Month Long Chesapeake Bay Cruise on 480 DB/Four Suns

[Four Suns]

I'm starting this thread to share some of the highlights from our month long cruise around the bay. You'll have to be a very bored person to follow this but I thought I should document this some place for my defense in case I throw one of my children in the drink after being in close quarters with them for a whole month. I'm sure the moderators will shut me down after my second post. Our crew consists of my wife and I, 4 boys ages 8 to 16, and two Golden Retrievers that have to pee every 3 hours.

The cruise will take us from the southern bay to the northern bay and our stops will include (but not limited to) Solomon's Island, Rock Hall, Fairlee Creek, Havre de Grace, Annapolis, St. Michaels, Oxford, Cambridge, Urbanna, Onancock, and Baltimore. Our longest stay in one spot is Annapolis for a week where the kids will be taking sailing lessons for 5 days at the Annapolis Sailing School. I will also be visiting Jim over at BOE Marine and demanding my burgee as I know he has them and is holding out for a higher price.

We made it up to Solomon's Island from Williamsburg, VA at the end of last week and yesterday we ran from Solomon's Island to Rock Hall. We are staying here until Thursday and they brag the fireworks display is going to be the best of the bay this year (yeah... ) and so we will go anchor out with the crazy people tonight and check that out. We had dinner at a little patio place here at the Haven Harbour last night and made the guiter player try and sing "If I had a million dollars" by the Bare Naked Ladies... he did pretty good... He couldn't do the Spice Girls though...

Here are a few pics:

 

[Sea Gull]

We are leaving CT on Saturday heading down to the Chesapeake. It would be very cool to try and meet up at some point. Unfortunately our trip is only 2 weeks, but we are leaving the kids and dog at home.

Our plan is: Cape May (7/8,9), Baltimore (7/10-7/12), St. Michaels (7/13,14), Annapolis (7/15,16), Rock Hall (7/17,18), Atlantic City (7/19,20) and back to CT on 7/21.

 

[Four Suns]

We are in Annapolis from the 8th - 15th and then St. Michaels for 3 days right after that so it looks like we are reversed on those destinations.

If you need a few kids or dogs, I brought some spares with me... let me know.

 

[Asureyez]

My Heart is with ya Buddy

Have a great trip. That sunset is worth a fortune ... thanks for sharing!

A blow up of that sunset framed on your office wall might give you a 60 second vacation every now and again when the those winter months close in ... nice, very nice.

 

[Turtlesboat]

Todd, "The Duck Bill Don" is trying to make a move on your top photographer spot. :lol:

 

[Sea Gull]

I'll look for you - that new antenna mast will be hard to miss!

 

[osd9]

SeaGull:

We'll be passing you on our way to Schooner Island on the 20th.....too bad we won't get to hook up at AC or BIH....have a great trip..... :thumbsup:

Gary:

That extra dog your offering ....is he good at chase ducks out of swimming pools... :grin:

See you in BIH....

 

[ANGEL ANNE]

If you want to keep the kids busy while at Haven Harbour, have them look for little United States stickers. They are all around the marina. There are none by the shops or boats on the hard. I will tell you there are 2 in the pool area and 2 on the blue dock if you need an example. There are a total of 25 different stickers to find and I bet it keeps them busy for hours. We just attended a Power Squadron Rendezvous over the weekend and only one couple could find 23. Hope you enjoyed the fireworks.

 

[Four Suns]

July 3rd and the rocket’s red glare…

Rock Hall had their “4th of July Fireworks†on July 3rd this year. It seems fairly common up here on the northern part of the bay that towns sort of have their fireworks “the week of July 4th†and it sets up some sort of “fireworks chasing†sport between the boating community and the various towns. We talked to the people on the 48 Sundancer next to us yesterday and they are heading down to Cambridge tonight (July 4th) to get to their fireworks display. Maybe I’m getting old but one night of fireworks is enough to hold me over for the year.

We decided not to go out on the boat and anchor off the main harbor to watch the fireworks but to instead walk over to the waterfront area and watch. Haven Harbour, where we are parked, is fairly shallow and when we first came in we were kicking up some serious mud and I didn’t want to do that with a bunch of drunk crazy people zig zigging around me (referring to other boaters and not my family). The wind was also kicking up out of the south and there were a few rain storms over Baltimore heading towards this general area. This would be the first time in 7 years I think I’ve watched fireworks from the ground with the commoners and we sat on a curb with about 10,000 other people… and I found watching the people fairly interesting. The boyz from the hood showed up en-mass about 9:30 cruising by with their late 70’s/early 80’s chevy impalas with 19†polished wheels and the rap turned all the way up (BOOM – cha – cha – BOOM – cha – cha….) and some young kids that, for some reason, wear their boxer underwear up on their waste and their baggy jeans are down around their thighs with a belt on… I guess girls find that attractive these days? Hmmm…. I’ll try that today and see what the wife thinks. I’ll post pictures.

