A Marathon Shopping Trip

Monday morning we decided to stay an extra day in Hampton. Captain Ron spent a good portion of the morning cleaning up in the engine room and First Mate Kathrin worked on the flybridge. Things tend to get dirty quickly on a boat. So you find yourself keeping up with things on a regular basis.

Later in the day we borrowed the marina bikes and went food shopping. Captain Ron checked his beer inventory and expressed concern over the close to empty locker! Ha!!! :-)  Not only did we get beer but as many other things that we managed to stuff in our backpacks, basket and wherever else...

Luckily only a few miles to go!

Now that's loaded down!

Evening came with the most beautiful cloud formations and reflections on the water. We had a pizza delivered to the boat and just chilled out after a hard days work. 

Dancing Sea Nettles

How Graceful

Early Evening Interesting Clouds

Captain Ron Chillin

Beautiful!

 

An Eleven Hour Trip!

Heading out at 6:00 am from Crisfield, Md.

We headed out of Crisfield with the thought of going to Cape Charles, VA. Soon we found ourselves faced with strong winds and 2-4 foot seas on the Chesapeake Bay. The "Companion" handled that well and the crew on board decided to plow on rather than turn back. By late morning things started to calm down a bit, which gave us a welcome reprieve. Early afternoon we found ourselves nearing Cape Charles and discussing the option of continuing on to the Norfolk area, as the weather and seas were improving. So we decided to head for Hampton, VA.

Let's let him go first

Our tax dollars at work

Oh Hun, guess who caught up?

Well we made it to Hampton, VA by 5:00. Our first (and hopefully last 11 hour day). A cold beer never tasted so good! :-)  We moored at the Downtown Pier Docks across from Hampton University.

Unique Architecture - HU Cafeteria

Rainbow After Evening Showers

Our home moored in Hampton

Sunday we visited the Virginia Air & Space Museum. After viewing the exhibits we watched "D-Day" in 3D at their IMAX theater. The story of how the invasion unfolded was fascinating. I had forgotten a lot of the details from my history classes. Amazing accomplishment on June 6, 1944 in Normandy!

Downtown Hampton area is very cute with lots of interesting restaurants and shops. We enjoyed lunch and perused a really neat art gallery. There are few brick buildings that have murals painted on them. Look closely!

Original Apollo 12 Command Module

Visited "Taphouse"  for Lunch 

Unique Lamp 

Painted on the wall - not real doorway

Painted on wall - matches real windows on both sides

Sunset in Crisfield, Maryland

This boating life style is way too hard...Adi

Early Evening Rain

Clear skies over Crisfield

A Welcome Change

A Final Look

Solomon's Island to Crisfield, Md

Tuesday evening Darlene & Mark, a delightful young couple we met by the pool, stopped by with their dinghy for a visit. We invited them aboard and shared our life stories for a bit.

Darlene & Mark 

We left Solomon's Island on Wednesday morning, stopped for fuel at Calvert Marina (only $3.59). Most other places around here have been showing $4.00 and up. So that's sort of a bargain!  We had a nice calm start to our trip south on the Chesapeake Bay. On our way we were hailed on the VHF radio by the Captain of a huge freighter ship the MSC. We were heading south & he was heading north west and our projected paths were drawing us uncomfortably closer together. He hailed us by our name "Companion" because he could see us by our AIS transmitter (automatic identification system). He asked Captain Ron what were our intentions in passing. Captain Ron said he planned to turn slightly to starboard and pass on his port side. He agreed that a one whistle pass was best. Wow those things are huge and you don't want to cross their bow, they can't see you.    

Cargo Freighter

A short time thereafter, we were hailed again on the VHF by the Navy Patrol Boat777 and asked to alter our course more eastward in order to avoid an active bombing exercise.
Good idea Captain!!!

As the afternoon progressed the winds picked up and so did the waves. By the time 3:30 rolled around the entrance to the town of Crisfield was a welcome site! 

Entering Crisfield Marina

Hey what's for dinner Hun??? After a nice dip in the pool Ron and I decided to try a new recipe: Pork Tenderloin stuffed with spinach, prosciutto, sun dried tomatoes and mozzarella.  Eight easy steps...

Flatten, Season & add Mozzarella

Spinach & Sundried Tomatoes

Prosciutto

Rollup & pin or tie together

Grill or Bake 25 minutes

Toast the Chef!

Brown in Micro or Broil for a Minute

Serve with Dill Redskins, Avocado, Good Wine...Viola!

Dave playing with Missy

The Great U-Turn... Leaving Rock Hall & Heading South

It was a bittersweet goodbye Sunday morning at 7:30 as we left Rock Hall Landing and headed south.

