The Chesapeake and Beyond

Baltimore is 162 nautical miles north of Virginia Beach, our next destination. If you have been reading along, you know that after stalling in the Erie Canal and the Hudson to avoid any hurricane interaction, we are traveling fast south, as fast as the weather will allow. We planned to make the journey from Baltimore to VAB in three days with anchorages along the way.

Although we don’t go crazy with float plans like some other boaters we know, we are very aware of weather. The Chesapeake runs north / south from a huge opening to the Atlantic Ocean on the south end by Virginia Beach. That means that north / south winds make for bad traveling, depending on the direction you want to travel. We left Baltimore needing to travel almost directly south.

The winds had been coming wildly from the east / west the entire time we were in Baltimore. Baltimore is tucked into a bay west of the main bay so east winds create heavy waves in Baltimore. 

We selected a day when the winds were supposed to be mild from the northeast. That puts the wind directly behind us so if the waves were bad we could count on surfing with the wind and waves pushing us ahead. That makes for a much better traveling experience than having the winds on your nose which makes a bouncy, unpleasant experience.

All that calculating is great in theory. On the day of our departure we threw off our lines. It was sunny and warm, very comfortable for traveling. Absolutely dead calm in the marina, tucked away from everything. 

We watched tows and ferries and working boats as we left the harbor. We stopped at the Baltimore Yacht Club to top off fuel out the way out. This is not a marina in town but located on one of those tentacles of land each and south of Baltimore proper. Fuel was very cheap, about $2.13 per gallon for diesel so we put in half tanks of diesel.

Check out the knives stuck in the floor
when they fell off the shelf!

The NE winds did not have an impact on us until we reached the main bay. Then WOOOOOSH, we got slammed. The wind was AWFUL. The waves were good 3 to 5 foot, short and choppy just like Lake Erie. Bunches of sailboats enjoyed it but we were NOT comfortable at all.

We are experienced boaters but we did not sign up for this. By quickly abandoned our 8 to 10 mph travel experience and sped up. While bouncing like we were on a pogo stick, I pulled out the ipad to find an anchorage on Active Captain. We spied a place to duck in off a river into what looked like a hurricane hole. No marinas that we could see but Active Captain indicated we could safely anchor out of the mess.

Kermit adjusted his path but not in time to avoid traffic. We were stuck between a UGE freighter and a sailboat race. Sorry sailboats but we drove directly through the race! The judges in the powerboats came on the radio with some not-so-friendly words of advice. Perhaps we should learn the rules of the water? Sure, next time when the water is friendlier we will be sure to look that up!

Lake Ogleton - so pretty and so calm 

We pulled into a very long narrow channel on the south side of what turns out to be the waterway to Annapolis. We looked around as we entered, veered to the left to the deeper pool and let down anchor at about noon or so. Maybe a little later. It took a while to relax after that difficult water.

We had no idea that we were that close to Annapolis. As I write this, I opened my Google maps on my phone to get the name of this inlet, Lake Ogleton, only to discover that not only were we close to Annapolis (which we figured out when we put down anchor) but that we were very close to Allan and MaryAnn Bernard, great folks we met in the Bahamas in 2013. I am so mad that we missed a chance to connect. I guess the return trip home is starting to take form. Now that we know where they live, we can easily stop in the spring.

The next morning we left at dawn. The weather was not going to get better so we decided to high tail it to Virginia Beach at full speed.

Let’s bring you up to date on the fuel filter situation. Kermit changed the fuel filters on the starboard engines in Chesapeake City after a long day traveling from Atlantic City to Chesapeake City. Then he changed them in Baltimore. He checked the filters in Lake Ogleton but things looked pretty good. Not surprising since we did not travel far from Baltimore. We were concerned about continuing to travel fast but actually the engines responded well.

Entering Lynnhaven Inlet from
Chesapeake Bay

We traveled the remaining 130 nautical miles from Lake Ogleton to Virginia Beach. We don't have a lot of pictures because there isn't much to see when you are running fast down a big body of water. Sorry. 

And we were running fast. Kermit was trying to dial in the speed to maximize fuel efficiency. We made the trip at 2100 rpm at 23 to 25 miles per hour. He pushed it to 2350 rpm and got about 28 mph. The fuel burn at 2100 is about 24 to 26 gallons per hour. 2350 is about 32 to 36 gallons per hour. That is pretty good. We arrived in Virginia Beach after traveling about 5 hours with more than a half tanks of fuel remaining. We were pleased.

