"Start of 2003 ICW Trip" Wynne Travelogue by grandmaR

Prop with barnacles

Monday, October 27th, we hauled the boat out and washed off the bottom and scraped the barnacles off the prop. They had accumulated on there since the fourth of July, which was the last trip we made. Photo shows the barnacles still on the prop.

This is a feathering prop which folds up when we are sailing to reduce drag. It won't fold properly with the barnacles on it, plus the engine can't develop the full torque because it's too heavy and bulky.

Wednesday Oct 29, we moved most of the stuff to the boat, and had dinner at Matties on the way home.

Thursday Oct 30, I talked to my neighbor down the street and gave her my TX daughter's mother-in-law's local phone number to call if she saw anything disastrous. My daughter's MIL has my Maryland daughter's number to call and she also has a key to the house.

Bob cut off the water and put antifreeze in the system - toilets etc. He turned down the thermostat to 60deg F and cleaned out the refrigerator (or he thought he did). We put the computers and the other stuff in the car, intending to move onto the boat, and take the Mercedes back to the house (filling it up with fuel on the way) and then disconnecting the battery and moving it into the house with the rest of the batteries.

We then thought we could get a ride back in the marina truck. Unfortunately the marina no longer allowed the truck out of the area within 5 miles and a taxi from Leonardtown to the marina would be $44.00!!! Way excessive I think.

So Bob took the Mercedes home (filled up on the way) and disconnected the battery and covered it, and brought the Lynx back with a battery charger with it and left it up in the boatyard. He also paid the haul charge from Monday.

I made tuna salad for lunch.

We had hot dogs for dinner because Bob couldn't find the steaks that he defrosted for that purpose. Either our TX daughter when she comes to MD for Thanksgiving or her MIL will look for them in the meat drawer of the frig sometime soon.

I took a picture of the sunset over the marina. (Top photo)

I asked Bob where we were going the next day, and he said figure out where we will be after we've gone 50 miles.

Cruise ship in the Potomac

Casting off, everything was fine until I tried to boot up the Toshiba. It would hang even checking the hard drive. So we are using the black Dell. Got underway a tiny bit before 0800 - would have been sooner except for the computer problems.

Saw a cruise ship in the Potomac - have never seen that before. For some reason we are only doing 3.4 knots - should be faster than that. There is also a low frequency vibration.

Bob flushed the aft LectraSan and it was OK. I flushed the forward one and it was OK.

Smith Point light

While I was down there in the head, the low frequency vibration went away and Bob thought there was something wrong with the engine, so he cut it back. After that we went normal speed.

The wind generator is putting about 5 amps into the batteries (that means the wind is blowing a good bit).

We saw a tug towing a barge and then went around Smith Point and I took more pictures of the lighthouse.

Menhaden boat

Saw various menhaden boats, fishing boats, a car carrier and another tug this time pushing a barge (bottom picture).

Menhaden are little fish which swim in tight schools. Menhaden boats encircle the school with a net and bring them aboard. Sometimes there is a big boat with two small boats to take the net out. Sometimes there is a medium sized boat with one smaller boat to take the net out around the school (like in this picture), and

Small menhaden boat

Sometimes there's a little boat like this one with a net on a reel in the boat.

I called Old Point Comfort Marina at Ft. Monroe. None of the books had the correct "new" (from 2001) exchange. Finally worked out the number and found that they now only take DOD or military personnel or retired military or CG. Also the commissary has been closed so no reason to worry about the hours and the Chamberlain Hotel has gone out of business due to 9-11 (no one could get to it because it is on Ft. Monroe without having their cars searched and that's way too much trouble to go to for dinner).

Big rusty menhaden boat

Bob made cheese, lettuce and tomato sandwiches for lunch.

The waves were a bit bouncy and then smoothed out, due to the tide. It is astonishing to me how much difference it makes in the amount of waves when the tide and the waves are going the same direction. The wind is south and the tide is coming in (same direction of the wind) and both of them are against the direction we are going, but it is a nicer ride and we go faster.

We passed the Windmill Point Spider and we periodically hear people calling marinas for a slip on the VHF radio.

Tug pushing a barge

I used the aft head and it blinked yellow (instead of green) over 100 times. This is not a good sign.

We discussed anchoring off Gwynn's Island in the Piankatank. He wants to anchor on the east side of the northern tip, and I feel that will be too exposed.

Next - Gwynn's Island