Blog of Events & Happenings

1-31 July 2025

We finished June getting the boat ready for a week-long trip in early July with Westmoreland Yachting Association (WYA), the other boating club we belong to.  We started the trip July 5th at Olverson’s Marina on the lower Potomac for a classic hamburger and hot dog cook out with the WYA members.  Saturday morning, we headed for Solomons Maryland to stay at Safe Harbor Zahniser’s for 3 days.  On Wednesday off we went to Saint Michaels marina on the eastern shore for another stop.  Carey fell going in the pool area, thankfully without major injury, so we took it easy for a day then left on Thursday morning to join up with CYC yacht club again.  They were having an event at Point Lookout Marina on the Potomac, and we joined them after an overnight stop at Calvert’s Marina in Solomons.  After this 2 day stop, we traveled to Colonial Beach ending an 8-day trip on 13 July with 2 clubs enjoying the Potomac River and Chesapeake Bay.  A great trip.   A few pictures are below.  Click on picture to enlarge it and use the back arrow to return to this size.

We finished the month of July with those pesky medical appointments and taking care of chores around the house.  The weather was very hot so we were happy to have the opportunity to mostly stay inside our home in the coolness of the air-conditioning.

 

15-30 June 2025

On the 27th of June we took off for Solomon’s MD to stay at Spring Cove Marina with the boating club Colonial Yacht Club.  As guests, we took Polly Parks and Peggy Saylor.  Polly is a dear friend whose husband George died a few years back.  She was staying with us as a hub for visiting friends and family on the east coast.  She had driven from Tuscon where she now lives.   Peggy is a great friend who lives in Colonial Beach.  Here are a couple pictures taken on the trip.  Click on picture to enlarge it and use the back arrow to return to this size.

1-15 June 2025

On the 6th of June Carey and I took over planning a CYC event for Albert and Veronica Schick as they had a personal family issue to attend to in Ohio.  We headed down to Cole’s Point Marina with 3 boats, 2 campers and 11 people.  Great time even though a small group.  The restaurant was shut down, so they gave us use of the restaurant’s front porch.  Of course we had the beach, the swimming pool, and a nice fire pit to enjoy.  Several pictures below show you the attendees and some of the sites.   Click on picture to enlarge it and use the back arrow to return to this size.

 

20-31 May

The rest of the month was taking care of medical appointments and the doing some cleaning and maintenance on the boat and the house.

16-19 May

On Friday, the 16th we made a drive to Charleston, SC to attend my first USS ELROD (FFG-55) reunion.  I commanded the ship from April 1987 to July 1989.  I’ve never attended a union but was approached by a shipmate to attend.  We agreed and so glad we did.  Eight to ten of the attendees were people that served at the same time as I did.  It was great going over old stories with these shipmates.  During the weekend Carey and I drove by the house I lived in during my tour.  It’s still standing.  It was a weekend of memories.  I think we’ll be going to next year’s reunion also.  Below are a few pictures, but we did miss a few of the attendees who had to leave before these were taken.  CLICK ON PICTURE to enlarge and back arrow to return to current size.

1-15 May

On the 7th we attended an old friend’s funeral, Jim McClane.   He and I served together on Richard E. Byrd (DDG-23) and several of us that served with him attended the ceremony.

14-30 April

In the latter half of April, we worked on the boat and house settled back into our Colonial Beach routine with friends.   We are trying to get all the outside teak looking nice and set up for low maintenance.

1-15 April

We used the first days of April to settle in the house and update and make all our medical appointments.  And considering the tariffs being proposed by our President we decided to buy a new car.  As we’re not car people we bought another Equinox as the last one has been a good one.  We also hauled the boat, painted the bottom, and changed the oils in the engines.  We’re getting the boat ready for some summer cruising.

28 — 31 March

We left Regatta Point at Deltaville on March 28 at 7:30 to 10-15 knots of wind and 2-3 foot seas on the Bay.  Luckily, the wind subsided by 10 AM and the waves laid down, the rest of the trip to Colonial Beach was a snap.  We arrived about 3:30 PM and concluded our trip to Florida and back that started in mid-November last year.  Good trip even though the weather was not as good as it has been in the past.  We used the rest of the month to rest up.

