A Cold Winter in Maryland

As everyone knows, this winter was unusually cold for a Maryland winter.  The West River, in the Chesapeake Bay (where Abake is kept) froze.  We broke down and bought a bubbler to keep her from getting damaged.

We didn't get that much snow -- just a couple of snowfalls that worried us a little.  But, we would go check on her (and shovel a path on the pier to Abake, who is in the 2nd to the last slip) and she would be A-OK.

We thought we'd show you a couple of pictures of the marina this winter:

The ice creeping toward the dock

Ice at the dock

The bubbler is just a small motor with a "fan" blade that is lowered into the water near the hull.  The motor is turned on and the blade spins, circulating the water around the boat and keeping the ice from forming.  This is a picture of the effect:

Bubbler working

The river was frozen so much that for the first time in ages, we saw an ice boat sailing along across the frozen water.  People were even out standing on the ice on the river!  We didn't think it was THAT frozen, but thankfully no one fell through.


With Mike working during the winter, Jenny kept plugging away on cushions.  She feels that pictures would be boring here, so when the last cushions are done, a whole blog will be written about the cushions.  Suffice it to say that as of now (mid-May), 9 of the 16 cushions are done and foam for the 4 in the aft cabin are on the UPS truck as we speak.

So what else do we do in the winter?  Well, Mike shops on the web.  Our outboard motor wasn't big enough (6hp four-stroke) to get our dinghy planing, so he found a wonderful deal from a place in Delaware (which has no state sales tax) that gave us a discount for picking it up.  It's a Tohatsu 9.8hp four-stroke.  It should get us up on plane!

Since it was near Rehoboth Beach, we took advantage of an unusually warm and sunny day in February and went for a drive to the beach.  Also, Mike was able to taste his first Thrasher's French Fries!  They are an institution at the Maryland and Delaware beaches, so we indulged.