St. Augustine...it's finally warm!

December 14 - 15: St. Augustine, FL

We are finally in Florida and finally it's warm! Yahooo! We were getting pretty tired of all the layers of coats, hats and gloves. This trip was supposed to be about being in warm weather during the winter. Once we got into Florida, things started improving quickly.

St. Augustine is a beautiful city...full of history and incredible French and Spanish architecture. We were especially lucky to be there so close to Christmas because the place was decorated to the hilt with Christmas lights. Fantastic! We took a ton of pics, some of which I wanted to share with you.

The anchorage just before the Bridge of Lions. They had a wicked 4 knot current there, so we opted to stay in the city marina.

The beautiful city marina.

Flagler College, (previously the Flagler hotel). Mr. Flagler developed the town into a tourist attraction years ago, when he built the first rail line from the northeast to Florida...and eventually to the Keys.

Another hotel, fashioned after the Flagler architecture style.

The Alcazar Hotel, across the street from the Flagler. He built this structure to house all the entertainment venues for his guests such as ballrooms, pool halls, a huge indoor swimming pool, etc. Today, it houses the Lightner museum of artifacts and the city hall.

The courtyard garden at the Alcazar. Breathtakingly beautiful.

Inside the Lightner museum.

This is the Castillio de San Marcos Fort, built in the 1500's by the Spanish, eventually taken over by the English, home to Indians for a while...it has quite a history.

Bill inside one of the sentry posts. Amazing to be standing in the same spot as so many troops from the past.

The interior courtyard of the fort. We were able to go in several of the rooms to see how the troops lived, stored their powder kegs, how they assembled the cannon balls and loaded cannons, etc. It was a fun step back in history.

Even the cannons were extremely ornate.

Had to include this pic of the Fountain of Youth as discovered by Juan Ponce de Leon. We got to drink some of the water, but didn't seem to make any difference. The site has an interesting story behind it. Turns out Juan was quite short at about 4'11" (and he was taller than the rest of his Spanish crew). When he landed in Florida, the Indians who lived in the area were quite large. The chief was 7' tall and 300 lbs. Juan figured the Indians looked so healthy that it must be the water. But it didn't really have any special properties. Unfortunately, the Europeans who came and settled in the area brought their nasty diseases with them and eventually killed off all the Indians. Talk about ruining a neighborhood!

There's so much more to St. Augustine, but I don't want to bore you with all the details. You just have to visit yourself someday...and try to do so during the holidays for a special treat.

Our first overnight passage!

December 5 - 8, Charleston SC to Brunswick, GA



Thanks to our friends at our home port in Lake Erie, we had a gift certificate to stay at the Charleston City Marina for a couple days. It's a great marina, right downtown. We walked to the shopping district and enjoyed the sites and sounds of Charleston on Friday and Saturday. We thought we might stay through Sunday, but a weather window opened and our trusty captain Bill made the decision to head out to sea. Yep folks, this was going to be our first overnight passage in the Atlantic Ocean. We would travel 156 miles from Charleston to Brunswick GA, at times being 20 - 25 miles offshore.

Just the two of us.
In the dark.
In the ocean.
With no one around.
No radar.
No working cell phones.

ICE CREAM FACE!!!!!!


Actually, the trip turned out great. In fact, it was an experience of a lifetime. I don't have many photos (duh, it was dark), but I thought I'd share a few highlights from the trip.


Some of the beautiful homes along the waterway as we headed out from Charleston. We sailed right past the spot on Sullivan's Island Beach where we got married. So cool to see it from the water.


1pm - 6 pm
We headed out of Charleston with our hearts in our stomach, but determined to get this experience under our belts. It was sunny and cool but not cold. We headed offshore, turned to starboard and headed south. We decided we'd each take 3 hour watches. My first one was from 3 - 6 pm. As the sun was setting around 5 pm I saw two dolphins next to the boat. Cool. I walked up on the weather deck to get a better look. The next thing I knew, I saw about 8 more dolphins jumping in the water and headed toward the boat. "Bill, get up here and see this!" He grabbed the video camera and got lots of great footage of the whole group of dolphins swimming with us. They were literally inches from the boat, weaving in and out in front of the bow wave. You could even hear them squeaking. Sooooo cool! We agreed this had to be a good sign!

