Our morning sunrise from the boat in

Middle River, MD

The start of our day !

The only picture I took today !

Well we are back and are already in the "rat race" world with everyone else.  We picked up one car at the Middle River Yacht Club, picked up another one at Stacy's in the northern part of Harford County.  Filled  the tank on one of the cars, Bob went to see his parents, I went to my hair dresser which was a no-go she was already gone for the day. Drove I-95 like I hadn't taken a break from it at all; got a storage unit and unloaded some stuff from the boat and both of the vehicles and now home doing our last blog for this trip. Tomorrow is going to be a very, very, very busy day :(

2012-2013 Storymaker Key West Trip Stats

# of Days Gone

157  Days

(Nov 6, 2012 – April 15, 2013)

Total Miles Traveled

3100+ Miles

Engine Hours (each engine)

473

some of this time was idling charging the batteries

(this is equivalent distance to driving a car

at 60 mph for 400 hours which would be over  

25,000 miles - 60 mph x 400 hours)

Gallons of Diesel Fuel Used

460 gallons

Longest Distance in One Day

84 miles

Shortest Distance in One Day

13 miles

Time from Middle River to Key West

34 Days

Time from Key West to Middle River

39 Days

Number of Days of Really Crappy Weather

12 Days

Lowest Temperature We Saw

31 Degrees

Solomons Island, MD (November 7, 2012)

Highest Temperature

87 Degrees

Daytona Beach (March 27, 2013)

Highest Wind

60 Knots

Bridges That Opened for Us in One Day

18 Bridges

Boat Fires

1

Times Hit the Bottom

2

Dragged Anchor

3

Anchors Bent

2

Lost the Dinghy

1

Highest Current Traveled In

5 Knots

Fastest Speed Recorded

12.1 Knots

Slowest Speed Recorded

3.7 Knots

Average Speed

7 Knots

Times Long Pants Worn in Florida

0

 

Books Read

5

Number of Hours We Watched TV

12

Movies Watched

7

Number of Animals Seen

Dolphin

Hundreds

Waterfowl

Gazillions

Turtles One Day in North Carolina

20

Alligators

1

Key Deer

25+

Regular Deer

1

Lobsters Seen in the Water

30?

Lobsters Seen on Our Plate

5

  

Cities/Towns Explored

Annapolis, MD

Beaufort, SC

Daytona Beach, FL

Fernandina Beach, FL

Key West, FL

Solomons Island, FL

South Beach Miami, FL

St. Augustine, FL

Number of Days

At Anchor

57

At Docks (all free)

5

At Mooring Balls

96

At Marinas

0

On Land Hauled Out

1

Lessons Learned!

Five weeks is a long time to get anywhere

We must be healthy and strong to really enjoy

the trip, adventure, and experiences

  

Simple plow anchors in a variety

of bottom conditions just stink

Things just absolutely have to be put -back

in place when you are finished with it

We must pick up and clean daily

or things get underfoot

My wife is an excellent cook!

We must bring in everything from outside at night

It seems like it always rains when you don't

All non-stainless steel metal has to be cleaned

or lubricated weekly or monthly

Things and conditions can change very rapidly

and a sense of urgency is of the utmost importance

You cannot rely completely on the GPS Chartplotter

Trust, but verify - it was incorrect .01% of the time

but that could lead you aground

Slow down for any areas that may have shoaled

The boat handles well in 8 to 10 foot seas in the ocean

It is better to run aground at 2 knots than 7 knots

Pay full attention when near markers, bridges, shoaled

areas, other boats, and shore - no "heavy" conversations,

cell phone use, or doing one other major task at the

same time

Fix, attend to, any item that even appears that it

may pose a problem underway

The Captain is responsible for the ship, her crew,

and anything that goes wrong

The Admiral is always right

I am a better yachtsman for the trip

And Many Thanks To:

