The Tides - at a lose end.

The Tides
37 39.980 N
76 26.017 W

We needed to attend to a few loose ends before we departed and I needed to pay the bill, so we did not get away till about 9AM. Plus the weather was a bit unsettled, with a "small craft advisory" active till Noon. In the Solomons, the weather was fine, so we set off as soon as we could. We had a big day ahead of us, about 65 NM, so we really needed to get rolling.

The day was uneventful. Early on the wave pattern was awkward and Tide Hiker was "hobby horsing", but that all settled down after a couple of hours. It was hot and humid. Our projected track for the day was mostly made up of three long courses about 15-20 miles each, so it became a bit boring. Our destination was located on a deep creek about 5 miles up the Rappahonic, on the north side. Once we were in the creek it was easy to spot. We called them on the radio and a white uniformed employee was waiting to take our lines.

It was about 6:00 PM and Nick and I were both beat. It had been another long day after 6 long days. We had traveled XXX miles and both of us were looking forward to a break. We had a giant amount of food left over from our Mexican dinner the night before, so I made some rice and heated up some tortillas and we had another feast. Then a bit of TV and bed.

Wednesday August 29, 2012

Beach and pool at The Tides

The morning paper was waiting on our deck when we woke. Cool! And it was a perfect mild summer day, and we explored the resort and we took it easy. The resort is really nice, I am sure Deidre will enjoy our month here. The hotel was built in 1946 for the Washington fat cats and has quite an old style classy feel about it. Plus we are "plugged in" so we will have AC and all the trimmings. There is also cable TV (I have to work that out yet) and WiFi and a free water taxi.

Nick shouted dinner in the dining room, and I half expected the host to require a jacket and tie before seating us. We are not spring chickens by any means, but I expect our seating brought down the average age of patrons by 5 or 10 years. We did feel a bit under dressed. Afterwards we had a beer at the bar and ended up meeting some other boaters and having some fun.


Thursday August 30, 2012

The pool

Nick left for his place in North Carolina this morning. After seeing him off I headed back to the boat to give it a well deserved clean up. It took me four hours to scrub and hose the decks.I started working on the chrome but just pooped out and went for a swim at the pool. I took 6 back issues of Time and relaxed. Back at the boat made , watched a bit of TV and hit the sack






Friday August 31, 2012

Took the 10 AM hotel shuttle into "town". Kilmarnock is only a little place but it has a Walmart Superstore and that was my target. I needed beer and wine (Nick had cleaned me out) and oil (Tide Hiker is due for an oil change) and maybe a few veges. I got the beer and the wine and the veges, but missed out on the oil. Plus I wanted to spec out the town for Deidre who will need to do "a big shop".

The Lounge

This weekend is the USA Labor Day Weekend, so the hotel will be full and there will be some "special activities" including a band in the bar and probably poetry reading in the lounge. Just kidding about the poetry, but the lounge looks like some gentleman's club in London.

I am told the Marina will also fill up, which would mean Tide Hiker will have neighbors, which I would enjoy.




Saturday September 1, 2012

Dinner

As expected, boats are rolling into the marina. We now have a 42' Kadey Crogan on our port side and a beautiful Fleming 55' trawler on our starboard. My social life should now improve.

Today I started the teak cap rail project. The cap rail is weathered and faded. It will need sanding, "cleaning" with a special solvent then several coats of teak oil.

I took some time off to make myself a decent dinner.


Sunday September 2, 2012

The cap rail project went well, despite inclement weather. The cap rail extends all around the boat. It is solid teak that has been "oiled" rather than "varnished". Varnish seems like a lot of work. (You can see it in the above photo, behind the ketchup bottle.) I had made a half heart-ed attempt to refinish it when we were at Block Island, but it needed more.

Now it looks great. I sanded most of the old surface off and then scrubbed the new surface with "teak cleaner" which really brought out the color. Then two coats of teal oil later, it positively shined. I am sure Deidre will be impressed.

Monday, September 3, 2012

Today is clean-up day - I cannot put it off any longer. I leave in the AM to pick up Deidre. I really hate housework.