Gypsies in Charm City

Now who knew Charm City is the nickname for Baltimore....yes, you read that right - Baltimore! It was given the name in 1974 by an ad agency and it stuck. That's where Gypsies is at the moment - at a funky little marina in Fells Point, home to the world famous restaurant Bertha's Mussels and the fabulous bar Max's Taphouse that is owned by the cousin of our good friend from Kennebunkport, Marc Feldman (did I mention Max's has over 100 beers on tap!!) Guess where we plan on being tonight??

Sorry about the lack of a blog for the past week and a half but I was traveling back to Massachusetts to see friends and family for a real quick visit - can you say planes, trains and automobiles??? More on that later....

Well we finally figured out our oil filter issue and wound up not going the route of remote filters - instead Doug and Bob used a hammer to tap out some of the rounded bottom of the regular Napa oil filters we use to make it a little shorter and voila, it was enough for them to get the filter on!! Doug talked to a bunch of people to make sure we weren't compromising the filter's performance and got a few mixed thoughts but at the end of the day, we got comfortable that it would work and it saved us over $550 per remote filter and the headache of trying to get them shipped overnight and then installed. To install the remote filter we would have to lift the engine over 2 inches! We had planned on taking Gypsies over to Baltimore that Thursday before I had to leave by train on Friday morning to head to parts north. Despite solving the oil filter issue, unfortunately the weather didn't quite cooperate with our plans (darn those fickle weather gods!!) - the weather forecast called for gale force warnings on the Bay and one of our key rules on Gypsies is to never compromise safety and comfort for a schedule. (As the weather really turned out, we probably could have made it, but who knew that morning??? you do the best you can with the weather info you have!!)

So what did we do??? We sat tight and battened down the hatches and rode out the storm on Thursday and then borrowed the marina's courtesy car to drive me to Baltimore to catch the train the next morning. The problem was that Doug still had to get the boat to Baltimore which was three hours across the Bay!!! After having Doug over for dinner on Friday night so he wouldn't have to cook for himself (thanks guys!!!), on Saturday morning Bob and Stephanie helped him off with the lines at the dock and Doug single handed Gypsies across the harbor in 20 knot winds to our marina in Baltimore harbor where he was met by the dockmaster who helped him into our slip. Can I tell you how weird that was for both of us!!!!! In all of our years of boating together, through four different boats and hundreds of days at sea, we have NEVER not been together for any boat trip - I was freaking out because I wasn't there and Doug was on the boat by himself so he had to do everything - way too weird and hopefully we never have to do that again!! But of course Doug handled everything great and I'm back on Gypsies and she looks wonderful so all's good. What is weird though is that when I walked down the dock to our slip, I didn't see September Song right next to Gypsies - SS stayed an extra day at Rock Hall and then have been cruising the Wye River - other than a day here or there, this is the first time we've been apart since we left for the Bahamas almost 6 months ago!! We miss you guys!! But I talked to Bob the other day and we plan to meet back up with them over in Cambridge (on the Eastern shore of the Bay) on Monday along with hopefully Norm and Vicki of TideHiker!!!!

Paragraph from Doug: The trip over from Rock Hall was weird because Tammy wasn't on board but it was rather uneventful otherwise. It was dreary, rainy occasionally and cold. I ran from the flybridge getting out of the harbor in Rock Hall and then moved down into the pilothouse where it was dry and warm.

View from the Pilothouse on a Cold and Dreary Day

I ran from there the rest of the day until about 500 yards from the marina when I went upstairs for the better visability to dock. The five mile trip up the Patapsco River to Baltimore was busy since it was a Saturday morning but not too bad since it was cold and wet. Baltimore Harbor is where Francis Scott Key wrote the Star Spangled Banner during the War of 1812 and is even today an active working commercial harbor.

View of Baltimore from the Francis Scott Key Bridge
Historical Buoy Marks Spot of Ship Where Francis Scott Wrote the Star Spangled Banner

Baltimore is a Working Harbor

When I got to Henderson's Wharf Marina, the dockmaster put me on the dock usually reserved for local liveaboards. Gypsies is the biggest boat on the dock by almost 10 feet. Since most of the boats on the dock are either liveaboards or people who spend a lot of time on their boats, it is littered with stuff to make their life easier. Things like picnic tables, barbeque grills and bicycles. Very weird.

The Liveaboard Dock at Henderson's Wharf Marina

Back to Tammy: Before we left Rock Hall though we had a chance to meet up with Karen and Jeff Siegel from Castine, ME (almost neighbors of ours in our prior life!! - heh, they are from ME!!) who run a cruisers' website called Active Captain that we use all the time and who have a beautiful 53' DeFever named aCappella. They had pulled into the town docks in Rock Hall so we all took the SS boat dogs over to meet aCappella's boat dogs (two yellow labs named Dyna and Dylan) - the four labs had a grand old time sniffing and getting to know each other while we humans chatted and tried to reign them in (we lost!) Karen was the canine candy man trying to bribe our furry friends with dog treats!

