... Firsts in first month continued

Monday, August 28, 2017 – Wednesday, August 30, 2017. 

The weather socked us in at the Hampton Marina and we didn’t set foot outside (except to check the lines and fender boards).  Rain and wind piled the water in and covered a lot of the lower docks.  I made a big pot of split pea soup and we caught up on our work and reading.

During our slightly extended stay at the Hampton Municipal Marina we got to meet Mary and Rodney aboard the sailing vessel Pegasus.  They toured our boat right before they set sail for an anchorage.  Rod left his coffee cup on the dock.  I called them and they asked us to hold onto it until we see each other again.  Mary said it’s an old cruising custom – that way, when fellow cruisers run into each other again, they have gifts to exchange. 

While we were safely tied up, Ken and Sandy on Cattitude, were making a very rough sail across the Chesapeake Bay.  “You’ve met some real idiots,” Ken told us as he admitted to taking on eight-foot waves and 25-knot winds.  We exchanged boat tours and enjoyed a dinner together at a restaurant in Hampton.  Here's Sandy & Ken.

Thursday, August 31, 2017. 

Smooth cruising into the Chesapeake.  Following seas and fair winds.  We found an anchorage at Kilmarnock, VA and settled in for a great dinner on the grill.  That night the winds kicked up and we spun around a bit, but everything held fine.  We looked at the winds and decided to stay put until the remnants of Harvey passed.

Friday, September 1, 2017.

We check the weather at least twice a day, before bedtime and again the next morning.  Thursday’s bedtime report suggested we should sleep in because the weather forecast was snotty.  After Jerry looked at the morning weather report, he decided the winds would lay and it would be lovely.  I wasn’t so sure.  He agreed to turn back if things weren’t good. 

Going out the creek was fine.  When we got to the deeper part of the Chesapeake we found the waves and wind coming from the North, where we were headed.  “It will be better when we turn up and we aren’t taking the waves on the side,” Jerry said over the clanging of things banging around in the galley.

I had my doubts.  “Why is that line lying on the foredeck?”  I asked him.  “Must have gotten knocked off,” he answered.  It had been secured that morning with two half-hitches.  Neptune himself must have untied it as a warning to us.

The waves crashed all around the boat as she rolled and bucked.  “I think we need to go ahead and turn back,” I said, “this is crazy.”  At that point the ship’s bell rang itself and Jerry agreed. 

On the way back, the waves were no longer crashing over the bow or smacking the side of the boat.  The steel drum band that had set up in the galley stopped hammering out their chaotic melody.  The waves were quickly pushing us to safe harbor, like shooing a chicken back to her nest box. 

Rather than return to our original anchorage and feel beaten in front homeowners we hadn’t met yet, we chose a new anchorage in a different branch of the same creek.  Having missed breakfast, we enjoyed a heartier lunch than usual and settled into working, studying and reading.  Bands of rain washed the salt water off Tanuki most of the afternoon.

Saturday, September 2, 2017

We enjoyed a quiet day at the same anchorage and watched the grey weather pass over us.  Jerry found a way to listen to the Gators play football and that made him happy until the final score; but we won’t go there. 

Sunday, September 3, 2017

The weather is letting us cruise again and we pull anchor and head out the creek to the much calmer Chesapeake Bay.  Crossing the Potomac was a tiny bit rough, but nothing like the washing machine we found ourselves in on Friday. 

On the way we hear someone hailing Cattitude and realize the catamaran is just over our starboard side.  We hail Ken and Sandy and learn they’re coming to anchor at Solomons Island too.  It’s a busy Labor Day weekend and we dodge lots of amateur boaters on our way up Mill Creek into St. Johns Creek to anchor at Pancake Point where Cattitude also anchors.

This is it.  This is when we launch the dingy.  Another first.   Jerry removed the covers and started looking the dingy over.  “Remember to put the plug in the dingy before you launch her,” Joe reminded Jerry on the phone the day before.  When the dingy is on board, the plug is removed to let rain drain out of it. 

Jerry found the plug wouldn’t stay in the hole.  After looking everywhere for a spare, he came up with a redneck solution.  He wound electrical tape around the plug to make it big enough to hold.  Seemed good.

Our marriage just barely survived the unbelievable number of hooks, latches and other devices used to tie the dingy to the back of the flybridge.  (OK, just 3 tie-downs, but when it’s the first time, every bit seems impossible).

The dingy arm and electric winch worked great and I was glad I asked Punk what her role was when Joe lowered the dingy.  “I stand on the port deck and fend it off from the boat,” she explained.  And so I did.

