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| Cove Point Lighthouse |
On Monday, May 11, we left DC & Waterford behind and headed back down the Potomac River. It was a tough good-bye to Garry & Jacque. They will be going home for a month & then hanging out in the Chesapeake Bay the rest of the summer. We, on the other hand will be heading north to Montreal, Quebec City and then on to New England. I guess we aren't going to slow down anytime soon, slow being relative, haha! The total circumference of the earth is 24,901 miles and even though we go slow, guess what? We have traveled the equivalent of the earth's circumference in our wonderful home: Day Dreams. That calculation includes all the traveling we have done since we purchased our Kadey Krogen 39 yacht: Day Dreams in 2003, not just our recent adventures.
I must digress here & document our air conditioning saga. Doug had called an authorized dealer for Cruisair in the DC area before arriving and ordered a new unit for our stateroom. The Company: Marine Evolutions found a new unit close by in Annapolis and assured us they would secure it easily for us & be able to install it during the week we were visiting DC. The technician was supposed to call us early in the week & several days went by without hearing from him. After Doug called the office more than once, the tech finally called. He said he needed to come by & inspect everything himself before installing the new unit. He got around to coming by finally on Thursday afternoon and he talked more than inspected but ended up agreeing that yes, we needed a new unit. Finally, Friday afternoon, he and another guy show up-great-let's start a new project on a Friday afternoon, what could go wrong, right? First right off the bat, not sure if the old refrigerant is compatible with the new, should have been something he could have verified the day before, that would have been prudent. Ok, call, ask manufacturer & they say good to go-whew-one disaster averted! Next, hours later with lots of starts & stops, the unit is installed. Installed but not functioning correctly. Another call to the Manufacturer with symptoms & the tech interprets that it is a defective part in the new unit-huh? They attempt to use the part from the old unit, but the Main technician removes the wrong part-now we are really worried about these guys. Doug finally says, no I want it done correctly with all new parts. That of course means waiting till Monday, because by now it is after 6:30 PM on a Friday. We had plans to leave on Monday. While the techs were fiddling in the engine room, Doug had asked them more than once, to recheck the wiring, which they ignored. After they left, Doug my hero, who appears really can do heating & air conditioning, looked @ our Buddy Boat, Waterford's air conditioning unit & it's wiring. He observed that the new unit was indeed incorrectly wired. Doug changed the wiring and Voila, the unit worked immediately and correctly. There was no defective part, just idiot technicians!
The Potomac River is 90 miles long, so we needed to anchor once before hitting the Chesapeake Bay. We ended up in a wonderful bay all by ourselves. It was protected by trees and a few homes but mostly woods. We felt pretty lucky finding Canoe Creek anchorage, until dark. It was such a pretty, quiet night, I sat out on the back deck watching the stars & moon appear but as the sky darkened, I began to hear a low frequency buzzing noise that slowly grew louder. All of a sudden, it hit me-that sound is being generated from swarms of bugs. Quickly I ran inside, closed the door and alerted Doug. Whew, we survived that attack. Well, we tend to forget some crucial facts regarding swarms of small fragile bugs. These muffle bugs or May flies (not like Great Lake's May flies) are tiny enough to come through the screens, so as Doug & I both proceeded to read with lights on, these creatures invaded our sanctuary. All of a sudden, Doug looks up to the ceiling of the Pilot House & sees hundreds of these bugs on our ceiling. Lights off & vacuum on. Doug, my handyman hero had installed a central vac system on the boat before we left Ohio and it certainly came in handy. These bugs not only can sneak through screens but they leave dark green spots everywhere they land on the fiberglas of the boat, so in the morning we woke to a mess on the exterior of the boat. Now we know why we were the only ones in this great anchorage.
