On Board Again A New Season Begins

April 1, 2017 marked the beginning of our boating season again. With a small U-haul trailer packed, we left Florida headed to Chesapeake, VA and the Atlantic Yacht Basin. Unfortunately we forgot that this also is the beginning of the snowbird migration north. These are the winter rentals moving to their home back north. Traffic was heavy and slow. We ended our day in Lumberton, SC by 6 PM.
After a good nights sleep we set off for Chesapeake, another 4.5 hour drive, arriving by 12:30.
Kinvara II was tied up on the face dock and commissioned so we were ready to unload. By 8 PM that night we had the bulk of things moved aboard and unpacked, inside cleaned, and our bed made. I'm not sure we even had dinner that evening!

Amazing things move through this canal.

Beautiful sunset

Monday was a busy day. Peter got the dinghy hung on the davits and Jane hung her new curtains made over the winter. The remainder of boat "stuff" was unpacked and put away. Unfortunately we discovered a small leak coming out from under the washing machine.

curtains for galley and forward head

curtains for aft cabin and head

Tuesday was the busiest day yet. Jane decided to wash the fly bridge and start some compounding on the fiberglass over the sundeck. Peter decided to dismantle the washing machine for removal. It blew up last summer and couldn't be fixed so we decided to do without for now. This took him the whole afternoon to do but easier  here on the dock than on a mooring in Rhode Island!

Wednesday it was a beautiful sunny day with no wind so Jane decided to give the boat a good wash after sitting since last October. Unfortunately the port and starboard scuppers  were blocked and the water could not drain through. Peter had to get a Plumbers snake to get the blockage out. They finally cleared. We are docked next to pine trees so there are needles, seeds, and other debris blowing onto the boat constantly. With heavy rains predicted tomorrow for Thursday this was an absolute to do job.

This is the nasty stuff that blocked our scuppers

Thursday was a down day to let our aging bodies rest up a bit. It was threatening rain all morning as we seemed to be in between 2 fronts moving NE.About noontime we both had the emergency warning on our phones that the tornado watch had become a tornado warning for Chesapeake, VA so we left the boat and went into the block building that has the workers lounge, watching the TV reports. By 1:15 our warning was suspended but the front finally hit us with torrential rain and heavy winds. Thankfully no tornado touchdown here.

Friday was a beautiful sunny day but cold and extremely windy. Its not a day to work outside. Peter had an AYB tech come aboard to do the oil change on both engines so he can see the process. Next time it will be a diy project.

 Saturday we packed for a 10 day visit to RI for Easter. The plan was to leave on Sunday morning when there is little to no traffic. We crossed the 18 mile Chesapeake Bay Bridge and tunnel system and drove north through the Delmar Peninsula without any traffic. A quick decision was made to take the Lewes/Cape May Ferry across to NJ and drive up the Garden State Parkway. Everything was fine until we were closer to New York City and the traffic built up. We finall arrived in North Kingstown by 6:30, 11 hours after leaving. We will fly back to Norfolk on the 19th and begin getting everything ready to cruise north to Rhode Island.