From left; Karen, Jeff, Doug, Bob and StephKaren the Candy Man

Finally we hit the Harbor Shack for a coldie and some great burgers while the canine crew chilled out - you've got to love a bar that welcomes animals to happy hour (one of our favorite bars in Key West is known for this - there's even a song by Michael McCloud a local musician down there about how he wants to come back as a Schooner Wharf bar dog!!!)

Dinner with the Gang at the Harbor Shack

The next night Doug and I hit happy hour at the Shack again and wound up hanging out with some wonderful local folks who invited us to their house and to get some homemade crab cakes when we get back into town - we might just take them up on the offer!! unless of course it's $0.35 wing night at the Shack which is awfully hard to pass up!!

We had a great time in Rock Hall but it was time to leave - it's not a real big place and there's only so many nights in a row that you can hit happy hour at the Shack (who said that???) and we'll have to return to Haven Harbor when our watermaker comes in (who knows how long that will take!!!) Besides I had to head to the frozen tundra in the north for several days to see family and friends - so I set out on September 11th by train for Providence, RI where the plan was to stay with our good friends Mary and Steve Ouellette in Lincoln, RI - thanks for a great time guys!! The next day I headed up to Massachusetts to visit my nephew Drew and his girlfriend,

Drew and Stacy

then on to my brother Tom's and finally to my cousin Chris' house where I was crashing for several days - now of course they all live in different parts of the state not remotely near one another so I had the unmitigated joy of driving a rental car all over kingdom come in the pouring rain and cold that can be Massachusetts in the Fall. It was great to see everyone though - at my cousin Chris' not only did I get to hang with him and his beautiful fiancee Carolina, but my fabulous Aunt Peg who continues to amaze me with her spunk and humor was there as well as my cousin Warren and his bride Debbie who drove up from Cape Cod to surprise me!!! How Kewl!!!! We had an amazing dinner with way too many bottles (yes I did say bottles not bags) of wine - what a treat - thanks guys!!

Dinner at Chris': from left; Chris, Warren, Debbie, Carolina (foreground), and Peg

Tammy Enjoys Drinking Wine from Bottles Rather than Bags

We of course had to call poor Doug at 11:40 pm so he could talk to everyone (what isn't everyone up at that time of night??) and then again at about 1:45 am - good thing he loves me!!

Peg Talks to Doug at 11:40 PM

The next day it was back out to central Mass for visits with my amazing niece Sam, her husband Steve and their new "bundle of joy" Rocco (what a really cool little dude!!)

Steve, Sam and Rocco

and my very hip nephew Wyatt and his mom, Kristy!!!

Wyatt the Man!

What a great visit but not long enough by far - I miss those guys!!! then it was off to my cousin Melissa's (to see Melissa, Russ and her great kids Mac and Bridget...and Bridget's guinea pig Sushi!)

Melissa and Russ

and then on to my other brother Tim's - now the good part is that they all live in the same town which was huge!!! The next day it was back to RI to the Ouellette's where I actually got to watch the Pats game complete with more food than any four human beings could possibly eat in one 6 hour sitting (we had to watch the pre-game too of course!!!) Man were those ribs good and despite a really poor showing, the PATS WON (ugly I know but a win nonetheless and in dramatic fashion in the last 2 minutes of the game!) Thanks again guys for a great time - you guys rock!!

I got back to Gypsies on Wednesday late afternoon in time for Doug's friend Ray Maskell to come over to the boat for a drink and then they went out for dinner. I of course had plenty of penance to do (ie kissing and loving of the boat kitties) before Puss and Boots would welcome me home - so I spent the night feeding them treats and doling out love!!! They finally admitted to missing me!!

Puss Met Tammy at the Door

Bootsie was a Little More Restrained

Paragraph from Doug: Ray and I went to a really cool restaurant/bar on S. Ann Street in Fells Point called Peter's Inn. It is one of Ray's favorite restaurants and Ray was actually sitting there a year and a half ago when I called him to tell him Tammy and I were quitting our jobs to go live on a boat. Too Kewl! If you're ever in Fells Point, check out Peter's Inn.

Today it is as cold and rainy as it had been up in Massachusetts - guess I must have brought it back with me - sorry!! We plan on hitting Max's tonight for several cold draft beers and perhaps a burger and tomorrow the Red Sox are playing the Baltimore Orioles at Camden Yard which is just about my favorite ball park (not that I've been to a ton, but....) so we went online and got tickets!!! We'll probably head out of here on Saturday for the Magothy River to relax for a couple days before hooking back up with SS and Tide Hiker (those party animals!!!)

Click here to see a Google map of our location in Fells Point.

Hanging and Banging in Rock Hall

Well we're still here at Haven Harbor Marina in Rock Hall, Maryland and will be at least through Tuesday...we're on a boat so we understand that plans change (often at the capricious hand of the boat gods)!!! We pulled in about a week ago thinking we'd only be here long enough for them to fix our watermaker (which has never really worked!) and for September Song to get a couple new batteries - thus was not to be the case however. After a day of trying to decipher what was wrong with our watermaker all to no avail, the guys here who had installed it decided there was simply a gremlin in the thing and took the whole thing out and shipped it back to the manufacturer Spectra so they can fix and test it or send us a whole new unit - when they tested our watermaker to figure out what was wrong, rather then desalinating water it was doing the opposite, it was making saltier water!!!!! Go figure!! Who knows when it will be back in but whenever that is, we'll have to come back to Haven Harbor for the re-install. Now that we are in the Chesapeake, we don't really need the watermaker so it's not a huge inconvenience but hopefully it won't take too long as we have places to go and people to see and cruising to be done!!!

