Glouster Point, VA - 8/20/11

We left Doziers Regatta Point this morning at 8:35 with wind out of the NE at 9 mph and expected a beam sea until we turned south then wind on the stern.

Looking back at Doziers Marina.

At 12:35 we entered the channel to York River Yacht Haven having had a decent ride down the bay. The chop was about 1 foot all day and did rock us a little on the beam winds. After checking in we had lunch in the restaurant with John & Barb who invited us to a night on land at their home in Jamestown which we readily accepted. A great dinner and a good nights sleep felt really good. Tomorrow we will go back to the boat and start getting ready to leave next weekend for home. We will return in a couple weeks and get the boat winterized and ready for winter storage on the hard.

Our position: N37 15.384 W76 28.744

Trip Summary:

Travel Days .... 105

Total Days ...... 336

Miles ...............4,841 (63% of total total trip)

Diesel Fuel ......2,876 gallons (75% of projected gallons)

Avg Cost per Gallon .... $4.00 (96% of total projected cost)

Avg MPG ........ 1.7

Dock Fees (avg) .... $40.69/da (52% of total projected cost)

This will be our last post until we return next spring to continue our adventure on up the east coast, Hudson River, Erie Canal, T/S Waterway and the Great Lakes before turning south again at Chicago to return to the rivers and back to WV. Like this year, we probably will make some side trips trips like the 1,000 Islands or other Canadian canals and who knows what else. We are following our hearts and not our itinerary. Check back with us in May.

Deltaville, VA - 8/19/11

In the company of Scoperta, we pulled out of Smith Point Marina at 8:45 this morning bound for Doziers Regatta Point Marina only 28 miles away. After 2 long days we decided on 2 shorter days so now we will have about a 3 1/2 hour ride from Doziers to York River Yacht Haven. For those that are wondering about the name Scoperta ... it is Italian for discover and that is what John & Barb are doing.

Less than a mile on the Little Wicomico River from the marina to the bay we run thru a cut that has current of several mph and is a little narrow so power has to be applied to maintain steering then we are in the big water again. We passed this ship as we went south. When we got to Deltaville, John & I took the marina courtesy car (a Mercedes wagon) to town for a couple of stops.

John, Barb & Ricki all took afternoon naps and we got together for dinner on Quest at 6:30.


Molly the 4 year old cocker that belongs to John & Barb. Check out those eyelashes.

Our traveling companions.

Tomorrow is the final trip of the season for us to Glouster Point where the boat will be until spring. We are looking forward to getting home for a while but will have a problem being in one spot for long without traveling so we just might have to make road trips to satisfy our wanderlust.

N37 33.577 W76 18.763

Smith Point, VA - 8/18/11

As we cleared the docks at Colonial Beach this morning I was hailed on Ch 16 and when I answered they asked me to go to Ch 18. No response on Ch 18 so Ricki called the marina to see if they were trying to catch us and was told it probably was the water police. I again asked on Ch 16 who was calling and instructed to go to Ch 9. It turned out to be the Range Control Officer for the Navy and they were getting ready for LIVE SHELLING in the area we were going to be in and asked us to keep 1/4 mile starboard of the Navy buoys for the next few miles. NO PROBLEM! When we were about 10 or 12 miles down the Potomac we could hear the shells/bombs or whatever going off. Other than that we had a nice tide push for the first few hours but as we approached the bay we lost the tide and picked up the strong SE winds. It wasn't quite as rough as the Tangier crossing but we were seeing some pretty hard stuff on our bow so we stopped at Smith Point Marina, about 15 miles short of our goal, for the night. When we pulled in we both got pump outs and I took on 173 gallons of fuel at $4.09 per gallon (ouch).

This area is alive with fishing and is actually the home of the Omega Fish Oil we all take. The lady that owns the place told John & I as she took us to the store, that the area had the 2nd largest per capita income in the USA. Tomorrow we will take an easy 30 mile trip to Doziers Regatta Point Marina at Deltaville, VA before our final leg to York River.

We traveled 51 miles today and our position is: N37 52.973 W76 15.166.

Colonial Beach, VA - 8/17/11

At 8:55 this morning Scoperta & Quest said their goodbyes to Barb & Skip (Moor $tuff) who are staying a few more days in DC then heading to NY, and headed out. Quest has traveled with them most of the time since early last November and we will miss their company and hope to catch them next spring as we head north again. Our first stop was just a mile away at James Creek where Scoperta got fuel and we both wanted a pump out but it was broken.