Meanwhile Ken and Sandy were watching (not that we were making that big of a scene, but they knew it was a first for us).  “That’s not a dingy, that’s a ski boat,” Ken yelled over to us when he saw the center-console and 30-horsepower engine.  We laughed and the four of us left for the Lighthouse restaurant where “if you participate,” as Ken put it, you can leave your dingy on their dock for free. 

By the way, Cattitude’s dingy is named “the Litter Box”.  We enjoyed the kind of meal Jimmy Buffet orders up in one of his songs (give me oysters and beer, for dinner every day of the year, and I’ll be fine).  Ken kept jumping up to check on the Litter Box because it had once slipped under a dingy dock during a low tide and almost got stuck when the tide rose. 

We paid our tab and walked over to the Tiki Bar where we saw the light from the sunset reflect on ordinary overhead cables to make them shine like a diamond necklace.  We walked back to the Lighthouse to dingy back to our boats and there were six inches of water in our dingy!  The plug had slipped out and was lying inside the boat.

No worries.  One of the best ways to bail a boat is to run it up on plane and the water quickly evacuates.  Rather than just tie the dingy up to our boat we also employed the dingy lift to hold it up so it didn’t sink overnight.

Monday, Labor Day (and my niece Jaden’s birthday – happy birthday Jaden!) September 4, 2017

After seeing off Catittude, we took the dingy to the dock at the back of the Calvert Maritime Museum and met Mr. Johnson, a Coast Guard Auxiliary member who was either in, or creeping into his 90s.  He told us about the screw post lighthouse, restored ships and other things behind the museum. 

Then using the powers granted to people over the age of 55 we bought a full day pass to the museum for $7 each.  The museum offered paleontology, a kind of aquarium petting zoo, history and an incredible otter swimming exhibit, as well as model ships, kids camp & workshop – just endless. 

We walked from there to West Marine and bought a plug for the dingy, a leash for Jerry’s prescription glasses, and some rescue tape (works way better than electrical tape).  Then on to CD’s Café for an incredible lunch and back to the museum to see the things we had missed.

Dinner was cooked on the stern grill and enjoyed on the foredeck. Just another awesome day.

Tuesday, September 5, 2017

Raising the anchor at 8 AM we entered a more welcoming Chesapeake Bay and cruised her to St. Michaels, MD wetting the anchor about 4 PM.

We took the dingy to the free dock by the Crab Claw restaurant and walked the quaint colonial town with plenty of active watermen (oyster, crab and clam fetchers) and had dinner on the deck at the Lighthouse restaurant (another screw post lighthouse and maritime museum are here.  It seems to be Maryland law.  If the town has a screw post lighthouse it must also have a Lighthouse restaurant).  A quick walk to the Acme grocery for a few more provisions and dingy back to Tanuki before the sunset. 

When we walk on land, we feel as though people may think we’ve been drinking just a wee bit too much.  It feels like we’re wide walking – but it’s just because the earth is too still.  We took time to literally stop and smell the roses in St. Michaels.  It’s a charming town. 

Wednesday, September 6, 2017

A storm passed over us last night and it rained all day.  Looks like we’ll miss out on the brewery, winery & distillery as well as Crepes by the Sea (a restaurant Ken & Sandy recommended to us) in St. Michaels. 

A church in St. Michaels peels out ships bells every hour and half hour (if you know one of the grandkids who went to Cousins Camp at Pop & Sammie’s, ask them to explain these to you).  Hearing the ships bells gives a genuine nautical feel to this seaside town. 

Yesterday we also passed a mammoth Liquefied Natural Gas Terminal/Coast Guard station in the water.  Charts indicated that we were not to go within 500 yards of this installation.  Other than using the words, “the size of a small, medium, or large town”, I cannot describe the size of this facility, or the size of the Navy shipyard near Hampton or the container ship terminals near Portsmouth or the container ships themselves for that matter.

Just know there’s crazy big infrastructure in major port towns to bring in almost everything you buy including rubber duckies, chicken, fuel, and anything you can find at Walmart, Target or other stores.  I hope Homeland Security is watching and protecting these facilities!Other than watching Irma and Jose and calling our friends and family to make sure they’re all safe, not a lot going on today.

Thursday, September 7, 2017Sixty-one degrees, sunny, calm and gorgeous!  We had coffee on the boat then took the dingy in to enjoy Crepes by the Bay – a highly recommended restaurant, and mail a letter.  Found Crepes by the Bay – closed until 9/8 – OK.  Found the Brick Inn Café and enjoyed a nice breakfast and mailed a letter at the post office.  

