Annapolis and Football

Mea culpa, this post is a week late. We traveled to Annapolis on Sunday, September 16 for an overnight trip. What's that you say? An overnight on a Sunday? Yes, four of us took Monday off so we could spend the evening in Annapolis after watching the Ravens/Eagles Game at Pusser's.

There were a couple interesting sailboat sightings this particular trip:

We normally see children being towed in these mini-sailboats. This was a group of adults. What were they up to?

Am I missing something? This is a sailboat, right? Why is she paddling?

We also saw two sailboats with bow thrusters. Let me just say that again - sailboats with bow thrusters. One of them docked right next to us and he still struggled to get into the slip. We've all had our horror docking stories but aren't bow thrusters supposed to be a huge help? And is this a new craze for sailboats?

We all know that the Ravens lost the football game -- boo. Pusser's, however, did not fail to entertain. We met a very nice couple with a 40-foot Cruisers and talked with them for a long while. They told us a story about some guys jumping on a stranger's boat in Ego Alley just to take a picture. Um, excuse me, is it okay if I walk into your living room to take a picture? No? That's what I thought.

A short while after that story, some Annapolis friends drove to meet us and enjoyed ice cream on the bow of our boat (while we were still at Pusser's). The Cruisers couple leaned over and said, "You know there's a bunch of people on your boat, right?" "Oh, yes, they are friends of ours," I replied. I love how boat people look out for each other.

Check out these big boats in town:

"DREAmer"

"Fighting Irish"

We spend time in Stan and Joe's Saloon and Galway Bay before snagging pizza at Mangia. Not surprisingly, the city was pretty quiet that Sunday evening but we had a fantastic time.

Upon returning to Baltimore, we weren't ready to leave the outdoor boating lifestyle. So, off we went to Woody's Rum Bar for lunch. Try the fish tacos - they are delish.

That's all for now. I promise to be more prompt in posting our next trip.

Labor Day and a National Treasure

Labor Day - the unofficial end of summer. School is back in session, the days are markedly shorter, the weather starts to cool, and every boater I know makes every effort to take advantage of the long weekend. This particular Labor Day weekend was hampered by the threat of bad weather. While it seemed that fewer boats were out, the weather didn't stop us. We left Friday evening and spent the night docked at a friend's shore house on Seneca Creek. We had the best of both worlds - an evening on the boat and a real shower in the morning. Thank you Nancy, Tom, and Linda for your hospitality.

Saturday was the start of our raft up in Sue Creek. Five boats visited at different times during the day and three boats spent the night. But the real treat of the day was this guy:

We are very lucky to have bald eagles that nest on the Bay. We've seen them in both Fairlee and Sue Creeks. I apologize that the picture is little blurry; I had to zoom in a bit to have an effective photo on the blog.

We had a severe thunderstorm warning but the storm skirted around us. All in all, a pleasant day and evening.

Three more boats joined the group for Sunday evening. A wind storm picked up late afternoon and the raft up in front of us broke loose.

They were originally facing toward us.

At first it seemed like they were more interested in grilling their dinner than fixing the problem. Their bow anchors were still holding so our boats weren't in danger. After assessing the situation, they were really smart. They slowly broke off into singles or doubles and then reset their anchors at a different spot.

I don't believe I've ever seen two connected boats connect to another raft up before. But it worked. Good for them.

There was one small problem with the wind storm. When it hit, our stern anchor was the only one holding a group of five boats. As soon as the other group broke loose, we added two more stern anchors in order to secure our group. As has been proven before, Sue Creek takes a strong hold of anchors. When the time came to go home, we pulled our dinghy out towards our anchor and tried to pull it up. Normally we can just get straight above the anchor and pull it up with a small amount of effort - no luck that day. It looked like we were going to have to use our boat to pull it loose again. We left the dinghy attached to the anchor line, got a ride back in another dinghy, and broke free from the raft up. To the "dismay" of the rest of our friends, this anchor retrieval was not as "entertaining" as the weekend before July 4th. It came right up and we were on our way.

One last story to tell - I had another first on the boat. I captained the boat as we pulled up to the fuel dock. Not only was I at the helm but there wasn't a dockhand in sight. It was just the two of us. With good coaching from Doug, it was a complete success. I'm continuing to learn.

