the winter, under cover in the upper Chesapeake.

Harbor security.



For the girls, see you next year :-)

Calm waters

  The 50 mile voyage up the Delaware Bay from Cape May to the C&D Canal can be uncomfortable, or even down right dangerous. There are no safe harbors (for a large vessel such as "Whatever It Takes) between Cape May and the C&D Canal and the Bay is known to kick up quickly. The last time I traveled the Delaware (two weeks ago) we were fighting four foot seas when we arrived at Cape May.

  Today was nothing short of perfect. I left Cape May at 7:00 am with a rising tide and one foot waves. By 10:00 the waves had diminished to the flat water shown on the video below. I was in the C&D Canal by 11:45 and docked at the Bohemian Bay Yacht Harbor by 2:30.

  Dinner tonight was hot dogs smothered in some left over spaghetti meat sauce I made 3 or 4 weeks ago. It tasted much better than it sounds.

                            http://youtu.be/t8GBsuGV4bs

Click on address above to see "Whatever It Takes" in calm waters on the Delaware Bay.     

100%

       

Breakfast- diet Coke, coffee, Oreo's, and a cigarette.

 

 

 

The west end of the C&D Canal.

 

 

Bohemian Bay Yacht Harbor, home for the night.

 

 

 

WOW

 

For the girls (I lost to myself)

This looks familiar

  The best laid plans oft go astray. This holds especially true when your dealing with boating. The Erie Canal will not open until mid November. Way to late for me to try crossing Lake Erie (hypothermia would get me before I could drown).

   SO........it's back south we go. I left this morning from Atlantic City and made Cape May by 2:30. Tomorrow the weather is supposed to be good and I will be headed up the Delaware Bay to the C&D Canal. I am travelling alone for a few days but that's OK since the boat knows the way. I have included a few oddball photos in this post as most of the sights worth a picture between here and Atlantic City, were included in the blog a couple of weeks ago.



Shortly before they opened fire.



$85,000.00 and you don't need a vacuum. The dirt will roll out the front door with a gentle push.

Boating in Venice?

Opera benefit in my back yard last summer.

One of my favorite ports in Michigan.

 

 

Sunset on Lake Erie

                                    

For the girls (Iraq 2010)

                                   

The ocean had other plans

 

 We left this morning intending to travel on the Atlantic Ocean. The ocean had other plans for us. We traveled about a quarter mile out from Cape May and I turn the boat around (not as easy as it sounds). The waves were supposed to be swells. They reminded me of five footers on Lake Erie. When a rogue  seven footer crashed over the bow I told Mo to hold on as I spun the boat around.

 

  There appeared to be an inland waterway on the charts that snaked it's way from Cape May to Atlantic City so we decided to try it. We didn't travel more than a thousand feet without a sharp turn and at least 50% of the water we travelled was less than 6 feet in depth. I got hung up on one sand bar for a few minutes when I mistakenly went right of a red marker. All in all it was certainly safer than the ocean, but not without challenges.

 

We planned to stay in Atlantic City tonight but when I called to make reservations the entire harbor was booked due to a massive boat show. We wound up docking at Seaview Harbor Marina (6 miles south of Atlantic City) and will be leaving the boat here until October 9th. The Erie Canal will reopen around that time and we can finish the trip Home.

 

Mo has been a great deck hand and at this time has lost some $$$ to me at gin. The next blog will begin after the 9th.

 

These fellas were going out from Cape May on an 8 hour ocean fishing trip. I feel sorry for them.

"SKINNY WATER"

Dinner in the universal cooking utensil.

Mo e-mailing one of his (several hundred) children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren.

For the girls

"Driptroit Diesels"

  After viewing the picture above you may be able to guess how we spent today. Our plan was to travel to Atlantic City today, just 40 miles of open ocean water, a mere 5 hour trip.

  I pushed the starters on the engines at 9:30 and heard a familiar sound, RRR, RRR, RRR (very slowly), then click, click, click. The batteries were dead. I had noticed over the past two weeks that the engines were getting a little hard to turn over. I turned to Mo and said; "If we are going to have engine problems, being tied up at a dock is the right place for it to happen".

  I hired Scott (pictured above), a local marine mechanic, to drive me down to the marine supply store. We purchased 4 new batteries and a new battery charger (the old charger was acting up in the Florida Key's last spring). Four hours later Scott had the new batteries and charger installed and the engines roared to life.

  "Whatever It Takes" is powered by twin 350 HP, 8-71 Detroit Diesel engines. One of the nicknames for these engines is  "Driptroit Diesels" referring to the powerplants' propensity for leaking oil on everything in or near the engine compartment.

  The 2-Cycle engine powered most of the twentieth century's diesel-driven industrial history. By land or sea, in peace and at war, the Detroit 71 series diesel engines are considered the most reliable (and nearly indestructible) engines ever built. 

  Mo and I spent the evening driving around Cape May in a rental Kia. Cape May is a very pretty place with lots of vintage homes and many specialty shops. I wouldn't mind spending 3 or 4 days here.

  Tomorrow morning we leave for Atlantic City in a boat powered by "Driptroit Diesels" with brand new batteries!

New batteries and charger.

This poor bird was disappointed.

Cape May lighthouse.



For the girls

Wish I had a rearview mirror

  I wish I had a rearview mirror on the boat. Today we had a LARGE ship sneak up on us. I didn't notice the behemoth until it was very close. "HOLY ****" was my first comment when I looked back. We also had a commercial tug come up on our stern without notice, the wake from him had us rocking and rolling pretty good.

  We left dock on the C & D at 6:30 this morning to head for Cape May, New Jersey. The trip is only about 65 miles but we left early to take advantage of the outgoing tide. The Delaware Bay gets really narrow at the top and an incoming tide would slow us to around 7 MPH (making this a 9 to 10 hour trip). We were travelling at 13.6 MPH most of the way down the Bay with help from the tidal current. 

  We enjoyed a fresh Scallop dinner at the bar/restaurant across the street from Miss Chris Marina, our home for the night.

Red sky on the C & D Canal.

This big fella actually snuck up behind us in the shipping channel on Delaware Bay.

He passed by pretty close, note the swell of water at the bow.

The weather on the Delaware was looking a little dicey.

Sign at the harbor entrance to Cape May.

Our marina for the night. This place is kind of ratty. We docked here last year and the restaurant/bar across the street has really good food and the people are friendly.

Sunset in New Jersey.

For the girls (my daughter and others complained that I hadn't posted any decent pictures of myself)