Returning to Maine, reprise

We have been planning to bring Magus back to Maine from Zimmerman Marine in Cardinal, Virginia since we left her there in May, 2017.  The first summer, we were too busy with getting our place in Maine and the gardens back in shape.  The next summer, we were busy training our new German Shephard puppy M'Ocean, thinking he could come along, but it became obvious that it was not practical.  There was some thought that he would be ready to come along this year, and we considered many options of bringing him, boarding him, with or without our other dogs, etc, but Jenny is also geting her dog training business, Whole Dog Camp, going, and a month away would be a problem.

Magus, almost ready to leave Zimmerman Marine

We finally settled on Albert just sailing Magus back between May 15 and June 15, more or less.  It ended up that I flew and drove to Zimmerman's on Tuesday, May 14.  Zimmerman's had Magus in the water, and I began the process of getting her commissioned to sail to Maine; and provisioned, and repaired in various ways.  The big news is that the engine now works better than it has since we bought the boat in 2008.  The transmission and exhaust work was just needed maintenance.  They also replaced the injectors, so now there is essentially no smoke from the engine, and they replaced the motor mounts so there is much less vibration.  Overall, I am very happy with the work they did.

I was also happy to get Magus ready by Sunday, May 19, when I departed for Deltaville.  I explored the Deltaville Marina area on Jackson Creek, and left the next morning for Crisfield.  On both of these days the wind was from the south and I could sail with no engine for hours at a time.  It was lovely.

Mac Ward in Deltaville

The first part of this trip has been full of social events.  While still at Zimmerman's, my good friend Mac from Charlottesville who has a boat in Deltaville took me up there for a Friday night marina party.  The next night I went by dinghy to Williams Wharf Landing across the East River for a dance party and seafood dinner that was part of the Tour de Chesapeake bike race.  I was missing Jenny, who was there with me for the same event in 2017.

Band at Williams Wharf

Party at Williams Wharf

Downwind to Crisfield

In Crisfield, I was able to find my friend Tom Hunter who lived next door growing up in Maryland.  He showed me around and we had a great afternoon.  Crisfield is a unique place, the Crab Capital of the World for one thing.  It was also flooded during Huricane Sandy and is still recovering, although they seem to always be recovering from something.

Boatyard boat in Crisfield

A Peeler shed in Crisfield

  

Near Tom's house

Tom Hunter at home

This photo was provided by a trawler who chatted with me
on the radio as he went by.

From Crisfield, I sailed to St. Leonard's Creek on the Patuxent River to visit another childhood friend Ed Chambers and his wife Karen.  The wind started off good, but then I had to do some motoring.  They live in a community with a dock that I tied up to, and they were excellent hosts.  After two days, Ed and I sailed down the Patuxent to Solomons Island, met Karen at a retaurant, and had a nice dockside dinner.  

Ed Chambers and me

At the dock on St. Leonards Creek

The scene from Bill and Katie's deck

To get a favorable current, I left early the next morning, Saturday, May 25, for the South River and Annapolis to see my friends Bill and Katie Ball.  I mostly motor-sailed, but I had a nice slow sail up the South River, where the giant power boats were going way too fast and close to other boats;Memorial Day weekend.  They also live in a community with water access and have a mooring just off a community dinghy dock with a short path to their house.  Super nice.  On Memorial Day, we went for a real sail on their Beneteau 321 to Cantler's Crab House for a waterfront dining experience.

Bill and Katie sailing on their boat

Kayaking with Bill

Sailing past Thomas Point lighthouse

At the dock on Chase Creek

On Tuesday, May 28, I motor-sailed out to the Bay, and had a good sail up to Annapolis and the Severn River.  I went to Chase Creek to visit my friends Jim and Linda Mumper, who also live in a community with a dock where they keep their Grand Banks trawler Leilani.  They visited us in Freeport a couple of years ago on Leilani and they have done the Great Circle route and other adventurous travels.  Jim gave me a great ride in their runabout boat into Annapolis, and the first night there Jim's brother Bob came up for dinner.  I knew all of them when I lived in Annapolis in 1977 to 1980, sailing and causing other trouble.  

Me, Linda, and Jim on their deck

Did I mention that it's been notably hot?  There were a couple of thunderstorms while I was at Bill and Katie's, and last night there was a loud bang but no rain.  Thunderstorms are forecast for this afternoon too.  It's been around 90 F the last few days.

