Month: August 2023

So far, so good… here in Camden NC.

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The blue dot shows our position. Light rain just started this hour (8:25pm) here. No wind.

The weather radar shows what is happening south west of us. “Big Weather” still for this tropical storm.

We’ll see what the night and morning brings. We have great pilings that we are secured to forward and aft, and we have extra fenders deployed for a “Big Blow”.

I think the only real vulnerability we have is for spin off tornados. Otherwise, all indicators indicate we should be well secured for the next 12-18 hours.

Hurricane Idalia!

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Idalia is a very strong storm which is certain to cause more than its share of suffering in the days ahead.

This post is to let our loved ones know where we will be hunkered down for this storm, and any other storms that come through during the month of September. With the record breaking warm sea water temperatures, the NOAA forecasts are being adjusted for more activity than initially expected.

Monday afternoon’s track:

Thursday afternoon and evening will be when we are closest to this storm.

We are close to Elizabeth City NC. The Blue Dot.
The actual town where we are is called Camden NC… which is further up the Pasquotank River from E-City.
AND we are in a very protected creek, tied up to a marina dock (with shore power) here at Lambs Marina. Again: the Blue Dot shows our actual position. There are NO TIDES in this area. But winds can create storm surges which we will be prepared for. Smaller boats get hauled out for hurricanes here, but larger ones like ours stay put in their slips. Extra lines and fenders are deployed.

Back at boat!!!

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Last month, we arrived at Lambs Marina (Camden NC near Elizabeth City) on Tuesday July 25. After dental work, etc., a week later we departed [by car] for a road trip [north] on Tuesday August 1, 2023.

See the previous blog post (Left boat behind for a spell…) for all our stops, visits and adventures on the road trip. We had forgotten about traffic, as it has been quite a while since we travelled by car!

This afternoon, about 4:15pm we got back to the boat, and I am very pleased to report we found everything at the boat to be as we hoped and expected. No surprises after nearly a full month away.

We have one circuit that is down (for Internet and streaming cameras.). But I’ll have a stop gap measure in place for that shortly!

Shelly took this pic as we were heading south across the Chesapeake Bridge/Tunnel.

Left boat behind for a spell…

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After loosing a week to dental work, we realized we did not have enough weeks left in the summer to see all the loved ones we wanted to see in Long Island and New England by boat.

So we took off by car to head north!

The Chesapeake Bay Bridge/Tunnels was amazing. Two tunnels enable ships to pass above the highway!

See the ships’s channel to the right.
We drive down beneath the Chesapeake!

Our “Dance Card” for this road trip:

Granville & Anne in Lewes DE

Our son Nick and GF “Des” (Desire) in Seaford NY

Bill in Sturbridge

Shelly’s mother, Nora in Wenham

Donna & Tiger in Salem

All Shelly’s siblings and cousins in this same area

Joyce in Mystic CT

Steve & Tina in their new home, north fork Long Island.

Harry at his boat / marina in Riverhead NY.

Colleen in Merrick NY

On our way south, We hope to spend a night on Tangier Island, a famous place out in the middle of Chesapeake Bay.

Ray & Nick on our way into NYC to visit our favorite “candy” store:

https://www.bhphotovideo.com

A brief stop at my old office place, 5 Penn Plaza, midtown.
Shelly with our son, Nick.

Shelly with Nick’s GF, Desire.
Shelly w/ mom “Nora”
Shelly in one of the hotel pools we enjoyed!
The north shore of MA is famous for its many roast beef sandwich shops. We found this one to be the best by far! Their home made BBQ sauce was awesome.
Yummy!
Immediately next door, they had Shelly’s fave: maple walnut!
Donna Lambert and hubby “Tiger” shared their home for several days. Thank you!
Shelly was able to find her favorite delicacy here in New England.

Ray had a bout with acute Colitis that slowed us down for a few days. We found Beverly (MA)’s ER to be the right place to go to get that straightened out.

With Bill Emrich at his home in Sturbridge MA. Walker Pond is in the background. We also got to see Kelly, Bill’s wife, before she was off to a prior commitment. I lived with Bill and his family in this neighborhood c. 1979-1980 while doing my college internship at the Worcester YMCA to finish my bachelors degree.
My cousin, Joyce Jauch, joined us for dinner in Mystic CT. Pray with us for her BF Bob, who is in rehab this week!

Sunday! Cross Sound Ferry (New London to Orient Point).

The breakfast wrap back at the pier in New London was fantastic, just enough for us to split.
Crossing Long Island Sound this a.m. Seas: calm.
Harry Verby, Steve & Tina Romano, with us Sunday at Harry’s marina in Aquabogue NY.
Tina & Steve’ s house on the North Fork of Long Island.
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Huge back yard!

Nick, where’s your smile?!
There it is!
Thank you Deb Ann, our photographer and server tonight at Nautilus on Freeport’s Nautical Mile. A great dinner! A great venue.
Colleen Elbaum & Shelly today (8/24/2023).

We pushed off from Long Island NY in our rental car after having a great lunch with Colleen. We made it to E. Windsor NJ. In between work meetings, we’ll make Dover DE Friday night… tomorrow.

We should be back at the boat Saturday or Sunday!!!

What a great “road trip”! We got to see most everyone we aspired to see and spend quality time with!

We forgot to take a “team photo” with ALL our groups… but we got most!

Here we cross the C & D Canal, near Delaware City. This canal joins the northern tip of Chesapeake Bay to the Delaware River and Bay. It is the most common passage for Loopers & cruisers, as there aren’t any good ports along the outside from Virginia Beach and Norfolk VA to Lewes DE & Cape May NJ. (Larger faster boats may opt for the outside route). We know one delivery captain who made the south shore of Long Island NY from Virginia Beach! He was in a 45 footer that could cruise at 30+ knots.

Diamond in the Rough…

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Lambs Marina, Elizabeth City / Camden NC

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First impressions may not impress. But, there are some great characteristics about this marina. ((Rates + other things too!))

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Captain’s Lounge is well cooled in NC’s heat!
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Nice clean facilities!

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Randy and owner Larry Lamb… great customer service.
+ a Lamb brother runs the great restaurant on-site… which (unfortunately for us) had to close when all the waitresses headed off to college.
Lambs Seafood restaurant (on-prem!).
Really good food, and great service.

There is live entertainment if your timing is good!!!

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As several reviews point out, the Dollar General is within walking distance.

One big challenge about this CITY is there isn’t a pump out facility here in this port. If you are heading north to the Dismal Swamp, show up empty. There is no place to pump out in this town. ((There are some folks working to change this, such as volunteer Capt. Dan Smith of the Mid-Atlantic Christian University.))

This is an important port that should have pump out facilities!

Just north of the RR trestle…