Sunday, August 28, 2011

We Survived Irene

The boat, the zodiac, and the house all made it through Irene unscathed. We went to check the boat this morning and found this "damage": Who is going to clean up this mess? Shouldn't the marina have hired someone to remove leaves from boats as they fell from the trees? (Of course, I'm completely joking.)

In all seriousness, we are so happy that we didn't have any issues. We visited our home marina and found a couple minor problems:

This tree is located outside of the marina. Looks like it fell in the "right" direction and didn't cause any harm.This guy should probably bail out his dinghy. I'm not sure it will make it through any more rain.The canvas on this boat didn't weather the storm too well.
Then again, the canvas is just fine. Looks like the wood was the weak link.

Saturday, August 27, 2011

Preparing for Irene

Hurricane Irene is on her way. I really don't think Baltimore is going to have too many issues but it's always good to have a healthy respect for these storms.

We were planning on having the boat ride out the storm at our marina. Anchorage Marina has floating piers and they aren't predicting a bad storm surge. Our plans have changed based on work being done on the outdrives. AM/PM Marine has been busy pulling boats out all week and they haven't had a chance to complete the work on our boat (you may notice that we only have one prop right now). Therefore, she is still out of the water. We went to check on her early this morning. Here is the before picture:We took down all the strataglass and put up the cockpit cover. On a positive note, this cover will get a good cleaning: She has already survived an extremely rare East Coast earthquake this week. This is just another test in a miserable weather August. Good luck boat!

When the boat was pulled for maintenance, we left the zodiac behind in the slip. The zodiac was simply sitting on the dock:We've strapped it down as well:People in Baltimore have strong memories of Isabel. The city was hit by a 9 foot storm surge. Many parts of Fell's Point and the Inner Harbor were under water. We were docked at the Inner Harbor Marina during that storm and our piers floated above the pylons. It was a scary situation and we were very lucky to be left without damage to our boat. Home and business owners are getting ready for Irene (what is it with "I" name hurricanes and Baltimore?):
This real estate office seems to be prepared to an extreme. Better safe than sorry, but, seriously? Are their windows made of plastic wrap?Be safe everyone! Time to take a nap so I can stay up through the storm.

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Kaleigh's Beach

I'm a bit behind in posting. Our last boat trip was a week and a half ago. We rafted up with friends at a small beach across from Parkside Marina. A couple of our boat friends call it "Kaleigh's Beach" because their young granddaughter loves to go there.

If you've never been there, it's so nice and calm. We backed in toward the beach and could stand on sandy ground right off the swim platform. The tides were high during this visit so the beach was almost non-existent. Plus, Doug made Kaleigh mad by riding off in the dinghy that had her beach toys. It's a good thing kids seem to have a short memory for things like that. The weekend was relaxation at its best. Although after the last few weeks of HOT weather, the water was almost chilly.

We coordinated dinner with our friends and had quite the feast. Doug made pulled pork (hint: cook it at home the night before then heat it up in the skillet with some vegetable broth) and grilled corn on the cob. Debby and Jenn made two types of slaw and peach pie. FYI - Angry cole slaw rocks!

On Saturday we saw an odd site. Yes, that is a Tow Boat assisting a sailboat. How often do you see a sailboat getting towed? Especially on a breezy day? Can't they operate under wind power? Isn't that the point of a sailboat?

We skipped boating last weekend in order to clean the house. I finally have a basement again. I don't know how we lucked out but I sure am glad we weren't boating. Anyone who lives remotely near Baltimore knows about the torrential rain we had all weekend. I was starting to wonder if Noah was building another Ark. We've been out in rain before but this was nonstop, drenching, party-stopping rain. There are plenty more weeks to go and I'm sure we'll be out again soon.

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Nabb's Creek

A ski chalet on the water?No, just a restaurant.

We visited Nabb's Creek Dock Bar and Grill for lunch with some friends last Sunday. The visit started a little strange: We pulled into a slip and an employee came out to ask the length of our boat. We told him the length and he told us to move because we were in a slip reserved for 40 feet plus. He also told us he would help us get into the new slip. Okay, no big deal, we'll move. We pulled over to the new slip and started to back in but the current messed up the first try and we had to pull out and try again. The employee walked back up the dock and left. At this point I'm thinking, "I'm sorry, what just happened? Didn't you just offer to help? Where are you going? I guess you didn't want a tip." Again, not a huge deal, we were able to get into the slip ourselves, it was just weird.

Then the second odd thing happened: We walked into the restaurant and it was dead. There were maybe six people at the bar and I couldn't get any employees to make eye contact. Finally someone asked if we would like a table. We seated ourselves outside and proceeded to have a very nice lunch. Still, 12:30 on a gorgeous Sunday? Where was everyone? A few people did show up as we were leaving. While the food was good, it wasn't anything to write home about. So, now I'm wondering if we should go back? Nabb's Creek is a pretty ride and the restaurant is in a cool spot, but it lacks people. Anyone been there. Is Saturday different?

We had great friends with us on the boat so we anchored in Stoney Creek for a few hours after lunch. Sunny day, warm water, good tunes. This was the icing on the cake for the day (actually, I guess it was the whole cake too).

Monday, August 1, 2011

Please Be Safe

I don't typically make public service announcements but the number of tragic boating accidents in the Maryland/Virginia area recently is shocking. A high school classmate recently died during 4th of July festivities on the Potomac River. There were three separate accidents in Anne Arundel County alone this past weekend. We were on Stoney Creek this weekend and saw the boats searching for the man who mysteriously jumped off a moving vessel. We all want to have fun in the sun, but please be careful.