Final Passages North

     No, not those final passages. Just completing our tenth snowbird round trip back to Connecticut.

     After some really nasty weather in Annapolis we decided we would take some shorter passages the rest of the way up the Chesapeake Bay. Our paid time on the City mooring was up and there was no need to stay in the area as there was nowhere we could go that was open. After a two mile round trip walk for a few groceries we got underway.

     We went up to Bodkin Creek in Pasadena, MD for our first night. This was an easy, quick passage to a place we've anchored frequently. It's near a marina we used to use for annual maintenance haulouts. The next day was windier earlier than forecast, of course. Our angle across the Bay was fairly rough but once we turned up the shipping channel it wasn't too bad. We stopped in Worton Creek, another frequent overnight stop. Very protected so we didn't notice the increased wind. The pattern seemed to be better winds in the mornings then tougher each afternoon so our plan of short passages was working. So far. It was still quite cold. Hard on exposed eyes. Our four hour passages continued up to Chesapeake City, MD on the C and D Canal. The Chesapeake and Delaware Canal connects Chesapeake Bay with Delaware Bay and is, I think, the third busiest level water canal in the world. That's by memory, not Google, so I may be off. They have a free (for 24hrs) dock for boaters. With Maryland closed for recreational boaters we had the dock to ourselves. BTW, we are NOT recreational boaters. We are aboard our mobile home. That's our story and we're sticking to it. We borrowed some 15a electricity for overnight heat and left early the next morning. We were thinking we would be stuck there a while because of the weather patterns but we hoped if we left early we would have good conditions most of a long day down the Delaware River/Bay.

We left the dock before 0530. Sub-freezing conditions but very, very pretty. The current in the canal was in our favor so it was a quick passage to the Bay. Of course this meant the current in the Delaware was against us for an hour before it turned in our favor. Once the current was going in our direction we flew south, hitting 9kts for a while and averaging near 8kts. How does this work? Magic? Boaters and pilots know that we are travelling in a moving medium, water or air. If either are moving in your preferred  direction you pick up speed relative to the earth. Speed Over Ground (SOG). In this case the ground is under the water. Of course the opposite is true if the current (air or water) is against you. We are more used to it being against us, it seems.

     Once we got to the Cape May area we ran out of favorable current and light winds. Both turned against us. With a vengence. Very choppy and slow around the Cape. Two hours of misery. Our trade off for the earlier nice day. We were trying to remember our last nice trip around the Cape. It must have happened before, we just cannot remember when.

     We went into Cape May Harbor to anchor to wait out the weather. Again. It was blowing pretty hard when we anchored off the USCG station but from a direction with no fetch. All good. During the night the wind faded but in late morning of the next day the wind got very strong, and from a long-fetch direction. It was very strange. The wind went from near zero to 20+kts in mere seconds. We worried about dragging our anchor but after a while we could tell we were set well. At night the wind faded again so we decided to get up before sunrise again to get underway. We went up to Atlantic City in following seas (2-3ft) and breezes in about 5hrs. We took a very expensive slip at a crappy marina for fuel, showers and laundry. The shower was lukewarm in a cold room and the fixed dock made getting on and off the boat difficult. The wind at night eased again so the boat quieted down. After this one night we left the marina to anchor out in the main harbor south of the fixed bridge and east of the USCG station there to wait for another weather window.

     The wind blew at about 20kts all day but the forecast said it would ease overnight. Briefly. We took the chance. Our passage started before 1900 (7pm) and was a little rough to start. Going into 2ft seas is worse than going with 2ft seas but they were ocean two footers, not chop, so we didn't bang too much. During the night the wind clocked around to the south which was a much nicer direction. It faded away for a while which was even nicer. Skies cleared up and the stars were very sharp but it was very cold. We took one hour shifts instead of two hour watches. The wind at our backs instead of in our faces helped also. A little. Going around Sandy Hook, NJ was tricky in the dark but it got light before we completed the rounding. There are a lot of buoys for several different channels and the lights of the City make this area very tricky. It takes two of us together to do the piloting.

