We had anchored close to our next stop at the docks at
Hampton Yacht Club. With such a short distance to go, we were at HYC in no
time. Tying up at the dock proved interesting in the heavy winds blowing us
away from the dock. More interesting yet, HYC did not have anyone on hand to
assist from the shore, so we were on our own to bring the boat in.
Clark took advantage of all that Sunset Delight had to offer
– twin engines and bow and stern thrusters. I felt like I was at the rodeo
trying to throw a line around the cleat. It required me using a boat hook to
get the line over and around the cleat.
I managed to get one mid-ship line and tie it off, then Clark used that
to pull the bow in. With a huge effort on his part, he finally got me close
enough that I could snag a bow line. I added a second mid-ship line and a stern
line, but when said and done we were still several feet from the dock. Slowly
we managed to pull the boat in one line at a time. What fun!
The power pedestal at this dock has seen better days. To be sure we had power, Clark tied the top onto the pedestal.
Our exciting plans for today were to visit with our friends we met at Faro Blanco a few years ago – Dorothy and Clayton (“Flight”). Clayton said he would come pick us up at 2:00, so we had time to fill the water tank, wash some salt off the outside of the boat, and grab some much-needed showers.
I remembered from being here for a boaters’ rendezvous that
Hampton has a great restaurant with great baked goods. I searched the internet
for a reminder and found “The Grey Goose” and knew that was the right place. We
walked the short distance to the restaurant and had a lovely lunch. We bought
cookies on our way out to bring with us to Dorothy’s house.
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| Grey Goose |
A few minutes before 2:00, Clayton knocked on the side of the boat, and shortly afterwards, we were on our way with our laundry in hand to his house. We spent a relaxing afternoon with Clark and Clayton talking in the kitchen while Dorothy and I talked in the living room. A bit later Dorothy’s friend, Thorn, joined us for the evening.
Their dog Maxwell was there as well. He is now 14 years old
and showing his age. He is an Australian Cattle Dog and proved his heritage
when he nipped me on the ankle for “not staying with the herd”. It hurt, and I
was confused as to what had just happened to me as I was focused on getting
something from my purse and not focused on the dog. Dorothy explained that
nipping is what he does. Ouch!
Dorothy made homemade spaghetti sauce that had been
simmering on the stove all day. Although I don’t normally drink alcohol, I
cannot resist the White Russians Dorothy makes. Since I don’t know when I’ll
next have another one, I had two.
After dinner, Clayton and Dorothy drove us back to the boat
via “Sweet Frog” – a yogurt shop where you add your own toppings.
Overnight the temperatures dropped down into the 50s. When
we woke in the morning, the stateroom thermometer read 53 degrees. I find it very
hard to get out of bed under those conditions. Getting dressed was even more
challenging.
We passed Wolf Trap Lighthouse today.
The sky had lots of threatening clouds.
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| Visibility was severely diminished during the storm |
One would think that such conditions would warrant concern, but looking at Clark, I saw a big grin on his face. He was clearly enjoying himself. If he’s good, then I am good, i.e. no worries. After the squall passed, the 20 knot winds felt relatively calm.
We dropped anchor about six and a half hours after leaving
Hampton. Clark said it was a “short day”. Our next anchorage opportunity would have
been past the Potomac River – a tad too far to keep going.
The calm after the storm ...
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| House on island in Mill Creek |
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| Evening sky at Mill Creek |
We had another cold night last night. The phone said that
the outdoor temperature was only 49 degrees. It was only slightly warmer in our
stateroom. Although it was cold, we did have a nice sunny day. Unfortunately,
that meant navigating into the sun with green or blue-colored crab pot floats.
Those colors made them nearly impossible to see. I wonder, do they want to have
to buy new floats and pots on a regular basis?
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| House with its own lighthouse! Nice! |
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| Sunset at Dobbins Island |
Yet again we woke to 49 degrees. When is the warm weather
going to show up?
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| Morning view of the lighthouse house |
Clark wanted to get moving as soon as possible because of
the distance he wanted to go and the timing of the current.
We passed a few ospreys busy at work with their nests.
Where yesterday we had cloudy skies and high winds on Chesapeake Bay, today we had almost no clouds and almost no wind.
Once we turned onto the C&D Canal, clouds filled the skies. Besides watching the cloud formations, I kept an eye on the debris floating on the waterway with us.
We did not see much traffic today on the water, but we did get to see a cruise ship pass us on the C&D Canal. It appeared to be empty of passengers, and Clark said the ship showed a destination in Massachusetts for their voyage.
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| "American Constitution" |
Clark decided that we should go visit Philadelphia by water to see the Liberty Bell and other historic attractions the city has to offer. Given that, when we reached the Delaware River, we made a left turn instead of the right turn we have made on every other trip through here.
We passed Fort Delaware shortly after making the turn.
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| Fort Delaware |
We passed under the Delaware Memorial Bridge – a bridge we have driven across more times than I could count.
Later we passed under “Commodore Barry” bridge. Neither of us were familiar with this bridge.
The upper Delaware River is industrialized. We saw several ships and lots of plants / factories.
After 11 hours of travel today, we could see the entrance to the creek where we planned to anchor, but we had to wait for two big ships to pass by before we could cross the river to the entrance to the creek. Although we had avoided collision with tons of tree trunks / branches on our trip up the river, when we traveled across the river behind a tug, we heard a sequence of thunks. Looking behind us, I could see a thick tree branch that was probably churned up by the tug and whacked the underside of our boat.
After hours of only seeing industrial sites, we finally saw some marinas on this creek.
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| Log floating by |
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| Another log |
Airplanes flew directly overhead every fifteen minutes or so as they came in to land at the Philadelphia airport. I could easily read the company names on the aircraft – Spirit, American Eagle, and Southwest airlines were among those that flew overhead.
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| Interesting red bottoms on the clouds |
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