The same guys who were working on our watermaker all that first day were the ones supposed to be working on SS's batteries so that was delayed a bit - unfortunately they needed four new batteries and the two that had been ordered were wrong anyways!!! So new ones were ordered which should have been a simple (albeit costly) solution - but NO, we're on boats!! When the guys had tested the batteries some electricity arced and blew out Bob's super dooper high tech bilge sensors....UGH!! Those have been ordered and should be in on Tuesday because of course we are in the middle of a long weekend and nothing is getting done around here until after that!!

Thinking there are worse places to hang out for a week, we decided to sit tight with SS and Doug would do some maintenance on Gypsies while I caught up on some long overdue boat projects (there's always something!!!) What is normally a simple oil change on the main engines turned into a nightmare for Doug halfway through the job - when we had the engines aligned down in St. Augustine, they had lowered the starboard engine and now there is absolutely no room to either get the old oil filter off or put a new one in!!!! Doug finally got the old one off by drilling a hole in it to drain out the oil (can you say that created one heck of a mess!!) and using a saw to cut it out - it wasn't pretty!! However putting a new filter in is the hard part without getting the engine out of alignment again. One idea after another has been tried...and failed!! Several trips by the marina staff to scout out smaller filters has been to no avail and Doug and I ran to Tolchester Marine yesterday to try and get a replacement gasket in case the one on the engine tore when Doug "tried something" - after barely beating the clock on their closing time, they didn't have the right gasket!! Unless a new brainstorm occurs to someone, we now think we are back to having to order a remote filter assembly from John Deere on Tuesday which will (hopefullly - please, please!) come in on Wednesday which should get us out of here on Thursday to Baltimore (which is good because I have a train out of there on Friday to head back to Massachusetts for a couple days to see family and friends!!) So keep your fingers crossed that on Tuesday and Wednesday the boat gods are in a benevolent mood for once when they wake up and all goes well!!!

One would think that all this boat stuff would get us down but it doesn't - we understand that stuff just happens on boats and you have to deal with it and just have fun. So that's what we've been doing in Rock Hall despite the several days of freezing cold temperatures that sent Bob to don jeans and our boat kitties to snuggle together.

Puss and Boots Snuggle Together in the Cold Weather

You can always tell when it starts to get cool, Puss and Boots who usually rarely give the other the time of day when it is sunny and warm tend to curl up together and make nice (OK at least most of the time when one doesn't jump on the other or wake the other up rudely to steal prime attention space)!

"Mom, Puss Disturbed Me When She Jumped Up Here!"

But even that too has passed and the past several days have been sunny and beautiful with gorgeous sunsets. The boat kitties are back to largely ignoring each other!

Sunset Over Haven Harbour Marina

Two days ago we decided to hit happy hour at the Harbor Shack (yet again - we feel like Norm in Cheers since all the bartenders now know us and have a cold coors light can waiting for us as we settle onto our same barstools!) with September Song before heading over to Waterman's Restaurant for dinner.

Another Happy Hour at the Shack!

From the deck of the shack we spied a 49' DeFever across the way at one of the marinas - what can I say, they are amazingly distinctive and beautiful boats!! I used my new camera to zoom in on the boat name and it was River Girl - well heck, we had met them at the DeFever rendezvous in February and SS knew them as well, so of course we had to make our way over to say hello. Ron and Janice Walton were wonderful enough to invite us onboard for a cocktail where we met their friends and had a great sunset chat on their flybridge catching up about cruising plans and what not. Thanks so much for the hospitality guys and hope to see you out in the Chesapeake again this Fall!!! It's always so cool to meet up with other DeFevers - they are such a wonderful group of folks (with exquisite taste in boats I might add!!!)

Cocktails on the Flybridge of River Girl

Sunset from the Flybridge of River Girl

After that it was on to Waterman's and what can only be called a disgusting display of smackin', pickin' and eatin' crabs for Doug and Bob - we are after all in the Chesapeake. They indulged in the all you can eat crab feast (which by the way had a two hour time limit - are you kidding???) Our once pristine wooden table got covered up in brown paper and an enormous tray of liberally spiced crabs was set between the boys - the joy on their faces (the boys not the crabs) was something to behold.

Let the Feast Begin

The Feast Continues

Doug broke out his reading glasses so he wouldn't miss a speck of that luscious crab!!

Doug Didn't Want to Miss Any of the Crabmeat

It was light out when they started ripping apart those poor little suckers so we got some great pictures - by the time they were finished it was well after dark and the band had started to play (turns out you just can't order any more crabs after two hours but you can finish up what's left on your tray!!!)

The Band Arrived and Started Playing

The Boys Were Having Fun!

In between our bouts of laughter, Stephanie and I kept the boys' glasses of Shock Top Wheat filled since their hands were in no way clean enough to touch anything!!!