9 pm - midnight
I took a nap while Bill had his watch from 6 - 9 pm. The sun had set but we had a new moon which illuminated the water a bit so you could watch for any debris in the water. When I first came up I could still see a few lights on shore, but they were far away. There was one boat off to our port side but it was moving off in a different direction. Bill went down to get some rest and I was all alone. It's weird how different the water is in the dark. You become much more aware of the sounds around you. "whoooo, whoooo." What the heck was that? Guess it must be some kind of seagull or something that I can't see. "kerplash!" What's that loud splash? It was different from the other waves splashing against the hull. Could it be a dolphin? Or a whale? Or a MONSTER!!!!!! I started laughing to myself. Girl, you got yourself one ACTIVE imagination. But you know, now I can see why the sailors of old had so many tall tales to tell. When you are out on the open sea in the dark you really do start thinking that something strange is going to come up out of the water and swallow your boat. At the end of my watch I wasn't really that tired but I was kind of cold, so I woke Bill up and he took over duties.



Here's a shot of our sleeping quarters in the aft cabin along with all our gear that we'd put back in there after Donna left. Bill said it looked like a hamster had settled in there. We had to curl up in a little ball to sleep. But it was nice and warm!

3 - 6 am
Bill got me up for my watch and warned me that it was REALLY dark out there. Turns out the new moon set (just like the sun sets) so now we had NO light. In fact, you couldn't even see past the bow of the boat. This made Bill very nervous, but I tried to have faith that we'd be protected. On the up side, the darkness provided the best gift possible...a sky that was covered with a million, bazillion stars. I mean, I've NEVER seen anything like it. It was absolutely breathtaking. And at this point, there were absolutely no other lights or boats or anything in sight. It was so dark that you couldn't tell where the water stopped and the sky began. It just looked like you were surrounded by stars. My favorite part was to lean out and look straight up at the huge sail against the backdrop of the stars. It looked like we were sailing in the Milky Way, just like they describe in children's books. No movie or special effects group could ever replicate the scene. The cool air on my face, the sound of the waves lapping against the boat as it sliced through the water and the blanket of stars stretching out in all directions. Words do not do it justice. I wish all of you could experience it some day. It was pure heaven.

Around 5:30 am Bill came up top to join me. I went down for a nap from 6 - 7:30 so I missed the sunrise. But he took the pic below. He also had a group of dolphins join him again! Lucky bum.


Sunrise over the Atlantic.


The rest of our trip into Brunswick, GA was a little "sporty" as Bill would call it. The wind kicked up quite a bit so it got really rocky. We trimmed the sails and made our way into the long channel into Brunswick, docking around 3 pm...26 hours from when we had started. What would normally take us 4 days on the ICW, we were able to do overnight. Yahoo! I asked one of our dockmates to take a picture of us right away so we could remember the moment. Who am I kidding? This was an experience I'll NEVER forget!

Donna joins our trip

November 30 - December 3: Southport, NC to Georgetown, SC

After a whirlwind trip home for Thanksgiving (like George Washington, I believe I slept in a different bed every night!) we finally returned to Charleston on Saturday, Nov. 29 and drove the 3 hours back to our boat in Southport, NC. We had left the heat on since the temps were getting into the 20's at night and we didn't want any of the hoses freezing. No problem, the boat survived just fine. It really felt great to be "home" again. Funny how that transition occurred without me even noticing. Before, when I went home, I felt I was coming back to "the boat." But this time it was definitely "home." Only took me about 5 months to get to that point...guess I'm slow to make transitions.

Speaking of which, I don't know if I've written about this on the blog before or not, but the dragonfly is an image that I keep bumping into...sometimes literally, with the real thing hitting me in the face or sitting on a life line and staring at me for an hour while we were underway..or figuratively, through tattoos on people I met (3 so far). Anyway, since they kept coming to me, I decided to look them up. After all, I'm a big believer in signs. Turns out the dragonfly represents "transition." Wowsers! That's what I initially said this trip would be all about.