Barb, Rob & Lois

Lois say bye to Adi!

Gerry & Judie

See ya Mike!

We arrived at Solomon's Island, Md at Zahniser's Yachting Center about 3:30. We have decided to head back south to Florida and leave our boat in Fernandina Beach. We will try to hit a lot of new places we did not get to see while on our trip up.

"Companion"  resting 

Beautiful rainbow welcomed us 

Peaceful Night Reflections

Rock Hall, MD

Dave sent pic of Sasha chillin.... we miss our girls :-(

Late Bloomer (completely different color?)

Monday (with an expected impending storm for Tuesday) we left our quiet secluded marina in Annapolis and headed for Rock Hall. The trip over was a bit windy and we crossed under the famous and beautiful Chesapeake Bay Bridge. Rock Hall is a trip back to simpler times. Besides breath-taking sunsets, we fell in love with the people of Rock Hall.

CBB

Coming up on Chesapeake Bay Bridge

Tuesday morning while Ron and I were having breakfast I got a text from Barb on the "Traveler" that they just tied up in a slip across from us. How cool is that!!! Wednesday night the four of us had a great dinner at Waterman's Crab House. Barb & I shared a dinner with blue crab, shrimp, corn, potato, clams and mussels...YUMMY!

I know what you're doing Ron...

I love crab!

Do I really have to wear that?

Good Looking Couple

A feast to remember!

Thursday mid morning Lois & Mike on "Inch-a-Long" came into the marina. YAY!!! So good to see them again! Let's not forget Adi. (The Admiral) :-) We also met Gerry & Judie on the
"R Island".

That afternoon my sister Chris drove down from NJ to spend two nights with us on the boat. We were grateful for her long trip to see us. Chris & I took the kayaks out for a few hours in the harbor and then out in the bay. The ospreys were awesome!  We sat and watched a few different nests some with babies and some without. But every time we came too close to a nest the male osprey expressed his displeasure with a unique gurgling sound.

Chris & Kathrin 

Ospreys

Smillin Chris

Chris takes off!

Out in the bay

Reflecting

The bay was a bit ruff with lots of waves. We pulled into a beachie spot for a break and enjoyed a a few cold brewskys. Oh no we forgot the "Kabanos". (the Ukrainian dried sausage that Chris brought us) That would be great with our beer... oh well more for later.

Enjoying a brewsky!

Returning to "Companion" - third in 

Ahhh, Ron toasting our return

Captain Ron was very happy to see us upon our return and assisted our getting back on board on the swim platform. The weary travelers were hungry. We all shared some "Kabanos".

I poured us some wine and we went to take a shower. OK now... Chris laughed because she never heard of such a thing. No doubt, the best shower she ever had! :-) Lot's of laughs...
Chris said: "you know, I could really get into this boating life style!" :-)

When we got back to the boat Captain Ron served us up a terrific Mediterranean Stew for dinner with a great salad.. Add some Feta cheese to the stew and voila what a flavor! We caught a beautiful sunset after dinner on the sundeck. Chris said "I will sleep really good tonight" and guess what, she sure did.

Friday morning Ron laughed when he discovered a birthday balloon tied up to the bow on our boat. No doubt Rob & Barb were the the culprits! :-)  HAPPY BIRTHDAY Captain Ron!!!!!!
Chris and I visited with "Adi" a bit. That evening Rob, Barb, Lois, Mike, Gerry, Judie, Ron, Chris and I celebrated Ron's birthday at The Bay Wolf. The best wienerschnitzel ever!!!  Afterwards we all walked through the car show on Main street in town. Topped the evening off with ice cream before walking back to the marina.

The Birthday Boy!!!

Kathrin, Barb, Lois, Chris

The Amigos

Dinner at Bay Wolf

You're the best, honey!

Ron enjoying the car show

Nice paint job

Saturday mid morning Chris left to drive back up to Jersey. She stopped in Chestertown to check out some shops and galleries, had lunch and headed home. Everyone enjoyed meeting Chris and we had a great visit!

Saturday evening we all got together for a picnic with hamburgers grilled up by Chef's Mike & Rob. We shared lots of stories of our travels, our lives before boating and future plans. Sunday morning the "Companion" headed southwest to Solomon's Island, "Traveler" headed south to St. Michael's,
"Inch-n-Along & "R Island" headed north for the Sassafras River to Georgetown.
Safe travels everyone and may our paths cross again.

Chef Mike

Highschool sweet hearts - Gerry & Judie

Very snazzy outfit Lois

Chef Rob

Picnics are fun!