Chesapeake City, MD -- What to do on a windy rainy day?

Tuesday September 18, 2012

The weather outlook for the east coast today was rather bleak. So, we decided that travelling just wasn't the greatest idea. The Summer Wind was safe and secure on the town dock .

Chesapeake City, MD forecast
 This Afternoon...Showers with a chance of thunderstorms. Some thunderstorms May be severe with damaging winds and heavy rainfall. Windy with highs in the upper 70s. South winds 20 to 25 mph with gusts up to 45 mph. Chance of rain 90 percent.

Tonight...Showers. A chance of thunderstorms in the evening. Some thunderstorms May produce damaging winds and heavy rainfall in the evening. Windy with lows in the upper 50s. South winds 15 to 25 mph with gusts up to 45 mph...Becoming west 10 to 15 mph with gusts up to 25 mph after midnight. Chance of rain 90 percent.

Music is an accompaniment on those windy, rainy days aboard the Summer Wind. We both enjoy listening to classical, jazz and big band music. Hip-hop or head banging music is only heard in my mp3 player when working out.
Dick is a wonderful musician and usually if we're waiting out some weather out comes the flute. I find his music relaxing and soothing. I can hum along, but do so quietly.  We have often had people walk by and comment that they too are enjoying his music. 
He also travels with his trusty cornet. Dick was first chair in his State band in 19** in highschool. The picture below is the cornet he used during his highschool years and when he played in the US Navy during bootcamp. He says he needs to rebuild his lips to play better. Frankly I think they are just fine!

A Great Cruise up the Delaware Bay

Monday September 17th-
First mate-- After a few days of resting to reassure that Dick was in "good and stable" form to travel, we untied the lines at 6:00am. In fact there was a caravan of boats leaving which gave us some reassurance that we wouldn't be alone on the water.
The sun was rising as we made our way out onto the Delaware Bay. It was a delightful trip up the bay as the seas were absolutely flat. The current was in our favour which gave us a push up the bay. We were travelling at 9 - 10 knots most of the way. The timing worked out perfect for entering the canal we were doing over 10 knots. What could have been a long 10 hour day turned into an easy cruise of 6 hours.
Our stop for the day was Chesapeake City and we discovered that nobody occupied the free town dock. Just as we finished tying our lines to the free dock, two sailboats pulled in behind and we helped to secure their vessels. The city provides a 24hr free docking allowance but they won't make you leave in inclement weather.

 

TWO WEEKS FROM HELL

Wednesday September 5th - Sunday September 16th

The next 2 weeks were from Hell!!!
The day after our last posting was the beginning of our dilemmas. We were relaxing on the Summer Wind, reading a couple of good books when I (Dick) sat up from my prone position and the world was spinning. Thinking I got up too fast I laid back down but it wouldn't stop. Trying to stand was impossible as my balance was way off with the dizziness. After several minutes we decided that I should get looked at and we called the Atlantic Yacht Club launch. When he arrived I could not get on the launch so he called the EMT guys. Yes, Atlantic Highlands has a boat with EMT personnel for just these kinds of things. They got me on and upon arriving at the Yacht Club they had an ambulance and police car waiting. Took us to Red Bank, NJ ER where a number of tests were run including a CT Scan, EKG, and many blood tests. The diagnoses was Vertigo and they prescribed Anti-Vert meds. Luckily we were close to our kids house in Holmdel, so both Kevin and Geri picked us up and took us back to the boat. Thanks guys again!!!

After a few days of rest and watching the weather closely we had an opportunity to start south. We did round sandy Hook and discovered the seas not too bad but mother nature was not promising anything.  Hurricane Leslie was working her way north and  the predictions were to be very heavy seas so we ducked into Manasquan Inlet and went to Toms river where we knew of a nice anchorage.
The next 2 days we traveled down NJ inside on the ICW. The NJICW has not been dredged in most places for many years and created a tense trip. Upon arriving in Cape May, NJ I decided since we had such a long and horrendous trip that we needed a nice relaxing dinner out. HA, little did we know what would transpire.

Half way through our dinner I had a recurrence of the above incident but worse. I passed out and upchucked the good crab cakes all over the place. Again the EMT's were called and I was taken again to the ER. This time they made me stay 2 nights to run many more tests. All of them came out negatively and the diagnoses was Meneires disease which is an accumulation of fluid in the inner ear. They did recommend me to see an ENT specialist but none in Cape May. Rented a car and drove north with an appointment for the next day.