     We anchored at Atlantic Highlands, NJ about 0730, had breakfast and took a long nap. Until lunchtime. The forecast weather front delayed a bit but hit us hard in the early afternoon. Very hard. Heavy rain and at least 40kt gusts. The National Weather Service said it got up to 60mph. Our anchor held. Later in the evening, about 1645 (6:45pm) another blast of cold air came. We guess it was 40kts again but steady. We dragged. This means our anchor was being pulled through the bottom and we were not staying put. Very dangerous. I could barely stand upright on deck as we struggled to reset the anchor safely. It took a while (30 minutes) but with a lot of extra chain out we got ourselves secure again. The problem was we couldn't be sure we were secure until time had passed. And night was nearby. And we were bouncing in two foot waves. In other words, sleep did not come early. Or easy. Sigh. Boating. Once in while we wonder.

     Overnight the wind eased a little. Very little. Enough that the waves dropped to 1ft instead of 2. Carol got semi-seasick. In bed. Laying down. Never happened before. During the day it continued to blow and stayed choppy. So much for coming here for protection behind the breakwater. The wind finally eased during our second night and we got underway first thing in the morning. Heading for the big City. Before we got to the Narrows-Veranzano Bridge it started sleeting. That's how cold it was. Sleet in the face on a boat is an excellent facial exfoliant. Highly recommend it. Nope. We arrived in Port Washington on Long Island to get a formerly free mooring. Now they are $25 per night. It includes launch service so we took it to the Stop and Shop for groceries. They were totally out of fresh vegetables. Zero. None. Zip. Zilch. Oh, they had a couple of green peppers and a few onions. That's it. Once again we are staying put for two days to let bad weather go by. Seems to be the pattern. Seems like it will continue.

     The second day in Port Washington was cold and rainy and we sat on the mooring and shivered. Pretty miserable. All day. We had storms inside briefly, too. The only positive was the launch driver did not come around to collect the mooring fee on the second day. Don't know if it was our charming conversation the day before or it was too miserable to come out to collect from only one boat. Probably the latter. We got underway before 0700 on Saturday to head to Port Jefferson, L.I. It was cold, of course, but sunny. It was also flat calm. We haven't had a nice day since uh, I can't remember. A long time. Absolutely flat water. Not a ripple until we were close to Port Jeff. We expected to pick up one of the private moorings that are packed behind Old Field Beach. We've been 'borrowing' one of these moorings for ten years, before or after the main season. To our great surprise, there were no moorings. They were all gone. Not a trace. This part of the harbor is quite deep so anchoring requires a lot of anchor rode to get proper 7:1 scope. Scope is the ratio between the water depth and length of the anchor rode. Also, it was forecast to get breezy on Sunday so we put out extra chain. There was not another boat in the anchorage so swing room was not an issue. Preventing dragging was our concern. Again our pattern of one nice day followed by two crappy days was going to hold. The only difference was how nice this day was. Unusual.

     After the one nice day we had another two miserable days (and nights) at anchor. Very windy and lumpy. And cold. Very cold. We are sick of the cold. We did, however, secure a summer mooring in Niantic so that was settled. On Tuesday we got underway for Duck Island off of Westbrook, CT. It was a little choppy but not too bad. Wind was northwest and we were heading northeast. 1 to 2 foot seas were not too bad. It was about a 5 hour passage as we were continuing our short day pattern. It helped enduring the **$$@#** cold. I am really sick of the cold. During this passage we were notified the mooring we thought we had in Niantic wasn't available. We were too big for it. We scrambled for another, cursed, made phone calls and finally got a mooring at our 3rd or 4th choice marina. Sigh. We'll have to get by and try for our 1st choice next year.