The fireworks were nice at first. Rock Hall set up 3 barges and one had music on it that could be heard all over the area and the other two had the actual fireworks on them. For some reason, the fireworks stopped after about 15 minutes and everyone started leaving. They just sort of stopped on a whimper like something happened (people around us were saying one of the barges caught fire but I think that was rumor). We walked back to the boat and about 30 minutes after the fireworks stopped, they started up again so who knows. It was a nice display though.

Earlier in the day we walked up to Waterman’s Crab House and ate lunch. They have GREAT crab cakes and my wife highly recommends the Rum Runner drink. While we were eating, a 44 Sedan Bridge went buy called “Festivus†about 12:30’ish heading back into dock (Dude… you need to get some dinghy mounts so you are not towing that dinghy from the bow… ;-)

After lunch, my wife and I went out for a dinghy ride (I know that sounds bad) around the area. I got yelled at by a crotchety old man that was on the front of his moored out sailboat to slow down (I was going 4 mph after all). He was yelling at everyone to slow down all day. He needs to find another activity in life. I’m starting to get an attitude against sail boaters even though I like to sail. Coming into the marina yesterday I swear I can drift faster than these guys cruise in at…. And then they anchor out and dinghy in to get their 1 gallon of gas and let their toy poodle crap on the grass, scowl at the power boats, and leave. Life is good.

The town of Rock Hall is a nice town. They have a decent grocery store and several shops. They also have a West Marine here. The people are friendly and they really do cater to the cruising community. There is a parade up town this morning and we’ll have to go check that out.

A few pics.

 

[osd9]

and some young kids that, for some reason, wear their boxer underwear up on their waste and their baggy jeans are down around their thighs with a belt on… I guess girls find that attractive these days? Hmmm…. I’ll try that today and see what the wife thinks. I’ll post pictures.
.................

Now I have to clean my keyboard again....

Gary......please...PLEASE...PLEASE get that out of your system before we meet at BIH......HMMMM...BIH...Boz In'da Hood....yeah...that's it...instead of toga night...maybe we can have a Boyz In'da Hood night....NOT...

Enjoy the rest of your trip and keep those pics coming....

later,

 

[Converse48]

Gary... I'm glad you enjoying your stop in my adopted home town! And yes, I dump my dinghy off the Hurley's in the harbor and tow it into my slip. We back into the slip so I pull the dinghy from the front....

Also, I can definately confirm that there was a tree fire near the fireworks staging area which they felt the need to put out before continuing. The nerve.

Also, the best thing at Waterman's is the Crab cake/rib combo. We call it the "adult happy meal".

 

[standers]

Four Sons-

We too, were at Rock Hall for fireworks as we find it to be one of the best on the bay. We typically reserve a slip at Watermans and have great seats on the bow while listening to the music and watching the show.

The rumor of fire is correct, however it wasn't the barge. Two trees near one of the launch areas caught fire and while it looked minor at first, it was crazy how quickly it became a very huge ball of fire. Pretty scary looking - it took a while for it to be under control at which point, the show resumed.

All in all, a decent show - and yes, some great crabs at Watermans.

 

[ImpulseIII]

Hey Stan.

When are you and Donna going to be back up this end of the bay?

Frank

 

[Bridog]

Gary, I wish you and your family a safe and wonderful trip. Remember, pictures...lots and lots of pictures. Take care, Brian

 

[Four Suns]

Puckering up at Fairlee Creek...

I woke up this morning to a dead port side battery, a small craft advisory with winds 15 to 20 knots gusting to 25 knots out of the south, rain moving in, and a very tired family because they stayed up all night watching some "24" DVD series they bought before we left. All the right ingredients to head up to Fairlee Creek and stay at Great Oak Landing (that's where all the Great Oaks land my 8 year old tells me).

Not sure what the deal is with the battery as I replaced all 4 of these 8D batteries last fall. I checked the level on them before we left and everything was fine. One has a little corrosion on the positive terminal so I'll clean that today and see if it helps. I'll also have to check this converter. If the converter is bad, I guess I can swap out the one that keeps the bow thruster batteries charged and just go until I get to Annapolis next week to get a new one. Or it may just be a bad battery... I can also swap with the bow thruster... having the sat TV and heads work is more important.