So, that's a quick catch-up.  I've been trying to find a crew-person to help sail from Baltimore to Maine; or, more accurately, from Cape May to Maine, but Baltimore makes a good starting location.  I've had some people who want to do it, schedules did not work, so no definite plan as of now.  Without crew it could take two weeks to get to Maine, but with crew, it could take as few as 7 days.  In 2012, Jenny and I and Echo did it in 7 days from St. Marys City, but that was lucky, see here.  

Tomorrow is Friday, and I plan to sail to Baltimore to see Echo. She does not have much free time until Sunday, but the forecasts and logistics make me feel the need to leave Baltimore on Sunday morning.  That doesn't fit her schedule very well, but I think we can get together for a bit of time on Friday or Saturday. 

To be continued...

Update Feb 2019

This will mostly be an update on Magus, but with a few other sailing and life mentions.  After we got back to Maine in June 2017, we realized we had been gone for a pretty long time—9 months!  It was really good to see Echo on our way back to Maine, and then Sophi, Travis and the grandkids in Bath.  And we enjoyed getting back to our life at Bliss Woods Farm.  

We did some sailing with friends out of South Freeport harbor, and Albert had the good fortune to sail with his friend Hans on his new project schooner Actress from Bristol to Belfast, Maine.  It was a glorious day. 

Bustin's Island dock (Freeport)

Our friends Bill and Katie from Annapolis visited for a weekend with their kayaks, and we did a lot of fun things. 

Albert’s brother Andrew, wife, and three of their four mostly grown kids visited for a long weekend.  

At the end of the summer, Jenny’s brother and one sister and all of their kids visited, and we all went to the Common Ground Fair, run by MOFGA, a great Maine organization.  

In the fall, Albert was invited to help his friend David sail his and Nancy’s boat Grace down to where Magus was on the hard at Zimmerman’s Marine in Cardinal, VA.  There, he would winterize the boat, since it was not done when we left in the spring. The trip down was great, with some FB posts for documentation; here are links that may work:  first, next1, next2, next3, next4, next5, next6, next7, next8.  

Our daughter Echo and her boyfriend Chris drove from Baltimore to take Albert back there for a quick visit and then a ride to the airport. 

The year 2018 was the year of our new German Shepherd puppy, M’Ocean; see Jenny's FB and other sites for lots of details and photos.  

We also did some other things of course, including an exciting but unproductive fishing trip in our motor-dinghy with grandchildren Felix and Hazel on the Harraseeket River, also known as South Freeport harbor.

 

The winter of 2018-19 found Magus still on the hard at Zimmerman’s Marine in Cardinal, VA.  Albert flew down there in the fall to replace the tarps that had blown off earlier in one of the not-quite hurricanes, and do a few projects.  This time Albert saw his brother Andrew for one night on the way from the BWI airport to Magus, and Echo on the day before the plane trip home.  It was on the cold and rainy side, but all the planned projects were completed; possible FB link.

The plan now is to definitely bring Magus back to Maine this spring, 2019—May 15 to June 15, more or less.  Details still to be worked out…

Abacos to Maine

All the\he kids at Green Turtle Cay

We can't believe that this blog does not have any mention of the great presentations that Jenny has been doing at schools along the way; its titled "How to make big problems small" and its an introduction to behavior science in a fun way with her guitar and the dogs.  Albert goes along and has a part, too.

One of several shows at Hope Town school

We went to all of the island schools in the Abacos-- Green Turtle, Great Guana, Man-o-war, Hope Town, and Grand Cay.  We also did a couple of shows on the mainland of Great Abaco Island-- Every Child Counts, a special needs school in Marsh Harbor, and the upper school at Coopers Town.  Jenny's website, jennyruthyasi.com, has some photos, but not much about the school trips, which were a blast.

Jenny with Tigerlily and Bee at Grand Cay school

Grand Cay, Bahamas

We dodged some weather as we took a few days to get to Grand Cay, and then stayed for about a week waiting for a (theoretically) good weather window to cross back to the USA.  We spent almost all of the time there at Rosie's Marina; what the guide books say is basically true.  The availability of food and most anything was terrible.  We happened to be there for their Homecoming weekend of parties.  Very loud music and plenty of alcohol.

