We're in Annapolis and stayin' put!

September 10 - 23: Annapolis, MD

Sorry I haven't written for a while. We've been getting settled in Annapolis, MD. We had originally planned just to visit Annapolis then continue our tour of the Chesapeake. However, we fell in love with this place so we decided to stay here through the Annapolis Sail Boat Show, which ends Oct. 13. At that point, we will need to skedaddle down south as quickly as possible. It's already getting a bit cool in the mornings, but not bad at all. In fact, very comfortable.

This place is the sailing capital of the U.S. and very cruiser friendly. In fact, there is a dinghy dock at the end of every street that comes down to the water. You just drive up, tie up and you're on your merry way. We are staying on a mooring ball in Spa Creek which is just off the main bay. The ball is only about $12 a day which includes water fill ups, showers and laundry facilities. VERY reasonable. Bill is in hog heaven! He's trying to find a spot to get in on some sailing races, which occur every weekend. He'd love that.

Thought I'd post some pics to get you acquainted with the area as well. We have some events planned in the near future, but I'll tell you about those as they happen. So here goes...

This is the view of the mooring field off our bow. It will get really crowded when we get closer to the Boat Show. Hundreds of boats come for that event.

This is the view off the stern of our boat. We are tucked into a creek surrounded by beautiful homes.

A tour boat that takes folks out several times a day. Very elegant.

The main street...filled with shops and restaurants.

All the lamp posts are decorated with beautiful flower baskets. They have a fund raiser each year to pay for them. Don't know how they keep them looking so great, but they do.


This is the view as you come into the main dinghy dock in the center of town. Very quaint!

The dinghy dock is just about full prior to the Navy/Rutgers game.

I'm filling the water tanks while talking to the Harbor Master.

A statue of Alex Haley reading to children. It is said this is the site where his ancestor, Kunte Kinte was sold after coming here from Africa.

The Naval Academy is here (we'll take a tour later and post pics). This past weekend was a home game against Rutgers. It was parent's weekend as well as several class reunions. We met Walt and Betty at the bar, watching the game. Walt was a graduate of the 1958 class. His classmate was John McCain who was also here for the occasion. We had a great time talking to them. Turns out Walt and Betty were friends in high school in Minnesota. After Betty's husband passed away, she moved to Arizona...not knowing that Walt lived there as well. He looked her up when she missed a class reunion and found she lived only a mile away! He called her and asked why she hadn't made it to the reunion. She explained she couldn't get to MN. He said, "well, we're having a followup get together for those that couldn't make it this weekend." "Oh," she replied, "I can't get there." "That's ok," he said, "I'm in your driveway now!" The rest, as they say, is romantic history.

Stay tuned for much more from Annapolis as the month unfolds.

Beautiful Baltimore

September 4 - 9: Baltimore, MD

Baltimore is a beautiful city. There is a ton of development right on the waterfront. In fact, they have a water taxi that is $9 for the day to hop on or off at different stops throughout the area. Had a great day exploring...more about that later.

When we first arrived, we stayed at the city docks. It was the least expensive place but was a fixed pier, instead of a floating dock. On Friday morning, the dockmaster came over to tell us they were shutting down the electric that night, because due to Hurricane Hanna, they expected a storm surge of 2 - 4 feet. If they got 2 feet, the water would be over the dock and almost to the top of the pilings. We decided to move to Inner Harbor Marina which had floating docks.

In addition to the storm surge, they were predicting winds up to 50 knots. Bill tied up the boat like a fly stuck in a spider's web! We had 8 lines off the boat in every direction. Luckily, the winds only got up to 30 knots, which wasn't bad at all. Similar to what we've seen in Lake Erie. But it's always best to be safe than sorry.

On Sunday, we took a tour of the city and had a great time. I've posted lots of pics below.

Skyline of Baltimore ... it's a beautiful city.

City docks, where we were originally. You can see the aquarium in the background.

The office of Inner Harbor Marina. The Rusty Scupper is a popular fancy restaurant.

This is one of over 8 huge yachts that came to the marina for shelter from the storm. This one is about 100 feet long. You should see it up close...amazing! Sadly, we were not invited on board.

USS Constellation...from the civil war.

Loved, loved, loved the aquarium. Such an impressive museum! This is a pic of a zebra shark and a pool full of rays. So elegant!


Riding on the water taxi after our tour of the aquarium.