When I was home, my sister Barb gave me a pair of dragonfly earrings. I took them off at Pat's house before bed one night then could only find one of the earrings in the morning. We figured her new kitten must have gotten hold of it. I went on to Sue's for two nights, traveled back to Charleston then to Southport. After I unpacked, I layed down for a few moments. When I got up, Bill noticed something glittering on the bed. IT WAS MY OTHER EARRING! Weird, huh? I figured my little dragonfly friend was trying to tell me that this is where I'm meant to be. Ok, enough of the whoo whoo...let's get to back to the travel log.

On Sunday, I drove down to Georgetown to pick up my sister Donna to join us for part of the trip. (Thanks to her daughter Maureen for bringing her 1/2 way up from Charleston.) She really, really wanted to be on board for this part of the journey since we'd be passing directly in front of her condo on the ICW. She'd never seen the boat so didn't know what she was getting into. The other sisters warned her that the aft cabin would be VERY cramped quarters. Thanks to their exaggerations, Donna was pleasantly surprised. She loved her "little cabin" and looked quite cozy all tucked in with her reading light and good book.

Having a glass of wine to celebrate Donna's arrival.

We were all excited to get started on the trip on Monday morning, but Mother Nature had other ideas. The wind was gusting up to 25 - 30 knots! Bummer! Donna only had 3 days to spend with us and we were hoping to get to Charleston. Oh well, as I've learned on this trip, the weather rules. We made the best of it but stopping in the sales office at St. James Plantation to see if we could tour some of their condos. The resort is enormous and very posh. We got to see several condos which were HUGE! (Of course, keep in mind that I've been living in a 42' x 13' box for the past 5 months.) No, even with that factored in, the condos were very, very nice. We're keeping the information as reference as we look at other properties along the way. Although I don't think anything could beat the home we have in Waynesville. Oh well, once again, I digress.

On Tuesday morning we got up super early, determined to get underway come hell or high water. Ummmm, did we factor in falling water? Turns out it was raining hard and freezing cold. But hey, we're hardy sailors, we can get through anything. We headed out and after about 1 mile we were stopped dead in our tracks due to construction on a bridge. About 5 boats circled around waiting for them to clear the way. One of the boats reminded them that they were not supposed to start work until 8am and that he had contacted the Coast Guard and they were in violation of Code blah, blah, blah and would be facing a $60,000 fine. Wouldn't you know, the crew started to skedaddle and get things moving at that point. We later nicknamed that guy the mayor of the ICW for the day! I have a feeling he must have been a lawyer in his previous life.




Even though Donna was a newbie swab, we let her take the helm while we were tucked under the dodger to avoid the rain. :-)



Finally, after a few hours we reached Donna's condo. The rain had slowed down to a light drizzle so it wasn't too bad for Donna to go out on deck to get a pic.


Donna's condo is to the right of this pic.


Donna told us that by the time we'd reach South Carolina that the sun would come out. And wouldn't you know, she was right. Not that it warmed up a whole lot...but getting rid of the rain was a HUGE improvement.

We spent the night in Bucksport, SC which was really cool. It's a very rural area with just a small marina and nothing else around that we could see. The lady that ran the place was ready to close when we pulled in, but she helped us to get settled and even served us a shot of scotch to warm us up. (We were chilled to the bone by that time.) We hooked up the heater and strolled up the dock to meet our neighbors. The boat in front of us was a 70' Hutchins, a VERY luxurious motor yacht. It's one of only 3 in existence, each custom made. They had a crew of 3 guys and one girl, taking the boat to the Bahamas for the owner. We asked if we could get a tour and were not disappointed. The boat is constructed of beautiful mahogany wood on oak planking. It had crew quarters as well as the master suite and 2 guest rooms. The galley had a FULL SIZE refrigerator! The guy said it took 5 years to build and a lot of scotch to make all the building decisions. It's a real piece of art. Unfortunately, I didn't get a still picture of it. I think Bill got it on his video cam.