     We got underway from Duck Island at 0745. It was cold, of course, but the breeze was fairly light. Seas were well under 1ft. We turned up the Connecticut River and headed to our new marina. The Old Lyme drawbridge once again expressed displeasure at our proper radio procedure. I taught boating safety, navigation and radio procedure for thirty-five years. The habit is ingrained. We also go through about three dozen bascule, swing or lift bridges each way each year as we go south and back up here in the north. The only place we get a complaint from the bridge operator is right here on the Connecticut River. I bite my tougue and continue to use proper radio procedure.

     Shortly after going through the railroad bridge we tied up at our new marina, Old Lyme Marina. We tied at one of their fixed docks in a very strong current with some difficulty. Our mooring has not yet been installed. It is going to be exposed to river traffic and the southwest to the northwest so we may not be happy here. We'll see.

     So this ends our tenth round trip for the winter season. It is very cold here which has only happened once before this early for us. It was a bit different from other trips because of the pandemic, Carol's job changes and my health changes. The chemotherapy session schedule affected our winter in Marathon as well as our passages north. As I've mentioned before, schedules are very bad for cruisers. We don't like them and they are bad for us. Sometimes dangerous. We now have medical schedules that are necessary but annoying. We continue to endure these treatments in the hope we won't need them at some point. I know this is a chronic condition which will not be cured but I keep hoping we'll have gaps of normality. The problem with this hope is I have rarely been normal and these days we no longer know what normal is. Remember, we are not in the same boat but we are in the same storm. The boat we are in here is pretty good. We have to be thankful.

     Bye for now.

Cycle 4 in the age of Covid-45

     I'm starting this blog on day 1 of Cycle 4. It's been a hassle getting to this point. Mostly due to travel and other restrictions. My last post told of our travel to Annapolis. Here I'll tell you about our travels to Connecticut and what happens with our chemotherapy cycle, before, during and after.

     We called in to the doctor's office a week ahead of time and things started changing. They wanted us to be in the state two weeks, in quarantine, before they saw us. My doctor, knowing how we live, said we didn't need to do that. We have self-quarantined on the boat for a lot more than two weeks. They did change our initial appointment from Wednesday to Thursday, back to what I wanted originally. Carol had rented a car from Hertz in Annapolis at a place we used before. She got a Lyft to the place and found it was gone. Hertz is her company's preferred provider and Carol has a high status level with them. She also has an option to use competitors. She got a car from Enterprise which was across the street. She had to use real money however, not points. Boo. We also heard from the hotel we had booked. They said they were closing. At least they notified us almost a week in advance. We got a similar room at another Hilton corporate family hotel. Payment by frequent user points was messed up, of course. These hotels are having troubles due to fewer people travelling. They are reducing facilities like pools, gyms and food services. Understandable. They don't seem to be reducing their prices, however. Masked and gloved, I didn't go near the check in desk. Once in our room we went to work with our bleach wipes. Everything we could possibly touch got wiped down, by both of us. The drive to the Hartford area was uneventful, just long. Almost 6 hours. Traffic was pretty light and only up to moderate in the NYC area. One positive, at least, in this restricted era. At the hotel we found our 2nd favorite restaurant had closed even though it had a takeout business before the shut down of the state. We had to settle for 1000 Degree pizza even though we usually get Italian after day 1 of my cycles, not before. Oh the sacrifices we have to make because our orange 'leader' delayed any response to the virus for so long. At least we are still alive (so far), many have had it far worse.

     Our Day 1 of Cycle 4 started early and we had to eat the breakfast food we had brought ourselves. No food service at the hotel. They put out a couple of packaged muffins and some apples. First rate. Uh, no. Carol was not allowed to go into the Smilow Clinic with me. I was going to be all alone. No support. I would tough it out. As soon as you enter the building you have to get a temperature scan and answer 6 questions about travel and exposure to sick people. I answered these questions over the phone the day before and would answer them again several times during the admission process. At each level. It got to the point I would count out six no answers when they started the first question. 60+ years of being a smart ass doesn't just stop with a cancer diagnosis. They understood they were repeating the questions, I understood they had to ask them. I had my blood drawn before 0900 and then went to my chemo chair. Had the room to myself to start. They had converted the  eight chair room to a six chair room and then taped off two of the chairs to make the room four chairs only. You had an empty chair and curtains between you and the next person. There was someone opposite you in the room but it was about ten feet. Close enough to chat anyway. Apparently they also had a few private rooms and another small communal room. I was in the primary room. I had been here in December for an iron infusion. They started organizing for my treatment but I had to see my oncologist before I could start the treatments. He was late. Of course. We talked about my experiences with my Miami oncologist, my first three cycles and possible future treatments after these six cycles. Nothing definite, just possibilities and options and the chances of new treatments being developed before we get to future stages.