All our family and friends for following our blog

and who came from Maryland, Illinois, Colorado,

and Pennsylvania to see us in Key West

Bill & Mo for storing our car

and to Bill for fixing the car

TWICE

Stacy for storing our car, motorcycle,

and boxes of crapola

Jon and Jen for storing Bob while he came

back in February for his Motorcycle Safety

Seminar and to work for 2 weeks

Thanks to David Biss for giving Bob

the chance to work for 2 weeks in February

to replenish the cruising kitty

Derek & Shelly for storing our deck steps, and

other goodies

A very special thanks to Gordon Vipperman and Debbie

for their hospitality In Big Pine Key, FL (Gordon) and

in Daytona Beach, FL (Gordon & Debbie) for letting

us use Gordon's truck to resupply, many dinners,

a free dock in Daytona Beach, happy hours, letting

us play with their dogs and birds, and showing us around

Daytona Beach for St. Paddy's Day

Gus and Bonita for giving us the perfect Key West bicycle

Gary and Jayne for being our new friends

and travelling from Key West to Annapolis with us

And my beautiful wife for doing the blog so diligently

Every Day's a Gift!

Thank You God for Another Healthy,

Exciting, Adventurous Trip Filled

With Family and Friends

Bahamas

Winter

2013-2014 

Gary is in training

Jayne told him he needed to be more romantic

So he was practicing with me in picking flowers, of course, with

her help I'm sure!  

Jayne laughing because we are taking pictures of

us drinking coffee...it's a first!

Bob & Gary 

We're saying our good-bye's

Jazmine smells something and is tearing it apart to find it

Bob helping...it was a cracker!

Gary dropping us off at our boat

prior to our leaving

Leaving Annapolis at the old radio towers

Bay Bridge

Sandy Point Lighthouse north of Bay Bridge

Nice boat !

Pride of Baltimore II out on a cruise

Hart Miller Island cut light

We're back at The River, in our slip

We're home.  Teddy, Laura, and Rachel met us at the dock when we got in.  That was very sweet of them!  We had a great cruise from Annapolis to here.  The bay was pretty calm until the last few miles and then we picked up some 3' waves, but nothing we couldn't handle :0)  

After getting back we went to the Middle River Yacht Club for an hour or two and now we are securing the boat before we go to dinner at Riverwatch.  

It just seems like a dream now.  We are home and happy to be home and can't wait for our next adventure which will probably also seem like a dream....but, we are following our dreams!  That's what it's all about!

Tomorrow will be our last posting for this trip.  We will be posting our stats for the trip!

Sunday, April 14, 2013

We are walking around Eastport, Annapolis and 

this car is parked in front of an older house

I can only imagine what it looks like inside the house!

There is another car parked here that is full also except for

the front driver's side, it still has a little room!

I wonder if there is some hoarding going on here!

You gotta love it !

1963 Comet

with two baby seats in the back seat!

Me giving Jazmine lovin'

Jazmine giving Jayne some lovin' !

Bob & Gary trying to get the lock off the motor 

They ended up cutting it off !

We walked into Eastport, Annapolis today and got some cookies :)  Then we came back to Dream Catcher and played some dice and had another beautiful dinner!  We were home by 2100 hours so we can be on our way early in a.m. to get back to Riverwatch and our slip!  Should be there around 3 or 4 hopefully.  Didn't know it was supposed to rain today, thought it was going to be beautiful like this past weekend with maybe a few clouds. Looks like full gear again!

Saturday, April 13, 2013

Cove Point Lighthouse

North of Solomons

Pretty wooden sailboat

Living on the EDGE!!

Coming into Eastport side of Annapolis

Can you tell we're in Annapolis and it's Saturday!

Bay Bridge

Where we dropped anchor for the night

Our sunset 

Today we traveled 54 miles and are in Annapolis.  I/we feel like we are already home...it's just a hop, skip and jump from here.  Tomorrow we will be staying here and then heading home on Monday after we drop our dinghy off.  We will probably be home in late afternoon on Monday!