Morning in Bucksport was very foggy. Ice was on the docks and the boat!

The next morning was cold (AGAIN) but without rain. We waited until some of the fog settled down then headed south to Georgetown. We decided that was the best place to rent a car to take Donna back, since I couldn't talk her into taking one more day off. The trip went down the Waccamaw River through a beautiful wooded area called the Frances Marion National Wildlife Refuge. Lots of trees with Spanish moss hanging off of them...just like being in the bayou. We got into Georgetown, got a rental car and I drove Donna back to Charleston (about 1-1/2 hrs) then came back to the boat.

Sure enough, the next day we made Charleston with ease. And wouldn't you know that it was THE most gorgeous day of the trip! I wish Donna could have stayed. It was warm enough that I sat on the bow of the boat with just a throw over my legs to keep me warm. The homes were really neat all along the ICW. We ended up anchoring just before the Ben Sawyer Bridge which is the entrance to Sullivan's Island...a noted landmark for many reasons, not the least of which is that it was the site of our wedding almost 6 years ago. We had a toast to old and new memories as we watched the sun set into the water.

More pics from the ICW

We stayed in Oriental, NC November 12 - 15 due to high winds and "frog chokin' " downpours. (Heard that term from a local weatherman.) Since then, we have moved south quickly, braving some pretty cold temps. We are now at Southport, NC which is just about 30 miles north of the South Carolina border. We're coming home November 20 - 29 for a WOT Board Meeting and Thanksgiving. Then we'll continue south. Below are some photos of the past week.

Our dock in Oriental. The marina was part of a hotel, Tiki Bar and restaurant complex.

A beautiful southern mansion in Oriental, complete with gas lamps.

Shrimp boats and sailboats in the fog at Oriental.

Early morning sunrise on the ICW. On our way to Swansboro we saw our first dolphins! Wanted to get a picture of them, but they moved too fast.

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Bill bundled up, braving the freezing cold temps. It's especially cold when you consider the wind factor. Today, as we were sailing the Cape Fear River, we had gusts up to 35 knots! But we were still able to sail with the jib for a while.

Part of the "boat parade" traveling down the ICW. When we got to the bridge just before Wrightsville Beach we must have had about 15 boats stacked up. We played musical chairs, going in circles waiting for the bridge to open (only opened on the top of the hour). It was pretty dicey because the channel wasn't very wide and quickly dropped off to 3 foot of water. One of the boats ended up going aground. Thanks to the driving ability of our trusty captain, we made it through just fine.



Barb and Rich Hampel, from s/v Aquila joined us for dinner one night. Rich had us sample scotch from Scotland that had a very strange taste. He said it was the peat. Blech! But I did like his Lemoncello. Needless to say, a good time was had by all.


An overview pic of the marina at Wrightsville Beach. Our boat is the second one on the outer dock.

Traveling down the intercoastal

Since leaving Solomons, we have traveled quite a few miles...290 to be specific. Most days, we make 35 - 50 miles, which is a comfortable amount. We get up early, eat breakfast and try to be "on the road" by 7:30 or so. We usually make it into port by 3 pm or so. That gives us time to relax, unwind, have dinner and prepare the course for the next day. Then off to bed and up early the next day to start over again.

The scenery has been beautiful, with all the trees changing color. We usually travel with about 10 boats or so, although they change all the time. Some take different routes or, in the case of power boats, they outpace us quite quickly. Haven't really met anyone that we are traveling with consistently, but that's ok. Not a lot of time for socializing anyway.

As of today, Thursday, Nov. 13, we are in Oriental, NC (milemarker 181 on the intercoastal)waiting out rain and thunderstorms which are predicted to last until Saturday.

Since I have a halfway decent connection, I thought I'd upload some photos to share some of the trip with y'all (getting into the spirit of the south).