We passed the presidential yacht that was in her slip at our marina ...

The Reagan Airport which was directly across the water from us ....

And the nations capital.

This place had more helicopters in the air than I have ever seen.

The tide was with us as we traveled down the Potomac and we were able to cruise very nicely over 10 mph most of the day. We planned to stop for the night at Capt. Billy's Crabhouse but when we pulled in to very shallow water, rickety docks and stiff currents that really rocked us at 3:50 p.m., we decided to not stay here and go on to Colonial Beach.

The next 11 miles were getting rough but after such a nice trip up to now we could handle another hour plus. We arrived at Colonial Beach Yacht Center at 5:45 which is very nice having traveled 73 miles.

Across from us is this brand new 72 foot Nordhaven that the couple is going round the world on. Has to be a $10 million dollar boat at least. The dinghy has twin outboards WITH RADAR!

Our destination tomorrow is Reedville, VA then on to York River Yacht Haven.

Our position here is: 38 13.881 W 76 57.912

Washington, DC - 8/16/11

Our last full day in Washington found us too sore to venture out very far. Ricki spent most of the day trying to straighten out her health insurance issues. Our traveling friends went to the Indian Museum and came back late in the afternoon so we could all go out to eat. This is the last time we will see Skip & Barb until next spring when we catch up with them in NY where they plan to winter their boat.

On our walk back to the boat we witnessed this sunset over the marina.

Hope this will enlarge since it explains the next photo ....

Very unusual looking craft ....

When we returned to the boat, Ricki needed to change the water and sand on her critter. Now she has it eating out of her hand. Don't think I will be able to convince her to return it to the wild before we leave so I guess we will collect enough sand and water to keep it alive for awhile at home.

Tomorrow we will be leaving here and starting back down the Potomac toward Glouster Point where we will be leaving our boat for the winter.

Washington, DC - 8/14/11 & 8/15/11

8/14/11

Sunday was chore day for us. Early trip to the laundry room here at the marina followed by a list of things to get at the store a few blocks away and clean up the boat.

Early evening arrival of daughter Christine and family was delightful. We all had dinner on the boat and discussed what we wanted to do in DC tomorrow.

8/15/11

After breakfast we decided to walk the few blocks to the Air & Space Museum.

The museum is half way between the capitol building and the Washington Monument on the mall.

Don't know who this kid is .... he was just sitting there.

Lots of things to see .....

Moon Rover ....

The Davis family ....

We went to the 3-D movie on Legends of the Air.

Model of the USS enterprise .....

Rock from Mars ......

Amelia Earhart ......

We walked back to the boat in threatening skies but never got wet. It seemed like everyone in Washington leaves their office at 4 p.m. because the roads were crowded. Our company left about 5:30 for home and Ricki & I were able to stay up through dinner and then crashed.

Tomorrow we have to make a choice of joining Moor $tuff & Scoperta for another museum or take our dinghy down for a ride around the area. We will be leaving with Scoperta on Wednesday to return to the York River Yacht haven where we are going to leave the boat for the winter. Looks like we will be back to WV by month end.

Washington, DC - 8/14/11

Up early for a long ride from Colonial Beach to Washington, DC.


It was feeding time for Carfabio .... the crab!

Then we had to unplug the electric cords and get ready to move out.

We left Bayside at 8:10 and headed out into the Potomac River.

The crabbers we busy checking their traps.

Scoperta led followed by Moor $tuff and Quest.

Don't know who owns these radio telescopes but obviously "big brother" is listening.

We passed some very big nice houses along the river.

Mount Vernon

A different looking channel marker.

Fort Washington overlooks the river.

Could this be the president coming in to catch our ropes?

The admiral takes her turn at the wheel.

Moor $tuff hit a floating log and thought they had bent a prop so had to run on one engine for awhile. As it turned out it must have lodged in the prop and released itself later on.

We had some rain but most of the bad stuff went around us.

As we came into the Washington channel we started seeing government buildings.

As we approached Gangplank Marina we noticed the presidential yacht berthed there.

We followed Scoperta into the marina and are berthed on the T-Dock right behind them. A long day of 6 1/2 hours and 72 miles are behind us now.

Tomorrow we plan to tour the city with the Davis family.

Our position at DC is N 38 52.709 W 77 01.547