Sailing in the Gulf Stream

 
We left on Sunday, April 16, 2017, with the plan to get seriously north by going all the way to Beaufort, NC, about 550 miles, taking 3.5 or 4 days.  We pushed it, and got up to that area in 3 days, and ran into a cold front, with rolly conditions, so we diverted to Southport, NC.  The total distance was about 536 miles in 73.5 hours, average speed of 7.3 knots, although we were only going 5 to 6 knots, but the Gulf Stream pushed us up to a speed of 9 knots at times.  The last 12 hours were miserable, and the dogs were not happy, either.

An ICW view from the anchor

We arrived before noon on Wednesday, April 19, at the Southport Marina and paid for a slip.  This allowed the US Customs people to visit us that afternoon (instead of us figuring out how to get to Wilmington about an hour away by car.)  The next day we motored a short distance to the little basin at the town, tying up to the dock at Provisions restaurant.  We had a really nice time in Southport, buying some good American food and beer, and even doing some general shopping.  Here is a link to a Facebook post.

Oriental, NC

After a couple of nights, we motor-sailed up the Cape Fear River and took the ICW to Wrightsville Beach/ Masonboro Inlet, where we spent a short night.  Up early the next morning, we went out the inlet and motor-sailed downwind to the Beaufort Inlet, staying at Moorehead City, NC.  We saw friends from the Bahamas here, but wanted to keep moving.  We stayed a couple of nights in Oriental, NC, which is a great little town.


I think it took four more days to get up the ICW into Portsmouth VA on April 29.  That's the short story, but it was all fun and good.

This boat was in Portsmouth harbor last fall,
and does not look any better now.

Theresa and Brian's farm in Dugspur

Cows at the farm

We learned about Zimmerman Marine in Southport, and we planned to go to their facility in Mathews, VA to have some transmission work done.  We arrived on April 31, staying a few days on the dock as we learned that more work was needed than we had anticipated. 

While we pondered our options, we continued with our plan to leave the boat for a week or so while we rented a car to visit our new friends from Manjack Cay, Theresa and Brian, at their 100 acre farm in Dugspur, VA, south of Floyd, which is south of Roanoke, if that helps.

 On the way there, we stopped in Charlottesville, and somehow arranged to meet all of our three good friends and partners there at the Sedona Taphouse. We then spent most of a week with Theresa and Brian in Dugspur, helping in their garden and being entertained and fed well.  On the way back, we saw Albert's brother Andrew and family, daughter Echo in Baltimore, and stayed with other friends.  Back in Mathews, we visited with Albert's friends Martin and Keith, who own Compass Marina, where we had spent the night before we got to Zimmermans almost two weeks earlier.

By this time, we knew that Magus would not be ready to sail north for a few weeks or more, because of the several repairs that were needed.  We decided to pack up and drive to Maine, planning to come back in August or September and sail Magus the rest of the way home.  Oh yeah, and Albert had to have a tooth extracted; he felt much better after that.  Did we say it was hot?   We finally did enough to prepare the boat for the summer, and then got back in the rental car for the drive to Maine.  We stayed with Echo again, then spent a nice night with Jenny's brother Ted and wife Fany in Freehold, NJ.  After a miserable day of driving through the city and Connecticut, we arrived at our house in Freeport on Thursday, May 25.  The trees had still not completely leafed out.

Walking in Baltimore

In the summer, there are usually a couple of hot days in Maine, and we also get a few days that are cooler than it ever got in the Bahamas, so the summer is very nice in Maine. That led us to thinking that Magus does not need to come back to Maine yet, but we should just go back to her in November and sail from there to the Bahamas again.

However, that decision is letting us enjoy the garden, and even the winters here in Maine at Bliss Woods Farm and Whole Dog Camp, where Jenny is making a career of dog training and having fun with people and dogs.  And Albert is having fun in the garden and enjoying life in Freeport.

Our social life in the Abacos

On April 3, 2017, we anchored in Allens-Pensacola Cay, right next to Mike on his trawler Sheena II and Jeff on his 32 foot sailboat.  We went over to Mike's boat to share some fish that those two guys had caught, and we brought a squash and turnip dish.   And Jenny's guitar, and those three jammed up the night.  Jeff is a professional musician from Charleston, SC, and Mike is from Ottawa and very good, too.  Jeff left for his trip back to Florida the next morning.  