No One Was Allowed to Touch Anything

When all was said and done, they went through almost two huge trays of crabs and still had enough room to split carrot cake (have I mentioned that one thing we have learned on this trip is that everyone has a hidden dessert pocket that remains empty and capable of being filled no matter how much you eat - unfortunately it's true!!)

Bob Playing With His Food

Stopping in the lobby before the walk back to the marina, we thought it only appropriate that the boys try on the crab hats - aren't they adorable???

Aren't They adorable?

Yesterday we borrowed the marina car and headed over to Chestertown which is a really cute place with gingerbread houses and a lovely college campus running through the downtown area for a big farmers market. We love these and try to find them wherever we go since they give us a great opportunity to stock up on really fresh produce and fresh baked bread (and in SS's case, pies, cakes and sticky buns!) This one was great - lots of local vendors selling all kinds of good stuff. We spent the afternoon by the pool with our cooler and a couple books - the weather was gorgeous so we took full advantage of it!! Today might have to be another lazy day by the pool and who knows, we might find our way to the Shack later (after all Sunday is happy hour all day and they have a band this afternoon for the holiday weekend!!!)

Gypsies Returns Home

The other day we left the Little Choptank River bright and early after a beautiful sunrise for our trek up the Chesapeake Bay to Haven Harbor Marina in Rock Hall, Maryland where we bought Gypsies.

Sunrise Over the Little Choptank

Heading for Haven Harbor where it all began when we bought our boat there in October 2007 seemed somehow appropriate albeit coincidental since August 31 was a huge milestone for us - it marked the one year anniversary of when we set out from Kennebunkport on this amazing cruising trip - can you believe it??? What we have seen, done and experienced in that year is hard to describe in just a blog but could be fodder for a book (now there's an idea - maybe I'll think that one over!) - but seriously it has been an unbelievable voyage of discovery and personal growth for us and I'm glad so many of you have been able to take that journey with us through our blog. Hopefully we have taken you to places you will want to visit and you have learned something about this great country of ours and the Bahamas from our travels - if not, that's OK too - hopefully you just enjoyed the pictures of all the crazy things we've done, places we've been and people we've met!! Doug and I consider ourselves extremely lucky to have been able to fulfill our dream of cruising and hope to continue to find a way to make it possible although I'm sure we'll have to head back to some form of work sooner or later - after living this kind of unbelievable life for the past year, I'm sure whatever we choose to do next will be something pretty fun and will involve the water somehow!! Not sure we're capable of going back to the rat race and anyways after being barefoot or in flip flops for the past year, the thought of going back to high heel pumps is singularly unappealing to me....but for now, the journey continues!!

The trip up from the Little Choptank on a beautiful Sunday afternoon was busier than we've seen the waterways in a long time!!! Tons of boats were out in the Bay enjoying the day sailing or fishing or just having fun and the radio was ablaze with chatter - not all of it appropriate for the hailing/distress channel 16 as the Coast Guard repeatedly reminded those boating idiots who haven't learned the rules and radio etiquette yet!! There is also a lot more tanker/cargo ship traffic in the northern Bay heading in and out of Baltimore especially!!

Cargo Ship on the Bay

Tanker in the Bay

Although we tend to enjoy a quieter afternoon with the waters largely to ourselves, in the northern part of the Bay on a sunny weekend we know that is tough to come by so we just sat back and enjoyed the day (except for the occasional bat fly that seemed to want to ride with us - those things are just huge and gross!!)

Flies as Big as Bats

I especially love going under the enormous Bay bridge (in direct inverse proportion to how much I hate driving across it) as I know from there Rock Hall is just a stone's throw away.

Gypsies Approaches the Bay Bridge

A View of the Bay Bridge from Between the Spans

Heading into Haven Harbor we formed up into the stream of boats heading back in for the day - as we knew all too well, a cluster f___ was in the making because the harbor leading to the marina is not only very tight but it is extremely shallow!!

A Convoy of Boats Head into Swan Creek

Take it from us, if you haven't run aground here at least once, you really haven't taken your boat out through this channel!! - or you're lying!! In fact, the folks we bought Gypsies from ran aground on our sea trial! But we got in line and did our dance around the channel markers with the 50 other boats and made it almost to the marina before hearing those dreaded words from the dockmaster "can you guys just hold for a minute while we get this other boat docked??" Now a boat isn't like a car so we can't just put it in park and even if we could, did I mention there was a string of boats behind us??? Yikes! The only good thing is that we were largely at slack tide and there wasn't a ton of wind (and the boat we were waiting to dock was September Song...), however the boats behind us (many of whom were sailboats which never have their radio on so hadn't heard the marina's instructions) started to come up and sniff our butt. We resorted to yelling to them the situation - several wanted to go around us as we waited - sure thing, go at your own risk of grounding! Of course it always happens that just as we got the word to start heading in to our slip one of the sailboats we had let go around us and we thought had found his slip, realized he'd made a mistake so jumped back out in front of us and forced us to hold tight again. Even though I am a reformed sailor, there are a lot of sailors out there who don't know what they are doing!!! (I'm sure they say the same thing about power boaters and they may have a point when they're talking big Sea Rays and go fasts...but you didn't read that here!)

