Back in Rock Hall!

We finished the Dismal Swamp route on Monday April 23 docking in Portsmouth, VA for the night.   As we went through the final lock in the Dismal Swamp, Joe presented the lock tender, Robert, with a conch shell from the Bahamas and a bottle of Hole in the Wall Rum.   Robert tuned Joe's conch horn (does that sound funny to anyone else?) on the way south and we wanted to pay him back for the kind service.  Robert clearly loves his job and always has good musical advice and a smile on his face.   When we went through the lock, it was raining so I couldn't get pictures but suffice it to say that the gift of Rum made his day.   Portsmouth has always been a favorite stop because of the Bier Garden Restaurant and we all enjoyed the extensive beer menu.   We also took the ferry to Norfolk and revisited the Nauticus Museum and the toured the USS Wisconsin.   They are constantly opening up new parts of the ship so we did actually get to see a bit more than last time.   Robert also recommended the Commodore Theater to Big Run.   The Commodore shows first run movies in a theater that has been restored to Art Deco divine.   They replaced all the movie seats with dinner tables and comfy chairs on wheels.   You order and eat right before the movie.   Only dessert and drink refills are provided during the movie.   It was a great experience and something we wish more theaters would try.  Very civilized.

We stayed in Portsmouth an extra day because of high winds and then did an overnight motor trip home to Rock Hall, arriving early Thursday morning.   Lots of ship and barge traffic on the Chesapeake this time but we made it safely through it all.   Can't tell you how happy we are to be home!    We have some weekend committments in PA and then we will be working on the boat to get it ready for sale (see Sail or Sale?  below).   We had a great trip but as Dorothy says, "There's no place like home!"

What's in a name?

When we meet other boaters, they almost always ask us why we named the boat Short Walk (see "About Us" for the details).  A boat name can say a lot about the owners.   Hmmmmm...I think we just confessed to being sarcastic, irreverent and ready to laugh at ourselves.   At least that's what we think Short Walk says.   The "walk" definitely gets shorter every year for both of us.  However, sometimes when we say "Short Walk" on the radio, people don't understand what we are saying.   So far, we have been hailed as Short Love (let's hope not!), Short Luck and Long Walk (off a short pier maybe?). 
During our travels the last two years, we have seen a couple thousand boats and the names have sometimes amused, sometimes puzzled and sometimes well, we just don't know what to think.   We tend to categorize them as clever, cute, too cute or what the heck were they thinking?    The list below is just a sample and we won't reveal our thoughts on the individual names as we wouldn't want to hurt any feelings.   In general, we did not include boats named for stars, birds, fish, animals, women's names or combination of names (although some are very clever).  If we do know the explanation, we tried to include it.   And of course, if you find your boat name in here, it is DEFINITELY in the "clever" category.   And if you think we forgot your boat name, consider yourself lucky and enjoy the anonymity.   We haven't grouped them by category so you can decide for yourself:

Scat                                                          Jupiter Smiles                               Different Drummer
Snafu                                                       Cry Baby                                       Rip your float
Peaceful Warrior                                     Wind Warrior                                Oz
Lost Marbles                                           Just Ducky                                     This Old House
Breaking Wind                                        Hairball                                          It's All Good
The Answer My Friend                           Not Love                                        Love Club
Love Boat                                                Afternoon Delight                         Touch Me Not
Steadfast                                                  Hold Fast                                       Alchemy
Dues Paid Again                                     Subway Tammy                             Brown Beaver
Hoser Canuck                                          Bobby Land                                   Dharma (dinghy is Gregg?)
Pattycakes                                                Cupcake                                        Hun Buns III
Why Worry                                              Slow Gin                                       One White Tree
Smiles                                                      Sunspot Baby                                Not So Interim
Cutting Class (2 retired teachers)            Contagious                                    Interim
Karaya (Native American word)             Wicked Witch                               Caesar's Ghost
Octopussy                                                Tautaug (an extinct fish)               Knot Home         
1/4 Impulse power (small Whaler)          Salty Paws                                     Cara Mia
Adanaco (read backwards-O Canada)      N-Aimless                                     Bella Sera
More Mischief                                         Sea Return                                     Aquarelle
Zivelli                                                      Plan B                                            Plan Sea
O Sea D                                                   Fiscal Stray
Local Knowledge (when boats call for local knowledge in a strange port-does this boat answer?)
Hurrah (the owner has a very upperclass British accent-a riot!)                                           
Dopey (We really want to hear them call for help...."Mayday, Mayday, Mayday, this is Dopey" Ok....and where are the rest of the dwarfs?????)
Dicky Licky (I want to hear him call the Coast Guard and ask for help!)
Retired Sailor (a beautiful power yacht)
Sam the Skull (said in a great Scottish accent)
One Eyed Parrots (their last name is Parrot and they both have only one eye)
And our all time favorite:  Big Run (Short Walk-get it?)