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| Those Ospreys will nest anywhere |
Alright now onto more positive experiences. Our next stop was back into the chesapeake Bay (which is about the size of the North Channel in Canada) @ Herrington Harbor Marina-another new place for us. This is a big Marina with 4 bathroom buildings, 2 laundry rooms, restaurant & pool on site. Their big focus is being a wedding destination, which is quite different from most Marina's. They had a banquet hall, a large permanent tent, fountains, gardens & a beautiful alter looking out over the water. They also had a cute complex of small cottages. We were still considered off season, luckily, because in season, they charged $3.25/foot which is more than we paid in Chicago or New York and this place was definitely not worth that price.
The next 3 nights were spent in different anchorages as we continued to head north in the Chesapeake Bay. We hit Eagle Cove on the Mogothy River where we had anchored in the fall. We like this one for the protection, the scenery & the horse farm. In the fall, we shared the anchorage with quite a few boats, this spring only 2 other boats joined us. Our next anchorage was a new spot off the Sassafras River in the mouth of Turner Creek. We put the dinghy in and went exploring and we were glad we did. The shoreline was lined with tan sandy beaches & undeveloped wooded areas along with beautiful homes scattered on huge elevated parcels of land. Then at the end of the Sassafras river, we found 2 nice Marinas: Skipjack's and Georgetown Yacht Basin that also had a mooring field. We stopped & got some gas for the dinghy and then walked up the hill for lunch to Kitty Knight Inn that was built in 1775. We enjoyed a nice lunch with fresh oysters while sitting on the elevated patio overlooking the harbor.
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| Turkey Point Lighthouse |
At the northern end of the Chesapeake Bay is the C&D canal that connects the Chesapeake bay to the Delaware Bay. The Delaware Bay is about the size of Lake St Clair in Michigan. The C&D canal is about 20 miles long. We decided to anchor in Chesapeake City @ the western end of the canal, another new stop for us. Chesapeake City is a small quaint town situated on a small protected harbor and a good place to anchor or dock. We chose to anchor. We took the dinghy into town and checked the place out. There is a big restaurant @ the marina that was hopping with people & music. At night, the restaurant had torches lining the second floor that really looked cool. The town is mainly one street with shops & restaurants in well kept historical buildings. We stopped & enjoyed a milk shake @ the ice cream shop along the shoreline.
Crossing Delaware Bay the next day was easy & relaxing; winds were calm & the water was flat. We anchored in Cape May harbor adjacent to the Coast Guard Training Center. We could hear the trainees singing & marching nearby till late in the day. Our plans were to dock the next day @ Utsch's Marina in Cape May for the next week so we could leave the boat over Memorial weekend & drive to Middle Bass island in Lake Erie.
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| Biggest Tow Boat US we've ever seen |
I must digress here & document our air conditioning saga. Doug had called an authorized dealer for Cruisair in the DC area before arriving and ordered a new unit for our stateroom. The Company: Marine Evolutions found a new unit close by in Annapolis and assured us they would secure it easily for us & be able to install it during the week we were visiting DC. The technician was supposed to call us early in the week & several days went by without hearing from him. After Doug called the office more than once, the tech finally called. He said he needed to come by & inspect everything himself before installing the new unit. He got around to coming by finally on Thursday afternoon and he talked more than inspected but ended up agreeing that yes, we needed a new unit. Finally, Friday afternoon, he and another guy show up-great-let's start a new project on a Friday afternoon, what could go wrong, right? First right off the bat, not sure if the old refrigerant is compatible with the new, should have been something he could have verified the day before, that would have been prudent. Ok, call, ask manufacturer & they say good to go-whew-one disaster averted! Next, hours later with lots of starts & stops, the unit is installed. Installed but not functioning correctly. Another call to the Manufacturer with symptoms & the tech interprets that it is a defective part in the new unit-huh? They attempt to use the part from the old unit, but the Main technician removes the wrong part-now we are really worried about these guys. Doug finally says, no I want it done correctly with all new parts. That of course means waiting till Monday, because by now it is after 6:30 PM on a Friday. We had plans to leave on Monday. While the techs were fiddling in the engine room, Doug had asked them more than once, to recheck the wiring, which they ignored. After they left, Doug my hero, who appears really can do heating & air conditioning, looked @ our Buddy Boat, Waterford's air conditioning unit & it's wiring. He observed that the new unit was indeed incorrectly wired. Doug changed the wiring and Voila, the unit worked immediately and correctly. There was no defective part, just idiot technicians!
