Still taking care of business

Well, they say the best advice to a cruiser is "never have a schedule."  In other words, be flexible.  And, flexible we are.  We're still hanging out at Herrington Harbor North on the western side of the Chesapeake Bay.  AIS (sort of like radar -- google it) is getting installed this week which means the place is pulled apart!  Holy smokes.....

David helping Wade pull wires through the boat

Topsy turvy doesn't even begin to explain what it looks like down here!

When the floorboards came up, they unearthed 12 years of dirt.  I, Miss Non-Mechanical, can clean anything!

We found a good luck penny from Trinidad in here :)

Not spotless, but much better!

Also on the non-mechanical to-do list was fixing the button on a cushion.  I have never seen a sewing needle this large, but by golly, it worked well -- and to think it wasn't even the largest one in the package!

Don't have a voodoo doll on board.....  

In the last couple days, David found a home for our new freezer and installed the great Australian grill off the stern.

The cockpit lazarette is HUGE and also serves as the new home for the freezer.

David has cooked one dinner and one breakfast on the grill and has dubbed it The Fire-breathing Dragon :)

We're still waiting for the cold front to move through, but for now, we're just having beautiful autumn weather.  Somehow, some Lake Michigan sand came along for the ride and fell out of my shoe.  Our new vacuum cleaner is quite comical -- looks and feels like a cheap plastic toy -- but it works great!  It was a whopping $19.99.  If the Easy Bake Oven had a mate, it would be this vacuum.

Hilarious, tiny vacuum.

Autumn on the Bay

Whirlwind trip to Annapolis!

We spent Wednesday afternoon to Saturday morning in Maryland.  Since Virginia Dare is on the hard for a few repairs, staying aboard was like sleeping in a top notch tree house :)

Our "tree house" for three nights

The stilts!

We spent most of Thursday at the Annapolis Boat Show -- excellent advice from Bob and Christine to spend a couple extra bucks on VIP day where admittance is limited.  You get a lot more time with vendors than the following days.  David had a list of vendors and their locations when we arrived.  It made our "recon" very efficient.

We bought an Australian grill and are quite eager to install it and give it a whirl.  Considering that David grills our dinner several times a week (on land), we can't wait to try this!  It even bakes cakes :)

Marine Barbeques Australia -- our new grill :)

We also bought Gill foul weather gear and a SPOT Gen3 which will broadcast our exact latitude and longitude on a daily basis (I will link it to the blog when we're back on board).  We also got a ton of information about AIS systems and radar upgrades, but that's far too technical for me to explain.

Back at the boatyard, we found out that the propeller was fine (yay!), but the rudder bearings were not.  So Eric at Chesapeake Marine Engineering is making sure everything gets fixed properly.  All the new parts came in this past week; she's expected to be back in the water this week.

Rudder bearings

Rusty rudder bearings, detail

Rudder shaft housing

We managed to have dinner all three nights at Skipper's Pier -- two of the three nights we sat outside.  Friday night brought rain and indoor dining.

Sunset from Skipper's Pier

Virginia Dare at night -- and the full moon rising on Wednesday evening.

Nighttime in the boatyard

Full moon rising