It’s A Wrap!

We did it!  We stretched our sea legs, expanded our comfort zones, reviewed our charts, double checked our equipment and provisions, then traveled to Maine and back….again!  Last summer we were hampered by inexperience, so the lessons learned in 2010 proved most valuable in 2011.  No longer was a endless field of lobster pots incredibly daunting; no longer was picking up a mooring a heart stopping exercise; no longer was engine repair and/or maintenance an indecipherable puzzle.  We had knowledge and confidence and a can-do philosophy.  All assets when traipsing around the waters of New England and Maine.

There were some firsts, as well.  We tried a multitude of different anchorages this summer, including Gravesend Bay, NY (you can see the rides of Coney Island from here); Watch Hill, RI (there is a very good reason this anchorage is not listed in any guide -- felt like sleeping inside a hamster wheel) and Cliff Island, ME (where the lobster boat “Sunshine”  cheerfully circled us as she gathered her pots early one morning).

Good Morning Sunshine

 Then there was the memorable lead-in to the anchorage at Tuckahoe Point, just at the entrance to the Alligator/Pungo River section of the Intracoastal.  We had spent a very uneventful morning transiting the ICW -- not Bill’s favorite passage as it is narrow and shallow and not at all challenging.  But, in some areas it is the only game in town.  As we neared a swing bridge and were preparing to call for an opening, a cruiser named “Perfect Match” from Verplanck, NY roared up right off our port side and then cut directly in front of us!  There was not another boat within five miles and this fella wants to play dodge ‘em!  Captain Bill was appalled, of course, and gave the wayward boat what for with the horn.  He called the idiot on the radio numerous times and got no reply.  This is very strange.  “Perfect Match”, a rundown, slightly shabby water craft veered in and out of the well marked channel and we feared she would go aground, but finally she pulled herself together and called for the bridge tender.  Her captain had an unusual dialect and appeared unaware of the system for opening bridges.  It gets stranger.  Bill gets back on the radio to the bridge tender, alerting him to the bizarre behavior of the NY boat, then tells “Perfect Match” to stay well clear of us in unmistakably concise language.

We pass through the bridge, “Perfect Match” well off our stern.  For hours she trails us, obediently keeping her distance as we both follow the channel southward.  As it begins to get late, the Captain and I decide to anchor at the entrance of the Alligator/Pungo River in order to make the narrow canal transit in daylight.  We slow down and move out of the channel, leaving red channel markers to port as we wade into shallower waters.  “Perfect Match” continues to follow “Let’s Dance” like a chastened puppy.  I hail her on the radio three times…no response.  I go out to the stern into the cockpit and wave her off.  I feel like an airman on the flight deck, giving hand instructions to this (not very bright) sailor.  Finally, the light dawns and the cruiser edges back into the marked channel, leaving us blessedly alone in the anchorage.  We half expected to find them the next day washed ashore or crashed into a piling, but they never crossed our radar again…thank goodness!

That episode behind us, we motored on down the “ditch” (code for Intracoastal straight, skinny parts) and encountered neither alligator nor pungo.  Whew! 

Mechanically speaking there were highlights, too.  The captain mastered racor filter changes, replaced the impeller in the generator and  adjusted the stabilizer fins for a smoother ride.  When the main engine alternator showed no pulse, it took only five calls to Nordhavn guru James Knight before the problem was analyzed and a solution found for repair.  Bless you, James!  I, too, gained some mechanical savvy by doing most of the engine room checks.  This is an hourly exercise designed to catch any malfunctions before they become crippling.  And, you get to wear a cool headset!

The Admiral in the ER

In the East River, Let’s Dance set a new personal best speed record of 10.3 knots, aided by a strong current, of course.  We saluted as the Coast Guard escorts for an inbound submarine warned off the curious; experienced a high temperature of 86 degrees in Virginia; shivered with glee as the thermometer dropped into the fifties in Maine; smiled at the oddly named peninsula “Point No Point”; cheered on the pair of orange-beaked sea birds who hitch-hiked on the bow rail for miles off the Jersey coast and gulped as news of a nearby “live pyrotechnic demonstration” came over the radio near Hampton Roads, VA.

New “Things We’ve Learned” (TWL’s) are too numerous to count. I can tell you, however, that frozen food thrown from an unsecured freezer is hazardous to life and limb.  The Wicomico River quickly morphs into the Wicked Mico when tide and current clash.  Menhaden processing plants are the stinkiest fisheries imaginable -- those poor folks who live downwind!  Rhode Island boasts many fine restaurants that are within walking distance from shore, via the Love Me Tender.  Nantucket is even more fun than usual when old friends convene for a quick reunion and new friends are always welcome in the boating community.  We were astounded by how many people we met who were familiar with, or had actually been to, Daufuskie Island.  It is a smaller world every year.

Let’s Dance, the Love Me Tender and crew added another 2000 miles to the hearty Lugger diesel engine while bobbing around the East Coast for about 70 days.  We bought fuel once (250 gallons in each tank to top her off), over-nighted at only three marinas; picked up moorings on five nights and spent the rest “on our own bottom.”  We were entertained by seals, whales, dolphins, sea birds and bait fish.  Friends nourished us in Rhode Island, New York, Massachusetts and Maine and we, in turn, hosted a few new and old friends on board our salty trawler.

What will 2012 bring?  Captain Bill and I are trading ideas and using our imaginations on that score.  We will probably head further south than we ventured this past winter, continuing to build on our experience and hone our nautical skills.  One of Bill’s goals is to turn me into a seasoned mariner who will eagerly embrace multi-day/night passages with just the pair of us aboard.  Miles and miles of open seas, crossing ever larger bodies of water, following the trade winds in a romantic, oceanic folly.  Oh, my!

Until Next Year

Let’s Dance……Carol and Bill