Back to the boat and the wind had picked up.  We got the dingy tied to Tanuki then pulled it up onto the fly bridge with the super cool dingy winch.  Tied her down and started to pull anchor in the windy cove, with me at the helm.  (nervous!) 

All went well and we made the 1:30 Kent Narrows Bridge opening – and buddy – it is narrow!  Jerry pulled up to the fuel dock at Mears Point Marina and we took on 220 gallons of diesel.  We still had 280 gallons in the tanks, but thought it better to have full tanks in case we have to stay in a hurricane hole for days and days. 
 
Then using the powerful bow thruster and twin engines, Jerry artfully brought us to B1B dock where we tied up with Kirby’s help (a dock hand who’s a fulltime firefighter and works on the water part-time), plugged into shore power, did the laundry, rinsed the dingy engine with fresh water and stripped the fenders of their tattered covers (new ones are coming for us here) – then off for showers at the super nice Marina bathrooms.  Oh – had some great cream of crab soup and ‘po boys at Harris’ about 3:30 for lunch.  Is it still lunch when it’s that late? 

Friday, September 8, 2017
When the Enterprise driver picked us up at 10 this morning, we realized it’s been 3 weeks since either one of us got behind the wheel of an automobile.  Mostly things happen faster, a lot faster, and there are so many more other vehicles with you!  We really missed our auto-piolet, Iron Mike, and the ability to enjoy the scenery as it slips by at 8 mph. The trip to Bay Shore, NY for my 40th High School reunion was supposed to take four and a half hours. 

On the New York side of the Goethals Bridge we stopped at the toll booth and saw 15 clearly printed on the side of the booth under the toll-taker.  Jerry asked, “Fifteen cents?” 

“Fifteen dollars,” she cheerfully replied.  

“What!?” Jerry exclaimed as he gave her a twenty-dollar bill. 

She took it, put a big smile on her face and chirpped, “Welcome to New York!” 

Even though we got to New York City at 2 PM, well before rush hour, the traffic over Staten Island and around the Belt Parkway added two to three hours of arcade-style fun as drivers jockeyed for position.  

We arrived at the hotel about mid-way through the pre-reunion gathering, changed clothes and headed out to see people I hadn’t seen in 40 years and Jerry had never met.  

Lots of great visiting for me, while Jerry checked on relatives in Florida as Irma bore down on Cuba.  Many of my classmates flew in from Florida for the weekend and had their return flights canceled.  None were upset by the promise of an extended stay. 

Saturday, September 9, 2017
Went to the reunion.  Looked to me like everyone couldn’t come, so they sent their parents!  It was good fun to see everyone.  Even had an opportunity to take my Mom to lunch.
 

Sunday, September 10, 2017
Driving back to Tanuki, we saw 2 caravans of utility trucks headed toward Florida and hoped Irma would be kind to our friends and family there. 

Monday, September 11 – Friday, September 15, 2017
Throughout the entire MTOA Rendezvous we had ample opportunity to meet other cruisers, learn in seminars and share stories.  

The couple that Joe and Punk recommended we keep an eye out for were there; Jan and Steve (Balena).  They are Great Harbour owners, and introduced us to Debbie and Henry (Seven Tenths) the presidential couple of the Great Harbor Trawler Association who presented us with our official GHTA burgee. 

Learned we are full-time cruisers, not full-time live-aboards.  Cruisers crank the engines and cruise often.  Live-aboards generally stay tied to shore power for months at a time.  

There are also full-time live-aboard snowbirds.  These folks come in many flavors – those that have one boat and go north when the butter on the counter gets too soft and south when the butter on the counter gets too hard.  Some live-aboard snowbirds have a house or condo on one end, and a boat tied up on a dock on the other end.  Some haul the boat to the hard when they’re away from it.  Others have two boats, one south and one north and they fly between.  Some keep a vehicle or two by their boats.  

It seemed to me that a majority of the MTOA members have a house and a boat and use the boat for weekends or vacation type trips.  Some MTOA members gave up their boats, but still like to come to the meetings. 

All of them are nice and were happy to share their experiences with us. 

Saturday, September 16 - 17, 2017 (Happy birthday to our son Jay!)
We cruised up to Worton Creek because many MTOA members recommended it for its eagle rookery and beauty – just watch out for the crab pots on the way in!  We anchored across from the Worton Creek Marina where John and Donna (Socially Sea Cured) were living aboard and getting their new-to-them 1988 trawler ready for cruising.  We met them at the MTOA Rendezvous. They too had recently sold their house and bought a trawler.  

They brought their dingy over and we had lunch aboard Tanuki and they took us on a dingy ride up the different branches of Worton Creek.  Later they were our first Happy Hour guests on the fly bridge.  “If you need to get anything, just let us know, we have a car,” Donna and John offered repeatedly. 