Love this photo of Bill. He donned his scuba gear while we were still at Solomons to clean the bottom of the boat. The propeller was covered with barnacles but he was able to scrap them off pretty easily. You gotta admire him . Een though it was a warm and sunny day, the water was only about 60 degrees. Yikes! He said the scuba gear kept him warm, but he didn't have the hood for his head -- we'll pick that up from home when we return for Thanksgiving.



This is another photo from Solomons. We went sailing one Sunday with April and Kevin and went right through these boats, lining up to race. It was pretty cold that day...but you know sailors, they are a hardy bunch!



Our boat in Deltaville, VA. It was a small marina with lots of covered slips for power boats. Reminded me of Indian Lake.



Sailing alongside a large containership into Norfolk, VA. This port is FAR busier than New York City. Giant containerships are lined up one right after another. Add in the activity at the naval base and you've got yourself one busy port. Listening on the VHF was like being in the middle of O'Hara airport!



Offloading equipment surrounds another big ship. Up close, the cranes look like something out of Star Wars.

A beautiful Carolina morning lights up the deck at Bellhaven Marina office. This marina was my favorite so far. VERY homey. They even had a hot tub, but we didn't use it. I'd gotten very sick with cold/sinus symptoms that day.

Watched a beautiful sunset from the gazebo at Bellhaven.

Great shot taken by Bill from Bellhaven.

When it stops raining, I'll take some pics of Oriental, NC and post them. Until then, enjoy!

I'm havin' a moment!

In May of 2007 I was in Deltaville, VA for a weekend to scout out marinas for our trip. Now, we are here on our own boat. You can't imagine how good that feels. To sit here, sipping a beer and looking at the same creek as a year and a half ago. At that time, I didn't know if we'd really take this trip or not. But we did. And it feels like a great accomplishment. Ok, I'll say it....I'm proud of us. We worked hard, saved up, prepared our personal and professional lives as well as the boat then set off into the sunset. So far, we have 1,300 miles under our keel, since leaving Sandusky July 10. It just feels great...so I'm gonna savor this moment while it lasts.

The Boat is Fixed!

The transmission finally returned yesterday and was promptly installed. The weather today was yucky so we filled water tanks, got groceries and prepared the boat to MOVE!!!! We plan to set sail early tomorrow morning (Nov. 7) to head south. We hope to get to the Intercoastal in 2 days then head down to North Carolina. We'll probably need to leave the boat somewhere in NC when we return home for Thanksgiving (Nov. 20 -29). We'll keep you posted!

Solomons has been a lovely place to stay, although we were here much longer than anticipated (26 days!). April and Kevin have been wonderful hosts...inviting us to dinners at their house, taking us sailing and out to local restaurants. Really have appreciated their hospitality and hope to return the favor some day down the road.

Welp, gotta run...hope to have some travel pics for you to enjoy next time.

Stuck in Solomons

Well, we heard from Mack Boring yesterday. They won't have our transmission ready until NEXT Thursday, Nov. 6. So, guess we'll be here a while longer. I'm having visions of us crossing the Potomac similar to that famous painting of George Washington and his troops doing their crossing in a snow storm. Hey, maybe I can get Bill to pose for a pic if/when it happens.

Actually, it's not bad at all. We could be stuck in WAY worse circumstances. We did have an "issue" with the check vavle on the water pressure line so had no running water for a few days. Well, let me rephrase that. We DID have running water, just too much of it. Every time we'd turn the water pump on water would spray all over the engine compartment. So we used water as little as possible. When it was necessary, one of us would be by the water pump switch. "ON," would say Boop at the kitchen sink. Bill would switch on the water and I'd wash the dishes as quickly as possible. "OFF," I'd shout ASAP. And so it went...day after funfilled day. Then the part finally came in yesterday and Bill was able to get it fixed. OK, God...I got it...one more thing not to take for granted...running water. Jeeez! Will the lessons never stop?

Tonight, we decided to get out with the public, since we've been cooped up all week. It was sunny and somewhat warm this afternoon, so we took the dink to the Calypso Bay bar for $1 beer night. (Do we know how to whoop it up or what???) It was fun to people watch. There was this one girl/lady there who was about 6 feet tall with 2 inch black "hurt me" high heel boots. Jokingly, I asked Bill if I could get a pair for the boat. Without hestitation he said, "you'd kill yourself." Sadly, the man knows me all too well. I am the biggest clutz in tennis shoes. I can't imagine having the added bonus of gravity working against me!