Captain Linda on the water taxi. Turns out she has the same boat that we do! She has cruised down in the Bahamas and gave us lots of great tips about that area as well as local spots.


Fells Point is a quaint little town with lots of shops and restaurants.


When we got back to downtown Baltimore the sun was setting. They have musical groups playing all the time in a center area. This one played Aztec music that was so unique and calming. I bought a CD to enjoy throughout the trip.



Bill and I at a Tiki Bar...surprise, surprise.

We're in the Chesapeake!

August 1 & 2

On Monday morning, Labor Day, we pulled up anchor and headed down the C&D Canal. It connects the Delaware River to the Chesapeake. It's only a 12 mile crossing, which wasn't bad at all. VERY exciting to be in the Chesapeake. First impression??? CRAB POTS! They are EVERYWHERE!!!!! I don't think a poor crab could wiggle a leg without getting caught in one. And it makes boating a bit tricky because you don't want to get the lines caught on your propeller or wrapped around your rudder. I sat on the deck to point out where they were and we did fine maneuvering around them.

The first night we anchored in a port called Harve De Grace. It's a small town with lots of boating traffic, especially on a holiday weekend. As we were pulling up the anchor the next morning, Bill got his hand caught in the chain! It wrapped around his hand, pinning it against the anchor windless (the machine that pulls the anchor up). He grabbed a metal bar that he uses to release the chain and luckily did not mangle his hand. He put it on ice immediately and repeated icing it several more times. It's swollen a bit, but luckily, no serious damage (at least that we can tell so far).

The second night, we anchored in a secluded bay on the Sassafrass River. LOVED it! So quiet and peaceful. During the day, we took a dink ride upriver to Georgetown, a HUGE boating community. There were way more boats than homes. We found a little spit of a beach surrounded by woods that had a lot of honeysuckle-type flowers growing among the branches. Smelled so sweet. We sat and listened to all the birds, crickets, squirrels, etc. Felt good to be in a wooded area again. I was really beginning to miss my walks in the woods every morning at home. We had dinner at a marina then whisked back to the boat as the sun was setting. Absolutely gorgeous. We listened to the crickets as we watched the stars come out and the moon set... the perfect ending to a perfect day (well, except for the hand accident).

This morning, Bill pulled out the divider board he had in the anchor well, to cut it down and move it over so hopefully the chain won't get caught up again. We are heading towards Baltimore. We're going to anchor out on the river leading up to it tonight, then will stay in Baltimore at a dock over the weekend since they are predicting bad weather from Hurricane Hanna.

As always, I'll keep you posted...

Delaware Bay made a mess of our boat!

August 31: Reedy Island



We left Cape May on the Sunday of Labor Day weekend. Again, up at the crack of dawn. We raised the sails and all seemed fine as we went the short distance down the coast to scoot under the tip of NJ and head toward Delaware Bay. Suddenly, the wind kicked up to 24 knots just as we were crossing the Cape May shoal. What a ride! I was literally hanging on to the steering wheel for dear life! Bill was busy adjusting the sails and running down into the cabin to continously check the chart plotter on our computer to make sure we did not wander out of the channel and run aground on the numerous shallow shoals around us. The waves were enormous! We'd ride up one then crash down, with water coming all the way back into the cockpit. At one point, I was standing in water up to my ankles! We've been through some storms on Lake Erie, but this was a doozy! The forecasters had said we'd have light winds of 5 - 7 knots. NOT!!!



The high winds continued their fury for about two and a half hours then suddenly it was over. The sun came out and the seas calmed down like nothing had ever happened. Bill said, "Hey, who turned off the switch?" The inside of our boat looked like it had a bad case of the flu. Books, hats, magazines, were "thrown up" all over the place. We picked things up, made some lunch and relaxed...thankful that we'd made it through ok.



Of course, with the calmer seas came calmer winds so once again, we were motoring across Delaware Bay. We made it all the way across (it was over a 30 mile trip) and up the Delaware River to Reedy Island, which provided a very safe anchorage for the evening. I tried to get in the water to relax but severly underestimated the power of an outgoing tide! The tides in this area are 6 feet, so you can imagine how much water runs through as the tide is going out. I ended up just hanging on to the swim ladder and the current pulled me out like I was swimming. (Lazy girls way of getting some laps in, eh?) It felt good to cool off and take a shower off the back of the boat.