We finally got into our slip which was an interesting series of physical gyrations with very little water below our keel - you know it's never good when the guy greeting you on the dock says "gee I didn't realize you were this big" - does 49 feet have a different meaning in Maryland than elsewhere?? besides this used to be Gypsies home port - what do you mean you didn't realize?? Oh well, no worries - we are tucked into our slip just fine, we just stick out into the fairway a little more than the other boaters having to make their way in and out of their slips might like!!

Shortly after docking we joined September Song up at the TIki Bar for a post cruise beverage - we had earned one!! Well one turned into two and we decided to introduce the September Song gang to our favorite haunt in Rock Hall, the Harbor Shack!!! The Harbor Shack is a little joint down by the water that happens to have happy hour all day on Sunday - now how cool is that!!! So we consumed some very tasty and inexpensive adult libations along with wings, nachos and quesadillas!!! All liquid and no food makes the crew sloppy!! Of course both Bob and I forgot our cameras so we have no pictures of the evening at the Shack (which in retrospect is probably a good thing)!! Nor do we have any pictures of our friendly bartender who appeared to be something straight out of Wrestlemania what with the no neck, the chest that could stop a moving bullet and arms that could crush a beer bottle not just a can!!! Turned out to be a great guy as he kept the mini cold 10 ounce beers coming (for $1) and only charged us $1.88 for Captain and cokes - now I ask you who came up with that price?? Happy people who plan on heading back to the Shack each afternoon for happy hour I tell you!!!

Yesterday was a day of boat chores - Doug worked with the marina guys on our watermaker all day - turns out they are as stumped as Doug was over in the Bahamas when he was trying to fix it. At the end of the day, they just decided to pack the whole unit up and ship it back to Spectra in California for them to either fix and test it or send us a whole new one!!! What does this mean for our cruising plans?? Well not much since we don't make water in the Chesapeake anyways (we'd go through way too many filters and there is no real need as marinas where we can get water are plentiful) so we'll just head out whenever we are ready and swing back by Haven Harbor once they get it back. Hopefully that won't be too long!!! While the guys were being mechanics I took advantage of the courtesy car Haven Harbor has and did a big food/booze provisioning run (we were down to our last four beers!!! emergency!!!!) - you have to take advantage of cars when you have them!! So now we are back to being fully stocked and ready for anything!! While we slaved away all day the boat kitties enjoyed the relatively cool weather (when we woke up in the morning it was downright chilly - - Bob even dug out his jeans!!)

Puss Does What She Does Best

Bootsie Enjoys the Comfort of the Settee

By 4:00 pm yesterday we were very much ready for a cocktail or two after a long but productive day so we headed to the Shack (same bartender, same great cold beers and same awesome BBQ wings - did I mention I love this place!!) - September Song was having the mechanics help them with a battery issue so they hung back at the marina.

Entrance to the Harbor Shack

Doug Enjoys a Cold One at the Harbor Shack

Today the guys are going to swap out at least one if not a couple batteries on September Song and then we both should be good to go. We plan on getting a bunch more boat chores done on board and I need an expedition into town to hit the spice store for more of Doug's favorite mango hot sauce and to refill our propane tanks (which is what fuels our cook top)! Another round at the Harbor Shack to top off our visit tonight would be my guess and assuming everything goes well today, we may head out of here tomorrow for points yet unknown - yet another thing we need to figure out today!!

Click ere to see a Google map of our location at Haven Harbour.

Slow Down, Take it Easy...

Sometimes as cruisers even if you are Gypsies you have to slow down and take it easy - that's what we have been doing for the past several days. We spent a final day on Tangier Island and decided it was a perfect day to lounge around on the sandy beach that we had seen on the southern end of the island (we try to take advantage of all sandy beaches we find given how often we have had to make due with mud on the trip up the ICW). The September Song crew (human and canine) and the Gypsies set out by foot for the trek across the island - although it was a "healthy" walk, we got to enjoy the tranquility of the back side of Tangier Island with its green marsh grasses blowing in the wind, snow white egrets feeding in the flats, and the little houses with their white picket fences and cat guardians at the gate.

Egret Feeding in the Marsh

Water Tower on Tangier

White Picket Fences

The beach itself wasn't quite as pretty as it had seemed from afar as it was strewn with dried seaweed, washed up portions of crab traps and we even found a couple fish carcasses which Cassie was especially enthralled with to her owners' chagrin! On top of that there were horse flies the size of small bats that had a special affinity for our ankles and feet (of course where they are hardest to kill and where you don't really notice them until they have sunk their fangs deep into your skin and sucked out pints of your blood!!) These things were downright vicious - I think they were so excited to find fresh blood that hadn't been tainted by centuries of cross breeding!! I can't believe I actually said that instead of just thinking it - sometimes my fingers type too fast for my own good!!!

