Day 273 - Kalmar Nyckel — Captain Father John

Miles cruised 50, fuel purchased $0, slip fee $47, daily high temperature 83°f

We bid farewell to the Baltimore inner harbor. There is so much to do there that we could easily have spent another week. The speed limit in the harbor is 6 mph so we did some sight-seeing as we cruised east past Fort McHenry. Once out of the inner harbor we cranked up the turbos and cruised at 25 mph up the northern Chesapeake to the Bohemia Bay Yacht Harbor. We arrived just ahead of a major storm system. The USCG was urging all watercraft to seek shelter. Turbos don’t fail me now. We tied up on the end of the long dock just as the rain started. There was a lot of lightening and the power at the marina went out so we started the generator. The power came back on at the marina but not on our boat. Perhaps there is some circuit breaker that needs to be switched on.

Yes, oh yes, the mechanic at the marina found a circuit breaker in the aft cabin that we did not know existed. We keep joking that by the end of our trip we will finally know everything about our boat and then we will sell her.

I used the free time this afternoon to order a new microwave convection oven for CL. The old one has digital numbers that did not entirely light up and it started sparking. Our greatest first world problem has been our inability to microwave popcorn. The new microwave was on sale at 40% off at Home Depot. It will be delivered to the Half Moon Bay Marina at Croton-on-Hudson, NY on the Hudson River. We will arrive there on July 2. In the interim we have to make do with popcorn from a bag.

We were visited by fellow Looper Foster Schucker from Quo Vadimus. The translation from Latin for his boat name is “Where are we going?” The home port is Nowhere, Oklahoma. Foster has never been there but his sister suggested the home port was a good choice with the boat name. He is the unofficial AGLCA harbor host for the northern Chesapeake. He stopped by for sundowners and drove us to dinner.

Two other Loopers are at the BBYC. Philip and Sally onboard Sally Ann are from San Francisco. They shipped their boat from the west coast to Fort Lauderdale by ship. The ship shipping ships. They were at a marina very near where CL spent a month in Fort Lauderdale when the mico burst sunk the two yachts. They will stay at Bohemia Bay for one more year to cruise the Chesapeake before continuing on the Loop.

Dinner on the C and D Canal was delightful with good food and great conversation with fellow Loopers. Foster mentioned that he is suffering from Loophiemers disease. He has met so many Loopers he cannot remember their names.

A car carrier passing under the bridge on the C and D Canal.

Tied to the dock next to our restaurant was the three masted sailing ship Kalmar Nyckel. This ship is a replica of a Dutch gun-armed merchant ship.

On Wedneday we will cross the C and D Canal and head SE on the Deleware River to Deleware Bay and stay at Cape May, New Jersey for two nights before cruising to Atlantic City. That will be aproximately 70 miles. The tide is high at 8:30 am. We will depart at 8:00 am to avoid strong unfavorable currents in the C and D Canal and enjoy favorable currents in the Deleware River. The weather conditions will determine if we go into the Atlantic Ocean or take the AICW to cruise to Atlantic City.

Bonus photo

Carl (Chef) Wooden – quote of the day.

“Only two sailors, in my experience, never ran aground. One never left port and the other was an atrocious liar.” – Don Bamford

Now retired, and after 55 years of sailing, Don Bamford lives in London, Ontario.