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!!!)