Oh well...after some serious play time on the beach with the September Song boat dogs (while trying to fool the flies by standing in the water - which unfortunately didn't work), the SS gang headed back to the boat - both the dogs and the human crew were looking a little peaked after such intense playing and losing so much blood - better to get the long walk over with! We decided to hang on the beach for a little while longer - Doug had lugged a full cooler all the way to the beach and was intent on emptying some of it before the walk back!!! Besides the killer bug eyed flies didn't seem to be as attracted to us as to the September Song crew - my theory is that's because of how pickled our blood is (we work hard at that on a daily basis!) But even we didn't last too long - sun pig was finally driven off the beach after several flies got together and threatened to carry me away!!

Doug and I walked back through town stopping at Spanky's for a couple appetizers to take back to the boat for lunch and then spent a quiet afternoon/evening on Gypsies. We contemplated a visit to Hoistin Bridge but didn't want to intrude on the local courting couples....after all what else do they have to do??? The next morning we left bright and early to head north in the Chesapeake Bay - as always when we pull away from the dock I was at the helm and Doug was undoing our lines. Well obviously Mr. Park's had never seen a girl at the wheel as he came flying (OK well as fast as his little 78 year old legs would carry him) down the dock yelling "Hold on, I'll help!!!!"" No thanks - we're just fine was Doug's response - after he told me to stop using the bow thruster to swing our anchor towards Mr. Park's head....deep breath, it's all just part of the charm of the place....

A Look Back at Tangier as Gypsies Departs

That day we had a great steam up the Chesapeake, past the Navy's bombing zone where an old rusted out hulk of a ship sits with holes either from small missile strikes or decomposition (we think the latter!) but at one point you can see all the way through the hull to the water on the other side. Luckily no bombing was happening on our way by!!!

Navy Bombing Target

We pulled into the Little Choptank River where we planned on anchoring for several days. It is a great little river except for the flies - if I thought the flies in Tangier were big, these puppies made them look like sand fleas. I am talking full blown mutant ninja flies here and of course they all started to dive bomb us as we came in to anchor. Poor Doug didn't know what to make of Gypsies going around in circles as I was swatting these mini teradactyls as opposed to tending to the throttles - all I could think of was in Top Gun when Mav buzzed the air control tower!!! These things had me in their sights and although they didn't seem to want my blood, they did seem to want to gouge out my eyeballs!!! After sending a number of them to a watery grave, I think they got the idea I was no pushover and left me alone long enough for us to drop the hook and get it set!!

We headed up the river a ways to see the sights but ended up back by the mouth of the river across from a nice little sandy beach - from the mouth of the river you can see one pretty spectacular estate about a mile up river - wonder who owns that thing??? Maybe the bat flies carried away the owner and are now living in the lap of luxury!!!

Estate on Hudson Creek

Anyways the weather has been pretty iffy - first a cold front swept through giving us some wind and a biblical thunder and lightning storm (which the cats really don't care for too much!) and now we are getting the outer effects of Danny.

Puss is Nervous About the Storm

It was overcast all day yesterday so we had a really lazy day hanging out on the boat getting caught up on internet, email, the blog and a bunch of other stuff we've been putting off. In the afternoon, SS dropped their dink and took the dogs over to the little sand beach and then came back to pick us up since we were too lazy to drop Hobos! We knew a storm was coming from the looks of the sky so told ourselves that's why we didn't drop it...yeah yeah that's it!!

Sure enough the skies opened up and the light show began just as we got back to the boats - coincidence? I think not!! We had another quiet evening of homemade pizza and a movie - too much fun!! Today it is overcast again and we still haven't put the dink in the water although we have made plans to go exploring this afternoon weather permitting. It's looking pretty borderline at the moment but we'll see. In the interim we are catching up on odd jobs and cooking up a storm for tonight's dinner with September Song on Gypsies...I won't even begin to tell you what all we're having because I don't want any drooling on your keyboard!!

Tomorrow we head further north up to Haven Harbor Marina in Rock Hall, MD which those of you who follow the blog will remember is where we bought Gypsies. We had them do some work for us back then and need them to fix some things, namely the watermaker that they installed which has never worked!! Would have been nice to have that in the Bahamas!!! but ces la vie...better late than never! We will probably be there for several days at least and will use their courtesy car to do some provisioning and exploring!! Wonder if they still remember us at Ace Hardware and West Marine??

Click here to see our anchorage in the Little Choptank River.

Stepping Back in Time on Tangier Island

Our last evening in our perfect little anchorage on the Corrotoman River (make sure to pronounce it co-ro-TO-man and god knows not co-ROT-o-man because every local will aggressively correct you as both Stephanie and Doug found out!!) was spent over at September Song having unbelievable Mexican food courtesy of Bob. Who knew he was such a culinary maestro??? We had festive Mexican apps out on the bow while the boys had margaritas and Stephanie and I had our own concoctions - hers was more creative as she had just seen it on the food network the night before, but mine hit the spot too!!

Drinks and Apps on September Song's Bow

We watched a great sunset over our little harbor

Sunset Over Gypsies on the Corrotoman

before heading upstairs to partake of Bob's awesome enchiladas - I took one look at my plate though and knew I would be enjoying the meal again for lunch the next day at least - yippee!!

Enchiladas for Dinner

Back out on the bow for a dessert of white chocolate and cranberry oatmeal cookies which was the end to a perfect night - thanks guys!