Almost Home

Cruising friends on Big Run caught up with us just north of Charleston and we have been cruising on and off with them as we both head back to the Chesapeake Bay.   We made side trips to Southport (to see friends Maggie and Jim from PA who relocated) and then to Beaufort (one of our favorite towns).  We cruised the Waccamaw River with Big Run and agree it is one of the most beautiful rivers on entire ICW.  Just south of Alligator River in S. Carolina, Joe spotted an alligator, a first for all of us while cruising.   Big Run was behind us and was able to get the great pictures below.  

We also made a stop in Elizabeth City to see Jeanne who now lives in the Outer Banks.   Elizabeth City calls itself the Harbor of Hospitality, has free docks and throws a wine, beer and cheese party whenever 5 or more boats come in.   Friday night when we were there was the first party of the season.   The visitor's center does a great job and although you can see clear signs of the town struggling to stay economically viable, you can also see and feel the efforts of good-hearted people who are proud to live there.   A tradition of giving roses to the women at the happy hour was started by one resident in the 1980s and even though he has died, the rose tradition continues.   Several of the retired men in town also hang around the docks and help you tie up and cast off and fill the time in between with lots of stories.   A very charming town.

Elizabeth City is the southern most point in the Dismal Swamp route back to Norfolk.   Every time I write the words Dismal Swamp I think it sounds creepy and wonder why we go there.   However, it easily competes with the Waccamaw River in S. Carolina for raw beauty.   The winding Pasquotank River starts the route north into the swamp and you traverse through 2 locks before you get to Norfolk.   We made it through the first lock yesterday and are staying at the Visitor's Center tonight to wait out the 2-3 inches of rain expected today.   We try not to travel in crummy weather and this is as good a place to hide as any.   Highway Route 17 runs parallel to the ICW and at the back of one of the rest stops along the highway there is a dock that holds 3-4 boats.   Other boats raft to the first 3-4 boats and we have been here with as many as 12 boats tied together.   Last night there were 8 of us and only one left this morning.   With more coming through the locks today, it should make for an interesting happy hour.   The first lock requires the water to rise about 7-8 feet.   Going north you enter the lock at the lower end, the lock tender closes the doors behind you and then slowly (theoretically) he lets the water in the lock to raise you up.   The boat rises along the seawall as the water comes in and then the tender opens the doors and you motor out.   Obviously, this is a centuries old engineering feat but it still amazes me every time.   This time, he let the water in faster than we've ever seen and the boat bounced around a bit with the bubbling water trying to move the bow off the wall.   We adjust the lines holding us to the wall as the water bubbles us up and trying to hold the line and snap pictures is interesting at times.   We have one more lock to go through tomorrow and then we'll make it to Portsmouth, VA.   After that, we hope to do one last overnight motor trip up the Bay to Rock Hall, getting there by the end of the week.   Almost home!!!!

Alligator cruising the ICW

The beauty of the Dismal Swamp

Approaching the first lock

Short Walk and Big Run in the lock.  Notice how far down the wall the boats are here

Water bubbling into the lock to raise the boats

Exiting the lock

The long route north

We left Fernandina Beach on Saturday, April 7 and worked our way to the northwest end of Cumberland Island on the ICW.   Cumberland Island is one of our favorite spots so it was hard not to stop to sight see especially with the ponies visible along the shore.   We anchored for the night near the St. Andrews Inlet and went out into the ocean headed for Beaufort, NC on Easter Sunday around 7 am.   We figured this was about a 50 hour trip, depending on the wind and waves.   When we are offshore, we take 3-hour shifts at the helm.   We had winds varying between 15-23 on the port quarter and a 6' following sea.   I don't know who coined the term "Fair winds and a following sea" but for the most part a following sea is not fun.  Although most of the time it felt like we were surfing the waves, the drop off from a  6' wave tended to rock the boat from side to side, making cooking and sleeping a little challenging.   We were flying along between 7-8 knots but definitely holding carefully on to the handrails as we moved around in the boat.  At 3:30 am on Monday morning, Ann was at the helm and we were near the sea buoys off of Charleston when we heard a very loud BANG and the boom separated from the gooseneck attachment and the mast.   For the non-sailors, the mast is the big vertical stick in the sky and the boom is the big horizontal aluminum piece that controls the bottom edge of the sail.   We had 18 knots of wind at the time and the boom was secured off to starboard with the preventer.   It didn't feel like and the wind did not indicate a jibe and the only thing we can figure is that the rivets holding gooseneck attachment to the boom failed under stress.   Maybe the rolling seas contributed to the failure but we have sailed in far more challenging seas than this without an issue.   The real question is WHY, WHY, WHY does this stuff always happen out at sea in the middle of the night (not to mention on Ann's watch!)?   The loud bang woke Joe up and he put on a lifejacket, strapped himself to the port jackline and went out on deck in 6' seas to drop the sail and secure the boom.   Meanwhile, Ann reviewed man overboard drills and financial beneficiary status in her head.   Just another day on Short Walk.  