When we’re away from shore power, we run the generator for a few hours every evening to recharge the batteries so the fridge and other vital systems can continue their work while we sleep.  

But this night, the genny kept quitting.  Jerry kept going below to start her again. We knew that the cranking battery was old when we bought the boat.  

In the morning the generator battery completely failed, so we ran the engines in idle to bring up the charge.  

We called John and Donna to take them up on their generous offer.  “Come on over, we’re washing the boat and we could use a break,” they cheerfully replied. 

We took our dingy to their Marina’s dingy dock and the four of us shopped for a new battery as well as galley provisions.  For decades, Donna and John raised a family and taught school in the small community, so they were great tour guides.  

It felt serendipitous to have friends with a vehicle so nearby when we needed something as heavy as a new battery for the generator. 

After Jerry installed the new battery, we raced dingys.  Our 30 HP Honda beat their 20 HP Honda.  We took pictures of each other in our dingys in case we ever needed photographic evidence that we belong to this particular dingy.
 
Monday, September 18, 2017
A new first!  I got to raise the anchor this morning!  Jerry stayed at the helm waiting for my hand signals!  

After getting on the Chesapeake, we pointed south and headed to Baltimore.  
“I’m gonna follow Cosmic Force,” Jerry said after he saw the boat’s name on the navigational screen. Normally we travel at 7 knots, but between the current, tide and the wind, we were peaking out at 9 knots!  The cosmic forces were with us!
 
We planned to stay 2 nights in Baltimore and chose the Anchorage Marina in the Outer Harbor because Debbie and Henry keep their boat there and like it.  This place is huge!  And once again, it felt serendipitous, as our slip is just two boats down from Seven Tenths! (7/10s of the planet is covered by water). 

We’re having a stupendous time.  It’s better than either of us imagined. 

Well, we’ve cruised together for a little more than a month.  When we started blogging, we promised that we wouldn’t inundate you with tons of posts.  In order to keep our word we’re going to drop this day-by-day format and post about once a month. 

If you want travel updates, send a friend request to Sandra Pomroy Williams on Facebook where I post 360 videos from every new anchorage.  

Wishing you fair winds and following seas!  TANUKI! 

Maiden Voyage

We departed Northwest Creek Marina in New Bern, NC at 7:55 AM on August 21, 2017, and headed North away from the path of the solar eclipse.  The eclipse was a non-event for us, more like heavy cloud cover - but that's OK - we were starting our live-aboard adventure!  There will be other eclipses!  

We passed our first Intracostal Waterway marker in the Neuse River and headed across the Pamlico Sound, a large body of water in fair winds and following seas.  We continued to follow the ICW into the Pungo River.  We stopped and bought tuna steaks and shrimp from the dock at R.E. Mayo & Company, a spot seriously in the middle of nowhere. (wish I took a picture!  I'll get better, promise) we continued up the Pungo and dropped the hook for our first night at anchor at Deep Point.  

Pods of porpoises circled us, their exhalations sounding like great blasts and birds swooped and sang.  It was magical as Jerry grilled steak kabobs and roasted potatoes on the stern.  We enjoyed dinner on the foredeck.  The temperature was perfect, the sunset beautiful, the stars came out, we saw the Milky Way, a satellite, and 3 shooting stars - honest!  Here's a 360 video of the anchorage.  

August 22, 2017.  Continuing our journey we enter the Pungo-Aligator Canal, which seems to be only about 100 feet wide, and keep an eye out for logs and other obstacles while "Iron Mike" (auto pilot) kept the heading.  Jerry gave me the helm and went below.  Inside of a minute, I saw a log rolling straight for our bow.  I put Mike on standby and took the wheel to maneuver hard to port, avoiding certain disaster and then got back on course in the center of the canal.  

Down below Jerry felt the motion, looked out a porthole, saw the erratic motion and came running back up to ask if everything was OK.  (It was.  I had avoided certain disaster, I was quite happy with myself).  We got good old Mike back on a good heading and continued to look out for objects in the water.  There was nothing else on this long stretch of the canal except a big gator, and s/he got out of the way without our help.  

We anchored out at Sandy Point for another perfect night under even more incredible stars (there was even less light pollution at Sandy Point than Deep Point).  

During this leg of the journey we saw no other vessels, only a car or two driving over the two bridges we passed under and started to wonder if we were the last two people on earth.  Just before the end of the canal, Dayo came in and the spell was broken.