The view from our dock at Cavalier Golf and Yacht Club

Good Karma at her slip at Cavalier

Neptune Statue on the boardwalk

The best part is that the fuel filters are cleaner than they have ever been. We are still changing them but we are not seeing the mulch-like stuff anymore, we can go longer before changing the filters and we are getting better performance from the engines than ever. So I think it is safe to say that we are on the other side of our fuel problems. I hate to even write that down but if we talk about the bad then we have to talk about the good!

Xmas decorations go up on
the VAB boardwalk

Virginia Beach: We had a wonderful time in VAB, as usual. Michael and Judy Hechtkopf and Sandy and Jay Tischler are wonderful hosts. 

I didn't know you could ride horses on the beach!! Next time!!

Statues honor the military in this
miltary town

Honoring the military

I should take more pictures, really...

Michael and Judy all dressed up
for the Commodore's Ball

We stayed at their club, the Cavalier Golf and Yacht Club, enjoying the lovely facilities (especially the fitness center!) 

We had dinner out and dinner at the Hechtkoft’s and Tischler’s homes. 

We rode our bikes, did grocery shopping and generally had a wonderful time.

Martha came to visit one day with her friend Liz. We got in Michael’s center console and took a little boat ride to Chick’s Oyster Bar right on the Lynnhaven Channel by the entrance to the Bay.

Boy did we eat well! We celebrated Sandy Tischler’s birthday at a yummy Italian restaurant where I had the absolute best lamb chops ever. Almost as good as the chops Jim and Karen Sigmond grilled in the days before we left Ohio.

Rocky is still a puppy! 160 pounds

Michael with Rocky the biggest
dog in the world

Big full moons equal big tides which
equals water in the parking lot

To celebrate Sandy’s birthday I wanted to make her a special present. I decided to make English toffee. I’ve had trouble making this in the past but this time I decided to try something different. I bought a new candy thermometer and some pretty serving dishes at Judy’s favorite kitchen store. I used my big heavy enamel Dutch oven and took my time. The recipes say it takes about 20 to 30 minutes to cook the toffee but I did it in about an hour while Kermit watched football. It was delicious!!! I will do that again, maybe for Christmas presents!

We visited Total Wine to stock up. Gosh I love going to that store. We bought two cases of wine, determined to put a dent in it before getting to Florida!

We went to our favorite movie theatre where waiters serve food and alcohol during the movies. Tom Cruise is still short but makes a good Jack Reacher. Just saying.

Ice on the sun pads - again

See? Icy

We spent some time with Andrew, the captain of the beautiful Angela Dawn, a 76’ Lazarra. We shared dinner twice including the absolute best grilled steaks I’ve ever eaten. I mean that. We pulled out the big Weber gas grills and just made ourselves at home in the cabana area with the big tv and propane heaters. Devine.

FYI we needed the heaters. It was COLD, getting down into the 40s and 30s regularly. We pulled out all our warmest clothing for the nights and mornings, shedding layers to shorts and t-shirts by afternoon.

Bill and Eve Gribble on Just BilEve returned from the Fort Lauderdale Boat Show, stayed a couple of days to provision and rest then they pulled out on a Thursday. Kermit said the weather was not good for us. We have trouble traveling with JustBilEve because they have trouble traveling slowly and we have trouble staying with them when they travel fast. Traveling fast for them is about 17 mph which is just plowing water for us. When we travel fast we have to go 22 to 25 mph to get on plane where the fuel economy is better. And we all know that Good Karma travels best when she travels butterfly slow. So even if we left with them we probably couldn’t stay with them. We opted to stay behind waiting for better weather.

The day Just BilEve left turned out to be a gorgeous day after all. It was windy but clear, warm and lovely for several days in a row. At this writing, Just BilEve is already in Florida which we are still in Myrtle Beach. That is how fast they move and how many miles they put in during a day. We don’t want to travel like that so we take our time and move at our own pace. Such is a boater’s life.

The day before we left, Judy and I went for one last jaunt shopping to Trader Joe’s. I REALLY love that store! Best buy of the day was 1 pound of butter for $2.69 a pound. Unbelievable! I bought 4 pounds. Eventually we will eat it.

We left Cavalier on Sunday November 13, 2016. It was a little hazy but no wind. Chilly in the morning but it got warmer as the day went on. It seems like Norfolk / VAB is the dividing line between warm and chilly because since we left VAB the weather has been very nice.

Here is the plan for the next portion of the journey. Actually, not a plan because we don’t want to jinx anything. Call it more of a float idea!

Who knows how well or poorly we will keep to this float idea. Depends on weather and a million other variables. In the meantime, have a great Thanksgiving!!