Soooo, now we are back on board. I immediately turned on the heat (that Bill did not want to install, but now praises its virtues every day). Initially, it was a cozy 55 degrees. It's now up to 60 degrees. Thank goodness for warm socks! (Do you think they make them in a black high heel style? :-) )

We ain't got no frickin' forward!

October 13 - 25: Solomons, MD



We finally left Annapolis on Monday, October 13. We took on fuel at Annapolis City Marina then headed out to the Chesapeake Bay. We had a great sail about 40 miles south to Solomons Maryland. As we came into the harbor we suddenly heard a loud CLUNK! and the forward gear was gone. Luckily, Billy Bob is one handy sailor, so he was able to get the boat into gear, but just barely. The transmission was in forward but the propshaft was barely turning We limped into the harbor and set the hook for the night. Hmmm....what now?



April and Kevin, who live in Solomons, called to see if we'd made it in. We told them about our problem and they offered to come down to the boat with their Yanmar (engine) manuals to help Bill figure out the problem. Bill rowed in on the dink, picked them up and brought them to the boat. Bill and Kevin analyzed the problem and decided it was definitely the transmission. Welp, wasn't much we could do at that point, so why not enjoy ourselves?



We had a dozen crabs we'd bought off a fisherman the day before and had steamed them up. We pulled out a couple of hammers and set to work. Had a GREAT evening enjoying good food and new friendship. What a difference from the old Boop and Bill who would have been wigged out by the impending costly repair. I have to say, this trip has taught us to take things one day at a time. Worrying isn't worthwhile. Be in the moment and enjoy the positives rather than focusing on the negatives.

April and Bill were quite adept at finding all the meat they could in the crabs' convoluted carcasses.

Bill demonstrates a shortcut to getting the meat out of a crab.

The next morning, Bill called a couple surrounding marinas to find someone to fix the transmission. The first one said they could do it, but didn't seem very knowledgeable. Bill called Mack Boring, who is a national company that repairs transimssions for Yanmar engines. They said, "There is a Yanmar-certified repair marina in Solomons, MD, are you near there?" "Yep, that's exactly where we are," he replied. "The name of it is Zahniser's, are you near there?" "In fact, we are anchored right in front of them." Talk about a being at the right place at the right time! Once again, things fell perfectly in place. We managed to get the boat into Zahniser's dock and settled in. By late afternoon, one of their crew was on the boat to analyze the problem. He too, agreed it was the transmission and tried to remove it, but was unable to do so, since it was wedged in behind the engine. He returned the next morning to lift the engine up and remove the transmission. They sent it out to Mack Boring's facility in New Jersey on Wednesday night. It is expected to take 7 - 10 days to be returned. So, once again, our plans are changed. Instead of spending one night in Solomons, looks like we'll be here a couple weeks. We hope to take off again early the week of October 27...will keep you posted. In the meantime, here's some photos.

Zahniser's main office. The facility is impeccably clean and well maintained.

Our friend, Eric Jensen, surprised us with a visit on Oct. 16. He was in Baltimore for business and drove down to spend the night. We took a long ride on the dink down the various creeks that feed into Solomons bay. It's sort of like Cumberland Lake, in that the creeks wind back and forth for miles. Beautiful homes all along the coast. We had a great morning exploring the area, it's always good to see friends. (By the way, the title of this blog comes from Eric. When we first got the boat, he was at the helm as we came into Battery Park. His boat had one control for speed and gears. Ours had two separate controls. As he tried to put the boat into reverse to slow it down as he pulled into the dock, he yelled, "I ain't got no frickin' reverse." To this day, we have not let him live it down. Sorry Eric...had to tell the story one more time.)

Eric left behind a case of Miller Light which Kevin and Bill took no time in devouring. Bill always kids Eric that Miller Light is "swill" so they made up the sign above to send to Eric.