The next morning after a beautiful sunrise over our anchorage

Sunrise Over September Song on the Corrotoman

We Pass Our Little Beach on the Way Out

we set out for new territory for us - Tangier Island, which is an island on the eastern shore of the Chesapeake Bay, but still part of Virginia. Doug's dad and his wife Kathy used to take the ferry over for day trips so we had heard a lot about it but had never actually gotten there ourselves so we were looking forward to the trip. The first part of the trip out the mouth of the Rappahannock River was pretty rough still with the remnants of Hurricane Bill (the waters take several days to calm down after a storm rips through) and Bootsie let us know she wasn't real happy but luckily it started to smooth out somewhat as we headed north into the Bay. The channel leading into Tangier is fairly narrow and very shallow in spots with lots of current - we found several of those shallow spots while hanging out in the channel waiting for September Song to dock - running aground is always an interesting experience - NOT!!!

The Channel into Tangier

The Channel in Tangier

Of course we couldn't raise the "marina" (and I use that term lightly as it is largely a big wooden dock with some pilings) we were headed into on the radio to see where our slips were (welcome to Tangier) so we had to wait for the dockmaster, a 78 year old man by the name of Mr. Parks who has lived on Tangier all his life (that about says all you need to know!!!), to yell to us where he wanted our boats. Not content to just tell you where to go (so to speak) we had to listen to Mr. Parks tell us exactly how to drive OUR boat (or at least how he thought we should drive OUR boat...which of course is the only right way...) - we finally got Gypsies tied up to the dock after running aground yet again (wish he had told us there was no water there instead of telling us how to drive!!!!) and were REALLY ready for a drink!!! But no we weren't done yet, Mr. Parks had to tell us how to set out our fenders - UGH - good thing he was 78 and he was standing on the dock and I on the flybridge because I was ready to seriously commit bodily harm! After 6,000 miles of traveling from Maine to Florida and the Bahamas and back, I think we know how to a) drive Gypsies and b) tie up our freaking fenders!!!! OK - deep breath - couple cold beers - and I was back to normal and trying to see our experience as just part of the charm of being off the beaten path in a remote island like Tangier with all that entails.

Mr. Parks offered to take us on a tour of the island in his golf cart which Doug wisely realized probably wouldn't be the smartest thing in the world if he was to keep me out of jail, so instead the September Song and Gypsies crew set off by foot to explore the island. But before I get there, once I had time to really look around the little harbor (instead of worrying about dodging boats or running aground or strangling Mr. Parks), the beauty of the place hit me. It is very much an old fishing village with worn crab and fishing boats named after mothers, wives and sweethearts along one side of the channel tied off to white, wooden pilings

Crab Boats Tied to White Pilings

Crab and Fishing Boats

while on the other side sit little crab shacks with stacks of traps out back where the watermen bring in and clean their catch.

Watermen's Crab Shacks

Even our marina has a throw-back charm with its whitewashed shack on stilts above the water with the fading letters Parks Marina in blue and the numerous cats and kittens roaming the docks. It very much reminds me of some of the picturesque lobstering towns in northern Maine that remain untouched by commercialism, tourism or even the rest of the world that we visited often on our summer trips in our prior life! From our boat we can also see across the marsh grass to creeks that run through the island forded by tiny little makeshift bridges and quaint little houses with colored shutters that you know FEMA has rebuilt several times (even at high tide you can see water everywhere so you can only imagine the devastation a hurricane or large storm could cause!!)

We set off into "town" and it was like stepping back in time - to a life simpler than that which most of us know. At the first bend we purchased a hand-written map of the island for $1 - it came complete with island factoids and local recipes!!

Map of Tangier Island

First discovered in 1608 by Captain John Smith and then later settled in 1686 by John Crockett and his sons (by the looks of the gravestones and the historic plaques as well as the names on the houses, it seems the Crocketts, Parks and Pruitts have been on this island ever since and only occasionally marry someone else...) In 1814 Tangier Island was the headquarters of a British Fleet that sailed up the Chesapeake to attack Fort McHenry outside of Baltimore during which battle the Star Spangled Banner was written. What you notice as you walk through town though are the quaint, well kept little houses decorated extensively with yard art,

Well Kept Houses with White Picket Fences

Yard Art

Not All Are Well Kept

the few seafood shack restaurants that close at 5:00 pm (no kidding!! and they serve no alcohol - it is a completely dry island - except for Gypsies and SS of course!!), the grave yards that share front lawns with golf carts (which are the only means of getting around other than bicycles, your feet, a car if you happen to be the island nurse since she's the only one that has one!!! or a few rusty old pick'em up trucks),

Graveyards Share Front Yards with Golf Carts

Golf Carts in the Front Lawns

trash containers shaped like lighthouses

The Local Trash Containers

and cats everywhere!!! You pass a few gift shops catering to the ferry boat daytrippers, the first mobile home on the island commemorated by a historic plaque and the faded blue shack called the Double Six after a dominos game where local watermen gather at 3:00 AM for coffee and smokes before hitting the Bay for a days work.

