Well things have sort of gotten away from me again. Been quite a while since I took keyboard in hand to update the state of our water borne life. We are finally out of the “floater” status, having been awarded a permanent slip a couple of weeks ago. We are now located on the B Dock of our Club’s marina (there are three docks, A, B and C). Our slip is B3 which places us right at the bottom of the ramp to the club house. YEA! Note Charlotte (the Admiral) sitting on the foredeck.
The Misty Lady seems to be happy in her new home, especially since this Permanence State means that we will never have to leave the vicinity for a transient visitor and anchor the Lady out in the channel on a Mooring Buoy. A lousy existence, but one that we no longer have to dread!
We recently ( 7/30/2017) took a short voyage, with my daughter, Kurby, my son Cliff, daughter in law Becky and two of our four grand daughters, Hattie and Cammie. The older two are off doing their own thing, being in their 20’s.
Our voyage was just down the Potomac to the Mount Vernon estate of George Washington. They have a very nice wharf that juts out into a small bay off the Potomac River and can accommodate the large tour boats (160 feet and larger), as well as smaller boats and larger yachts such as our 54 footer. The day was pleasant, warm and sunny with a slight breeze.
Right at the start, we powered up the generator set (to provide AC and DC power to the “house”) and switched over from shore power to internal generator power. Then we fired up the two big Cat diesels (of course the Sea Cats headed for their hidey holes, since they hate those engines). We then disconnected the shore power cables, untied the docking lines and the Lady was free to navigate. We moved slowly out of the slip and into the fairway traveling less than 2 knots (lots of expensive boats about). About a half mile down the Washington Channel, basically where the Anacostia River joins the Potomac River, the Generator stopped running. Don’t know the why yet, but we have a Westerbeake specialist checking it out. This meant that the refrigerator and all other AC functions were off line. The voyage was not a long one, so we just carried on to our destination. While Charlotte, myself and the two sea cats stood a day watch, the rest of the group disembarked and took the tour of Washington’s Mount Vernon estate.
Last month we finally installed our cooking appliances. We purchased a induction range top (with two burners) and a separate oven to be mounted below. The local yacht technicians did the install for us and connected the electrical outlets to ensure that the wiring was professionally correct. I immediately went to the grocery store and bought us a couple of nice Ribeye Steaks for supper the next evening. Turned out, the oven put out a lot more heat than we had anticipated during the broiling action. So we installed a cooling fan in the space under the range top and behind the oven to blow cooling air across the area. Seems to be okay, but we will see the next time I put a couple of big steaks in the broiler….
Next up for this area is the acquisition and installation of a quartz counter top. The range top required that we purchase pans that would attract a magnet, so we went shopping for pots, pans and skillets with a magnet. See the range top cooks by magnetic induction and the burner area will not heat up until a pot/pan that is magnetic attractive is placed on the burner. Cooks things pretty darn fast too, so we have to watch when making a breakfast of bacon and eggs….. YEA!!
As we posted back in July, for the Fourth of July Holiday, we looked forward to watching the fantastic fireworks display over the Capitol Mall. We were positioned very well to observe the fireworks from the decks of the Misty Lady right here in the CYC marina slip. It was quite a show from our view point, after all we can see the top of the Jefferson Memorial from our boat.
So we stayed in port, snugged up to the dock, sipping a cold drink, eating a couple of hot dogs with chili and cheese while watching from the comfort of our own home, these firework displays. The two photos at the top are of Charlotte on the foredeck waiting for the evening to arrive and the show to start. And a picture of our new Yacht Club clubhouse. The clubhouse is a lot further along at this writing, with our expectation of moving into the new facility in about 5 weeks. Note in the picture with the two boats, one the catamaran in the right slip and the yacht “Tide Together” in the left slip. That slip is the one that we were awarded and is not our home port. The big power catamaran will be pulling up lines and heading back to their winter port in Florida, shortly after the formal opening of our new Yacht Club home on the 12th of October.
As the sun set, we prepared for the big light show.
So to all of you out there who actually read my blog, we all hope you had a Happy and Safe 4th of July!!! We will, from the command bridge of the M/V Misty Lady.
The Wharf Status
Things are really coming to fruition for the transition of the DC waterfront from a sleepy marina and restaurant row to a dynamic Wharf place to go!! The developers of the Wharf are spending over 4 Billion Dollars to create a beautiful and exciting locale. Below are two photos that I took when we were given a VIP tour of the site.
The top photo is of the Wharf as the artist’s conception, it is remarkably unchanged from the work that the construction companies have accomplished. Note the three piers, the first (left most) is a recreation pier and in winter will have an ice rink there. It also serves as a place for the water taxi service to arrive and depart.
The bottom photo is a display in the construction office and it shows the concepts of the finished Wharf area. Our new Capital Yacht Club can be seen in the center, it is the smaller building built out over the water, you can see our three docks in this shot also.
I saw a listing the other day for one of the condo apartments in the VIO building (in the center of the Wharf phase one) that showed a two bedroom, two batch water view unit selling at 1.2 million dollars. WE have a great water view and we paid less than 1 percent of that price…. Even with her warts the Lady is a good deal.
Short Notes
Thought it might be good to share a couple of photos that have an “Ahhh” factor, at least to me.
This is one of our mallard duck families. Momma has 6 ducklings. They are so cute as they swim around our boat in the slip and the fairway between the docks. Momma Mallard has her wings full chasing these guys.
This is the view from our boat almost every evening. Sometime an overcast will hide it but most of the time we are treated to a beautiful sky. Makes being a live aboard all worth while.
This smaller yacht is a unique live aboard, the entire top of the boat is a series of solar panels and the majority of their time afloat these panels supply all of their power needs. Of course the captain of this boat owns a company that builds and installs solar panels so he should know what it is all about> The Misty Lady is across the dock, next to the CYC maintenance barge.
More Later?
Misty Lady Thought and Comment 