Just Desserts 2012, Cruise Ship Drama?, and Remnants of a Fire

One of our boating friends plans a dessert weekend every year. Every boat brings a dessert to share and we gorge ourselves on sugar (of course, there is some other food). This year we had the gathering at Good Ol' Fairlee Creek. We arrived a little later than normal on Saturday and Fairlee was already hopping.

This is the line of boats waiting to pull in.

The weather was a little cool for August so I never got in the water. No worries. With so many boats there was always someone to talk to.

After dinner, the desserts came out. Silly me, I forgot to take a picture of the spread (maybe I was too excited about the treats?). We made Bananas Foster to share. Yes, you can make this delectable dessert on a boat. Here's the trick: Put a pan on your grill. Melt butter. Add brown sugar. Stir until the sugar dissolves. Slice up bananas into the mixture. Add banana liquer. Cook a couple minutes. Add 151 rum and carefully light on fire. Wait until the fire goes out and pour over ice cream.

There was apple pie, rum balls, pineapple upside down cupcakes, Berger cookies...

I had a couple boating firsts on Sunday. Five boats from the middle of our raft up left early afternoon on Sunday. We were the only boat on one side so we pulled off to let them loose. I captained the boat as we rafted back up with our friends. (Normally, I'm the one handling the lines as Doug does captaining duties.) It wasn't pretty, but I successfully got our boat next to the raft up without any damage. I just need more practice.

I also captained the boat as we left Fairlee Creek. The entrance to Fairlee can be tricky. The sandbar seems to constantly change, the current can be swift, and there are always people watching. It was drizzling on Sunday so many boats had already left by the time we headed for home and the current didn't look to rough. All the conditions were right for my first attempt. Another happy success!

With ended up with two more adventures on Sunday. A Carnival cruise ship was leaving port as we were entering Baltimore.

This is a pretty regular sight so we didn't think anything of it until this boat came flying towards us.

It's a little freaky to be approached by a boat with a man on the bow with a very large gun. We figured we would be boarded but they simply told us to stay a certain distance from the cruise ship and then sped off to talk to the boat behind us. Phew!

It appears that there WAS something special about this cruise ship. Has there been a recent threat against cruise ships? Or was someone very important on this particular ship?

I know it's just an illusion from this vantage point but I'm still amazed that they fit under the Key Bridge.

When we got back to our marina we had a surprising sight.

I'm not sure how we didn't notice the burnt dock as we were leaving on Saturday, but a boat caught fire on a few slips down from ours on Wednesday night (articles here and here). We've heard through other boaters that the fire may have been started by a faulty power strip. Or, it had something to do with work they were doing on the boat. Either way, I'm glad no one was hurt and all other boats were saved. Just imagine what could happen with a fire and that much fuel.

As always, just another adventurous day in paradise.

Kids and Kayaks

I must first apologize for not posting anything recently. Remember those shiny new outboards? Well, they needed to be serviced after 20 hours of use and that just happened to fall in the middle of boating season. We were out of the water for a couple of weeks.
We took my niece (age 12) and nephew (age 15) on an overnight trip this past Saturday and Sunday. We anchored in Sue Creek - site of the infamous derecho storm - with a few other boats. No storms this time. Just good ole fun in the sun. But what do a 12 and 15-year-old do on a boat for 24 hours? Adults relish the relaxation time. We float in the water with a beer in hand and not a care in the world. Teenagers need to do stuff. So, when they weren't busy texting their friends, they were using the inflatable kayak or our friend's paddle board.

We bought the kayak years ago. It served as our dinghy before we bought a zodiac. It's a Sea Eagle and it is rated for white water. When it's deflated it is a nice compact roll that we are able to store under the seats. The oars come apart into two pieces for easy storage. And it blows up relatively quickly. Poor Doug, I had gone downstairs to get the camera Sunday morning to take a picture of the kayak for the blog. I had failed to tell Doug what I was doing and he pulled the kayak out of the water to deflate it for the ride home. It was mostly deflated when I came back up top but he kindly re-inflated it for me.

The wind picked up on the ride home Sunday. I estimate that the waves were 4-5 feet. We felt like we were in a trawler because we couldn't go over 8 knots for about an hour. We still got wet when the bow went right into a wave. But we made it home safely and we are ready for our next adventure.

