Friends from Annapolis bought a new to them boat, a Back Cove 34. The boat was located in Palm Coast Fl. Their choice was to take the boat back to Annapolis and winterize or keep the boat in FL for the winter, use it and join the spring migration up the ICW. They wisely chose the latter.
So, we joined them for a few days travel down the ICW from Palm coast to Jupiter. Along the way we stopped in Cocoa, Melbourne and Stuart.
One of the many pleasures of boating is going out to a meal by boat. We are in Fl for a couple weeks and so took the little runabout to lunch at the Dive Bar. This is one of a half a dozen nearby restaurants reachable by boat.
When you leave your boat in FL over the summer you "summerize" it. This process has similarities to winterizing starting now on the Bay.
Today I had the opportunity to de-summerize our little runabout down here in FL and get her ready for the season. It all brings new meaning to "endless summer." Many boating days ahead of us in sunny south FL.
Visited with ex Annapolitians, Hank and Elly Libby. Went out on their "little" boat, a Boston Whaler 280 Outrage.
For the record, I am not a big camper. However, at least one of my brothers is into "bike packing" and two are Marine officers with, shall we say, some experience sleeping in tents. The bike packer brother suggested a bike packing trip to False Cape State Park in extreme SE Virginia and the rest us six brothers in all, said sure.
There were zoom calls to plan and lists, spreadsheets as well to track yet more logistics than a single overnight would seem to merit. As we advanced the planning it was clear that more goods, like a fully loaded cooler, would need to come into the campground than could be bike packed. Enter the idea of a boat.
And so it was that a 10' Jon boat with a cranky outboard was overloaded with gear to make a seven mile trip down Virginia's Back Bay to the state park campsite. Five went by bike and I piloted the little Jon boat to and from the campsite.
Back in college (the 70s) our Boys Sails were on a friends Cape Dory 25 or another borrowed boat, in the southern Bay. They were mostly day sails with maybe an overnight for adventure. By the late 80s the four of us were finding long weekends once a year to "recreate" our college fun. Every year since, 30+ years, we have had some sort of a Boys Sail.
The years have included three week long charters in the BVI and several long legs on the ICW. We have a fourth trip to the BVI scheduled for early 2022.
This year we got a long ICW trip in May bringing the boat home from Florida. We also enjoyed a storm interrupted long weekend on the Bay in late August. Becasue one of us missed those trips in 2021 and because of the weather shortened August trip, we decided to do a long weekend in late September to cap the season.
What we got for our troubles was a beautiful weather window, after Thursdays storms, and a visit to a new port for us. The trip included Annalpolis, Harve De Grace and Baltimore. While in Baltimore we managed to catch the last Saturday evening game of the Orioles season. $12 tickets got us almost any seat we wanted as the ballpark was maybe 15% full and the ushers were easy going.
The Annapolis Yacht Club cruising fleet was off on another adventure this weekend. The destination was Rock Hall. The theme was Oktoberfest. Over 40 boats and 80+ cruisers descended on Haven Harbour Marina for a little beer and brats.
The weather on the way over on Friday was a little rainy. On the way back on Sunday it got a little blustery. Inbertween we had some nice weather to be outdoors having fun.
cooler and dry morning. great row.
Hard to call this morning row just exercise. It is good for that if you keep up a pace that gets your heart moving. There is also the communing with nature, the fish jumping of the squawk of a Great Blue Heron. The quiet peacefulness brings a moment of Zen as well. Maybe a meditation alternative?
Anyway is is all good.
Thew 19th annual Shaw Bay concert featuring the Wye River Band. Probablly 100 boats in Shaw Bay. Great weather and a great event.