August 23, 2017 We "polished the props" (that's boat slang for a "soft grounding") leaving the Sandy Point anchorage.  I guess those shoaling warnings on the chart should be made wider!  We're getting back into civilization as we go through lots of nice rivers and canals.  We decided to buy a night at the Midway Marina and enjoyed air conditioning while it stormed outside.  We enjoyed a nice dip in their pool and met another "new to him" boat owner Mark, who was given a sailboat.  

August 24, 2017.  We awoke to find the port side of the boat covered with green, gloppy bugs.  We used the raw water wash-down to power wash them off before they were tracked everywhere.  Today we entered a medium-sized body of water, the Currituck Sound.  There was a lot of fetch and wind, which combined created some larger surf and a few whitecaps here and there and Tanuki handled it beautifully.  We encountered more bridges, including those we had to hail and those we had to wait to open (some have a schedule).  

We also went through our first lock!  Didn't think that would happen so fast!  It was easy, once you understood what was going on.  (nope - no pictures of that - you'll get one on another lock).  We had to wait about 30 minutes for the Norfolk-Southern #7 train track to swing open - yep, had to wait for a train crossing!

We saw more and more civilization as we made our way to the High Street Dock (a free dock with no electricity) in the heart of Portsmouth, VA.  As we tied up to the dock, John and his small son Teddy watched.  Teddy, about 3 years old, was simply fascinated with Tanuki.  We invited them aboard for a tour and Teddy cried "I want to stay" as his daddy took him ashore after their time aboard.  

We stayed at the High Street Dock two nights and explored the town's shops and restaurants.  If you want to learn more about the shops and restaurants we explored, visit Trip Advisor and look up GrammieSammie.

August 25, 2017.  We visit a Light Ship Museum, shops and restaurants in Portsmouth.

Saturday, August 26, 2017.  We're underway after visiting the Farmers Market and buying produce, eggs and breakfast sausage from the folks who grew them.  

We passed restricted naval areas, huge coal and container ship loading facilities and barges.  There are also lots of pleasure boaters - and that's the what we expect on the weekend.  It's getting really busy in here!  

Out of the congestion and on our way up the Hampton River, we were hailed on the VHF radio as "the N37 entering the Hampton River, this is Lou Codega".  Jerry recognizes the name, responds and switches to a working channel to talk to the Naval Architect that designed Tanuki for Mirage Manufacturing in Gainesville, FL that built our boat!  We tied up to a dock at the Hampton Public Marina where dockmaster Tom walked us through our first pump out.  

We think we'll stay here for 4-5 nights, waiting for the big blow to calm down before we cross into the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay.  Other boaters are doing the same thing, including sailing vessel Pegasus (their stern is in the photo above).  Mary and Ron have been living aboard Pegasus for about 3.5 years and are transitioning back to land this winter.  (they gave us our first boat card!)

We visited the City Museum and learned about the town's 400-year-old past (Hampton, VA claims to be the oldest continuously occupied English speaking settlement in the country).  At the museum, we also learned that during the Revolutionary War slave owners didn't trust their slaves enough to arm them.  Instead, the slaves sided with the British who gave them freedom afterward.  Britain had recently outlawed slave ownership.  

We met Helen who works at the Museum and recommended Venture where we enjoyed fried pork rind nachos and came back to the boat to hear an alarm sounding!  "High water alarm," Jerry said.  I opened the engine room door and found the bilge pumps dry, the entire floor was dry.  He looked at the alarm a bit longer and saw the batteries were desperately low.  Jerry spoke with Joe (the previous owner) on the phone, and after lots of head scratching remedied the situation.  He cranked the generator, shut down non-essential systems and began to recharge the batteries.  

Turns out the shore power hook up here was different from the previous one, and required a different way of using shore power than before.

We strolled off to a block party in downtown Hampton, listened to a great band, then shared a pizza at a restaurant next to the marina.  Great day!  

Who knows, perhaps I'll spend some time tending the Boaters Garden at the Hampton Marina.

August 27, 2017.  I'm finally catching up on the blog and we took a Harbor Tour on the Miss Hampton II this afternoon.  Yesterday we bought a discounted Seas to the Stars pass that includes entrance to the Hampton City Museum, the Harbor Tour, the Virginia Air and Space Center Museum and the Historic Carousel.  All for $39 each!  Such a deal.  

The Navy's biggest base is here, as well as a container ship company that promises to get cargo anywhere in the US inside of 2 days.  Amazing!  Here are some photos from that cruise.  

Looks like weather coming in...I'll go ahead and post this blog.  We'll stay here until the weather is good enough to cross the Chesapeake Bay.  We'll make our way up to Mears Point Marina for the MTOA Fall Rendezvous early-September.  We promised to not inundate you with posts, so we'll lay low until something interesting happens.  If you have any questions, just text, call or email us and we'll fill you in.  TANUKI!!