We Have You Surrounded

Oh, Fairlee Creek. You never cease to amaze me. We have seen our fair share of drifting boats, beached sailboats, beached powerboats, water gun fights and upside down sailboats, but this weekend may have topped them all.

Doug and I and two friends ventured to Fairlee Creek (Mears Great Oak Landing) this past weekend for their Saturday fireworks display. As usual, we got there early and set our anchors. Has anyone else noticed that having both a bow and a stern anchor seems to be the norm now? I'm fine with it. It should make everyone more secure in their spot.

The marina had bouys out marking a safety distance for the evening display:

Everything started off nice and calm. We swam, we visited Jellyfish Joel's for frozen concoctions, and we watched the Creek quickly fill up with boats. There was also a smart businessman offering ice, ice cream, and trash collection:

We were next to a boat that was having a good time with their slide and advertising a wet t-shirt contest.

Unfortunately, for many people, the fun stopped around 7pm. Here is a quick rundown of the events with my best estimation of time. Pictures can be found at the bottom of the list of events.

• 7pm - The boat next to us (Bodacious) breaks free from both of its anchors. No one on the boat seems to notice.
• Bodacious starts drifting in the current towards a raft-up of 6-7 boats. The people on those boats notice the issue and start yelling over to the captain to catch his attention.
• The captain of the Bodacious attempts evasive action but it is too late.
• Crunch! Anchor lines are cut and there is a tangle of boats. Unkind words are exchanged between people on all boats involved. We learned later that the captain of Bodacious claimed to have more boating experience than anyone else there. We all make mistakes, but if you have so much experience why did this happen?
• DNR and the Coast Guard show up to supervise the detangling.
• 8-8:30pm - All boats are detangled. It appears that there is minimal damage to all boats involved. Bodacious sets up anchor again in their original spot. The Natural Resource Police pull up to Bodacious and the captain gets off to talk to them.
• 9:15pm - The fireworks start.
• In the middle of the fireworks display, Bodacious pulls up their anchor. Everyone assumes they are going to leave the area. Instead, they hang out in the channel for the rest of the show. Again, we assume they will leave as soon as the entry/exit to Fairlee Creek is reopened after the fireworks.
• 9:30pm - The fireworks end and Bodacious returns to their anchorage spot. No one is happy to see them return. I'm starting to get nervous because I'm not sure I can sleep with this boat next to us. Our anchors seem secure and it is much too late to try to reset.
• Another boat pulls up to Bodacious to take passengers to shore. This is when it gets interesting.
• Three Coast Guard boats immediately surround Bodacious. "We have you surrounded!" They instruct everyone on the "taxi" boat to get back onto Bodacious.
• 10pm - Three Coast Guardmen board Bodacious and do a full count of passengers and search of the boat.
• 10:30pm - Three more Coast Guardmen board Bodacious. One of them has a large rifle.
• 11pm - All Coast Guard leave Bodacious. Passengers start disembarking in groups
• 12 midnight - Only four people are left on Bodacious. They pull up anchor and move further back into the creek.

Starting to drift.

Crunch #1.

In the clear?

Coming in for another hit.

Crunch #2.

Crunch #3. The people on the water had joined the party from another boat and decided it was time to leave.

The captain is on the Natural Resources Police boat, however, the NRP boat is still in gear and almost causes Bodacious to hit another boat.

Doug takes the zodiac to help the raft-up reset their anchors.

So, here are my questions: Was the captain ticketed for something? I really hope so. I know that we all make mistakes but when you cause a car accident you receive a ticket. Why did the Coast Guard wait until after the fireworks (at least an hour after the incident) to board the boat? Were they waiting for back-up? Or did they finally board for another reason?

After all the drama, we were able to enjoy the rest of the evening and returned to Baltimore on Sunday. As an added bonus, the sunset and the fireworks were absolutely amazing! The fireworks were huge and were going off right over us. Great show Fairlee!

They're Here!

This is a public service announcement - jellyfish have officially been spotted in Baltimore. We saw two on the 4th of July in our marina (we tried to take pictures but the little suckers wouldn't cooperate). Looks like the scientists were right. I can't remember a time when I saw them this far north this early in the season.