The weather was dreary this morning with a cold front approaching. We left Rock Hall around 9:30 to try and beat the rain that was moving in from the west. The seas were good with 1 - 3 foot waves but the wind was pushing out of the south around 20 knots. I recorded a gust at 29 knots on the Airmar weather station on the hardtop. I love that instrument. The bay isn't that wide up here so it appears it's hard to get waves that keep you home unless you have a gale blowing or something.

The entrance into Fairlee Creek was interesting to say the least. You head straight for the beach and get in a 75 foot wide channel and are about 25 feet from the shore. I could see bottom on the beach... Seeing bottom on the bay means the water is VERY shallow. I then had to make this dog leg turn with the current pushing me around at the entrance and had to put one engine in reverse and one in forward to pivot into the entrance...But I could see big boats inside the creek so I assumed it was deep enough. I didn't even want to look at the depth sounder... my wife moved to the middle of the boat waiting for the boat to hit bottom. Have to go change my shorts this morning.

There were several boats rafted up in the creek. The kid working the dock here was pretty rude but that's another story... we had to dock ourselves... no tip for him. The resort seems nice and the kids and wife are off playing tennis... in the rain...

Tomorrow we leave for Havre de Grace. I have to go diagnose a battery problem.

A few pics:

 

[osd9]

Hold on Gary...the weather is forcast to get Hot and Humid for the weekend.... :thumbsup:

Looks like they REALLY mean NO WAKE on the other side of that red buoy.....

 

[JeffM]

Gary, It looks like you timed your entrance well....note the swim area markers in this photo of the channel during peak flood tide....

.....and here's how it looks from the beach. The water's about 7 feet deep at the swimming area markers.

Sounds like a great trip!
Jeff

 

[Four Suns]

Peaceful morning on Fairlee Creek and a battery update...

I worked last night on trying to figure out why I had a dead port battery yesterday morning. I cleaned the positive battery terminals along with the converter connections with my Dremel tool and a wire brush wheel (normally that is used to discipline the children). The terminals had some corrosion on them but I don't think that is the issue. I think I'm overloading my converter. The night the battery went dead, my wife and kids were looking for something after I went to bed and lit the boat up like a Christmas tree and left the lights on in the bilge, bathrooms, salon, cockpit, bridge, etc and they all retired without turning them off. I also left my marine PC on the bridge on and that thing has a 130 watt DC power supply in it. Another thing I did last year was replace some of the cheap-o Sea Ray 4 inch interior lights with some nice Cantalupi (sp?) lights and they have 20 watt bulbs instead of 10 watt bulbs. Doing a back of the envelope 12 volt electrical budget with all the lights, computer, electronics, sat TV, etc. and I need more than the 900 watts of power the current converter puts out. Looking at the owner's manual, they make a bigger one that has the same dimensions as the one on the boat. We'll just have to watch our 12 volt usage until I can upgrade the converter. Powering all the lights and electronics down last night has given me 13.4 volts on the port battery this morning. A bigger question I have is what do the alternators put out on the QSM-11's and am I overloading those when underway and everything is lit up?

We had rain move through the area last night. There was a few hour window of nice weather yesterday and the kids flew kites and just hung out around the pool and boat. I need a clothesline for beach towels. The cold front has moved through the area and the weather looks great today for our run up to Havre de Grace.

A few more pics:

 

[brimanst]

Not to hijack this thread since I enjoy reading about the cruising aspect, but I have the same load problem. I think this should take you to the thread I posted in:

http://www.byowneryachts.com/forums/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=3840&highlight=

briman

 

[Four Suns]

I can't really post a reply over on that thread as it would be hijacking so I'll guess I'll just post a response here. :wink:

As I said earlier, I replaced all four of my 8D's last year because the house battery (port side main) just would not hold a charge. It had gone dead several times over the 3 years and I just didn't want to mess with battery issues before our cruise last year. I looked at 8D size AGM's but they are pretty pricey and if I recall, I was going to have to plunk down over 2K plus get them here some how before I left. My batteries normally stay charged so I didn't really see at the time any advantage. However, 3 pairs of shorts and shirts later due to battery acid eating them up, maybe I should have gone the AGM rought. I was feeling cheap that week. I did replace my generator batt this year with an AGM. The genny won't even run right with a bad battery.

My voltmeter on my engine guages always reads between 13 and 13.25 volts when under way. The port side is usually 0.15 volts lower than the starboard side. Your milage may vary.

Because my batteries are fully charged this morning and I also went through and calculated my loads, I really think I just need a bigger converter at this point. More juice for my gadgets and toys.