Northern Phoenix blog

We are currently docked at the West River Sailing Club for the Whitby 42 Rendezvous.  There are currently 8 other Whitby 42's or Brewers (same basic boat, different year and different builder).  I think most have people living aboard them.  It will be fun to meet these people and get to know some storied about what they have done to their boats.

From here it will be to the Annapolise Boat show, one of the biggest in the world.  Then we are going to meet up with friends who live on the Eastern shore, rent a car, and go see the wild horses/ponies that live on Assateague Island National Seashore.  

Oct 4
We went and anchored away from a city.  Although the city had some fun things to offer, we didn't like the jack hammers at 8:00 sharp, the police sirens at night, the helicopters over head, and the pollution.  The storm drains all run directly into the harbor.  There are designated boats going around picking up the trash all day.  And there is a nice film of oil on the water as well.  When driving up to the city you could see the haze in the air form the pollution.  

The Eastern Neck Island National Wildlife Refuge is mostly a nesting place for birds, water fowl more specific.
This park was a little less populated
We caught (Tara) 6 perch fish.  Average size, on grass shrimp and minnows we caught in the tall grass.
Always feels more rewarding when you catch your own bait first, then the fish.

 
There was no real place to go ashore, so it was just a good exercise of kayaking.  Again, we forgot to take pictures of the fish we caught.  Probably, because they were not that big and not too exciting.  The did taste good!
We had so little wind, that the boat at anchor was controlled by the current. 

 We had a first, we started up the Generator !!!!!!  We have been really nervous about it.  It is a diesel generator, 5kw.  It can put out more electricity that we could possibly use at 1/3 to 1/4 the fuel use of the Engine.  It is also much quieter and less disruptive.  It starts with a switch on the circuit board control area.  Very easy to use.
  It means we can use any type of electrical appliance we want or need.  As well as heat the hot water tank at the same time.

So we made a chocolate cake to celebrate the generator running, my parents selling their beach cottage, Acadia's birthday, and well.....we just like chocolate.  We made it from scratch of course, and it was very very good.  Sahara and Tara made the cake.

Oct 2nd and 3rd.

We spend 2 days seeing Baltimore.  First day we went to the Science center that is right on the Harbor water front. 
  

That night we went over to another boat for Burgers.  Through a mutual Canadian friend, we met the Morris family who is also traveling for the year down to the Bahamas with their children, ages 12, 13, and 18.  They are traveling on a motor trawler (but we still like them).  Sahara and Devon helped them catch some crabs in Baltimore harbor that night, came back with a bucket of 16 crabs!!  Didn't eat those however.  It was great to meet another family with children and compare stories.  We are hoping to meet up with them again along the way.

Motored up the harbor, passed Fort Henry and the Francis Scott Key Buoy.  The buoy marks the location where he apparently was held in a ship as he watch the attack and had the inspiration for the poem that became the national anthem.

We made it to the dock! (Always nervous driving this boat in close quarters and docking, still new at this)



We are at a marina within a few hundred yards of a few cool ships to see.  We took two tours today.
The tall ship was the USS Constellation.  
  
The cannon only weighs 7,000 lbs.  No Devon, we can't put one on our boat.  Although if we could.....I definitely would!


The Sub was the USS Torsk
  
We decided Haas's don't fit into submarines.  Devon is already almost too big for the bunks.
This sub was the last sub in WW2 to sink an enemy vessel.  

We traveled up to Baltimore, well almost there.  We anchored a short distance away so we could arrive in the morning.

Somebody saw our Canadian flag and came out to meet us and Willy was a super nice guy.  Offered us a slip up in Baltimore and a ride in town, etc...  

Passed under a big bridge on the way.

Most importantly, WE CAUGHT FISH!!!!!  1 blue fish and one Striped bass.  Both 12 inches long.  Threw back the striped bass.  Ate the Blue.  
Forgot to take a picture of it in all the excitement!  oh well

For dinner, we had hamburgers on fresh home made rolls.
There were amazing.   The engine room is a great place to raise the bread.   A simple white bread with a nice crusty crust.  We ate burgers and watch the Two Towers on TV.

October 28th and 29th
We stayed for two nights at the town of St. Michaels.  Claim they fooled the British in the war of 1812.  Very busy place on a saturday.  We ate at the Crusty Crab (Crabby Claw really) and had oysters!  Raw and steamed.  After going to the museum and seeing all the info about oysters, we had to try some.  

Had some great ice cream!!!  Always a high light.

Neat museum, and the town is the birth place, and child hood home of Frederick Douglass.

The anchorage was busy Saturday night.  Glad we got there early.

We have been sneaking up on the sailing.  So many things to do, so many new things to experiment.  Each causes a bit of stress, so we have been taking our time trying new things.  Today was the first time we put up the main and the second day with the jib.  We hit 7.1 knots with about 10 knots of wind in a broad reach.  Great feeling to be sailing along, faster than we were motoring, with only the sound of the waves on the bow.

Anchored in a remote spot. We took the fleet ashore, and hiked on trails in Wye island. 

Hiked down 300 year old trail, bordered by Osage trees.

 Found proof that my Dad had a brain. Actually, the green ball is the fruit of the osage trees. They were a lot of them on the trails.



Devon died on a tree. Such a sad way to go..

Found bizarre vine.

We made our first batch of yogurt with the heat of the engine (the Ford Lehman).  We heated up the milk and added our ingredients.  Then set it by the engine after a day of travel.  It kept the yogurt between 110 and 115 degrees.  The yogurt came out great.  Goes great with some frozen blueberries.


Then we add it to a smoothy.
 

The moss bunker (manhadden) different name, same fish.  The were schooling up and we believe stripped bass were chasing them.  It was like watching the wave as the fish jumped.  We had no luck catching any.



As we travel, we do school work, read, and Sahara likes to draw.


Devon is reading, and in the solar oven we have jambalaya.