April 2007

April 30th, 2006 It has not been fun at the marina this month. Our internet access (Beacon Wi-Fi) pulled all their equipment from the marina. They told us that they received an email from the marina on Sunday, to remove the equipment on Monday. They also said that they would be issuing a check to cover the charges we already had for the service that we had not received. We never got the check and we challenged the Beacon charge on our credit card. Beacon Wi-Fi is in many marinas along the east coast, so if you ever run into them, be careful. The marina office told us that they had a clause in their contract that said that if the marina offered free internet, they could move out. Well, whatever is the truth, we have no internet access from our boat anymore. The marina is saying that they are providing free wi-fi to everyone, but we have yet to see it. Word on the street is that we will get it next month. When?? I don't know. So the news update is a little slow since I have to go to the coffee shop or the customer lounge (where we can pick up Annapolis Yacht Sales Wi-Fi) to get our emails or post to the web site.

This Friday is my last day at West Marine. For those of you that can remember Charles Manson, working there was helter-skelter. I would receive a email on Saturday, telling me that I was working on Sunday. Wrong for me.

BOATING--- Most of the yard boats are back in the water and summer is finally here. I upgraded my Garmin 386 to the newer Garmin 478. They are basically the same GPS, but the 478 has the U.S. and Bahamas charts built in. The 386 required me to load the charts from a CD in the computer to a special Garmin chip (8 meg) and then reload every time I went someplace else. The reason I stayed with the Garmin series is because I get satellite downloads of the weather from XM radio (plus all their music) on the GPS. That weather includes nexrad radar, sea swells, wave heights, mariners warnings, forecasts, etc. The Garmin GPS is the one that also gives latitude and longitude information to my Raymarine chart plotter. I have another Garmn GPS at the helm with all U.S. and Bahamas charts. What this all comes down to is--- an independent GPS chart plotter at the helm, a Raymarine Chart plotter at the navigation station, and if I lose all electrical systems, I still have the Garmin 478 that is also battery operated with its own chart plotter. Then to back all that up, we also have a little Garmin E-Trix that is battery operated by AA batteries, that can give us latitude and longitude for plotting on our backup paper charts. So if all else fails, something should work. If that doesn't work, Nancy and I would have to go back to chart plotting which is something we have been doing for about 40 years each. In other words, we have 80 years of experience in chart plotting.

This week I am getting the boat ready for sea. I have to get the dinghy from the foredeck and on the davits (the things that hang it off the back of the boat). A little wax on the boat, varnish on all required wood work and some diesel fuel and we are ready to go out. I got the camera on the mast spreaders working again today. It had stopped working about 2 months ago but it was to cold to do anything about it. The camera is for seeing what we are going to hit before we hit it. The camera is about 20 feet above the deck and can see farther than we can. It was the camera or roping Nancy to the mast.

SOCIAL--- The evening gatherings on the dock are in full force. Aspirin is the most used chemical in the mornings. Allen (from Lake Texoma, Texas) was here for a quick visit with Steve and Carlie. Steve, Carlie, Tessa, Jeff, Nancy and I went out to dinner one evening. Not bad. Well, the dinner was. We got a 10% discount and they got a $20.00 gift certificate each. So goes the Bay.

Report from the Galley Slave - we took our water maker out and shipped it off to the manufacturer for overhaul. We took part in the annual boat yard rummage sale and made about $800 (the storage sheds are still not empty). If anyone is looking for radar, SSB radio, a Garmin 376, a Panasonic AM/FM/CD, a great little Epson printer that prints on CD's, an alternator, or various odds and ends, let us know. All are in great shape and even better prices. Nancy hauled out her Sailrite sewing machine over the weekend and made a new side entry curtain (the plastic is starting to wear out on some of our old curtains and Sailrite just happens to have a store in Annapolis). Next weekend, she is starting on screens for the enclosure. She also made contacts for insurance quotes and got our mail forwarding set up. There is always something. But the goal is in our crosshairs.

April 6th, 2007 We had a couple of visitors from Oklahoma City this week, Dana and Laurie came to the big city and we got together for a short visit.

Of course the visit had to include FOOD. So we went to Legal Seafood's. I have to admit that the restaurant downtown D.C. is better that the one we went to in the southwest suburbs of D.C. But we ate...

Since spring is here, the flowers around their hotel were in full bloom, including the cherry trees.

Our visit was short because Nancy had to go to Florida the next day (Sunday) for a full weeks work, (including part of this Saturday), and the girls left mid week to go back to the heart land. But it was fun while it lasted.

We are supposed to get 2 - 6 inches of snow tonight. I just can't believe this is spring. Winter just doesn't want to give up. While Nancy is gone I have been doing spring cleaning on the boat. I think I have gone through about 12 loads of laundry (things going into storage and things coming out of storage plus normal clean out the closet stuff). On a boat, other things have to be done. I pulled out all drawers and "Tilexed" them plus the hull that was behind them and then sprayed everything with Febreze. Smells so nice on the boat, I hate to start the diesel engine.

I heard reports that the crabs have started coming out of their mud borrows but I have not seen any in the harbor yet. The boat yard is busy getting about 1200 boats that are in winter storage in the yard ready for the boating season. Most of the boats start going back into the water the first week in April until the first week in May. So bottom paint is going on, wax is being applied, anything that broke last year is getting fixed and new equipment is being added.

Nancy has updated her Galley Notes Cookbook. She is publishing the second edition in an electronic format using adobe and adding recipes, pictures and memories from our time here on the Chesapeake.