And now..........almost time to get wet again!!

This morning we are getting packed and into the rental car to finish up our trip north to see Teagan & family.  We had a great time and just give"T" one more hug and kiss as she caught the bus to school.  We can't believe she is already in 1st grade......time goes too fast.  Also, BS&T are proud owners of a new boat for next year!  Yes, Teagan has already named it!!!!!!!

The O'Connor family with SHARKTOOTH WEDGIE!

"T" and friends at the parade

But we will be back at Worton Creek tonight and we'll prepare Nati for the last few days on the "hard".  As we predicted we have been working (almost nonstop) on her for 6 + weeks and we have been able to do a whole list of projects.  Most were on our list but we even had a few items come up that are now behind us.  I won't get into them on this post and will save them for the wrap-up on the next post.  All we know is that we are really ready to get into the water and begin our fall trek.

Besides all the work on Nati we have also been able to spend time with Amy & Evan.  He is getting bigger by the hour and is now off to Pre-K 1.  We expect him to be running for class president at any time!

"E" is off to school

Next was a good few days at Binnacle Island with Bob, Steph and Teagan.  We didn't have the crowds like we have had in the past but we had a great time.  The food was great, the weather behaved and swimming was part of each day.  It also gave us a chance to see Tom, Sue and Erika on s/v Ambassador, Larry & Carol on s/v Coral Wave and the Chief and "Jackson" showed up with food and drink.

As mentioned above, we have been really working on Nati.......



Both on the inside and out.....we can't wait to get out of the "sand pit" in order to get her vacuumed out one more time.  Just wait until we finish her off.....she will look great!!  In the meantime here are a few pictures of what we have been up to.

Injectors rebuilt

New anchor gypsy

rebuilt alternator

repair escape hatch

Nati soda blasted bottom

Anne's workout tools

The hull is shining

Dick painting in "dick crick:

"only a few more coast of paint!"

The Internet and phone coverage on the east shore of the Chesapeake is horrible.  That's one reason for the delay in posting but the real issue is that from morning till the whistle blows we are flat out working away.  It will be fun when we can take more that one day off......

NO…..we have not disappeared!

We know we haven't been keeping weekly updates but haul out has us working all day long and at the night we only have Internet near the marina office and the bugs will carry you away.  So………so sorry!

Right now we are wrapping up bottom painting and many other projects.  Perhaps this weekend some time can be allocated to doing an update but in the meantime …….back to work!

s/v Nati

The Chesapeake 2015

This summer is proving to be a rather fast one as it is already the later part of July and haul-out is less than 2 weeks away.  We have decided to stay out of the water for 4-6 weeks this year and do a lot of projects that should be done.  If and that is if, we can make it further south this coming winter then Nati will be shipshape.

To back up we had a good trip up the Chesapeake this summer.  We had two good sails of greater than 60 nm and that got us up to Tighlman Island.  Along the way we stopped at Mill Creek (a favorite of ours) and then a new harbor just north of Knapp's Narrows.  Both proved to be excellent and we even found an old Waterman hangout, Lowe's Warf.  It is also a weekend party joint but we had a good light dinner and a couple of cocktails, just to make sure all was well…..

Fishing boat heading into Reedville

Going through Knapp's Narrows

Mr Turtle

Since we shave been around Annapolis we have anchored in the Magothy, sailed up to Worton Creek and for the last few days we have been hanging out in either Back Creek or Spa Creek.  Right now it just feels good not moving and relaxing.

Oh look who is in town!

sv Woodwind also….

Woodwind under sail….very nice!

Keeping cool in the Severn River

Happy campers……

Last night was "beer can" racing in Annapolis.  We had the best seats in the house, so long as you didn't mind sharing the water in front of the Navel Academy with 100+ boats!  Was lots of fun to watch from the swim platform on Nati.

Heading out to the race course

Some of the spectators

Going to finish

All ages for "crew"

Sailing right through the mooring field

Right past Nati's bow

As mentioned haul-out is coming down the road.  We will try to keep track of the work but we'll be somewhat slow with updates as when we go to the east shore, Internet is not the best.  Time will tell…..

And another perfect sunset!

Almost back in Annapolis

Since our last update we have continued to move north through the ICW & the Atlantic Ocean and now we are just one day away from making Annapolis.  Once there we can again harass Amy and E-man.  The biggest difference for 2015 is that we won't be making  'Naptown our home for the summer, but just stopping in to take care of some things and then head to our August home further up the Chesapeake.  Since we have ended up here so late in the middle of the summer we have decided not to head to New England and instead get a number of projects completed on Nati so we are fully ready to head south in style.  It's crazy but September seems right around the corner!

For a quick synopsis of the last 3 weeks, here we go……..

One of our traveling friends - Black Swallowtail butterfly

After topping off the fuel tanks at Osprey Marina we entered the ICW again and anchored for a night near Bird Island.  It's at the border of South & North Carolina and got us set for a good run outside the next day.  In order to make it to Wrightsville Beach we pulled anchor at 0630 and caught the remnants of the outgoing tide to fly out the Little River entrance.  We had a reasonable sail, and then a little motor-sailing to Cape Fear.  We had never been through the entrance so it was a good experience to see what it looked like.  Again, we timed the currents well and flew up the Cape Fear River to Snows Cut, topping off @ 9.1kts!  The current almost took us all the way,  only losing the current when it switched to an outgoing tide and that in turn took us to Wrightsville Beach!  Like we say, timing is everything!!

This barge is over 1,500 feet long!

Later we caught up to it.

From there we went up to Mile Hammock for a night and then pushed on to Back Creek and just beat another thunderstorm.  As we were anchoring we heard Nati being hailed and surprisingly it was Duff, one of the former workers at Pleasure Cove.  He was living nearby and the next day we went over to say hi.  It was good to see him again.

Duff's home

Nati sailing by his home

After another couple of nights we decided not to continue to Norfolk for the 4th of July and instead see the 4th in Belhaven.  We saw the strangest parade, OK so 90% of the parade consisted of trucks but they were all sizes and types (and loud horns!) but they also had beauty pageant displays and motorcycles too.  Belhaven is a town we will go back to!

Amy's joint!

Many homes were getting jacked up

The town hall

Guess who?

Candy for all the kids

Evan size trucks

More for Evan….

Bob size vehicles

The local beauties

Our very bad lunch.  Heid's is safe from competition

These kids were really bouncing

The rain held off for once and the fireworks were good and we even got a few shots that came out.

Boom!

From there we made a few different stops and really enjoyed them.  First the "free" dock at Great Bridge was a great stop over.  The Mexican restaurant, El Toro Loco www.goeltoroloco.com served up good margaritas and the food was some of the best Mexican we have had in a long time!  From there we motored through Norfolk and elected not to anchor at Hospital Point.  Instead we wanted to check out Hampton for the first time and were impressed there also.  The old restaurant section was in good shape and had a number of places we want to check out again.

Nati at Great Bridge

Tomorrow's lock just before sunset

Not your newest Navy ship

Still a busy port however

"Ike"

Another view of Norfolk/Portsmouth

These buildings have been around for a long time

Downtown Hampton

Then it was time to move…….we had a forecast for SW winds for two days and we decided to make the best of it.  From Hampton we did a 61nm day with most of it sailing.  It felt really good to be moving and made it easily to Mill Creek on the western shore by 1800.  The next morning we departed at 0615 and after a 68nm day, we anchored in Dun Creek, just north of Knapp's Narrows so we are essentially in the north part of the Chesapeake (almost)………