We had dinner on Storymaker tonight and went to bed early again, the boys are exhausted by the end of a day with the wind and sun hitting them in the faces constantly.  Of course, Jayne and I are always ready to go, but we tooooo end up calling it a night, normally!

I can't believe my favorite band, Rat Pack, is playing at Riverwatch tonight and I'm going to miss them by one day!  Bob justified it though, by telling me I wouldn't see or hear much of them anyway because we'd be talking and visiting with all our friends anyway!!!!

Friday,April 12, 2013

We are playing right, left, center and obviously 

Gary must of gotten the roll of the dice this time!

But....not this time !

Us sitting in Solomons

Bob & Gary being goofy!

Me and Jayne posing on the way home from Chinese

Our beautiful waitress

She is 17 years old and could

take our drink orders but could not

deliver them !

Gary's like, what are you doing back there !

But he forgets that he has a "HUGE" stride and

we can't keep up with him!  Even Bob has a problem 

staying up with him !

We stayed in Solomons again today because we knew storms were coming.  They finally did and then it turned into a beautiful day.  We did Chinese for dinner and then went to bed for an early start to Annapolis tomorrow!

Thursday, April 11, 2013

Dream Catcher leaving this morning

Our morning peek-a-boo sun

Smith Point Lighthouse where the south end of the

Potomac River meets the Bay

St. Mary's County coming into Solomons Island

Storymaker & Dream Catcher off Zahniser's

at Solomons Island

Gary & I laughing because we were 

trying to hold our stomachs in but it just

wasn't happening !

The Drum Point Lighthouse, now on land, at the

Calvert Marine Museum 

Calvert Marine Museum

This boat does cruises to Calvert Cliffs

Our sunset tonight

We had another great day on the Bay.  It was smooth traveling all day.  We tried to drop the plow anchor six times before we finally gave up and put out the danforth!  It's just all gook here and the plow just couldn't grab!  We walked into town for the exercise and came back to the boat.  Prior to going to town we had a beautiful meal on Dream Catcher.  The boys were in bed by 7 p.m.  Jayne and I stayed home so we could be fresh tomorrow.  We're thinking another bunch of dice games for tomorrow's happy hour!

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Duck, Duck, Goose !

Aerial shot of the Great Bridge and the Lock

just south of Norfolk, VA at Mile Marker 12

Dream Catcher and Improbablity 

entering the lock

I'm glad we have 210 miles to go

versus the 717 miles Dream Catcher still 

has to do !  We're now1238 miles from Key West.

Gary forgot to put his life jacket on !

Improbability, behind us, coming through the

Gilmerton raised bridge.

This is also the area where we snagged something 

on our starboard prop !

See the red buoy all the way to the left?

That my friends is red marker 34 - which is ICW

Mile Marker 0 in Norfolk, VA !

Aircraft Carrier

Container Ship

Bob swimming :)

He had to see what was making our starboard

engine vibrate (probably a bag or line).

He found nothing on the prop; the beauty of

folding props - it probably fell off when he put

it in reverse then back in forward while we

were dropping the anchor.

The water was surprisingly warm for April and

there were sea nettles already in the water!

Our sunset from Storymaker

Bob enjoying the beautiful evening we are having

We are anchored in front of a house and at the end

of the pier he has an underwater light.  First time

we've seen this !

Kind of a rough start this morning with bridges not opening on the hour because of construction, fuel filters on the starboard engine needed changing an hour into our cruise, picked up something on our starboard prop  which slowed us down, but after about 3 hours we were cruising with no issues except for a few hundred crab pots we were trying to keep from hitting !

But what a beautiful day it was !  The sun was warm, the seas were calm, and I saw the biggest fish I've ever seen in my life ! It was a least 12' long and was moving some water ! (editor's note - sounds like a fish story to me, aye?!!!!)  Life is so very, very good!