Double Six

We of course had to stop in Spanky's general store for an ice cream fix - talk about a throw-back!!

Spanky's Place

Lots of history on this island has been lost due to one storm or another as buildings are washed away or ruined and then torn down, but there are plenty of plaques throughout town which give you a sense of what has been lost - one even commemorates the spot where the town sheriff shot a Parks boy for not being in church on Sunday morning even though he claimed to be getting ice cream for his invalid mother (although he recovered from his wounds, several years later the sheriff was shot and the perpetrator never found...perhaps someone named Parks, or Crockett, or Pruitt???) Other plaques told us of wharves that had washed away (where in 1919 President Woodrow Wilson and his wife had visited), stores that had been moved three or four times to find dry land (usually run by a Park, Crockett, Pruitt or an occasional Dise) or homes of "famous" Tangier residents (again usually named Parks, Crockett or Pruitt - seeing a pattern here??? guess what, it still exists here).

As we walked towards the South side of the island which is the low lying area, you see how islanders protect themselves to a degree from the encroaching waters with houses raised on cement and stilts, wooden walkways over front yards and elevated wooden platforms for their golf carts.

Houses are Built a Little Higher on the South Side

As high tide approached, the marsh grass became covered and water seeped onto front lawns so you can only imagine what the island deals with in any kind of a storm or even a moon induced exceptionally high tide!! We walked across Hoistin' Bridge, built to a height of 20 feet to allow motorized boats to go through (now I ask you what kind of motorized boat would that allow????) - it is the highest point on the entire island!!!! Bob, Stephanie and Doug were kings and queen of the island - at least for the moment until a golf cart came by and kicked them off!!

The Highest Point on the Island!!!

Hoistin' Bridge is also the traditional place for couples to come and court - believe it or not there is even a "courting etiquette" with no more than three couples allowed on the bridge at any given time, one on each end and one in the middle with the boys sitting on the rail and the girls facing them making their heads at equal height for easier kissing (I swear you can't make this stuff up -there's a plaque telling us this - and given that there's no movie theater, night club or even restaurant open after 5:00 pm, what the heck else are courting cousins, I mean couples, supposed to do???)

As we followed the marsh around the island, we saw beautiful white egrets

White Egret

and multi-hued herons sitting amongst old, homemade wooden skiffs tied up to poles or just beached amongst the grass - some of them sported names like Spiderman or Summer Breeze but all had seen better days.

Homemade Wooden Skiffs

Spiderman

Not All Still Operational

Some With Chicken Coops Built into the Back of Them

With the sun reflecting off the marshy waters, they made quite the scenic sight! Superimposed on this peaceful scene however were several road signs that sent us into hysterics - the first was a 15 mph speed sign with a warning that speed is enforced by radar (yeah right!!!! - they barely have television here and we haven't been able to get either cell or internet connection!! - where are they going to get radar???)

Speed Checked by Radar???

and the second was a seat belt buckle up in Virginia sign - there are no cars????? Good for a few laughs!! The beach which we saw from the water on our way into the harbor is off to the south and we plan to hit it today - a sign on one of the houses told us the beach was one way and work the other!! Think we'll head to the beach!!

We're Going Left!

After our trip around the island, we headed back to Gypsies for an afternoon cocktail before heading to the Channel Marker restaurant for dinner - they had told Bob they would stay open until 5:30 pm for us but not a second later!!!

Drinks on Gypsies Before Dinner on a Dry Island

So maybe we weren't actually having dinner but a late afternoon snack! (We definitely decided not to eat at the Fishermans Corner Restaurant - I'm sorry but any restaurant with its sign in a graveyard is just not sending the right message!!)

The Fisherman's Corner Restaurant

We were the only patrons at that late hour but enjoyed soft shelled crab sandwiches and crab dip (when in Rome....) with our ice teas and waters - Doug had a couple of those teas and was a little tipsy leaving the restaurant a half hour later because that's all it took for our meal.

The Channel Marker Restaurant

Guess they really wanted us out of there!! Before we left the restaurant we had secured some soft shell crab to take back to the boats - Tangier is the soft shell crab capital of the world - or so the local brochures proclaim!! So we went back to Gypsies for a few real drinks and some cookies before calling it a night - what do these people do at night - it was still only 7:00 pm???? Doug and I spent a great evening watching the sun set over the harbor, reading good books and enjoying the peace - for we knew at 3:00 am we would be awakened by the watermen doing what they have been doing for centuries on Tangier Island, hitting the waterways for a hard days work! We on the other hand, would roll over (boat rooster allowing) and catch some more zzzz's before heading over to play on the beach today!!!

Sunset Over Tangier Island

We woke to a beautiful sunrise

Sunrise Over Tagier Island

and were up early to get some boat chores done before it was time to play - a typical morning for us with the boat kitties between us, Doug plotting out our navigation courses and me blogging (although we have zero internet connection so you won't be able to read about it until tomorrow (maybe...depending on where we are!))

Typical Morning on Gypsies in the Palace

Soon we will be off to the beach - the only question is do we ride bikes or walk so the SS boat dogs can join us for the day??? With decisions like these, life is good!!!

Click here to see our Tangier Island location.