M/Y Mary Ann

Well, the mystery of the overheated hydraulic system has been solved, but another mystery, a real one this time, has arisen to take its’ place. First, the hydraulic fluid is overheating because no water is flowing from the cooling pump through the heat exchanger. Many of you probably already had that figured out and were wondering how long it would take me to figure it out. But what you don’t know is why the water was not flowing; because the pump was full to the brim with salt water mussels!

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Has anyone ever heard of Topsail Island? None of us ever have, but it is a very pretty place, a new marina in a new subdivision, grassy knolls with ocean views. We’re in this small (for us) harbor tied to the inevitable gas dock for the night while a thunderstorm beats its’ way through the region. The rain hasn’t come yet, but it will and when it does it will be a year’s worth of Seattle rain in a few minutes. Between the bugs, the shallow water, and the weather I have decided you have to be tough to live out here!

We left Beaufort in the morning without the guests that we had hoped to pick up there. Unfortunately, there was a major mix up about the pick up location. There are two cities of Beaufort. One is in South Carolina. The other is in North Carolina where we have spent the last few days. Our friends booked plane reservations that would take them to Beaufort, South Carolina, then tried to change them to North Carolina. It was too late and too bad for us. Janet is architect for the home we are building in Sun Valley and we were going to do some shop talk.

I’m sorry to report that I have no boat operating problems to report. For some reason everything is working properly, quietly, and at the proper temperature. It seems like a miracle, but it is really just the end of the lengthy break in period. We have almost 1200 hours on the boat now, so it’s high time that things began to work right. I’m really enjoying the absence of stress!

Mission accomplished! .Tonight Captain John, First Mate Isabel, and I will certainly have cause for celebration. When we docked here today at the Waterside Marina in Norfolk, Virginia the three of us could say with relief and a bit of pride that from our start at Palm Beach, Florida, we have successfully navigated one thousand twenty-two miles of the connected canals, bays, sounds, creeks, and rivers, the major distance of the inland water highway that run from Boston to Brownsville, Texas.

Only our second anchorage on this trip. Back on the Intracoastal it was practically impossible to find a spot with deep enough water and room to swing at anchor so we were marina bound almost every day. Here on Chesapeake Bay there is lots of room to swing and this particular anchorage has 8.4’ of water at low tide and an impressive 1.5’ of tide change. It’s like some of those Mexican tides we encountered, so slight as to be negligible.

Well, if you wanted to really see a parking job you should have been here to watch me massacre the water trying to get into this slip today. It was pretty embarrassing, but, what the heck, I got a lot of docking practice. I think it was five unsuccessful attempts before I managed to wiggle into my assigned space between two mega size vessels with full crews on deck chortling at my difficulties.

When we came into St. Michaels we thought that we had managed to get the very best deal in town: free moorage at a one hundred twenty-five foot dock right in front of the St. Michaels Hotel which seemed to be at the center of all of the waterfront action. “Just come on in,” said the person who answered our request for dock space. “We won’t even be charging you. The dock is still under construction and just sitting here empty. The crane that is usually at the space is not here on the week ends.”

As towns go old Oxford is definitely vintage. In its glory during the 17th and 18th centuries it was a major port, important as a center for boat building and tobacco-shipping. Charm has replaced glory and now the port is only important to cruising sailboats and yachts who seek refuge from boat bumping crowds and a moorage throbbing with noisy activity.

We’re here at a very fancy and brand new marina at a Hyatt Regency, and except for a lone small sailboat , we are the sole occupants. The dock attendant says this is the first marina that Hyatt has ever owned, a dubious proposition, but I could well imagine it might be true because the power pedestals are about 150 feet apart, with no 100 amp outlets, and the dock water is even further spaced. The water inside the marina is mostly 6 to 7 feet deep, which leaves little to the imagination for a boat with a 6 ½ foot draft.