The Tides - The Last 10 days

Saturday September 22, 2012

Jon called this AM to advise that they were delaying their arrival till Sunday because of bad weather on the Chesapeake. We are very sheltered in here, but we can tell its breezy "outside".

We were just advised that we are moving over to the hotel side in the morning to Slip 766. We will be on a modern floating dock, which is easier to manage (Although Deidre does not like how they tend to wobble) We have been on fixed docks over here, which is OK except for the effects of winds, wakes, currents and tides. One has to leave enough slack in the lines for the tide to go in and out, but not too much so that the boat "hits anything" as the wind, tidal currents and wakes come and go.

I made a close study of the issue before we left on Monday. When we arrived home yesterday I found the bow about 2" from the dock, so I shortened the appropriate spring line. This morning when I woke up to a strongish North wind (on our stern) I found the bow lines tight as violin strings and our nose down and the dock up. When I eased them, the dock structure dropped a few inches under my feet. Oops.

Since we have use of the car, we spend a good part of the day in Kilmarnock, and we will take ourselves out to dinner tonight.

Sunday September 23, 2012

Can you spot Tide Hiker?

Today is the big day - we have moved over to the hotel side and now we are slipped with the big guys. I am pleased to say I did a good job backing Tide Hiker into the slip, with a bit of a breeze!

I finally made a decision on a camera and made the purchase on line today. (This is one of my retirement/40th anniversary/new boat/65th. birthday presents I am buying for myself). Deidre's camera is now working again (with new memory and battery) but it does not have the capacity to take good quality zoom photos. It will arrive Wednesday.

Chatting with the neighbors

"Bon Voyage" arrived about 4 PM. After settling in to the dock and washing off the salt, Bonnie and Jon came over for drinks and to make dinner plans, and a good time was had by all.

The cool weather seems to be here to stay. The days have been sunny and breezy, but Sunday night it got down to about 50 degrees. Great sleeping weather, although I think we will need a little heater for the boat.




Monday September 24th, 2012

Afternoon tea

This weather is great for working on the boat. In the summer I broke out in a sweat just lifting a screwdriver. Today I worked on repairing a crack in one of the cap rails and Deidre sanded, cleaned and re-oiled the lazarette hatch cover. I have a list of 24 jobs. We would have got more done but for a 3 hour lunch over on Bon Voyage. This afternoon we rode into town and purchased a little heater. That night the heater earned its keep.

Tuesday September 25th. 2012

Another perfect day. Jon and Bonnie took us on a road trip around the Northern Neck, including lunch in Deltaville, a visit to the West Marine store (always fun!) and a shopping trip to the local fish market where Deidre bought a couple of pounds of large shrimp. We were back at the boat 3PM, just in time for afternoon tea. I was excited to discover that my new camera had arrived. So Deidre read a book and I "assembled" the camera.

Deidre had marinated the shrimp and we bar-be-qued them for dinner.

Wednesday September 26th, 2012

Another perfect day, maybe 75, a slight breeze, lots of sun. We are planning to resume our trip south on Monday, and I had jobs to do.

What a dork!

My last dive established that our running gear needed a clean and if we are going to leave on Monday, it needed to be done, so I decided to do it at the dock today. I was concerned that the visibility and the space under the boat would both be even less, but I could have Jon standing by "just in case", and that made me feel safer. All went well. This time I wore working gloves and a long sleeved "under armor" shirt (previously used for skiing) for protection. I also abandoned the weight belt and used the weight pockets on the buoyancy vest instead. I had my tools suspended off the swim platform so I could not lose them. Next time I will wear a hat to protect my head when I bump into "things".

I estimate the visibility was only about 6" plus my goggles were quite fogged (Deidre is disgusted when I spit on them, so I did not!) The keel was only a foot or so over the mud. I had booties and flippers, but still did not like slipping into the slime! Because I am so hopelessly right handed, it was hard to clean the left side of the rudders and the props without getting further under the boat. I am really looking forward to clean water in Florida. Overall it was "a good dive" and the props and rudders are way cleaner.

Bob Cousteau

Deidre and I also changed all the secondary fuel filters today. Its a fairly easy job except for the starboard engine where the filters are located between the engine and the hull. That gets a bit tight. Tonight we are going out with dock friends for bar-b-que, American style (ie pork), after drinks and snacks on Tide Hiker.

Friday September 28th, 2012

My toothache got the better of me last night so I found a local dentist who said he would do a root canal. I was a bit apprehensive when I saw his "country office" but the doctor turned out to be a good guy who spent an hour or so on the diagnosis before settling on a treatment. He found a cavity under the gum line that he repaired quickly. It is taking a while for the tooth to settle down, but I am now comfortable.

 Saturday September 29, 2012
This is our last weekend before we leave, so we are focused on provisioning and getting shipshape.We borrowed Jon & Bonnie's car and headed of to Super Walmart and Walgreens. We both worked on the boat till about 4 when the boat next door came on board for drinks.

Sunday September 30, 2012

Tide Hiker at night

Another prefect fall day. To celebrate our last day we took ourselves for a slap up breakfast at the hotel. We needed to eat early because some friends visiting the marina today to take us to lunch! All in all it was a very social day and evening.