Notes and Pics from the Captain

Lapidus - Close to time to depart for passage from Turks and Caicos to Annapolis


With no chartplotter from the second day on, we navigated with paper charts and our two handheld VHF's.  We came all the way in like this without any trouble. We came into the Chesapeake at 3 in the morning and no moon. It sure beats dead reckoning.

On the third morning we were motoring and there was a loud growling sound. I slowed the engine and checked everything, but found nothing wrong. I started motoring again and within 15 to 20 minutes same sound. I shut the engine off for the next two and a half days and watched the windex on top of the mast spin around and around. After two and a half days I started the engine and ran it at 1500 rpms for a while and then up to 2200, with no problems and no more unusual noises. We ran the engine sparingly to be sure we had enough diesel to enter the marina, which we did, but not much extra. 

Six different pods of dolphins joined us during our voyage.
They came to play, and we were glad to see them.



I was only able to understand Chris Parker two days while we were in the middle of our voyage, but it was a big help. He gave us a couple of good waypoints that helped us out on some eddies and gave us some wind part of a day. The eddies lasted until we got to the gulfstream. We basically sailed north on longitude 72 and then curved in west to Cape Hatteras, then into the Chesapeake.

It was really hot out there. There were two or three days where we did not see a ship, plane or a bird. Again, we were always glad when a pod of dolphins decided to hang out with us for a while.  Unusal cloud formations also added interest.  One cloud with a hole in the middle?
 

South Side Marina

The new bar and restaurant has been started and will be a welcome addition to the south side of Provo.