We’re under way!
We left the dock at 7:05 on Friday morning, heading south.
This is the Francis Scott Key Bridge, about 45 minutes from our slip (at our normal speed of about ten miles an hour). We feel that going under this bridge signals either the end of our voyage, or the beginning. So here we are, beginning a new season.
We had smooth seas, just the way we like it.
Our fingers were crossed that the next three days will continue this way, as the Chesapeake Bay is the part of this trip that can get “really interesting.” The average depth of the Bay is 12 feet and for such a huge body of water to be so shallow, the waves that can kick up with any wind will be short and steep. Trawlers don’t like waves anyway, but short and steep can be extremely uncomfortable.
This little gadget is our “SPOT.” When we turn it on it sends a signal every ten minutes showing our location. I’ve put a permanent link on the front page of the blog in the column on the right so you can check it out. If you save it to your favorites you can watch our progress.
There weren’t many people out there, but this Bay built boat named “Shameless” passed us heading north. He was definitely loaded down with all of the equipment needed for his trade, which is crabbing. He’s probably heading home for the season from the looks of it.
Niya was in her accustomed place for the day, guarding my feet. She gets up every time I do, just to make sure she’s not missing anything, but this is how she generally travels when we’re under way.
About three hours out of Baltimore we realized that our generator was overheating – it kept shutting down after running for only a short time. Almost immediately we also realized that our inverter/charger wasn’t operating properly either. These two pieces of equipment are key to our AC power when we aren’t plugged into shore power. Without them we knew that there would be no anchoring out tonight, as we would have no heat, and hey, this is November!
We called our friends Nancy and Ted, who have a lovely condo – and a slip that they were not using – in Solomons, Maryland, about 65 miles south of Baltimore. They are very generous friends, and we are grateful to be tied up at their dock and plugged into shore power. Monday morning at 8 am we are due at Zahniser’s Yacht Repair Yard, just down the creek from where we are. In the meantime we will have an opportunity to get ourselves more organized. I will NOT post the photo I took of what the inside of the boat looks like. Nothing is put away yet!
But look, wouldn’t you agree that if you are “stuck” somewhere, this is the place to be?
Unfortunately our stay here has lost us our “weather window.” Monday and Tuesday are supposed to be unpleasant on the Bay, so we will stay put until things calm down.