In storage

My friends Walt and Mary have a Westsail 32 just like mine named Orion one boat over from mine here at Reedville.

They are thinking of selling their boat and buying a trawler because of health challenges.
I was out on a blistering hot summer day working on the boat.

The temperature here is so much more uncomfortable compared to New England. Actually, painting the boot stripe on the boat wasn't half as bad as working inside the engine compartment of the boat because at least there was a little breeze cooling me off. I had to add flax to my stuffing box and I know that it sounds complicated, but it is simple enough to get done. The propeller turns on a shaft from the motor inside the boat using a gasket keeping the water out called a stuffing box.

The stuffing box uses a flax material to allow some water to seep through to keep the shaft cool.
I also let off 3 insect bombs inside the boat because I have noticed some cockroaches appearing over the last couple of months.

I plan on splashing the boat in the middle of October and heading south.

Hauling Onapua

The bottom paint was mostly gone but there are not too many barnacles on her.

There is a bad hole in the rudder that will need to be fixed after it dries out.

I used to have a shoe between the keel and the rudder that has disappeared and the 3 blade prop had lots of barnacles on it.

I plan on replacing the zinc's on the prop shaft and the Bob stay.

Safe in Reedville

The first thing that I have to do is a purge.

I want to empty the boat of all food items and there are another 4 containers just like this that are all going to the food bank this morning. I want to set off an insect bomb in the boat because I have seen some cockroaches recently that have never been on the boat before.

Tomorrow at 7.45am, I am scheduled to be hauled out at Jennings Boat yard to have her boat repainted.

Entering the Chesapeake

I passed right by this structure, on my way north to Reedville and I just wanted to take a picture of it. This is what remains of the Old Plantation Flats lighthouse built in 1886 located in the  Chesapeake Bay.

It was decommissioned in 1962 and is supposed to be rebuilt near the original location on the eastern side of the Bay near Cape Charles at the mouth of the Chesapeake. The eastern side of the Chesapeake is quite picturesque and less built up compared to the western shore.

It was another great day for sailing down the Atlantic with a good steady breeze and to cap it off a glorious sunset.

My voyage from Ocean city, NJ took less than 2 days.

Hitchhikers

One thing that is great about this cruising lifestyle is that every day, something interesting happens. They say that truth is stranger than fiction and it was for me today just the same as it will also certainly be tomorrow. In fact not one but two interesting things happened to me today. For starters I didn't know that whales were common off this coast but I do now for two reasons. One, a big boat full of tourists with whale and dolphin watching research signs on the side came very close to me in the mouth of the Delaware. But two, about 300 yards behind the boat, this morning, a whale broached. I can't ever remember seeing this before except on TV but this whale came right out of the water. I mean seriously up in the air. Big splash of course. I didn't get a photo of it but I did enjoy the moment.
The other thing that happened to me today that I did get a photo of, was of a cheeky bird in my cockpit. Every now and again, I get these hitchhikers and usually they are tired and need a rest or they are not well. This guy however, was full of energy and started chasing insects around the cockpit, so I gave him some bread.

Would you believe it, but he ate the whole thing and gave me a couple of deposits back in return. It took him ages to eat it and after a couple of hours, he wondered up to the bow of the boat and flew away. I am not sure what kind of gull he was but I suspect that he was young and hadn't learnt to be afraid of humans.

Ocean city, New Jersey

Forecast was really bad for tonight so I stopped in at Ocean City on the New Jersey shore just south of Atlantic city.

It feels strange to be in a marina again with all the comforts of home. After 5 days at sea, my shower tonight felt so nice. And I will get to watch the closing ceremony for the Olympics at the bar here. Ocean city is such a built up place with Atlantic city just to the right in the photo.

I did have a customary escort of dolphins into the harbor.

It's not a very good photo and yet there were at least 20 of them playing off the bow for a good 10 minutes. I did try my hand at fishing Friday at dusk which is a very rare thing for me.

There were at least a dozen fishing boats off Hudson Canyon 130 miles off shore when I went by there so I figured there had to be something around. I can't see forking out $1,000 for the fuel it must take them to get there. I used 20 gallons to cover 360 miles but most of that was sailing.
Tomorrow I head out once more to catch this northerly wind and hopefully i will make it to the mouth of the Chesapeake bay Tuesday.

inReach message from Peter Ryan

Am heading to Ocean City to take shelter from some bad weather forecast for tonight. So far have motored 1.5 of the 4 days since Boston.

View the location or send a reply to Peter Ryan: https://explore.delorme.com/textmessage/txtmsg?extId=3ed23dcb-e645-4add-b821-c2cb8d4f34f5&adr=onapua.ws32%40blogger.com

Peter Ryan sent this message from: Lat 39.107755 Lon -74.049096

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Lots of whales off Nantucket this morning

Sunrise and lots of whales greeted me off Nantucket this morning.

Provisioning for a week at sea from Boston

Yesterday I topped up my fuel tanks and this morning I took a visit to the grocery store.

I just realized that I forgot to add junk food to my list so there may be some long nights ahead. You can follow the voyage on my Inreach website at http://share.delorme.com/PeterRyan on the internet.

Rockport, Massachusetts

I sailed down from Portland to Rockport yesterday and am on a float in the inner harbor here.

This is a great little town with lots of interesting shops.

Including a leather shop where DJ fixed the leather laces in my Topsiders.

The Roy Moore lobster company is a must visit lunch stop. It has been open for over a century when Rockport was originally names Pebble Port. Meet the owner.

There is a beautiful beach here.

Portland, Maine - My top 10 things to do

A lot of the tourism here zeros in on eating and not just seafood. In fact I would say that Portland is nothing like the rest of Maine, but it is fun to visit in it's own way. Most tourists can be found in the waterfront section downtown where people watching at the Portland Lobster Company is interesting.

They have a live band and it overlooks the whale watching and ferry dock.

A short walk down the street will bring you to Becky's Diner.

It has a warm friendly feel to the place and my broiled haddock was delicious.

If you want to tour the city, you can take a bus.

But my choice was to take advantage of this very bike friendly city and rent a bike.

Adjacent and behind the city is a huge lake that you can ride the 3 miles around and then onto Fort Allen Park which has great views of the harbor.

A short distance to Munjoy hill behind the park will bring you to the Portland Observatory Museum.

It has great views of the city from the top.

Nearby was a great example of an urban garden.

Just around the corner and built in 1828 the Abyssinian meeting house currently being renovated, was a key to the free black underground Railway.

By the way, there are many streets here that are still cobblestone.

Victoria House Museum, built in 1828 is a great place to visit.

And similarly the art museum just up the street.

The best place to listen to music is at One Longfellow Square in the heart of the city.

And for breakfast, you can't go too wrong at the Holy Donut.

And finally, for the most different Asian restaurant you will ever come across, go to the Honey Paw where lobster meets noodle.

Lighthouses in Maine

Portland has a pretty lighthouse at the entrance to the harbor.

There is another around the corner.

I passed another 10 miles back down east as they say here.

Here is one I saw yesterday in Rockland.

And also this one.

The position of keeping a lighthouse is actually coming back, not for maintenance of the light, but rather as a tourist guide. Here are some more photos of other lighthouses that I saw while here in Maine.