The Potomac River is 90 miles long, so we needed to anchor once before hitting the Chesapeake Bay. We ended up in a wonderful bay all by ourselves. It was protected by trees and a few homes but mostly woods. We felt pretty lucky finding Canoe Creek anchorage, until dark. It was such a pretty, quiet night, I sat out on the back deck watching the stars & moon appear but as the sky darkened, I began to hear a low frequency buzzing noise that slowly grew louder. All of a sudden, it hit me-that sound is being generated from swarms of bugs. Quickly I ran inside, closed the door and alerted Doug. Whew, we survived that attack. Well, we tend to forget some crucial facts regarding swarms of small fragile bugs. These muffle bugs or May flies (not like Great Lake's May flies) are tiny enough to come through the screens, so as Doug & I both proceeded to read with lights on, these creatures invaded our sanctuary. All of a sudden, Doug looks up to the ceiling of the Pilot House & sees hundreds of these bugs on our ceiling. Lights off & vacuum on. Doug, my handyman hero had installed a central vac system on the boat before we left Ohio and it certainly came in handy. These bugs not only can sneak through screens but they leave dark green spots everywhere they land on the fiberglas of the boat, so in the morning we woke to a mess on the exterior of the boat. Now we know why we were the only ones in this great anchorage. 
Alright now onto more positive experiences. Our next stop was back into the chesapeake Bay (which is about the size of the North Channel in Canada) @ Herrington Harbor Marina-another new place for us. This is a big Marina with 4 bathroom buildings, 2 laundry rooms, restaurant & pool on site. Their big focus is being a wedding destination, which is quite different from most Marina's. They had a banquet hall, a large permanent tent, fountains, gardens & a beautiful alter looking out over the water. They also had a cute complex of small cottages. We were still considered off season, luckily, because in season, they charged $3.25/foot which is more than we paid in Chicago or New York and this place was definitely not worth that price. 
The next 3 nights were spent in different anchorages as we continued to head north in the Chesapeake Bay. We hit Eagle Cove on the Mogothy River where we had anchored in the fall. We like this one for the protection, the scenery & the horse farm. In the fall, we shared the anchorage with quite a few boats, this spring only 2 other boats joined us. Our next anchorage was a new spot off the Sassafras River in the mouth of Turner Creek. We put the dinghy in and went exploring and we were glad we did. The shoreline was lined with tan sandy beaches & undeveloped wooded areas along with beautiful homes scattered on huge elevated parcels of land. Then at the end of the Sassafras river, we found 2 nice Marinas: Skipjack's and Georgetown Yacht Basin that also had a mooring field. We stopped & got some gas for the dinghy and then walked up the hill for lunch to Kitty Knight Inn that was built in 1775. We enjoyed a nice lunch with fresh oysters while sitting on the elevated patio overlooking the harbor.
At the northern end of the Chesapeake Bay is the C&D canal that connects the Chesapeake bay to the Delaware Bay. The Delaware Bay is about the size of Lake St Clair in Michigan. The C&D canal is about 20 miles long. We decided to anchor in Chesapeake City @ the western end of the canal, another new stop for us. Chesapeake City is a small quaint town situated on a small protected harbor and a good place to anchor or dock. We chose to anchor. We took the dinghy into town and checked the place out. There is a big restaurant @ the marina that was hopping with people & music. At night, the restaurant had torches lining the second floor that really looked cool. The town is mainly one street with shops & restaurants in well kept historical buildings. We stopped & enjoyed a milk shake @ the ice cream shop along the shoreline. 