April and Kevin on our first night out on Solomons Island.

A self-portrait taken by April and I.

Bill and I at the Calypso Crab Shack.

Good Times in Annapolis

October 6 - 12: Annapolis, MD

Cruising Party

Prior to going home for my visit, Bill and I met a great cruising couple, Jan and Iain Robertson on s/v Jockslodge. They are originally from Scotland, but lived in Canada for sometime before setting off on their 33 foot Canadian Sailcraft to live on board. They are now in year 3 of a 5-year plan to cruise. They have been to Cuba, the Bahamas and back up to the Chesapeake. This year, they plan to go to Cuba then on to South America. They have been so helpful in teaching us the tricks of living aboard. I call them our cruising godparents. Jan has even taught me to bake bread from scratch! I'm talking the whole science experiment process of yeast mixing with water and sugar to start a chemical reaction that looks like Jed Clampet's "bubblin' crude". So far, I've made pizza crust and french bread...both of which came out pretty darn good. Ian has spent time with Bill going over the charts, pointing out good anchorages on the way down the ICW and areas to avoid.

At one of our get-togethers they came up with the idea of holding a cruiser's party to meet other folks anchored or moored in Spa Creek for the boat show. Our first attempt was rained out. The second, successful attempt was held the Sunday I returned to Annapolis. Everyone brought what they wanted to drink and a snack to share. It was great getting to meet so many folks and listen to their stories. We truly are "newbies" at this, when you consider those who have lived aboard 3, 5 or 8 years and travel south every year to Trinidad or Cuba or other exotic ports. I got so caught up in talking that I only took two pics...but hey, it's better than none.

We held the party under the shelter in a little park on Spa Creek. Lots of good food and tall tales!

This young French couple had two children. The baby slept through most of the party. Their young daughter was about 7 and adorable in a little floral dress. Wish I'd taken her pic as well. Can't imagine living on board with two small ones, but what a great opportunity for those kids to see the world!

Oh, I have to tell you a funny story. We were talking to Jan and Ian about the new generator we got to top off the batteries when we are on the hook. Bill was asking if they thought it would be powerful enough to use an electric blanket when it gets cold. Jan, who is a very practical, replied in her beautiful Scottish brogue, "Oh for heaven's sake, put on some socks!" Now, when we get up in the morning and are quickly climbing into our layers of clothes our favorite refrain is, "put on some socks!"

Annapolis Boat Show

On Monday, the set up for the boat show got underway in earnest. We couldn't believe how fast the area was transformed.

This crane was used to set pilings in the bay for the floating docks.

Two boats were used to move the floating docks into place. This one is called "Pull."

And this one is called "Shove." Pretty clever, eh?

They moved one line of docks in...filled them with boats, then moved another line of docks into place.

This is an early view of the set up, before all the boats were in place.

Editor's Note: Our camera bit the dust...er, water
Ok, I don't know if you can understand how excited Bill and I were to watch the show come together. The Annapolis Boat Show is the largest in the U.S. and it had always been a dream of ours to attend. Here we were...not only about to attend the show, but there on our own boat, to watch the set up! Just too much. We decided to go over to Pusser's (Rum) Restaurant to watch all the activity. Pusser's has a long deck that is directly next to the boat show area. Well, one Painkiller led to another and then another. We went back to the boat on the dink. As I was stepping from the dink to the back deck, my foot slipped and SPLASH, I was in the water. Luckily, I grabbed the aftstay on my way down (a stainless steel wire running from the top of the mast to the back of the boat). I managed to keep myself only about waist deep in the very cold, very dirty water while Bill jumped on the boat to lower the swim ladder for me to climb back on board. I cut up my hand pretty bad, but it was worth it because I was able to save my Blackberry which was in one pocket of my jacket. Unfortunately, the camera in the other pocket did not fair as well. So, I'll do my best to provide links or descriptions for the rest of the boat show story. Sorry folks. We really are not alcoholics, just seems like the good stories happen when the spirits come out.

