Chesapeake Chase Day 44: The Journey Home

Captain’s Comments: July 25, 2022

No–this is not about my favorite Star Trek movie. But with the crew of Betty Lou down to just the Admiral and the Captain, today marks the start of the last leg of our Chesapeake Chase: The Journey Home.

So today, we’ll start with the Captain’s Comments. And another human performance error on my part.

I had several boat chores to tend to this morning.  Wash the boat.  Vacuum about a pint of water from the forward bilge.  Lift the dinghy to take some pictures to try to troubleshoot a dinghy hoist problem.  We were planning to move the boat to do a pump out on the way out of the marina.

While lowering the dinghy down on its chocks, I leaned over the flybridge railing to check to see if it was lined up correctly. 

And I got to see my phone slide from my pocket, fall through the air, land in the water and sink into the inky depths (or at least the first 3 or 4 feet).  AAAHHH!!!  My pictures!  My brain?

I immediately went to the dockmaster, explained my situation, and asked if he would call a diver.  Oh—the water was twenty feet deep where we were docked. 

After calling the usual suspects and not receiving any responses, and after desperate pleading on my part, he started calling everyone else on his list.  He finally reached a live person—the owner and president of a commercial diving service.  He took pity on me and came over within an hour. 

The diver spent about 15 minutes prepping and donning his equipment.  He was under water for about two minutes before up came a hand holding my phone with the screen lit up! Reminded me of the Lady of the Lake’s hand raising Excaliber out of the water to give it to Arthur.

I followed Apple’s guidance for drying, and that same evening, transferred the rest of my pictures.  Phone seems to work pretty well, except for the speakers…

After my adrenalin level started to subside, we finished prepping for departure, thanked the dockmaster again for his help, and departed Norfolk.  We skipped the pump out.

It wasn’t planned—maybe it was karma making up for the phone–but we didn’t have to wait for any bridges getting through Norfolk today. 

There was still a lot of boat traffic, and the Navy ships were even more impressive than last time, but we didn’t dawdle. 

Our chosen route south from Norfolk was on the Albemarle and Chesapeake Canal.  The first step was to transit the Great Bridge lock and bridge at Chesapeake, VA, where the lock raised us up a few feet. Interesting, since there is not a lock at the other end.  The canal is at the level of the tributaries to Albemarle Sound, the level of which is governed more by the wind direction than by the tide. 

Since it was hot (still hot), and we were still reeling a little from the phone incident, we decided to stop for the night at Atlantic Yacht Basin (AYB) immediately after passing through the lock and bridge.  We could have tied up at the free town dock without shore power, but AC was calling.

The posted fuel price at AYB was the second best of the trip, so we decided to fill up, even though we only had room for 75 gallons.  I went to the office to settle up, and the dockmaster was professional, but all business.  When I asked about a Wi-Fi password, he wrote it out on a scrap piece of paper, and sternly informed me that AYB was a boat yard, not a marina (though they did have showers and a laundry).  In any event, he helped us squeeze in along the face dock, where we hooked up shore power and turned on the AC.

Back to the Admiral:

We had said our goodbyes to Jess and Debbi last night.  Now we needed to prepare for getting to our next destination of Chesapeake, Virginia.  We didn’t have far at all to go, so we didn’t have to hurry to get out, and we could do some cleaning up.  Fred also wanted to get pictures of our davit issue to send to the manufacturer. 

All was fine until it wasn’t.  Fred usually wears a long sleeve sun protection shirt when he is working outside, with either a button or Velcro pocket closure for his cell phone.  Today he wore the short-sleeved shirt without button pockets that he had worn to dinner last night.  By now you have all guessed what happened.  He was leaning over the edge of the boat, and yes, his phone decided to go for a swim without its floaty. 

We have all at some point experienced that “sinking” feeling.  I did not witness this event.  I had gone up to the bath house.  Fred greeted me at the marina dock office and told me what happened.  He doesn’t joke about such things.  What bothered him the most was that his trip pictures were in about 20 feet of saltwater!  He was at the little marina office asking about divers.  He knew right where it had dropped.  The young man he spoke with, after multiple attempts, was able to find a diver who could come. 

I am guessing it was an hour or more before a diver arrived.  He seemed very efficient, but would he find it?  Would it work after sitting in salt water for so long? 

Most of you reading this can remember the days when your phone was permanently attached to the wall in your home and the only function of that phone was to make or receive phone calls.  It didn’t take pictures.  It didn’t store all your information, contacts, calendar.  You couldn’t use it to read the news or follow directions to a place you had never been.  You couldn’t watch a video or listen to your favorite music.  Yes, your iPhone can be replaced, and losing it is far from the worst that can happen, and we still had my phone.  Nevertheless, we didn’t want to think about the phone not being retrieved.

Fred knew right where the phone had dropped.  The diver dropped a weight at that spot to give him a point of reference.  Within minutes he came back up, phone in hand!!!  Believe it or not, the phone screen was on.  Fred turned it off immediately, rinsed it in fresh water and dried it with a towel.  Instructions for iPhone were to let it dry for five hours before turning it back on.  The instructions were also clear not to put it in rice.  This could damage the phone.  RELIEF!!!  Can you feel it?

We were finally underway about 3:15 PM.  The time between Waterside Marina and the Atlantic Yacht Basin, where we decided to stop, was thankfully uneventful.  By 7:00 PM, we were fueled, pumped out, and docked.  The man who assisted with the lines was very clear to point out this was not a marina. It was a boat yard, but we were very content.  We had electricity (translated: AC), water if we needed, Wi-Fi, and a grocery store within a short walking distance. 

There were even some interesting things to see.  I watched two women go past us on paddle boards.  At least one of them appeared to me to be a senior.  I was impressed!  We also watched some single person rowing shells pass us a few times.  I love watching others doing these activities.

The evening ended with life once again in balance.