Without a mainsail, being at sea in 20 knots of wind and building seas is no picnic, so we turned into Charleston (taking the 6' waves on the beam for 2+ hours) and anchored just off the ICW to access the damage.   Of course, we initially assumed the worse and were looking into buying a new boom (cha-ching!) but talking with good friends on Big Run, we realized the boom can most likely be repaired (the boom is much longer than the sail and can be trimmed and re-riveted).   We decided not to attempt repairs along the way but will research this back in Rock Hall.   Therefore, we are staying on the calmer waters of the ICW all the way from Charleston to Norfolk.   We can still use the jib to sail when it makes sense but the boom is now lashed to the deck of the boat and we curse at it daily as we stub our toes on the way to the bow.  

The good news is, we got to skip the section of the ICW that goes through Georgia which is gorgeous but VERY tedious.   We re-entered the ICW quite a bit below our original destination of Beaufort but cruising for the past couple years has definitely taught us to slow down and enjoy the journey.   What happens, happens.   No one got hurt and it is easily repairable.   Not necessarily in the budget but who drafted that stupid budget anyway?  FYI, this event had nothing to do with our decision to sell the boat.  

We hope to be back to Rock Hall by the end of April or early May.

Sail or Sale?

They say the happiest days of a boater's life are the day the boat is purchased and the day the boat is sold.   Not sure about that because we are having some fabulous days in between.   However, we have come to the momentous decision to put Short Walk up for sale when we get back to Rock Hall in the spring.
 
Joe says he has been in the Navy or had access to the water or owned a boat for over 50 years.  We started sailing together on Lake Nockamixon in his Flying Scott and then bought a Beneteau 23' together.  We've owned Short Walk for 11 years and we had the prior boat (Vixen - 32' ketch), for 7 years.  All told that is many years of lake sailing, 18 years on the Chesapeake and 2 trips along the coast from Maine to the Bahamas.   Lots of sailing and lots of fun.   This winter, we began to discuss what the next phase in our lives should look like.  Kind of a "what we want to do when we grow up" discussion.   Initially, we are looking forward to a bit of reconnecting with family and friends at home.   We downsized in 2008 and haven't really spent much time in the townhouse since then.   We have been traveling for 16 of the last 24 months and although we have made many wonderful and lifelong (we hope!) new friends through cruising, we miss everyone at home and long to reconnect.  After the boat sells, we plan to take shorter journeys to see all 50 states, Canada, Europe, Africa and other far away places.   The bucket list is pretty long.  Heck, we may even charter a boat sometime.   Think about it, we could sail for 1-2 weeks per year without all the endless boat maintenance and expense.   A novel concept.
The hardest part about the decision has actually been accepting that we won't be seeing all our cruising friends on the ICW or Bahamas again (well, we hope to see them on land sometime) and that we won't be spending most of our summer weekends at North Point Marina in Rock Hall.   North Point has been our summer home for 18 years and we love the owners and the slipholders there.   Meeting for coffee under the pavilion, happy hours watching the sunset, hanging at the pool, Fourth of July fireworks from the boat and so many more great memories.   North Point will always have a place in our hearts.   We hope to rent us a motel room a couple times a season so we can stay in touch.  We definitely can't say goodbye to North Point.
As when we sold our home, our timing for the market couldn't be worse.  So to our friends at North Point, you will probably have us to kick around for a bit longer while we try to sell the boat.   If anyone knows of a prospective buyer, just let us know.   We are working on the logistics for selling the boat and will keep you posted.   We consider the Island Packet 40 to be a great cruising boat, lots of room, lots of amenities and we have always tried to keep her in good shape.   We hope she finds a good new home.