We attended the first day of the show on Thursday. It was great getting on all the fancy models of boats, including a HUGE 82 foot Oyster, a true cruising yacht and a 50-some foot Hinkley which looked like it had been all hand made out of beautiful dark wood. We also got to board Manitou, a sailboat that John F Kennedy sailed. (My mom would have LOVED that.) I wanted to recreate his famous pic with Bill at the helm, but couldn't do it without the camera. We also met one of Bill's idols, Bob Bitchin, the publisher of Latitudes and Attitudes magazine. He's a former biker who got bit by the sailing bug and has built an empire out of it....magazine, books, videos, clothing line...you name it. He's really down to earth and friendly. His wife, Jody, tried to take a pic with her phone but it didn't work out so you'll just have to click on the link above to see him.

Some of the guys from Harbor North (where we store the boat) were also at the show, working the Hunter booth. We got to hook up with them for dinner the first night, then had TJ and Stan over the next night on our boat. I went to bed early (as always) but Bill and the guys stayed up till 3 am! I felt bad for those guys because they had to work the whole next day at the show. UGH!

During the first afternoon, I was having some lunch and met a couple who had cruised for 8 years throughout the world...the Med, Spain, Croatia, Middle East, Africa...you name it. They said the best piece of equipment they had on board was a water purifier. They never had to buy water after that. Just filled up their tanks and the purifier took it from there. It's been heavily tested and always beat out bottled or tap water for purity and taste. Sounded good to me. We ended up getting one and Bill has it installed. SOOOOO nice just to turn the tap for good drinking water instead of carting it to the boat. We also got good, lightweight rain jackets and some cool LED lights which take up less amps when we are on the hook. (Bill monitors our usage closely. I call him the Amp Nazi. God forbid if you use something without turning it off! But I'm sure I'll be thankful for his diligence down the road.)

On the last night at the show, we got a Painkiller (I know, I know...but we couldn't resist, since they were being served in really cool tin cups that we could keep). I was walking out one of the tents just chatting it up about all the cool stuff we'd seen and what we could use down the road, blah, blah, blah. I turned and said, "OMG, you're not Bill." I'd been talking the ear off this really nice older gentleman who barely spoke English. He started laughing as he took my arm and looked back to wave to Bill. We all had a good laugh over that one. Sometimes I really am such a major DORK!

Shortly after, I again got separated from Bill (the crowds were thick) and ended up at the Sebago shoe tent. Well, what do you know? Bill always gives me a hard time about the shoes I have on board, which, back me up here girls, is not much. I only have 2 pairs of sandals, boat shoes and tennis shoes. That's it! But the boat shoes at Sebago were sooooo cute. And again, you girls will nod your heads in agreement when I tell you they were ON SALE! I couldn't resist. I tried them on and kept looking around for Bill to stop me. I told the sales girls about my dilemma. Finally, after about the third failed attempt to find Bill, one of the girls said, "you know, sometimes the universe puts you in a situation where you just know what to do." Boy, she was singin' my song. I quickly gave her my charge card and told her to ring them up. "Do you want the box?" "Heck no," I replied, "I'll hide them in my bag." Of course, as soon as I saw Bill I had to fess up. He started laughing, saying, "I just KNEW you were in a shoe place."

We went over to the Federal House, our favorite hangout, to meet up with April and Kevin. April is a cousin of Kathy, part of the crew we met back in Fairport, Ohio. Kathy told April about our trip and we've been emailing off and on. She and Kevin live in Solomon's, which is just south of Annapolis. We had a great time. They are interested in cruising someday so were full of questions of how we prepared and how we're handling the trip. Talking to them made me realize how far we have come. It's amazing that the things we thought were such obstacles at first seem so insignificant now. Maybe we are learning a thing or two. Hmmmm

Kevin and April with us at the Federal House. (Pic was taken with April's camera.)

We spent the rest of the weekend getting things ready to leave Annapolis and head south. Bill didn't want to leave but I was ready to move on. I can't wait to see what's down the road and am anxious to have more cruising experiences in other ports. Stay tuned...