Dessert 1st, Northbound on the ICW

I agree if you're going to slow down then slow down and not just to a bit off planning speed. But I suppose, depending on the speed of the other vessel (as you point out), the overtaking vessel may then be going too slow to overtake. So in many instances it takes cooperation from both. And a 360 move would help in several ways, good idea if room permits.

Jake
 
Currently AIS can be a real help in the ICW, since most of the larger boats have AIS transmitters. As you say, the best is to have co-operation from both parties. Unfortunately many of these type of boats don't really care about smaller boats. Even though this size and type of boat usually has a professional skipper and crew. Generally the passing boat should call the boat he is passing. The conversation on VHF would go like: This is the mega cruiser "Big Wake North Bound to the small boat at mile marker 765, which is North bound. We will slow to our lowest minimal wake speed, and pass you on the port side, if this is OK. We suggest that you reduce speed to minimize the wake from our vessel." OR the C Dory may initiate the conversation: " Big Wake, North Bound at mile marker 765, this is Thataway North bound, the small vessel about 1/2 Mile north of you. We request that you slow to minimum wake, and we will slow to our minimum sped to speed the time you are passing. If you past to our port, that would give you the best water depth"

I have done the A ICW in a 62 foot motor sailer, and a lot of experience on the Gulf Coast ICW from Fort Myers to Galveston on a variety of vessels. I prefer to take a really large wake on the bow. However there are many places where even a C Dory might not safely make a 360, when dealing with a big wake.

It is also good to know the whistle signals--as some skippers will use that.

You are correct that many of these power boats don't understand that they make a greater wake at 10 knots than at 18 knots!

There are times a C Dory may be passing a tow,or slower boat. In that case, the C Dory should call the boat they will be passing, and ask which side they would prefer the pass on, and if it is a larger boat, if it is acceptable to continue on a plane. For smaller vessels and sailboats, we ask which side, and drop to about 6 knots, and ask the other vessel to drop their speed to allow a faster pass, and minimize the time they are exposed to a wake.
 
We completed the enjoyable Dismal Swamp Canal passage yesterday, and entered the Norfolk area. ...talk about going from rural-to-urban. We were somewhat concerned with all those big vessels (SHIPS...) in Norfolk, but it turned out very well, and much more interesting than we were expecting. Seeing several USN ships (including two aircraft carrier's...) from water level was interesting. Oh, did I mention the Marine security guards (w/ machine guns) on the flight deck? ...impressive.

As we neared the Elizabeth River, Steve Baum (CD22 "Osprey") and Lou Schiavo (CD25 "Skimmer") came out in Lou's boat to lead us back to Steve's dock ... talk about Service! :-) Steve is a retired USCG commander and Lou is retired Navy ... so we were totally outclassed with nautical-talk! Fun/fun/fun!

Today Steve (an Engineer) is going to try and help me de-mystify some of the gremlins in the "Dessert 1st" electrical system. It's doing some Weird stuff.

Just over the horizon tropical storm "Ana" is slowly making her way up the coast. Current forecasts suggest that she should be here Monday/Tuesday'ish, so in the meantime we'll be factoring that into the 'mix.

Always interesting ... !

Best,
C&M
 
You are with a great Couple Steve & Joan, also Lou we have really enjoyed Cruising with them. Great Pics of the Dismal Swamp & others. Tell them Hello from Jim & Sandy
 
We have been having a wonderful time in Portsmouth, VA at Steve and Joan Baum's home and mini-marina (their C-Dory is only one of MANY boats).

Here is the photo I was trying to insert of the three C-Brats: Casey Casebeer (CC23 - "Dessert 1st"); Steve Baum (CD22 -" Osprey"); and Stu Schiavo (CD25 - "Skimmer")

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Steve and Lou came out to the mouth of the West Branch of the Elizabeth River on Lou's CD25 "Skimmer" to greet us and give us a personal escort to Steve's dock. What service!!

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If anyone would like to see more photos from our trip, they are in the link below. I am working on titles and captions when we have wi-fi, (and are not out playing, reading a good book, or otherwise being lazy). :-)

http://caseyandmary.smugmug.com/Florida ... eake-2015/
 
We are really enjoying riding along "vicariously" on your trip up the east coast Casey and Mary.

We were actually down in Hilton Head in real early March checking the area out for our first time for about a week. We had never been to the 'low country' area previously. We drove as far south as Amelia Island and wandered into the Palace Saloon and had a few brews which makes your journey even more interesting to us seeing you both went thru there also and apparently ventured in too (likely just for historic purposes).