They are both friends of Bill and Betty Sue on a sport fishing boat Teamwork from Folly Beach, SC, also in the anchorage.  We first met Bill and Betty Sue the first time we came in here in early December, and Mike was here then, too.  They told us about Bill and Lesley on Manjack Cay, and invited us to the Christmas party there.  Of course we went, and met all kinds of interesting people at the party and during our several visits there.  The afternoon Christmas party was outrageous, and so were the jams on the beach and other events.

Ed and Elizabeth from Maine on their self-built boat

Bill and Lesley are fans of Scott and Helen Nearing (RIP) from Maine, so they built plenty of rock walls, and there is a lovely path for about a mile to the Atlantic Ocean side.  Organic gardens, all solar power, cisterns to catch water.  There are about 6 houses on the island.  Darned nice.  Jenny helped them with a feeding/ training issue with their goats.  Lots of interesting people, including guys who had built their own boats-- mostly steel.

We met Randall from Bath, Maine, sailing his Choey Lee ketch towards the Caribbean, with a varying complement of friends and crew; his girlfriend came down while he was in the Manjack area for a week or two.  A couple of days ago, he was in Luperon, DR, heading towards Samana Bay and Puerto Rico. Albert went spear fishing with him and didn't do so well, but we still got some fish to eat-- thank you, Randall.  He also gave us some fish later in Hope Town.

We met Theresa and Brian on their nice Krogen trawler.  They take it back to North Carolina in the early Spring and go to their 100 acre farm in western Virginia.  We plan to visit them in May.
We got to know Jeff in Green Turtle Cay.  He plays on some Wednesdays and Fridays with Kevin and the Gully Rosters band.  Kevin is the dockmaster at the Othet Shore Club/ Pineapples Resort, where we stayed a few times.  When our inflatable dinghy had serious bottom detachment issues and was essentially un-repairable in Marsh Harbor a few weeks ago, we heard that Kevin had a dinghy for sale.  We called him and got back to Green Turtle the next day to see it; we got a super good deal on an old but very sound hard bottom inflatable "RIB".  Any dinghy of this sort is very hard to find down here, so we are very fortunate.

We met plenty of others in Green Turtle, including Marion and Jonathan, Bill and Maureen, and Mark and Joelle.  We played Pickleball with the last two couples both at Green Turtle and Hope Town.  We went to several Friday night socials at Dave's, aka Plymouth Rock-- liquor store and restaurant; they have t-shirts with "I had breakfast at the liquor store."  We enjoyed conch fritters at seveal of the restaurants.  We attended the Women's March that was mostly the regular winter residents; some boaters, some locals.  We went between Manjack Cay and Green turtle quite a few times, and really liked this area.

Jenny did her first school event about behavior science with the dogs and her guitar on Green Turtle.  We then got involved with the school's gardening club, and helped with an environmental science program.  We did a similar program at the schools on Great Guana, Man-o-war, Hope Town, and the Every Child Counts school at Marsh Harbor.  These were primary schools except ECC.  We just went to the High School at Cooper's Town with just the dogs; it was too hot to lug the guitar.  See Jenny's website and Facebook posts.

We spent some time at Great Guana Cay at the Orchid Bay Resort because they had a super good deal at the dock before March 15.  Many of us would gather on the dock for drinks at sunset, including Jim and Louise from Cumberland, Maine.

In Hope Town, Jenny did a few jam music nights.  We met David Wright who plays guitar and sings, and he is in the process of restoring the William H. Albury schooner that was built many years ago at Man-o-war.  We saw him and other friends (and school kids) at the big school fund-raiser Flea Market event on Man-o-war.  

While our friends Bill and Kati were visiting and staying at a cottage on Elbow Cay (Hope Town,) we had the good fortune to meet their landlord, Steve Dodge, Abaco historian and author of the best cruising guide for the area. Bill and Kati then joined us on Magus for a trip to Little Harbor at the south end of the Abaco Sea, after a stop for snorkelling at a protected conservation area-- with sharks!

So many more interesting people and stories, but not enough time or words.

Now, we are working our way back to the west, getting ready to make a big jump to the good ole USA.  If we get a good weather window, we want to go all the way to Beaufort, NC in about 3.5 days of ocean sailing, taking advantage of the strong Gulf Stream.  It'll still be over a week before we leave, so it will be interesting to see who we run into as we travel.  We plan to go to Grand Cay for a few days to discover that out-of-the-way place, and leave from there.  And that will be the beginning of the rest of the voyage to Maine.