Tomorrow, we go through the C&D canal to enter the Chesapeake!

A week at the Cape (May, that is)

August 24 30: Cape May, NJ

Cape May is a beautiful beach resort town, full of Victorian homes, great wide white beaches, lots of fishing fleets...just a really cool place to hang out. Bill wanted to refinish the teak on the outside of the boat, so we decided to stay a week and enjoy the surroundings. It reminded me of Charleston, SC quite a bit. We'd work every day then spend the afternoons riding bikes or tooling around in the dink, which we finally dragged out of the aft cabin and inflated.

These condos are on a back creek to the bay. Very pretty.

We also found this boat, called "Endless Summer" which is the name of Bill's previous boat.

While we were on this ride, we also saw a fisherman make a catch from the back of his boat. It turned out to be a baby shark! I couldn't believe it! Then the next day, the guy across from us on the dock caught a baby eel! Ewwwww...gave me the heebie jeebies. This area must be the nautical nursery for sea critters! No way I'm putting my feet in THIS water!

The downtown shopping area is very quaint. Spent an afternoon walking around there.

The "Lobster House" is a humongous restaurant on the water. This "boat" is part of the outdoor section. Bill had oysters and I had great soft shell crab.


Fishing boats next to the Lobster House.

One of my favorite days was the one spent at the beach. It was sooooo relaxing to lay in the sun. I rode my bike back to the beach the next day for an early morning walk. And, I must confess, I did get in the water. There was a group of 4 older ladies from New York whom I was listening to as I lay on the beach. They all went down to get in the water so I joined them to play in the waves. They were a hoot! They told me they were all widows who hung out together. (Bill told me he did not want me to join their club!) They had come to the Cape for a week's vacation and this was their last day. One of the stories that I thought was funny was how they were trying to get used to using computers. One of the ladies said her son set one up for her. One day, she was home alone and decided to get on the internet to read some articles. She said, "All of a sudden, this little box pops up and it says, 'Hi, I'm Steve, do you want to chat?' I got so scared that I turned the thing off, pulled all the plugs, locked all the doors and was shaking like a leaf! When my son came over I told him there had been a man in my house! After he stopped laughing, he explained what instant messaging was all about." Cute, huh? I really enjoyed them. So full of life and laughter! Unfortunately, I didn't get a pic to share...sorry.

Thought you might enjoy a moment on the beach. We did see a couple dolphins, but I didn't get them on camera.

Outside passage in the Atlantic

August 22 - 23: Sandy Hook, NJ to Atlantic City, NJ

We left New York and made our way about 14 miles to Sandy Hook, NJ. It's a popular anchorage area for those waiting to do the "outside passage" in the Atlantic. We had a quiet evening and got up early the next morning at 5 am to do the passage. We had some wind the first couple of hours but then it died down so we ended up motoring the whole way. 13 HOURS to Atlantic City! And even though there wasn't enough wind to sail, there were waves. Picture yourself on the teeter totter from hell, rolling side to side for 13 hours as the motor drones on. Kinda makes a couple lose their charm, if you know what I mean. Only highlight of the trip was that Bill saw a dolphin as we headed into the Atlantic City port. I couldn't believe it! I'd sat out in the cockpit for 13 hours, because going below made me nauseous. Then when I went below to pee, he see's our first dolphin. Oh well, I was more than happy to have that part of the trip done!

The sun rises as we (gulp) head out to the Atlantic. Turns out it was more of a rolling manatee than a sea lion.

We anchored out in Atlantic City right in front of the Harraghs casino. There were lots of bright lights on all the casinos, but we were in no mood to gamble and too worn out to party. We hit the sack early to get up the next day and continue our journey.

Dayt Two on the Atlantic was MUCH, MUCH better!!! We had 10-12 knot winds, seas were 4 - 6 foot high with a wave period (time between waves) of 10 seconds. In laymen's terms, a very pleasant, QUIET sail! In fact, it was so great that we purposely headed out about 7 miles to extend the 30 mile journey. One of the only times we've been able to sail since we left Lake Erie, August 17. Fantastic day! Bill was on the bow of the boat "having a moment" and called all his friends, but unfortunately, no one answered. So he just had to enjoy the moment alone...well, and with me.

We pulled into Cape May, NJ which is a beautiful beach resort town and training ground for the Coast Guard. More on Cape May in the next entry....