Tanya and I had the pleasure of meeting Casey briefly quite a few years back (I believe it might have been just after you guys got married) up here in the Pacific Northwest at one of the C-Brat Gatherings - maybe it was Friday Harbor - but did not get the pleasure of meeting Mary. Perhaps on some future occasion we will get to.

Anyway, please keep posting your adventures and we hope your travels continue to be safe and memorable.

Take care,
Dan, Tanya, and Hannah on C-Renity
 
After spending a few days with the Baum's, we moved over to the city dock at Hampton (VA), a distance of only fifteen miles. Saw lots of Navy ships at wharves along the way.

From here we've turned into all-American tourists. After settling-in we spent whole days at the VA Air & Space Museum, Williamsburg, and (yesterday) Colonial Jamestown. Each venue was spectacular in its own way, and easily takes an entire day.

We had planned (to the extent we "plan") to head north today but a north wind is probably going to change that. Maybe tomorrow.

After all the days-long "touristing" it will feel good to just SIT on the boat and read a book!

Best,
Casey&Mary
 
As we moved north along the ICW we decided to turn left at the Potomac River; quite a detour!

It's about 109sm miles from the mouth of the Potomac to DC so we overnighted at Colonial Beach then jumped up to Quantico Marine Base (two nights), and arrived in DC yesterday afternoon. We decided to be full-blown "tourists," so will stay here at the Gangplank Marina for a week. After arriving yesterday we took off (on foot) and headed to the National Botanical Garden. I was just "so-so" about going to the NBG but it turned out to be very interesting (I was surprised...). From there we opted to ride the Metro (subway) back toward the marina. We both got "SmartTrip" cards ($2ea) so we'll be able to ride a bit cheaper and add $$ when necessary. (My card is a "senior" card, which permits me to ride for half price. :wink ). Today we'll probably pick up tickets to see the capitol, visit National Archives, have lunch at the Rayburn cafeteria, and maybe the Supreme Court. ...mostly stuff on the east end of the Capitol Mall.

Since this is the Memorial Day weekend things are going to be wildly busy. The "Rolling Thunder" motorcycle ride is expecting upwards of 250K riders this year, and will ride from the Pentagon to the Capitol, then back to the Lincoln Memorial. Should be quite a sight - and we have nearly ringside seating. The Wx has moderated nicely (for today...). It looks like the high today will only be about 60.

Mary and I have both spent a LOT of time in DC, but we were always working or involved in other things - not being tourists. This should be a fun opportunity to see stuff, and the marina is in a great location. We can actually see the Washington Monument from the boat!

Best,
Casey&Mary
 
Nice to find a marina that is in the middle of everything, when you want to "do the big city"... tourist about during the day, then relax in the cockpit and toast the sunset in the evening. And never have to pack/unpack and schlep your stuff into a motel. We have always found public transportation to be an interesting diversion, as well.

Sounds like you two are having fun and doing it up right. We, too, are enjoying following along.

Best wishes,
Jim & Joan
 
Casey and Mary,

You two are really stretching my eastern geographic knowledge. I have been following and checking a map to see where all those places are. Some of them don't show up on my map so I'm using google maps. Keep up the pictures, and the travelogue. Educational and interesting. Thank you.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon

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After six very enjoyable days in Washington, DC we departed this morning southbound along the Maryland shore of the Potomac River.

Looking back on it, we had a Very busy (but enjoyable) week. Being in DC over Memorial Day was quite an event. There were tens-of-thousands of old and semi-old Vet's EVERYWHERE ! I even bought a cap that said "US Army - Retired" and ended up returning lots of salutes. It almost felt like OCS again (but without the push-ups). It was all fun, and Mary got a few more insights into "...the military." On Sunday we visited Arlington, saw the changing of the guard ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and visited my folks grave (both are buried at Arlington). It was quite a day.

...and "Rolling Thunder." Wow! I've never seen SO many big motorcycles in my Life. Organizer's estimated the overall crowds in excess of one million, but probably only 250,000 motorcycles. Most were large Harley-Davidson's, but I did spot two BMW's ... and one Vespa. And the Wx was Perfect. :wink

We made thirty miles down the Potomac and found a nice anchorage in Mattawoman Creek (across the River from Quantico Marine Base). A few minutes after we arrived a Rosborough 25(?) and a Nordic32 arrived and anchored about 250yards away.

After all the goings-on in DC for the past week - it's nice to be surrounded by Quiet again!