After an extensive exam and hearing test it was determined I was attacked by a virus which caused me to lose my hearing in the left ear. Have a 50/50% chance of it coming back.

Went back to the Summer Wind and spent the next 2 days just relaxing and again waiting for the Delaware Bay this time to calm down.

To be continued:

Putting Our Nose Out

First mate:

Tuesday, September 4th, 2012 - In order to make it down the coast of Jersey, we have to make an outside passage on the Atlantic Ocean. As everyone knows it's hurricane season and very active. Did you know there have been three active systems within this week, not to mention the couple of tropical depressions.Way out into the ocean there was Hurricane Kirk, he didn't come ashore but he made his presence known with 'snotty seas'. On the interior of the United States,  the remnants of Hurricane Isaac has made his way up the coast. All that remains of him are the heavy rains and wind. Down south there is now Tropical Storm Leslie and she's predicted to stay out to sea but will turn into a Hurricane sometime this week as she makes her way north.
All we need is a 5 hour window of opportunity for the seas to be calm enough to make it down to Manasquan, NJ from our anchorage in Atlantic Highlands,NJ  and we can then ride on the NJICW. Well, this morning we woke  to a completely flat anchorage. We weren't fooled enough to know that there wasn't weather surrounding us, all we had to do was look out and see the low clouds and then the heavy clouds above, (weather). We checked NOAA and of course the winds were low but the seas were iffy at best. So, we decided after checking the radar for weather and the current weather underground that we'd put our nose out to see if the seas had settled.
Well, you know going out to sea isn't a good idea when you don't see any local fishermen along the shore. At first the rolls were on our nose and really manageable as we were heading out into the ocean. We rounded Sandy Hook and the rolls became a little bigger and beamier and we kind of looked at one another. Ok. what do we do? Well less than 30 minutes later the seas got much bigger and there was no question...turn around! Oh well, this wasn't the opportunity.
 The captain decided to make this opportunity into a wheel handling lesson. He handed me the wheel for our return trip. I thought he was crazy but gave it a go. The seas now made us surf as the waves come from behind and push the boat. It's a very weird sensation trying to steer the boat while surfing. We made our way back to the anchorage and sighed with disappointment. Looks like our next weather window of opportunity doesn't happen again until Sunday.

SUMMERTIME IN NEW YORK

September 2,2012

Well it has been quite a summer. As you can see we have not written anything on this log since we arrived in New York City back in the beginning of June. A lot has happened since that day.

 My knee was still hurting since my surgery in Florida so I decided to see my Orthopedic Surgeon who did my shoulder last summer. After an examination and x-rays it was decided that my knee was in distress. So the decision was to cancel our plans for the Great Loop and have my knee replaced.
Went into the hospital on June 15 and a complete replacement took place.

Spent the remainder of the summer in re-hab for a week and then going to Physical Therapy for the next 2 months. I was very diligent with my therapy going 3days a week and never missed a session. It payed off. Here we are starting our southern cruise back to Florida and my leg feels great. THANK YOU GUYS at Farenheit Physical Therapy in Pelhamn Manor, NY. They were the same organization who helped me with my shoulder last year and again helped me considerably.

Right next to my PT place was a gym and Elle also was very diligent. She came with me and exercised while I was in my PT session.

We did take 9 days off and flew to Florida to meet our moving van with all of our goodies for our new home in southern Florida.. Spent the 9 days unpacking and storing away all the things we had in storage for 1 1/2 years. It felt good to set up the new home ans we look forward to getting down there for the winter.

Speaking of our new community we have been meeting people and getting involved in various groups and even met a bunch of  "snowbirds" in NYC for a tour of the UN and a great lunch.

Yesterday, Sept 1, we left our dock on City Island and had a delightful trip down the East River, under the Verrazano Bridge and to a mooring in Keyport. NJ where a couple of our kids picked us up and we went to Holmdel for a wonderful reunion and dinner with the "kids" and some grandchildren. Will miss you all!!!!!

After a rocky night on that mooring we got up early and took off hoping to get to at least Manasquan inlet. Well, the wind was howling and the seas had 3-4 foot waves so we decided to go into Atlantic Highlands where we set an anchor and here we will stay until the seas calm down. This weather front is probably the remains of Hurricane Isaac, so instead of getting beat up we are safe behind a nice big stone breakwater and have plenty of food and wine so not to worry.

Hope this finds all of our family and friends well and we sure would like to hear from you too.