Next Stop Statue of Liberty

At Sea Near Cape Charles, MD

(6/18/05) This morning we finally caught up with our old friend Dave Hamby. Dave came over and had coffee and donuts with us just before we cast off. Dave is working for a company that does simulators for the military. He's up to his ears in military technology and jargon. It sounds like he's quite happy doing it.

We're setting sail again. In theory 2.5-3 days from here to NYC. However, the winds are forecast to be light and blowing against us, so it very well might take twice as long.

I bought a bottle of Cascade dishwashing detergent and put it in the primary cooling system coolant. Then I ran the engine for 10 minutes and let the stuff sit overnight. This morning I pumped out the old coolant and refilled it with fresh RV-type coolant. Going out today I could run 2000RPM, whereas before I could only get 1750 RPM. It's an incremental improvement but a welcome one.

Late afternoon we came to a shallow area near Cape Charles, MD where there were lots of dolphins cavorting. I mean lots. It was impossible to count of course, but there were somewhere between 50 and 250 of them. They were in pods of four to six each spread out over about three miles. They didn't seem to be going any particular direction, just jumping out of the water a lot. Alas, none of them came to swim alongside us.

Around the same time we began seeing pelican patrols. They looked like Army patrols. Groups of twelve to twenty five pelicans would come flying by in a single file formation, about 18 inches apart. They flew just inches above the water, and now and again flap their wings and gain ten feet of altitude to convert to airspeed. For some reason they seemed fond of swooping up and just in front of Tarwathie's bow. Made a nice show for us.

It's nice out here, but we won't rack up very many nautical miles today. Nearly zero wind and currents against us. Who cares? It's beautiful, and a great privilege to be out here observing.

I just read in Soundings about the Norwegian Dawn, the 905 foot cruise ship that was supposedly hit by a 70-foot freak wave near Hatteras last April. According to the article, some investigators suspect that there was no freak wave, just bad seamanship on the part of the captain. The cruise ship reportedly changed its itinerary and steamed north into the face of the gale to make a date for filming an episode of Donald Trump's TV show onboard. The lawyers for the passengers are sharpening their swords.