Hi everyone,
After a great stay in Annapolis we turned southward. We had a week to get to Deltaville. Along the way we stopped at Solomon's and Carters Creek. We spent a few nights at each stop. The time flew by as we started preparing Zen Again for a long period ashore.
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| Deltaville Yachting Center |
The passage from Annapolis to Solomons was in light airs and we motored most of the way. We anchored at the same location as on our way north. We started cleaning and sorting out below.
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| Solomons Sunset |
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| Solomons Waterfront |
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| Solomons river view |
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| Solomons Cake |
From Solomons to Carters Creek we had a nice W veering N wind and sailed just about all the way. The track below shows we had to deviate to the E soon after departure. That was on instruction from the US Navy who were clearing an area for live fire exercises.
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| Solomons to Carters Creek Track |
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| Carters Creek Arrival |
Carters Creek is about 7nm W of Deltaville. It proved to be a scenic spot with plenty of water depth for us to anchor. Lots of nice waterfront properties. We spent two nights there, using the full day between to remove the on-deck running rigging and blocks, and the headsails. Down below we continued cleaning and sorting out gear to stay, go with us, or for disposal.
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| Approaching Carters Creek |
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| Carters Creek Sunset |
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| Carters Creek Waterfront Properties |
On Sunday we motored the 7nm E to Deltaville. The channel into Deltaville is narrow but well charted. Inside the harbour it is less well charted. We certainly needed the high tide to get to Deltaville Yachting Center. We had been assigned a slip but it was occupied. We rafted up to the boat before finding the harbour master and being directed to the service jetty. The depth of water throughout was 2.0m so we were basically scraping the bottom.
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| Carters Creek to Deltaville Track |
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| Deltaville Arrival |
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| Into Deltaville |
Zen Again was hauled out on Monday afternoon. In the mean time we enjoyed the DYC showers and pool between further work sessions. The haul out was handled very well by the staff and Zen Again's hull had a good high-pressure hose-down.
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| In the slings at DYC |
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| On the hard beside OCC yacht Honey Ryder |
With Zen Again securely on the hard we had three days to prepare her for six months ashore over the winter. Here's a list of the main items of work done at DYC prior to departure:
- Replace engine oil and oil filter
- Replace gearbox oil
- Replace coolant
- Fill engine raw water circuit with anti-freeze
- Remove boom vang
- Clean anchor and chain
- Full below-decks clean
- Remove and stop boom bag
- Remove, measure and dispose of mailsail (keeping battens for use with new mainsail)
- Empty water tanks
- Clean topsides
- Polish s/s
- Empty, clean and re-seal fuel tanks
The last time we emptied and cleaned the fuel tanks was in 2017. That was in Dunstaffnage in Scotland. There were substantial 'blobs' of black gloop in the bottom of the tanks - see
here. These are caused by 'diesel bugs' which can get into fuel tanks and when they die their remains form the gloop. The gloop can get to the engine where they 'clag' the filters and stop the engine. Happily this time the tanks were clean.
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| Diesel tank dregs - no gloop! |
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| Fuel tanks cleaned and ready for another five years |
After three days working flat-out Zen Again was ready for us to leave. During that time we made contact with engine, canvas and rigging contractors. On our return we'll be be doing a mini refit. We need to replace the shaft seal and cutlass bearing, tidy up bow cover, boom tent and soft dodger, and unstep the mast for inspection and to replace electrical cables. We'll also be replacing autopilot, transducer and upgrading our VHF/AIS with wireless handsets.
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| Forepeak ready for winter |
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| Sails in the quarterberth for winter |
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| Clean deck |
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| Canvas ready for collection and tidy-up |
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| Departing Zen Again |
OCC Port Officer Terri collected us from DYC and drove us to her place where we stayed over. She showed us around Mathews and we had dinner there. The next morning Terri drove us to Newport News airport where we collected a rental car to drive to Dulles airport near Washington DC.
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| Old buldings in Mathews |
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| Posh restaurant in Mathews (we didn't go there!) |
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| Our 'hotel' for the night |
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| Thanks Terri! |
It took about three hours to drive to Dulles. After dropping off the rental car our friends John & Sharon collected us and took us to their home in Reston, VA - a short drive away.
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| John & Sharon's home in Reston |
We're now spending a few days with John & Sharon. Great to catch up with them. We visited Great Falls yesterday, a series of falls and rapids on the Potomac River.
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| Great Falls |
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| Great Falls |
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| Ready for dinner in the 'tree house' |
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| Desert and Port |
After five years living aboard Zen Again it'll be nice to sleep in a real bed and have regular showers. We'll keep you advised on what we're up to!
By the way, we had a piece published in the August edition of Practical Boat Owner magazine. It describes our engine mount replacement adventure in Panama. It's best read in the magazine itself but is now online here.
Trust all's well where you are.