25-27 March

We got underway from Belhaven Marina on Tuesday the 25th after relaxing on the 24th.  We had a good trip across Albermarle Sound stopping in Coinjock by 4 PM Tuesday.  We just wanted a drink after our 9-hour 85-mile trip so we went to the bar at Coinjock’s restaurant.  After relaxing a bit, returning to the boat to clean up, we came back to the restaurant for filet and prime rib dinners.  Back to the boat for a good night sleep. Up early, we headed for Ocean Yacht Marina in Portsmouth on Wednesday the 26th.  We had a reasonable journey through Currituck Sound and the lock at Great Bridge.  Stopping early at Ocean Marina, we rested, ate aboard, and slept soundly again.  The weather forecast had changed so we decided to get underway Thursday up the Chesapeake and landed at Regatta Point Yacht Center in Deltaville. Tomorrow is forecast to be fairly okay, so we’ll try to make it back to Colonial Beach by Friday afternoon.  Good to be home, but sad to end an enjoyable journey on this great trawler!

22-24 MARCH

After Wrightsville we realized that the weather has now become a major factor in planning our trip.  Climate change is a fact.  We decided we can probably make Colonial Beach before Carey’s medical appointments the 31st of March by paying attention to a few weather windows among many bad weather windows. We pushed on to Beaufort, NC for the 22nd suffering 20 knots of wind the later part of the day to safely tie up at Beaufort before 4 PM.  Underway on the 23rd the weather report said the Neuse River would be quiet with 10 knots of wind and choppy seas.  We experienced 15 to 20  knots of wind and 4–5-foot seas, an eye opener, but we fell deeper in love with BenjOllie as it proved to be a stable and well-handled boat in those seas.  We felt safe and secure and made it through the Neuse.  We arrived in Belhaven Marina at 3:30 PM.  A great place we’ve never stopped at.  Owned by a retired Marine we found friendly folks and great food in town. We’ll stay tomorrow as the weather is bad in the Albemarle Sound that we must cross next.  We’ll wait till Tuesday to try that crossing.    Below is a picture of BenjOllie heading away from Wrightsville Beach with the sunrise a couple days ago — an early start for our normal journeys.

In late February, the 24th exactly, we started our trip back to Colonial Beach.  We first stopped at Eau Gallie Yacht Basic and visited with Pam and her daughter Jill.  Then moved on to Fernandina Beach where we had our first weather lay over.  Once it settled down we continued north to Duplin River anchorage, Sunbury, Ga, Beaufort, SC, and St Johns Marina just outside Charleston.  Our next stop was in Georgetown, SC where Jack and Ann drove down for a weekend visit.  A great visit.  We started again after they left and stopped at Barefoot landing (a two day weather delay stop) and then stopped at Bridge Tender’s Marina at Wrightsville Beach.  En route we passed through Cape Fear River where you can see below in a picture our slow Trawler BenjOllie was pushing over the ground at 14 mph.   While at Wrightsville Beach we planned our remaining trip to Colonial Beach.  If the weather forecast holds we’ll be in Colonial Beach on Saturday the 29th.  We’ll see how it goes.

Here are a few pictures of the trip so far.

 

February was generally a quiet month.  We visited with old friends from Florida and toured around Florida, mostly in Fort Pierce.  We also bought the new generator and had it installed that required us to pull BenjOllie out of the water to use the crane to replace the generator.  In February we’ll start moving home to Colonial Beach and you can start reading about it in the next month’s Blog.  We are hoping the weather warms up a bit.  It has been a cold winter in Florida this year

We made the car trip back to Virginia to repeat a test Carey had in December.  All of the tests Carey had to redo proved the initial tests were in error.  The new tests were all clear.  She is still cancer free.  We have decided not to go to the Bahamas due to this delay.  We’ll travel around Florida visiting friends and family and some of our favorite places.  Bahamas will be next winter.  We’ll also replace the generator in Florida that gave it up on the way down.  Since we are just moving around the area the blog will be sporadic and infrequent.   See most of you when we get back to Colonial Beach in the spring.