As promised in my last post, here are a couple photos of us trying to get the stern anchor up after the storms. We first tried attaching the anchor line to the stern of the boat for leverage. When that didn't work, Doug jumped in the water to see what we were dealing with. Here's me at the helm and our friends holding the line while Doug gets back on the boat:

We next tried attaching the anchor line to the bow of the boat. Yes, that's me in a sundress trying to deal with a stubborn anchor. I repeatedly pulled up as much line as I could, cleated it, and got out of the way while hoping it would finally go free.

Our persistence paid off after about 45 minutes. We went home in one piece and with two anchors.

Thanks to Deb for taking pictures to document the process.

We're Not in Kansas Anymore

First, let me apologize. I'm about to get a song stuck in your head. It just seemed so fitting:
Just sit right back
And you'll hear a tale
A tale of a fateful trip,
That started from Baltimore
Aboard this Regal ship.
The sun was shining hot that day,
The sky was clear and blue,
Four passengers set sail that day,
For a two night tour,
A two night tour.

The weather started getting rough,
The Regal ship was tossed.
If not for the courage of the fearless crew
Luv’n Life would be lost.
Luv’n Life would be lost.

A Trojan set ground on the shore
A SeaRay broke away
With sideways rain,
And pelting hail.
With eighty-mile
Winds that night,
The bow anchor went loose,
The stern anchor saved the day,
Here in Sue Creek.

So this is the tale of our mighty crew,
That experienced
The forceful storm that started,
At 11:30.

The captain and his admiral too
Did their very best,
Along with help from friends
Avoided disaster.

By 1 am the storm had passed,
The bow anchor reset
The soaking friends dried off
And finally found some rest.

The rest of the weekend was great,
Many more boats rafted up,
Until it was time to remove
The anchor dug in deep!

We went to Sue Creek this past weekend, just like we did around the 4th of July last year. Once again, we were the first to arrive and spent Friday evening anchored alone. We enjoyed a fantastic dinner:

And we relaxed until I received a text message from my mother at 10pm. Strong storms with fierce winds were coming our way. No big deal, we had weathered storms before. We tightened the anchor lines and waited for the storm.

This was like no storm we had experienced before. It turned out that we were anchored broadside to the winds and it wasn't long before our bow anchor was loose. Doug quickly pulled it in and we put the engines in gear just in case the stern anchor didn't hold. Our back canvas was still up and the rain and hail soaked us all. Waves crashed on the swim platform as we kept a close eye on a SeaRay that had broken free from its raft-up. Around 1am, the storm calmed enough to reset our bow anchor. We all laid down but I slept restlessly hoping that another storm didn't hit.

The next morning we learned that a Trojan had been beached. He was able to push off when the tide came in. A docked sailboat had its sail torn to shreds. And the fireworks barge had to be put back in place. Tree limbs were down and power was out all over the place. We may have had a rough night, but at least we had power through the generator.

By noon more boats had shown up. Everyone relayed their experience from the previous evening and then the festivities started. It was another hot day so we spent most of the time floating in the water. Did you know that baby floats can serve as beer holders?

Don't worry. The can was only there long enough to take a picture.

And the best way to get trashed is by using one of these coozies?

The Middle River fireworks were Saturday night. The house in front of the bow also set off their private display. There were fireworks all around us.

We stuck around until mid-afternoon and finally decided we had to head home. Normally we can center the zodiac directly above the stern anchor and pull it up by hand. We tried but knew it was never going to work this time. Friday night's storm had set the anchor very deep. One of the guys in the raft-up had a smaller powerboat and he tried to help us out.

That didn't work either. We ended up having to leave the stern anchor line with our friends while we retrieved our bow anchor. We pulled back around the other side of the raft-up and they used the paddle board to bring our stern anchor line to us. We tied the anchor line to the stern and tried using the strength of our own boat to pull it free. Again, no luck. We were only in 6 foot of water, so Doug dove down to see what we were dealing with. We have 6-feet of chain attached to the anchor before it goes to rope. He could only get to 2 feet of the chain. We were not ready to give up. So, we tried tying the line to the stern. After numerous tries, and then many more tries, and then many more tries....success! A friend took pictures of the whole process from her boat. I'll post a recap once I have those shots.

It started with adventure and ended with adventure but the fun in the sun in between made it all worth it.