Starting the journey home

After leaving Hopetown, we spent several days in Marsh Harbor (the largest town in the Abacos) taking care of boat chores and reconnecting with friends.   One evening, we hosted a Happy Hour and all the guys celebrated the sunset in the traditional Bahamian way by blowing horns made out of conch or Triton Trumpet shells.   Joe made a conch shell into a horn last year and on the way south, the lock tender in the Dismal Swamp, Robert, tuned it for him.   To make a horn, you cut off the pointy end of the shell creating a whole to blow through.  Robert thought the whole was too small so while we were tied to the lock with the water filling in around the boat, Robert ran into his office, grabbed a screwdriver and a pipe wrench and banged on the shell to make the whole larger.   I think both of us looked at him with those rough tools and were sure the shell was going to fall apart in his hands.   But he knew what he was doing and proved it by playing "When the Saints come Marching In" after he tuned the shell.   A very talented guy.   In Vero Beach, Joe on Kajon, another expert horn blower further refined the shell and coached Joe on the finer points of horn music.   So now there is a  sunset tradition on Short Walk of blowing the conch horn and Joe tells me he is going to continue this at home.   That ought to make us popular in the townhouse community.  On the other hand, maybe we can finally get even with our really noisy next door neighbors!

After enjoying all that Marsh Harbor has to offer, we moved on to Man of War Cay.   Man of War is famous for their boat building and although most of the boats are now made of fiberglass instead of wood, they do have beautiful traditional lines and would look as much at home on the Bahamian waters as on the Chesapeake Bay.   Some of the racing boats remind us of log canoes.

We anchored for a night in Treasure Cay which claims the most beautiful beach in the Abacos.  Indeed, the gentle sandy slope of the beach is great for swimming and is very beautiful.   But listening to the weather we decided we needed to move on after one night and stage ourselves further north in preparation for the gulf stream crossing back to the US.   We anchored off of Spanish Cay one night and Great Sale Cay another night waiting for the weather window to leave the Bahamas.   On our way to Great Sale, we had perfect wind and were flying along between 6 and 7 knots slowly catching up to the boat in front of us when we heard a boat calling on the VHF "To the Island Packet sailing west, this is the Island Packet 40' Barefoot sailing east".   We answered at the same time as the boat in front of us did.  To make a long story short, the boat in front of us was Lark, another Island Packet 40 so there were 3 identical boats passing, all under full sail.  Later on in the same day, another identical boat, Tim Ton, called both Lark and us making 4 IP 40s (2 sailing east and 2 sailing west) withing 20 miles!    Unfortunately we were too far apart to get a really good picture but I got Lark and Barefoot. 

We left Great Sale headed to the US at about 4 pm on Sunday, April 1.   We had an uneventful crossing with a combination of sailing (7-8 knots) and motor sailing.   We had a Bahamian Mockingbird land on the boat and travel with us for about 6 hours and the Navy was conducting exercises off the Florida coast with Aircraft carrier 69 and Warship 42 asking everyone to stay at least 3 miles away.   At one point an F18 buzzed us.   Guess which one of us was jumping around on deck waving to the Navy guys?  We arrived at our destination in Fernandina Beach, Florida Tuesday around 3:30 pm.   Clearing customs this year was a snap.   The usual routine is to raise a yellow quarantine flag upon arrival into US waters and then call into customs when you dock.   You have 24 hours from the time you call in (they give you an accession # that logs your call to the second) until you actually have to show up at a customs office.   This time, Joe called in, the officer asked only a few questions and we were good to go.   No personal appearance to the customs office required.   Love it!

This is our first visit to Fernandina and we are finding it to be a lovely, hospitable town.   The only adjustment is that walking the town the first day, we seemed to have forgotten that not everyone in the US says good morning/afternoon or even acknowledges your presence.   We even get some glares as in "what the heck do these people want?".   We really miss the friendliness and openness of the Bahamas and hope to ignore the less than polite people here in the US and keep the friendly Bahamas feeling going as we travel north.   Anybody want to take bets on how long that will actually last?  

One of our last Bahamian sunsets

A bunch of crazy guys blowing horns at sunset!

One of the boats under construction on Man of War Cay

Beach at Treasure Cay

Lark and Barefoot:  2 Island Packet 40s sailing near Great Sale Cay

Bahamian Mockingbird joined us in the Gulf Stream

F18 (we think) that buzzed us in the Gulf Stream