Knot for the Faint of Heart

Hello virtual crew members and fellow adventurers!

Eric here with the latest travels of Still Waters II.

Yes, you saw that right.  That guy just climbed 60 feet up that catamaran mast to do some work with no fall protection.  Even carried his tool bag up with him.  Hope he has the right size wrench.

Summary of week:

It was a short week with only two days of cruising.  The crew left Cape May on Sunday and anchored in the Salem River at the northeast end of the Delaware Bay.  On Monday, they crossed the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal into the upper Chesapeake Bay.  They ended the cruise up the Sassafras River where they will wait out some weather.

Click on the link to read the day-to-day travel log.  This includes: weather report of the day, sea conditions, log of the days travel, and a summary of the experience.

At the Box Office

This week’s video shows Still Waters II cruise thru some light fog in the Cape May Canal, overtakes two sailboats in the fog, stops in the C&D Canal to watch a large wooded sailboat cruise by, and then pulls into the Chesapeake Inn for lunch.  Enjoy!

Cape May to Georgetown Yacht Basin from Still Waters II on Vimeo.

To see past videos, click on the Still Waters II Vimeo site.  The library now contains 42 videos of Still Waters II cruising America’s Great Loop.

Sunday, October 22, 2017

The weather is predicted to turn bad with high winds and rain late Monday.  It is only two travel days to the Georgetown Yacht Basin up the Sassafras River and out of the wind.  To arrive safely on Monday, the crew left in the fog on Sunday.  There seems to be a little irony in that.

After five hours of fog with varying degrees of visibility, the fog finally lifted.  The cruise to the Salem River then became routine.  This was actually the smoothest cruise on the Delaware Bay to date.  Sure beats the three foot waves the crew normally encounters here.

After arriving at the designated anchor spot, the skipper noticed these two raccoons eating berries in the top of the tree.

However, when they finally were done eating, the skipper counted three raccoons climb down out of the tree.  Two of the three are on the way down in this pic.

When the skipper was looking at the first pic, he noticed the third raccoon staring back at him in the top right corner.

After being entertained by the raccoons, the crew enjoyed a peaceful sunset.

Monday, October 23, 2017

The next morning, the skipper enjoyed the sunrise on the Salem River.  Hard to believe the wind will be up over 20 mph later today, when it is this flat calm in the morning.

While making way out of the anchorage to the Delaware River, this Bald Eagle took off from the green navigational aid and flew right across the bow of the boat.

 

The fall color was great along the C&D Canal, and the skipper noticed a Bald Eagle admiring the beauty.

 

The skipper also noticed a large sailboat was sneaking up on them from behind.  In the distance, it appeared to be a pirate ship.  The skipper slowed to allow the pirate ship to close in, then suddenly, the skipper made a U-turn in the middle of the canal and faced the pirates down.  The pirate crew gave a friendly wave as they passed by.  With the pirate threat resolved, the skipper pulled into the Chesapeake Inn for lunch.

After lunch, it was another three hours to the Georgetown Yacht Basin where the crew will sit and relax for a week.

The skipper did ask the dock master about the tides in the marina.  The dock master said that they had two foot tides and they were presently at low tide.  The water level was about four feet below the boards on the dock.

Tuesday, October 24, 2017

The crew woke to some unusual surroundings.   The rain poured most of the night, and the wind howled all night.  The wind was out of the south east and blew up the Sassafras River.  The wind actually blew water out of the Chesapeake Bay and up the Sassafras River.  Along with the rain and water runoff, the river reached flood level.  The dock office at the end of the pier was in about 8 inches of water.  Remember, yesterday the water was four feet below these docks.

The water continued to rise until the crew’s dock was several inches under water.  This pic was taken about an hour before high tide, and the water rose another few inches after the pic.  It took the rest of the day for the waters to recede.

Boat Name of the Week

The Wall Street Journal published a list of  boat names this week, from the Coast Guard database, with a financial theme.  Some favorites:

Broke But Tan,

Broke For Shore,

Float’n-a-Lone,

Fueli$h Money,

Floating Interest,

A Loan @ C,

Knot Cheap,

Debtors Delight.

Next Week – 

The winds are predicted to be less than 10 mph on Tuesday, so the crew plans to shove off and head south down the east side of Chesapeake Bay.  Hope to make Cape Charles by the end of the week.

Loop On – The water goes on forever and the adventure never ends.

Eric the Red