Month: May 2016

Somers Cove

Came back from visiting Artie one day, and found out that we really are just a dinghy in the world of big boats.  This is Rushmore, who pulled in next to us on the T-head.  Believe it or not, they draw just FIVE feet (Leap of Faith draws four).  And, the folks on board were very nice, as well. We’ve seen a few Loopers come in and out from the transient docks.  And Artie was finally able to come over for a little while, see Skipper and check out the marina.

Crisfield, MD / Somers Cove Marina

The boat is still at Somers Cove Marina in Crisfield, as we wait for Artie to rejoin us.  Hopefully, that will happen later this week.  In the meantime, we have been able to get him a few day passes, and he was able to come over to the boat and take a short walk over to the Soft Shell Crab Fest.

Whew, that was hard to write. But now I need to say thanks to a few folks.

At the risk of inadvertantly missing someone – and I apologize if I don’t thank you by name — I just wanted to thank a few folks who helped us through this bizarre happening.  First of all, Mr. Milton Parks, and his daughter, Inez Pruitt, PA, who did everything to help us get the quick medical attention and transport that we needed, and who have continued to follow up with us and check on our well being.  Mr. Jackie McCready, who helped me to bring the boat over from Tangier.  The terrific staff at Penninsula Hospital, particularly the excellent nursing staff.  The folks here at Somers Cove Marina in Crisfield, MD who continue to watch out for me, the boat and the dog, and who have been instrumental in helping me get over to see Artie daily.  The staff at McCready Rehab, for watching over Artie as he finishes his treatment.

In particular, I want to thank fellow Loopers — particulary Chica ( Sandy and Alan), Over Ice (Brenda and Robert), Changing Latitudes (Dale and Andy and John and Priscilla), Phase II ( Lori and Dave),  Lone Star (Kevin and Steve), Summertime (Wally and Darcy), and Midas Touch for tracking me/ us down and checking in on us, for offering to help move the boat, or check on the boat and dog, or do whaever else we might have needed. Thank you all.

Finally, thank you to all fellow Loopers who heard the story through the Coconut Telegraph and who reached out to us to offer assistance, kind words and / or prayers.

And a special thank you to our good friend Craig Marshall for offering to come down to help move the boat. May you soon start your own Loop, and in the meantime, come join us at any time on ours.

 

 

 

OK, so here is the “story” as to why we are here.

Well I guess after this post I’ll find out who all is following the blog.  SPOILER ALERT:  WE ARE OK, EVERYTHING IS FINE, DO NOT WORRY.

After the Rendezvous, the northbound Looper boats each head into the Chesapeake into various locations, and many then reunite after the C&D Canal / New Jersey and New York as we gather in the Erie Canal to head into Canada. We don’t usually travel in a pack or group, although we all watch for the AGLCA burgee (small flag) and often socialize with other Loopers along the way.  Artie and I decided to head to Tangier Island, a small island in the middle of the Chesapeake.  While it is geographically in the center of the Chesapeake, it is remote in the sense that there is little or no cell phone service or internet connection.  There is only one small marina, Parks Marina, run by its 85-year-old proprietor, Milton Parks.

As we were headed on our several hour cruise to Tangier, Artie started to complain of a pain in his heel and said that as soon as we got in, he wanted me to check for a splinter.  His sock was a bit bloody when we arrived, and I saw what might have been a small splinter.  I cleaned and bandaged it and off we went to see the Island by golf cart.  Artie quickly started feeling “not well”.  By that night, he was running a temperature and agreed that at our next stop, we would go to an Urgent Care and have the foot looked over.  Within a couple of hours, he spiked an extremely high temperature and I was able to have the local clinic opened that night to take his temperature ( I was sure that my home thermometer MUST have been wrong).  Long story short, the local PA took one look at his heel and temperature, and called in the State Police Air Rescue.  I left the dog and the boat with the marina and fellow boaters, and we were air lifted into the trauma center about a half hour away.  He was seen in the emergency room, and a CT scan of his foot showed that he somehow had a 1.5 centimeter long, thin piece of metal in his foot.  He never felt it go in, and yes, he always wears shoes.  He’s not a barefoot kind of guy.

Given the high temperature and the CT scan, it was finally determined that he had a very bad infection and that the piece of metal had to be removed.  Fast forward, he had surgery, was kept in the hospital for most of the week, , then transferred to a rehab facility in the town of Crisfield, MD.  I was able to take the mail boat back to Tangier and have a local captain assist me in bringing the boat over from Tangier to Crisfield, and here we remain as he completes his course of treatment.  We will likely cut the northern portion of the Chesapeake short and head home to NY as promptly as possible, before eventually continuing on the Loop.

 

 

 

Norfolk Looper Rendezvous / AGLCA

We were somehow too busy having a great time to take photos at the Looper Rendezvous. Basically, the Looper organization that we belong to, AGLCA  — America’s Great Loop Cruisers’ Association — has two Rendezvous’ each year, one in the Norfolk area in May and one just north of Mobile, AL in October.  Each features seminars and forums that give you all of the information that you need to negotiate each half of the Loop, opportunities to tour each other’s boats, and plenty of time to eat, drink and socialize.  In our case, although we had been to the Rendezvous before, we wanted to meet up with our “Class of 2016-17” Loopers, as we would be travelling with many of those boats throughout the rest of our trip.  We were soon to find out that even more important than Docktail buddies and sounding boards for information, the folks we are traveling with were, and are, among the kindest, most caring and truly helpful people we have ever met.

Remember when we missed the Swamp entrance southbound?

Here are Changing Latitudes and Over Ice following us out of the Swamp.  As we exited, we turned briefly south to Top Rack marina to fuel up and pump out.  We then turned back north towards Norfolk, and saw the signpost and marker for the Dismal Swamp entrance, as well as the infamous Rail Road bridge. You may recall that on the way south, as we went through the delayed opening of the Railroad Bridge intending to go the Swamp route, a large barge and tow pulled out in front of us.  By the time we could negotiate a pass of the barge, we were past Top Rack and headed into the Virginia Cut.  We now realize that the barge and tug were probably to our starboard side, blocking our view of the turn off sign.  Glad we were able to go through this time, northbound. Over Ice, LeryLyn and Leap of Faith then headed into the Rendezvous at the Sheraton Norfolk Waterside Marina.  If you enlarge the photo of the Dismal Swamp signpost, the white sign states “If you haven’t done it yet, you don’t know what you are missing. The Dismal Swamp is lovely and worth much reminiscing.” We agree.

Random shots Dismal Swamp

We kicked up a few “dead heads” as we exited the Swamp. Thankfully no serious damage, but we did push up the back up transom mounted transducer.  A local diver in Norfolk pushed it back in place.  (Yeah, I know, we’re getting to be diving wusses, but the water was only 61 degrees!)

South Mills lock to the Dismal Swamp Visitors Center

As we approached the lock, these boats were waiting ahead of us to get in, tied to the “dolphin pilings”.  Note the green light allowing us to enter the lock.  While at the lock, a new Visitor’s center employee, Sarah, was taking an introductory tour.  We offered to take her to the Visitor’s Center on our boat, and her supervisor agreed.  Boats can stop mid-Swamp at the Visitor’s Center and tie up overnight.  When we arrived, there were already a few boats there, so we rafted to the outside of a sailboat, Arapesh from Canada.  Sunday School, fellow looper, was also there.