Author Archives: Mark
Oxford, MD
I think the people who purchased homes in Oxford must have to pass a gardening test as a prerequisite. This is a sleepy little river town on the Tred Avon river. If by the pictures you think the town is small, you’re right. It took us little less than a day to walk the entire […]
Chesapeake Cowboys
Chesapeake Cowboys are not what you might expect. They are not the ten gallon hat wearing chafe sporting ropers the name might conjure up in your imagination. They don’t ride horses or herd cattle. I don’t think they sit around campfires at night and tell stories of the old frontier. Who are they? They are […]
Ocean City
We had an absolute blast in Ocean City. Even though Maryland has a lot of coast line on the Chesapeake Bay, the state has very little ocean beaches. Ocean City is pretty much it and it is awesome. The highlight of Ocean City is the boardwalk. I haven’t been to a boardwalk in years. In […]
Smith Island and Cake
Have you heard of Smith Island cake? Until recently, we hadn’t. Which is really a shame since it is delicious. So far we have tried chocolate, coconut, banana, banana-strawberry and orange. Ten layer Smith Island cakes originate from Smith Island Maryland and were baked for the men who spent several days on crab boats in […]
We Made It To The Chesapeake Bay
About 2:30am yesterday, we sailed into the Chesapeake Bay. This is our summer destination. We are extremely excited with the offerings of the bay particularly the picturesque small towns, bay front cities and isolated tree lined coves for which the Chesapeake is renowned. We tried to time our entrance into the bay at dawn. But […]
Beaufort, NC (pronounced: bow-firt)
Sailing from Fernandina, Beach FL to Beaufort, NC achieved a couple of milestones for us. It was our longest single passage yet at 360 nautical miles (414 miles) over three days. It was also the passage where we crossed our first 1,000 (1150 miles) nautical miles of sailing since we started this cruising thing. We […]
Stuck in Fernandina Beach
I can’t help but think we are stuck here because we said out loud, “Hey, we made it to a port and nothing broke along the way”. Yep. Probably shouldn’t have done that. I made a rookie mistake in Fernandina Beach when I ran the shore power cable. When at dock, we plug Cream Puff […]
Fernandina Beach
Meet the third member of the Cream Puff crew. Mona is our land contact and knows the whereabouts of Cream Puff at all times. During ocean passages, we check in at predetermined times. If we don’t check in, Mona has a protocol to alert authorities. She is also the primary contact in case an EPIRB […]
Saint Augustine – Part 4
Our fenders are disgusting. Fenders are the plastic bumpers you see hanging on the side of boats to protect the boat from scratches and scraps. Ours are filthy and leave horrible black smudge marks on the boat. What? Clean them, you say? Ha! A task that has proven to be easier said than done. […]
Saint Augustine – Part 3
I love tall ships. I have ever since I was a kid. I find it awe inspiring these massive wooden creatures sailed the world with very little in the way of charts, navigation and weather forecasting. If they hit rocks, they drowned or were forced to a life on the land they struck. There they […]
Saint Augustine – Part Two
In St. Augustine, we learned all about coquina. Coquina is a porous limestone available in North Florida. It was used by the Spanish as a building material during their control of Florida. The original homes in the area are built with coquina blocks and are covered with concrete or stucco or their era. The outer […]
Saint Augustine – Part One
My mood has past and the sun is shining in our world once again. We love St. Augustine. St Augustine Florida claim to fame is they are the oldest city in the USA. This year, St. Augustine celebrates 450 years as a city. If you are here for any length of time, more than 30 minutes, […]
“If I had a Shotgun…”
“If I had a shotgun, I’d shot a hole in the bottom of this boat”, Cindy, said upon our arrival in St. Augustine FL. As we continue our trudge up the east coast, we have been plagued with problems. We sort of expected some issues as Cream Puff has not been sailed hard in quite […]
Dream Big
One of the best deals in Ft. Lauderdale is the water taxi. The fare is $26 per person for an all day ticket. For us, this was less than renting a car, no worries about parking, no worries about traffic and okay to have a couple of glasses of wine with the evening meal. In […]
This Stinks!
“This stinks!” was the common phrase uttered after leaving Key West. While sailing motoring from Tampa Bay to the Dry Tortugas, the winds were too light to sail and we were forced to listen to the diesel engine for 32 of the 36 hour trip. When leaving the Dry Tortugas for Key West, we had […]