ReChristening

Renaming a boat means registering the change with the US Coast Guard, the insurance company, the sea tow company and others.  But most important is letting Neptune know about the name change and imploring his continued help for her safety.

Craig, our Captain's Stay B & B host was available to attend the rechristening ceremony and lend a hand with photos.  Here he is sitting at the navigation station and chatting with us.

He had a trawler near Hampton, VA and is excited about our adventures.

The best way to get on Neptune's good side is by sharing a drink with him.  Using his top secret formula, Jerry made four Old Fashions and we went top side to the fore deck where Jerry read the ceremony.  We adapted it from "Leap of Faith: Quit Your Job and Live on a Boat" by Ed Robinson.  

"Mighty Neptune, King of all that moves in or on the waves, and mighty Aeolus, guardian of the winds and all that blow before them: We offer our thanks for the protection you have afforded this vessel in the past, but now we submit this application. That the name by which this vessel has previously been known, Carolyn Ann, be struck and removed from your records. In consequence whereof, and in good faith, we seal this pact with a libation offered according to the hallowed ritual of the Sea. 

"Oh mighty and great ruler of the seas and oceans, to whom all ships and we who venture upon your vast domain are required to pay homage, we implore you in your graciousness to take unto your records, and recollections, this worthy vessel hereafter and for all-time known as Tanuki, guarding her with your mighty arm and trident and ensuring her of safe passage throughout her journeys. 

"In honor of your greatness, we offer these libations to your majesty and your court. I offer a toast. To Tanuki and all who sail upon her; may they enjoy calm seas and gentle winds."  

Where upon we clinked all four glasses and I poured Neptune's portion over the starboard bow (want to get on his right side too!).

Tomorrow - our maiden voyage.  We plan 40-50 miles, then drop anchor for the night and continue slowly into the Chesapeake Bay and the MTOA Fall Rendezvous. 

Don't the letters look sharp? (Thank you Boat US & the Rickshaw typeface).  Miracle of miracles, we even put them on with very little squabbling!

Promises

The pickup truck sighed as we unloaded it and moved onto the Great Harbour N37, Carolyn Ann, on August 15.  It was a busy day as Punk and Joe moved things off and we moved things on.  

After hours of unpacking, we decided to quit and take a late dinner out (we still haven't provisioned fully).  The sky darkened quickly and we jumped when a deafening thunder clap sounded overhead.  

Knowing a deluge was imminent, we dropped everything and headed to the truck.  The rains began.  And it poured.  Raining cats, dogs, ponies and the occasional giraffe.  By the time we got to the restaurant the blinding rain was over.  Two rainbows lit up the freshly washed sky.  

Was one a bright promise for our future and the other a reflection of the bright past enjoyed by Punk and Joe aboard Carolyn Ann?  We hope so.

Rest was easy and deep that first night, and last night too.  We're still dotting "i"s and crossing "t"s.  Our boat cards and the boat lettering will arrive soon.  

After the renaming ceremony, we'll cruise up to Mear's Point Marina in Grasonville, MD for the MTOA Fall Rendezvous.  (that's Motor Trawler Owners Association)

Poking and prodding

Meet Carolyn Ann.  She's sixteen feet across (beam), 37 feet long and drafts just 3 feet (the part of the hull that's underwater). 

After Walter (the mechanic) and Rob (the Marine Surveyor) had poked and prodded her insides, it was time to haul her out so they could do the same to her outsides.  

Walter spent a few minutes in her engine room, came out and told Jerry, "I have two words for you: I'm impressed".  He spent the rest of the day in the engine room trying to find something that needed to be fixed and found a couple of easy to correct issues.

Samples have been sent to the lab and Walter and Rob are working on their reports and so far everything looks, well, ship shape.  We hope to have all the final reports by Tuesday or Wednesday at the latest.

While she was hauled out, the owner, Joe, cleaned a few barnacles from her propellers and replaced some zincs.  

Zincs attract stray electrical currents in water and sacrifice themselves so that the metals that make up important parts like the propellers, rudders and bow thrusters don't get eaten up.  Sort of like trap crops planted next to a garden to draw the bad bugs away from the crops.  

Punk (Kathy) and Joe, Carolyn Ann's owners, invited us to stay with them in their New Bern home for a few nights while the Inspection and Survey were taking place.  After two wonderful days and nights with them, we've relocated to Captain's Stay B and B to wait for the survey and lab reports.

While we were with Punk and Joe, we learned that Carolyn Ann's "birthday" is August 6th.  That's the same day we left our home empty with our truck jammed full of every earthly possession we didn't give away or sell.  

