Day 2

We pulled out of the marina at 7:30am and just as we powered up an alarm sounded. Throttling back, we checking all the gauges and everything looked normal. Just to be safe, we shut down the engines, but the alarm didn’t stop. Checking all the switches and the bilge didn’t show anything out of order. Suddenly the alarm stopped. Will had an idea that maybe there was a water alarm from the bilge since there was some water trapped in there and the angle of the boat would have caused water to flow to the stern. Sounded plausible so we powered up and got going again with no more alarm. Two minutes later, Will noticed that the 50-foot line he stored at the center cleat was trailing behind the boat. We really don’t need that wrapped around the boat. After reeling it in we were off again and cruising at 28 knots.

After entering the Chesapeake Bay the water began to get bumpy, as the wind had been blowing from the south most of the day. Listening to the weather channel confirmed that small craft warning were in effect. We made it to Annapolis at 1pm and refueled with 175 gallons. Quite a bit more than we anticipated for the 90-mile run. Hmmm, better throttle back a bit. We left at 2pm, knowing we would not be able to make it all the way to Norfolk. We decided to aim for an intermediate stop about 5pm and gas up. John set a waypoint and off we went. The water was getting bumpier and we had to throttle back even further to 15 knots. Thinking it was about time for that intermediate gas stop to show up, it was evident that we had passed it about 40 miles back. After further checking, it was clear that John had set a bogus waypoint. Shirl was sure there would be fuel at St. Mary’s near the mouth of the Potomac River, so we headed there to no avail. It’s now getting dark, so we decided to head for what appeared to be another marina across the mouth of the Potomac. No luck again, as it turned out to be private moorage for a condominium. Our luck had not run out yet, because just around the point was what appeared to be an abandoned marina. It USED to be a Navy marina but it is now used by the maritime training academy. Nevertheless, we were docking there for the night: no power, no water, no cable TV. Sure glad we got that generator running! The security personnel showed up and after hearing our story agreed to let us tie up for the night.

First thing tomorrow – get fuel, then off we go again!