     By the time I got back to my chair other people had come into the other chairs in the room. There was some turnover as some had quick treatments or, in one case, the gentleman was tossed out because he was too healthy. Good news. Didn't need his infusion just continual monitoring. We had to wait for my doctor's new orders to filter into the system. An injection of retuxin was planned but we (me actually) were concerned about a possible reaction which could happen a few days into the future given my adverse reaction during my cycle 2. We could be on the boat 350 miles away and/or out of immediate range of urgent treatment. We stuck with what we knew was a good method and flow rate for me. They changed the order of my drugs while I waited for the retuxin. Bendomustine went first. This is not an issue. The other change was some prep drugs being pills not IV meds. Takes longer for effects but not a problem otherwise. Snuck a nap in. Talked with lady across from me after her nap. She was getting blood due to aplastic anemia and perked up after half had gone in. During our conversation she broke off to speak to her nurse and referred to me as a young man she was talking to. That hasn't happened in quite some time. She was 9 years older that me. How to I know? We have to give our names and DOB several times to different people as they do multiple confirmations of the right drug to right person at the right time. I also ask to see my name on the IV bag and ask what other meds I'm getting and what they are for. In Miami we caught an error that way, well before the possibility of a serious problem. I was called to a wrong room at the wrong time instead of the person on the list above my name. Carol caught that but here I was solo. There actually was a minor mistake anyway. We had decided on a max flow rate of 150ml/hr but a nurse assumed I was due for an increase to 200. By the time we caught the error I felt I was doing okay at that rate and we would continue it. I noticed the difference but it was minor. When I saw the number on the machine I checked in with all my systems and decided I would be alright. Some minor pressure changes felt in my head but nothing important. Brain issue? No problem. Breathing or heart issues would have got my attention. My primary nurse had to have a chat with nurse that had made an assumption. Those can be bad. Not this time.

     We headed home about 1630 and went to a takeout Thai restaurant as the Vietnamese Pho place we liked was closed. The Thai was quite good but it was slightly spicier than I requested. Normally that is how I like it but my treatment has me take the heat down one notch. It's interesting how chemo makes you more in touch with your body. You are more aware of how the poisons affect you in the short run and through the 28 day cycle. One more interesting thing from the morning as I was checking in. They always check your weight but they also wanted my height this time. I am 6' 1", I have been for a long time. I wondered if I might have shrunk with age. No, I was an inch taller. Had I grown? No, I don't think so. Operator error. The only other issue on day one was lack of sleep overnight. This had happened before. It's the steroids. When I slept it was fine, it just wasn't long.

     Day 2 of Cycle 4 started early again but not quite as early. 15 minutes later. Today my weight showed a 10 pound gain. Overnight? No, I don't think so. These electronic weigh machines are always erratic. I have had these impossible 10 pound variations before. We got my pill form drugs, waited for 30 minutes for them to kick in and then started the bendo again. About 15 minutes later I was done and ready to get on the road back to Annapolis. I got my next month's schedule including a C-T scan to check on my progress. The most important event was stopping at Neil's Donuts in Wallyworld on the back to the boat. 7th best donut shop in the U.S. Traffic again was good and we made good time. Colder in Annapolis than when we left two days ago. And much windier. Over 20kts with higher gusts.