They oversaw her construction in Gainesville, FL in 2007, maintained her with extreme diligence and lived aboard her for about 10 years.  They took her around the Great Loop 3 times, up and down America's great rivers and into Canada. 

It's easy to see that it's difficult for Joe and Punk to let her go, and we're so grateful they dragged their feet when it was time to sell her.  Had they not delayed, we wouldn't have been ready to buy her.  

Provided there are no fatal flaws in the reports and lab samples, we'll have big shoes to fill as the second owners of a well-loved trawler. We'll keep her birthday the same and rename her Tanuki with a home port in St. Augustine, FL.

From Limbo to Go

We're working really hard to become homeless and have no food! The thought made me laugh out loud. 

"What's so funny," Jerry asked as we left the office supply store with colored dot stickers to mark the price of things for the Moving Sale.  

"This is so unAmerican!" I explained, "No one gets rid of this much stuff!"  

We have to pare everything down to the bare essentials.  I figure if it fits under the tonneau cover of our GMC Canon and in the back seat, it will fit on the boat.

Tuesday, July 25 we got an offer on our house in St. Augustine.  By the next day, we all agreed on a price and the house was under contract.   It's a cash offer from people who are currently couch surfing.  So a quick close.  Can you say less than 2 weeks?  Can you say, Monday, August 7?

Why, oh why did we stock up on all those wild-caught salmon fillets on sale for $10 a pound?!

Monday, July 31, Jerry reconnected with the owner of the Great Harbour N37 "Carolyn Ann" and negotiated a deal that everyone likes.  

Friday, August 4, we'll pack up the truck and enjoy a visit next door.  We were thrilled to accept an invitation for appetizers and cocktails.  That solved the salmon problem!  Patty will be gifted with the frozen salmon fillets.  She's a professional chef and will do them justice.  

Our current To Do list includes making a Declaration of Domicile (Florida) and changing our Voter Registration and Driver's License records; visit Starke one more time, tend my box at the Community Garden, and work like crazy to put on the world's best ever Moving Sale on Saturday, August 5 from 8-5 at 1501 San Rafael Court (please tell your friends).

Sunday, August 6, the kids will be here to pickup the things they want as well as the watermelons that volunteered then ripened in our yard.  

Since we won't have a thing to sit or sleep upon when they're done, we'll give them a hug, throw our backpacks in the back seat and head somewhere (the destination will become clearer in the next few days).  

Next Thursday, August 10, Carolyn Ann will be taken on a sea trial by a Marine Surveyor, surveyed, hauled, poked and prodded to make sure all systems are go.  Oil will be sent for lab work, reports will be written and provided all goes well, we'll wire the money and it's done - we'll be Cruisers!  

We hope our first cruising destination will be to see the Solar Eclipse on August 21, somewhere on the waters of South Carolina.  Ironic - because we tried to get a room, but they were all booked!  We weren't too disappointed, as we knew things would work out.  We just never know how things will work out.  

We did a lot of studying and planning.  We did a lot of little things and we were flexible.  Even in all the chaos, it feels like we have fair winds and following seas for our new adventure!

Floating on the water is where we want to be

When you own a home there are regular chores.  Mow the yard, change the air conditioning filter, wash the windows, etc.  Same thing when you live on a boat, but wetter.  When you live on a boat the chore of mowing the lawn morphs into scraping the barnacles and algae off the hull.  And it's best done monthly.  Less frequently than mowing, and a lot wetter.

I take care of mowing the lawn now, so it just made sense that I would flip that upside down and take care of scraping the hull; when we got one.

Scraping the hull requires full immersion into the water.  That requires a whole new way of breathing.  Scuba gear is required.  To get scuba tanks filled, you need to be Scuba Certified.  No problem!

We both passed the online scuba course.  The online course outlines five gazillion things that can go wrong and teaches the skills you need to safely get out of the water alive.  

Sitting in front of a computer, taking the online class, it seemed pretty easy.  Every lesson included beautiful video of divers calmly doing everything right.  Relaxing music and muted bubbles played behind the announcer's engaging Austrailian accent.  

At the end of each lesson, the beautiful, young divers are shown smiling and joking on deck; not a care in the world.  They made it look so easy!  

We were promised that our first breath underwater would be unforgettable.  And mine was!  

Unlike the online videos, the sound of the bubbles is not muted and relaxing.  It's deafeningly loud and super scary.  Suddenly the same primal instincts that helped me fail the Red Cross swimming course about 50 years ago came rushing back.  

