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The Good…

Sometimes it is something good, like the awesomely great spot we are at anchor right now. With every change in tide the dolphins swim by, the ospreys catch their fish, and pretty is just about everywhere. Seriously, it is so nice we wish you were here. Well maybe not ALL of you at once, then it would be too crowded!

I haven’t had the nerve to fly the drone and get pictures because we have been in places with a LOT of osprey. These large and powerful birds are famous for taking a serious dislike to small drones, and regularly knock them out of the sky. That’s bad enough when you are over land, but a disaster over water. It’s not that they are mistaking them for prey–they only eat fish. They just don’t like them!

I made an exception this evening and took a chance, it was just too pretty to pass up. I did get this short clip of the lighthouse and Harmonie.

The osprey didn’t show up until I was ready to recover the drone, when one bird made a couple half-hearted passes at it. I was lucky the drone was close enough to the boat at that point he left before really getting serious about doing damage!

The Bad…

On the other hand, we have been struggling with an unusual number of equipment issues that seem to have all piled on together. We had one of our two battery chargers go south Not a huge deal, we have two. But annoying.

We had our satellite communications device’s battery die. We replaced it, and everything was fine for a week, then the device itself died. It is back at the vendor for evaluation and repair. We do miss this because it is how we get our weather and communicate offshore. Hopefully it will be back soon.

The really big deal is our main ship’s battery bank seems to have gone south, losing much of its storage capacity way earlier than it should have. We have been running some tests recommended by the technical experts at the manufacturer, and will see where that takes us.

We have a couple of upgrade and improvement projects that are in the works for our fall maintenance season, so a lot of our systems are under review. For me, this kind of systems engineering is actually part of the enjoyment of running a boat.

The Plans

The weather forecast for the next few days is delightful. We are taking advantage and running offshore to get some fishing done. With our satellite communications down, we’ll be incognito for a bit, but we promise great pictures and fun stories when we get back!

Help Us Solve A Mystery

There are many noises in the ocean, and some of them you can clearly hear inside the boat. The odd humming of the small midshipman fish in San Francisco Bay, the crackling of pistol shrimp just about everywhere. But there is a noise we have heard in many places, and the origin of this one in unknown to us.

Typically starting around sunset, the sound is like a short burst of machinegun fire, lasting about 1/2 to 3/4 second. tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap It repeats irregularly and not generally close together. This is a pretty common critter, we have heard the sound in many coastal places we have been. But it is not an animal present in large numbers, since we don’t hear many at one time.

Any ideas? Fish? Crustacean? Secret government experiment? Aliens?

The weather event that was tropical strom Isaias has blown on through, with the center of the storm just a few miles to the west of Harmonie’s location. Damage here in Hampton, VA was minor. In our marina one or two boats broke loose, but didn’t get into TOO much trouble, a few rubbed up on the dock to the detriment of both, but that was about it. Peak winds were between 60 and 70 knots, without much water level change.

We are getting good at this hurricane prep. It is something we’d just assume NOT have to do, but in this part of the world, it is just a fact of life. The more we see, the more clear it becomes that the real danger to your boat in a serious storm is the OTHER boats!

Here in this marina, I have to say nobody prepped a boat better than we did. About 10% of the other boats did almost as well. Another 60% did something. But, about 30% of the boats did absolutely nothing to prepare for the storm. I don’t know if it’s ignorance, sloth, or just a lack of care, but there are an awful lot of people who own boats who just should just stick to golf as a hobby.

We have a few business things to take care of in the next day or two, and then we’ll be out in the ocean, where we belong!

Isaias, that is.

We are in a marina in Hampton, VA hunkered down for the arrival late tomorrow of the latest tropical storm of the season. Right now Isaias is forecast to run right over the top of us on Tuesday afternoon. The boat is tied up in a cat’s cradle of lines, and we have removed anything loose or vulnerable from the deck. Once we finish our last minute preparations tomorrow morning we have a local hotel room to check into.

The good news is the storm has never really developed into a large and extra powerful storm. No local evacuations or other serious precautions have been called for. Despite all this, a storm like this is still worthy of respect. Right now, we are probably the best tied up boat in the marina!

When in a marina, the most dangerous thing that boats experience in a serious tropical storm is the rise in water level. In the most severe case, this can actually lift the docks up off the pilings that hold them in place. The forecast storm surge for our location is minimal, only a foot or two, so we’re pretty comfortable that we are safe and secure.

We cast off our lines from Herrington Harbor North yesterday at 10AM and, on a mostly calm and windless bay, motored south, ending up at Solomon’s Island, a major boating center on the western shore of the central Chesapeake.

It is still hot and humid, and should continue to be until we reach the ocean in two days or so.

One thing that never ceases to amaze us is the frequency with which we run into other Amels. We left Harrington Harbor where there were three other Amel boats, and get here where there are three more! One (Loco Lola) that we know from the Bahamas, one new to us anchored right next door (Jackster) and one that lives here as its home port.

We did discover yesterday that out satellite phone battery had failed. It wasn’t immediately obvious, since we keep it plugged into power all the time. Turns out the battery is needed for it to get a connection to the satellites. Until we can get a replacement shipped in, our constant position update will be down.

The unit is about 6 years old, so the operative lesson is: Chnage your Iridium Go battery when it is no older than 5 years!

Today’s assignment is to fill the diesel tank, and head further down the bay!

My last post here was about the dangers of a full time connection to dockside water, and the measures we take to mitigate those risks. I have always taken those risks seriously, but never actually had a plumbing failure that could have put the boat at risk.

Until—today. I mean really? Was my last post offensive to the Fates or what?

We finished dinner, and Karen was just finishing the cleanup when the piercing alarm that indicates a high level in the bilge sump went off. We can see that the pump is running. How can there be water there? What’s going on?

Once up in the cockpit, I can hear a noise… something is running but it is not a sound that I recognize. When I open the engine room to access the bilge, I see water spraying everywhere. AH-HA! The sound I hear is water rushing through the hose connection. Turn off the water, and everything settles back down. It only takes a few seconds to find where the hose has pulled apart from its fitting.

A couple new hose clamps, and we are back in business. Although the engine room received a good soaking, is all fresh water and in the summer heat it will all be gone quickly.

On the bright side, we were home and able to immediately respond to the situation. The bilge alarm was very important in alerting us to the issue quickly before the issues grew.

If we had been away, the water would have shut itself off after 200 gallons, and the bilge pump would have cleared that out in about 10 or 15 minutes. Nothing highly water sensitive is on the floor of the engine room so no serious damage would have been done.

If we had been away, and did NOT have a water timer on the inlet, we could have been looking at a serious, and expensive issue…

A tentative inspection shows that the hose clamp had corroded and broken. Of course they always seem to rust on the bottom where you can’t see. I have been replacing hose clamps around the boat as I see a problem, but it seems it might be time to be more systematic about that and just change all the old ones.