High Winds, High Water

Sunday (May 8) was a blustery and boring day and Monday was a busy day. On Sunday morning, bundled up, we left the shelter of our boat to use the extremely nice shower facilities in the marina clubhouse. Needless to say, we enjoyed the warm water probably more than was necessary to get clean. The 20 knot wind quickly dissipated our feeling of warmth as we walked back to Mantra, and we chose to remain inside the rest of the day. It was so dreary that even Peter couldn't rouse himself to accomplish much other than order more parts online and make some calculations. Scrabble was probably the highlight of the day. There started to be mumblings of mutiny!

Luckily, on Monday morning, we awoke to clear azure skies and sunlight streaming in through the portholes and hatches. Even though there was still a chilly northeast wind, I was cheered by the brightness down below and jumped right in to cleaning the rest of the headliners, the walls, the bookshelves and every other surface while Peter continued doing electrical rewiring in the galley. The pantry locker had to be emptied to facilitate this, and the only neat and organized area other than our cabin disappeared as the countertops became covered with food supplies and the table with more tools. 

Peter unloading the pantry locker and looking at the wiring

"This mess is so big and so deep and so tall..."

We realized that "this mess is so big and so deep and so tall...." that there was no place to prepare lunch or to eat it. We were forced to go out. Adjacent to the boatyard is a wonderful restaurant called Capsize with great views and delicious food. After lunch, we returned to our work. There was progress on projects but no progress on finding any clear horizontal surfaces, so we had chips and dip for dinner. We did manage to store some items that had been on the floor in the aft cabin so I was able to start cleaning that room.

Sherri and Peter at Capsize; Mantra on the far right on the docks

We took another break as the sun was setting and went for a short walk along the waterfront of the Tred Avon River. By the Bellevue-Oxford Ferry dock, we discovered an art installation entitled Rising Water. Standing on poles in the grassy area were miniature houses with chimneys (which we thought at first were bird houses). A local artist, Robert Walker, created and erected the them to symbolize the effect of rising waters in the Chesapeake Bay region, where already people are facing the prospect of raising their homes as water levels are predicted to rise more than two feet by 2050. 

Rising Water art installation

Sunset on the banks of the Tred Avon

As we walked to the Oxford Market for lunch today (still nowhere to eat onboard), it was impossible to miss the rising water levels. Both yesterday and today, some docks were underwater at high tide, providing a strange sight of boats tied to pilings with no way to access them from land. Water from the storm drains, meant to take excess rain water from the land to the streams and rivers, had filled with backed up brackish water in the open-top culverts beside the streets. In some places, whole sections of roadway were underwater. Sea level rise is clearly not a future problem.

Flooded streets on a sunny day

Docks submerged at high tide

I finished all the cleaning I could do this morning. (The nav table is unapproachable!) Now I am enjoying the views and the sunshine, writing this post and editing photos while simultaneously doing four loads of laundry in the marina's facilities. 

We are still waiting for the wind to abate so that the rigger can go up the mast and inspect everything and install new sheaves and other items. After that, we will be able to put all the sails back on the spars, a major step toward departure.