Back when I was eight years old (and again when I was nine) while attempting to learn how to swim, they told me to blow the air out of my lungs when my face was under water.  Under water!  Expel the air in your lungs while you're under water!  That's nuts!  Even at that young age, I knew this was just not smart!  I wouldn't comply. I didn't get a certificate (twice).

Then there was the time when I was about 10 years old, jumping in the wild surf of the Atlantic Ocean.  I was knocked down by a fierce wave (probably a 2 footer!).  Water filled my mouth and the glug-glug sound of drowning filled my ears as I felt Posiden pull me deeper into his watery realm, my belly dragged along the gritty sand, my outstretched arms grabbed for something - anything to stop this 60 mile an hour journey to my death!  

Finally!  I grabbed onto something solid and very soon I felt the sun on my back and heard the sea gulls overhead.  I also heard a man's voice, "Are you OK, sweetie?"  

I opened my eyes and looked at the hairy ankle of a total stranger.  How embarrassing!  Fighting a strong desire to get up and hide, I let him help me up and I ran the ten feet to our family's blanket on the beach.

In the Dive Shop's dive training pool all these harrowing experiences and more kicked in, commanding my nose and lungs to disregard the instructions I learned online.    

Scuba training video: "Breathe slowly and don't hold your breath."

In the scary water, my reptilian brain ignites a primal panic that causes my breathing rate to increase generating increasingly shallow breaths that are exhaled through my nose causing my mask to flood.  

Scuba training video: "Calm down.  Breath slowly."  

Whoosh, I stand up.  I can't.  I simply can't talk myself into it!  

With my head out of the water, I gaze longingly at all the friendly air I can enjoy any way I please - through my mouth, my nose, or both simultaneously.  And I don't even have to think about it!

Just like the nice hairy-legged gentleman from my childhood, the instructor pops his head out of the water and asks if I'm all right.  He assures me that I can take my time, and he'll even let me swallow all the water in the pool if I have to.  He tells me there's no need to keep up with the rest of the class.  I nod and give him the OK sign. (you have to learn a lot of hand signals because you can't talk underwater.  So I thought I would at least demonstrate proficiency in that skill.  I didn't want him to think I was a total idiot!)

I've got hundreds of dollars invested in this.  And we need to be able to dive to live on a boat!  Right!?  So now the thrifty side of me kicks in.  I know I'm not gonna get a refund.  I gather myself and go down again where the instructor is demonstrating how to recover your regulator, should it happen to come out of your mouth.  And this is important because a regulator delivers air to your mouth from the tank strapped on your back.

Dropping the regulator must happen a lot because it's the first skill you have to demonstrate proficiency in!  Whenever your regulator is out of your mouth you have to blow tiny bubbles out of your lips so your lungs don't explode!  (this is especially important when you're below 10 feet, so they make you practice it until it's second nature). 

Blow bubbles under water?  Are you nuts?  I need that air.  Even the Red Cross couldn't teach me to do that!  My reptilian brain brings on primal panic again!  Up I sputter.  

Once again, the instructor joins me above the water and assures me I can stay in the shallow end and practice this skill before I move on to the next skill.  (Which is getting water out of a flooded mask by blowing air out of my nose under water.  The same nose I'm not supposed to exhale from when there's no water in my mask.) 

For the next two hours, Jerry and the other four people in the class are demonstrating all kinds of skills like how to share air, what if feels like to have a completely empty tank of air while you're ten feet under, how to play with the buoyancy of the dive equipment, how to swim from 30 feet down with no air and get to the top without having your lungs explode.  Important stuff.  

I still can't get my body to override what I've been doing for more than 58 years - breathing!  I decide I'm just not cut out for it.  I decide to walk away from the money and promised adventure back onto dry land.  

Meanwhile, Jerry passes all the skill tests and decides he will move on to the next day's planned open water dive in a Florida spring far, far away.  How far, far away?  Wake up at 4 AM and be at the Dive Shop by 5:15 AM far, far away.  I stay home.

By lunch time, he's texting me with the news that he can't get his ears to equalize - he's been trying all morning.  And this is an important skill because if you can't get the pressure in your ears to equalize then you can lose your hearing.  

We sleep on it and decide maybe we'll go ahead and skip the whole diving thing.  We celebrate the fact that at least we tried and bonus: we now own some great snorkeling equipment.  

So slight change in plans.  Instead of scraping the bottom of the boat ourselves, we'll go ahead and hire someone to do it for us.   Sort of like hiring a lawn care company.  

For a point of reference: the money we spent on the aborted scuba courses would have paid for quite a bit of bottom scraping.  

Good news though - we still have our hearing, intact lungs and lives!  The adventure continues.