Best,
Casey&Mary
 
After anchoring at Mattawoman Creek we traveled fifty miles on down the Potomac to "Cobb Island." There were only two marinas, and one didn't have showers, so we went to Shymanski's Marina; WHICH WAS A TOTAL JOKE! Although we've stayed in some pretty funky places, this one easily takes the cake. Old, broken down, pilings that were quite literally falling down, badly wired electricity (after you located a working plug), layer upon layer of bird/duck shit Everywhere, and showers that were probably cleaned a few months ago. It was amazing. ...but enough of that.

The next day (the 28th) we made it 30 miles down the Potomac to the St Mary River. Oncewe turned up river things were absolutely Beautiful. St. Mary City was the original capitol of Maryland, and was founded in about 1634 (as I recall). Lots of interesting history, and St. Mary's College of Maryland is the prettiest campus I have ever seen. Stunning. Most of the student's had already graduated or departed for the summer, but the few we met were all very nice kids. My impression is that this 2000 student population is pretty comfortable financially, and come from all over the World. If I ever went back to college, I'd want to go to SMCMD ! We anchored out for three nights and spend the days wandering ashore. But it was time to move on ... So we went five miles downriver to Dennis Point Marina!

The folks at DPM were very helpful, excellent facilities, and they even have a swimming pool for the boaters and campers from their campground. It was pretty hot/humid, so it was easy to be lazy for three more days.

We had been watching the wx closely since the next segment of our journey would take us around "Pt. Lookout" which is the northern side of the Potomac River at the Chesapeake Bay ... pretty big water.

Small Craft Warnings had been on-and-off for several days, and I was getting a little nervous about the forty mile jump north on the Chesapeake up to Solomon's Island (near the mouth of the Patuxent River). This morning we decided to make a 'go of it.

We identified several dive-out places we could go if conditions required, so we decided to make a run for it BEFORE the small craft warning at noon kicked in.

Unlike most of our slower displacement cruising, we decided to make miles while we could. We kicked the Honda up to 4300rpm and cruised at 22-24 all the way. Yowee!!! It was moderately bumpy as we rounded Pt. Lookout, but by the time we were off the shore we picked up a following sea that permitted perfect sleigh ride all the way to Solomon Island! After all the contingency planning we had done, this was a Very pleasant surprise. I also have to reiterate that we ENJOY having a boat we can kick into high gear and GET to a destination! ...and we burned thirteen (well spent!) gallons of gas. Who knows - we could get used to this fast(er) cruising.

So far Solomon's Island seems delightful. We walked the boardwalk a lot this morning and got the feel of the town. Wx is marginal (today's small craft advisory was spot-on) and it'scurrently gray, rainy, and (blessedly) cool enough for a chamois shirt. We'll go back to the Calvert Marine Museum tomorrow ... and probably digest every display. (We've turned into real 'museum people.)

That's all for this edition!

Best,
Casey&Mary
 
Very cool! We remember our week cruising the Chesapeake in 2005 on Otter, Tom Callahan's boat, that he generously allowed us to use for a week, cruising with Bill and El (Halcyon) and George and Penny (Wanderer). I don't know when/if we will get back there again, but we enjoyed the whole experience. St Michael's was a great town with a wonderful museum. Keep on posting, we are enjoying every mile vicarously!
 
You know the old saying: "No rain, no rainbows"? You have to stay in a crappy marina to appreciate the marginal ones and REALLY appreciate the good ones.

It reminds me of the time we were in a marina in Florida with Brent and Dixie... she went to check out the showers while we went in search of a 50 to 30 amp adapter. When she came back, I asked, "How were the showers?"

She said, "There's one. It'll remind you of Mexico."

:disgust

Sure makes you appreciate the nice ones.

Keep those updates coming!

Best wishes,
Jim
 
Pat/Patti: I remember when you were back East. Wasn't that for a CBGT up on the Chester River? Many interesting places, and new sights. Mary is from Frederick County (MD) and has spent a lot of time around the Chesapeake vacationing with her folks, but this is pretty new to me.

Jim&Joan: very true about rain and rainbows. I loved the story about Dixie and the Mexican-like shower. (I also remember the story about you guy's, the Keys bus to Key West, and a wine bottle. Great!). With B&D on the SEAK trip with Jay&Jolee I'm expecting some great stories from that Adventure as well. I'm expecting that once B&D tie into a halibut or mess of salmon/crab, they may begin shopping for a Marina with a good monthly rate! Guaranteed: they're going to eat well!

...God, we love C-Brats!

Best,
C&M
 
Casey and Mary,

Having a great time here, following your trip. Wish I was there, but then I wouldn't be here, which brings to mind....... some think I'm not all there anyway. :lol: :lol:

Keep breathing... I've heard it's good for your health :shock: 8)

Harvey
SleepyC :moon

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