Abacos, Bahamas

Until recently, Albert was feeling snobby about the Abacos.  They are the closest serious Bahamas cruising area from the US, so they would be crowded and touristy.  Most of the sailboat charter companies in the Bahamas run out of Marsh Harbor in the middle of the Sea of Abaco, as the bank is called, so that proves the point.  But after being here only a short few weeks, he and Jenny have been pleasantly surprised.



The entire Bahamas archipelago is big-- 500 nautical miles from the Abacos to Inagua at the southeast side of the island country.  Another 200 miles to the Turks and Caicos, with the same geology and Brittish history.  We had thought we'd go to the central part of the Bahamas-- George Town, Exumas; Long Island; and other islands around there.  Now, we're not motivated to travel that 250 miles-- each way.  Other cruisers we've been meeting up here say that the Exumas are more crowded than the Abacos, and it's harder to find protection when a front comes through.  Winter in the Bahamas is not continuously idyllic-- just often enough.

And the Abacos are classic Bahamas, with a 100 mile long barrier reef to the north and east of the cays on the ocean side of the Sea of Abaco, the snorkelling and abundance of sea-life is astounding and the surrounding water is crystal clear.  A quick mention about all of the plastic pollution washed up on the beaches and other shores; It gets picked up in the resort areas of course, but plenty of locations are not convenient to a disposal location.  Albert was here in the early 80's, and he agrees with everyone we asked about its, its gotten worse over the years.  if we didn't know about the micro-plastic pollution reality in the oceans, it would just be interesting flotsam and beach finds, but...  [We could also go on about the poor solid waste disposal pracices here, but an open burn landfill is the cheapest thing I'm sure, and I'll spare the photos.]

The people are laid-back and friendly.  At the restaurants and marinas, no one seems to care about geting paid until you make them give you an accounting.  It's always good to discuss the fees up front, of course.  Food and eveything is fairly expensive (like all of the Bahamas), but there are good marina deals.  There are also plenty of fancy places that want more than $2.00/ ft/ night, too, but we didn't go to those places in the US, either.  We're paying $11.00/ night for a
mooring in Black Sound on Green Turtle Cay, but we've anchored out a lot too.

The Abacos have some tourist infrastructure, with a range of accommodations and services for visitors, but no high-rises or crazy stuff.  Much of the "infrastructure" serves the locals as much as the tourists-- like the ferries, local stores, and marine services.  And the whole scene is very Bahamas--  the village on Green Turtle Cay is compact with narrow roads perfect for golf carts; neat landscaped yards; the restaurants have outside decks, some with roofs; the good ones have screens or maybe even clear plastic wind blockers.  The regular restaurants are basically inexpensive, considering the cost of food at the stores; no doubt the fancy places have fancy prices.  Other than very basic stuff, supplies are hard to get.  If it's not available in Marsh Harbor (which is not easy to reach from GTC,) you need to figure out a shipping system, and there's customs and fees and all that.  So, as close the Abacos are to the US, it feels like a world away.

As I write this, we've been just hanging out for a month in the vicinity of GTC.  This area is west of Whale Cay and the channel that must be taken into the ocean and back onto the bank to the east.  This passage is not safe in strong north to east winds, which are common this time of year.  We expect that it will be more crowded to the east of Whale Cay; the "Hub" of Abaco is the area around Marsh Harbor, Hope Town on Elbow Cay, and Man-o-war Cay.  But I'm sure all of the Abacos will have the same charm and beauty.  These are all places where people live year-round.  Sure, there are some tourist-oriented services and facilities, but the people here are friendly and happy to share their special place in the world.

PS-  We have read the book "Abaco- the History of an Out Island and its Cays" by Steve Dodge.  The book is also a basic history of all the Bahamas, and it includes stories of the same pirates that we read about in a great book picked up earlier, "St. Augustine Pirates and Privateers" (by Theodore Corbett.)  The early colonial times were hard, with plenty of shipwrecks and slow communication and other dangers.  None of the native Lucayan indians survived, of course, and the early settlers in the Bahamas lived a subsistence lifestyle, with no dependable commercial transportation.  There is still that element to life here, as noted above.