     As I finish up this blog entry it is the end of day 3, Saturday. I usually wait until after day 4 to post in case there are any adverse reactions. I don't anticipate any. I am taking two different anti-nausea medications today and Sunday as a preventative, before I feel sick, just in case. I feel fine, luckily. We are going to stay in the Annapolis area a while longer and then cruise slowly up the Bay. It is too early to head home. And too cold. Now we're just hoping our precautions in Hartford were good enough to avoid catching the Covid virus. Back to nearly complete isolation.

     The biggest takeaway from this cycle was the infusion room I was in this time. The four chairs in the room made the experience more communal. I mentioned this after my December infusion of iron in the same room. This time I was getting chemo with people getting chemo or blood or some other infusion. This was unlike in Miami where I was in a private room with Carol. There still was a sense we were all in this together or at least we knew what the others were experiencing. We may have had different blood cancers and getting different treatments but we were sharing a similar, bonding experience. No one talked much about what we were going through in our conversations but I felt a connection and I think they did too. There is something to be said about the private rooms we had in the past but the community experience was good for me, too. I'm glad I had both experiences. Well, maybe I'd prefer not to be going through this at all but I know in spite of the disease, I have been pretty lucky with the type and severity of my situation. Chronic, not acute. Long term treatment but not necessarily life shortening. We hope.

     Before I start Cycle 5 I will have to have another scan to see what is happening inside. Bloodwork has continued to improve and we will still  check that monthly.

     Until next time...

 

   
   

Northbound like the old days

     Our passages north continue with this entry with no health issues mentioned. Just like the old days. Like last year old days.

     Oh, okay, one mention: I still feel fine. 100%

     After we left Fort Pierce and headed north on the ICW we stopped at Cocoa/Cocoa Beach. We stopped here last year to get a new alternator from Yanmar but this year it was just because we went far enough for the day. Next it was onto Daytona. The marina we get fuel from was closed but we got slightly more expensive diesel from the marina next door. This closing was supposedly not COVID-45 related. We anchored in our usual spot near the nearly finished Memorial Bridge.

     Next, it was onto Saint Augustine. Enroute our port engine started bogging down with low fuel flow. I knew the Racor filter had junk in it as this had happened a few times before. I had purged the bottom of the bowl for temporary improvement. Now we were beyond that. Normally we get two years of engine time before changing these filters but somehow, somewhere we picked up some junk. Or it's growing in the fuel tanks. That happens, too. It's not quite as clear why one engine's filter got clogged up and not the other. Yes, I checked the other engine. This 15 minute job takes more than twice that when working while underway. With a hot engine. In hot weather. While pissed off. Ah, cruising.

     This year the Crescent Beach bascule did NOT break before we went through it. We normally get a mooring at the municipal marina in St. Augustine but when we called, they were full. We reserved a slip at a Waterway Guide advertiser up the San Sebastian River in St. Augustine. Before we got there we got a phone call saying they did, after all, have a mooring for us at the city marina. Despite being one third the cost, we passed on it. This got us to a very nice nearby fruit and vegetable stand and a Winn-Dixie.

     The next morning it was a later start due the Bridge of Lions schedule and then out the St. Augustine Inlet. The inlet was very rough. Rougher than expected although maybe we should have expected the sea state because of the wind direction. SE brings the swells into this less than perfect inlet.  They say 'local knowledge required' here for a reason. We've been in and out of here before but maybe a little more experience would have helped. Maybe not. Once we got farther away from the inlet it got almost calm. There still was a swell with some very small waves but it was quite pleasant. Genoa was flying and moving us along swiftly with help from the engines. Passage speed is more important to us than sailing pleasure. I planned to take us via the nearer to shore, buoy to buoy route up the coast of Georgia and South Carolina but someone else voted for the direct route to Charleston. This route is shorter but more exposed. You can guess which route we took. It was a nice day with some breeze and small waves. Sometimes we'd get some big swells up to 4ft. well aft the beam but these were not uncomfortable. Sleeping on my first off watch was a little too rolly for me but subsequent sleep periods were very nice. Cleo snuggled up with me (or on me) for hours. At 0200 we finally had to furl the Genoa as the wind faded and came more from in front of us. The stars were very sharp as it was crystal clear out. Cool but not cold. It did get damp. We had a beautiful crescent moon rise about an hour before an equally gorgeous sunrise. We passed through the shipping channel to Chucktown (Charleston) about 1100 and continued on. Late in the afternoon we came to the channel to Winyah Bay and headed in. It got very rough with an increased wind on the beam and a poorly marked channel to make us (me) nervous. Not fun at all. It was about an hour of this until an often used anchorage of ours arrived. 33 hours of very nice and 1 hour of not so nice (horrid) is something we have to trade off sometimes.

     Here is what we accomplished: with two days and one night of continuous traveling we covered the same ground as eight days of ICW travel. How does that work? Remember in my last blog posting I said it took about 24 travel days from where we were to get to Annapolis and we only had 24 days to get there. No cushion for weather or other delays. Not a smart thing to do. We move around 8-9 hours a day (moving on the ICW at night is not a good idea for recreational vessels) and that covers 40 to 60 miles. That's how we figured it was going to take 24 days. This is also our 10th trip northbound so there is a lot of experience to go by. So 8 days of distance covered in 2 days gives us a net gain of 6 days. This our new cushion for weather issues or other unplanned events. Does this now make sense? I hope so.

     From Winyah Bay we went up past Georgetown and up the Waccamaw River to Osprey Marina. We like the low slip and fuel prices here as well as the hospitality. The hospitality has slipped by necessity due to quarantining which was ramping up more since we left St. Augustine. Paying for the fuel and slip was through a window. Minimum contact but no goody bag we've come to expect. Whining and praising past handouts, including the peanuts, eventually got us some of the stuff. It was hand delivered, an isolation violation but I risked it. Yum.

     A long day got us up to Southport, NC. and another marina for fuel and an overnight slip. Our former anchorage in this area has mostly silted in. A little more human contact but we did our best to not get too close. The passage from Osprey Marina to South Harbor Village Marina involved going through the Shallotte Inlet area. It was about 6" above low tide and we saw a minimum of 11ft. of water towards the red side of the channel. There was a shoal before one of the green buoys but we knew to stay away from the green side and could actually see the shoal. The next tricky area, Lockwoods Folly, was straight and deep. No problem. The long passage picked us up another spare day for the future. We often take two days to cover this distance.

     After this we took two shorter passages to Wrightsville Beach and then Mile Hammock near Camp LeJeune, the USMC base. No issues, even at New River Inlet. This area is tricky but it hasn't changed much since last year so we knew the correct route. Right after is another tricky area, Browns Inlet. It is being dredged so we only had to squeeze a bit to port to follow the correct route. It's not the zig-zag it has been in the past. This area does not stay stable long just as Shallotte dredging also doesn't last long.

     We stopped at Casper Marina for fuel only and continued on to our usual anchorage at Cedar Creek off Adam's Creek just before the Neuse River. The anchorage was a bit rough due to the wind direction but the wind shifted to a better direction before bedtime.

     We started out out an hour later than our normal because of the wind speed and our direction on the Neuse. We hate going north into a north or northeast wind on the Neuse. It's awful. It started off slightly less than awful, 10-12kts and 1 1/2ft seas on the bow and improved as we went along. The Bay River was nearly calm as was Pamlico Sound and the Pungo River. A long day got us to an anchorage up the Pungo off the ICW. From there, the next day, we went under the Wilkerson Bridge up the Pungo-Alligator Canal to the Alligator River. The Alligator was fairly rough but the wind and seas were on the beam or slightly aft of it so it wasn't awful and we had an okay sail. The Albemarle was similar, not great, not terrible. We anchored up in Broad Creek, our normal spot here, as it got nice and warm again. We were able to shower outside in private.

     Shortly after we left Broad Creek we ran into very dense fog that didn't lift until we got into the narrower part of the river. Warmth from the land dissipated the fog. Currituck Sound was hazy but except for a brief time at the southern end we could navigate just fine.

     After we went through the North Landing Swing Bridge (which only opened one side of the bridge) disaster struck. The idiot at the helm wasn't paying complete attention, was changing a chart page, and put us off to the side of the canal and aground amongst the submerged tree stumps. For 3 hours. We got towed off by Tow Boat/US for about $1200. We have insurance to cover our dumb mistakes like this so we won't have to pay anything. BOAT/US loses money on us. It seems one of us does something really stupid every couple of years. We make sure we pay the (about) $125 premium. Last year's $1100 tow was due to someone else's lack of maintenance not ours.

     We tied up at Battlefield Park's free dock at Great Bridge, Chesapeake, VA. Stayed two nights, got fuel at AYB, went up the mast to reattach our nav/anchor light and wind vane and went grocery shopping. Grocery shopping is a major project these days. I do not want contact with virus carrying humans. We wore gloves (two layers for me) and N95 face masks. Looked ridiculous but that's what I have to do these days to minimize risk to my stressed immune system. Dressed like I was, some woman still asked me to reach for and hand her a higher up item. I told her I was protecting myself, not contagious. She still got too close to me. Sigh.

     From Great Bridge it was a short trip up to Hampton, VA. Another marina but we had a coupon for a free night to use. We stop here almost every year to do laundry. As long as they keep giving out the coupons at the Annapolis Boat Show we'll stop here. The biggest issue was a nearly one hour wait at the #7 railroad lift bridge for four trains to pass. Grrr.

     After Hampton we go into the Chesapeake Bay. Seas were around 2ft at the start, 1 1/2ft most of the day, near calm for a while, then rougher at the very end. The direction of the waves was not so good, otherwise it could have been okay. We went to our usual northbound stop in  Cockrell Creek, Reedville, VA. Rough weather followed us here. It blew very hard out of the north for days. A couple evenings had near calm conditions to tempt us to leave on a night passage but we didn't try until the fourth morning. A mistake. Turned around after 90 minutes a few miles short of Smith Point and returned to Cockrell Creek. We still had another weather day in the bank and didn't need to bash into the wind and seas for six hours. So we didn't.

     The wind faded later on Saturday so on Sunday we headed out again. It wasn't quite as calm as forecast but it was fine. Mostly 6" seas and very briefly closer to 1ft as we got to the north side of the Potomac River. The direction made the seas no problem all day. Anything but north and we are happy. Wind direction for the passage to Annapolis? North. Of course. Our course? North, of course. Confusing? For non-boaters, wind direction is where the wind is from, course direction is where you're going to. If both are the same you are going into wind and waves. Not what we like.

     Our passage from Solomons Island to Annapolis started off nearly calm and the first few hours were nice. It got a bit lumpy for 90 minutes or so with frothy 2ft seas on the nose but then as we got farther north it settled down to under 1ft seas. Of course going into the wind made it feel colder.

     So now we are finally in Annapolis on a city mooring in the MRE, the Maritime Republic of Eastport. We are going to rent a car to drive to Hartford to start my fourth chemo cycle. It could be the most dangerous part of this spring. Going to a hotel with people. Going to a hospital with sick people. Actually the clinic is next to the hospital and they are keeping non-patients out. Carol cannot come with me for the first time. All the patients have compromised immune systems like me so perhaps they've kept themselves protected. We've avoided contacts with people since my last chemo cycle as much as possible and now we are going into a red zone of infected people, the whole state of Conn. End of medical update. I am feeling perfectly normal. My next blog entry will be about our car trip home and my experiences with my medical issues.

     Before we start our passages further north we'll be doing oil changes and other normal, routine maintenance. All the things we like to do in Annapolis are now off limits to us or closed all together so there is not much else for us. More isolation time. People often ask how we spend so much time with just the two of us on the boat. It's never been an issue. Okay, maybe not never but now everyone knows what it's like. Except our view is almost always much nicer, interesting and fun.