We were up early and decided to leave for Annapolis. There were storms coming in on Wednesday and Thursday so I wanted to be somewhere safe - probably not at anchor. Autumn Borne was heading to Annapolis today so we decided to join them. It would be a longer trip than normal - about 50 miles - which was even longer since we'd have the tide against us for several hours.
No problems as we untied the boat and departed the free dock in Chesapeake City. It bothered me a little that we never saw anyone on the two 30' power boats behind us. I guess they had just left their boats on the free dock "for a while"? Towns put in free dock so visitors can come and see their city plus spend money. These two powerboats were preventing other cruisers from using the docks and the town was getting nothing out of their boats being there. OK. Enough rant for today.
Once back in the C&D Canal, I set the throttle for what would normally be 5 1/2 knots. Our GPS showed the boat was only making 3.8-4.0 knots because of the tidal current against us. Oh well... we were moving in the right directions, only slowly.
A few hours later the tide changed and helped us along. As we approached the Sassafras River, both Autumn Borne and Amazing Grace were coming out and heading south. All 3 of us were within about 5 miles.
The 5-6 mph helping winds eventually died completely and we were motoring south on a calm Chesapeake Bay. It was an uneventful day and we approached the Bay Bridge (not the Bay Bridge - Tunnel near Norfolk) around 3:30pm. Look how calm the water was.
Autumn Borne was about 1 hour ahead of us entering Annapolis Harbor. They were going to anchor in Weems Creek and we decided to join them although I was concerned about being anchored with the high winds on Thursday. The Navy keeps hurricane moorings in Weems Creek which they use for the Naval Academy boats in really bad storms. In the past, they let others use the moorings with the understanding they would have to leave if directed. We planned on picking up one of these moorings which Dean said were available. Well... I guess the Navy had changed their mind about boats using their moorings - maybe others took advantage and left boats on them unattended - and they were all marked "No Trespassing". We instead anchored near the creek entrance. I called the Annapolis Harbor Master and there were mooring available which is where we typically stay. The main reason I decided stay in Weems Creek was to see Dean and Sue (on Autumn Borne) and our friends D and Don (on Southern Cross) who were working the boat show. Their boat was on a dock just down the creek from our anchorage. Turns out Dean and Sue had cocktails and dinner early plus D and Don were working late tearing down the boat show which ended just yesterday. We never got to hang out with any of them and spent a quiet night on the boat.
Wednesday, October 16th (Day 20)
After a good "catch up" sleep of almost 12 hours, I got up around 9am. I checked the weather and the big storm and winds were now higher (gusts to high 30s) and longer (now stretching into Friday). Also the rain was coming today and would start in about 1 hour. I decided to error on the side of caution (always a good sailing motto) and move to the downtown mooring field. The boat show workers were removing the docks and pilings from the harbor which was freeing moorings all morning.
We raised the anchor and motored out of Weems Creek around 9:30am. 1/2 hour later the rain started to drizzle and Laura went below for our rain gear. As we approached the mooring field, it looked pretty full. But, driving around we saw that the Boat Show workers had just removed the docks from around several moorings and we could tie up without being in their way. Laura did her normal excellent job of tying us to the mooring line even though these moorings had fairly short lines. By 10:30am we were safe and sound on a good mooring only a short distance from the dinghy dock.
We spent a quiet day on the boat. I worked a few minor jobs and watched several of The Deuce episodes on HBO from our phone tethered to the TV. Laura decided to make meatballs and sauce so we invited D and Don over for a home cooked meal after their boat show jobs. I dropped the dinghy and motored the short distance to the dinghy dock around 6pm. D and Don were there waiting and we had a nice reunion back on the boat. Laura made her typical excellent spaghetti and meatballs which we all enjoyed with some 19 Crimes Banished wine. After bringing them back to shore around 9pm, I hauled up the dinghy and battened down the boat for high winds predicted that night.
Thursday, October 17th (Day 21)
It was a bit of a wild night on the mooring with the winds gusting into the mid 30s. I was very glad we had left Atlantic Highlands when we did because this storm was bringing 50 mph winds to them.
Immediately after getting up today, I started our Honda generator and turned on the heat. It was 64 in the boat - chilly for us. Laura started coffee and we relaxed a bit. After we warmed up, I switched the heat off and turned on the hot water heater. We both wanted to take hot showers before going into town today for a walk and laundry.
Laura is making us french toast for breakfast with the french baguettes she made yesterday to go along with the spaghetti and meatballs. Yumm!
While we were holed up at Atlantic Highlands, we decided to join the Ocean Cruising Club which D and Don have belonged to forever. I submitted the application on-line and D sponsored us with a nice letter. To qualify for their full membership, you have to make an open ocean passage of over 1,000 nautical miles. On my trip "Up The Pacific", both the segment from New Zealand to Tonga (1,050) and Christmas Island to Oahu (1,150) qualified. A few days ago I received an email saying we were members! One of the reasons we decided to join now was we had retired from Catskill Marina and my Captain job at Hudson Cruises, we would be sailing to some different places and could better take advantage of the free docks and get to-gethers offered by OCC. Yesterday, D told us there was a OCC dinner at Mathews Yacht Club on October 24th which is only about 150 miles south of here near Deltaville. It included free dockages for a night plus a nice dinner for only $20 each. We signed up and will be sailing around the upper Chesapeake for the next week or so before the party.
Here are a couple pictures I took from the boat this afternoon. The first is Annapolis Harbor. Two days ago this whole area was covered with temporary docks for the boat show including where our mooring is.
This picture is of the US Naval Academy from the harbor.
We went into Annapolis just before noon with 3 loads of laundry. There were a few people in front of us at the Harbormaster laundry so we walked around town for 45 minutes with our laundry basket holding our place in line. There is a washer and dryer in both the men's and lady's rooms so we were able to do two loads at the same time. About an hour later, we had everything done with the last load in the dryer so we walked to Chick and Ruth's Deli for lunch. They have the best burgers (char-broiled) and milkshakes (real ice cream) I've ever eaten. We ordered their Jumbo Chocolate Shake (32 oz) which Laura and I tried to suck through the small straws for the next 1/2 hour. I ordered their 2/3 pound cheesburger with all the fixings and Laura had the steak quesadilla. I was hungry and ATE THE WHOLE THING!
They have burgers up to 3 pounds and shakes up to 96 ounces. Even I couldn't eat those...
After rolling ourselves back to the Harbormaster building and collecting our laundry, we motored back to the boat as the wind was wiping us around. The wind stayed a consistent 25 knots with gusts into the mid-30s all afternoon. Luckily, the wind direction was right from shore so there were no waves in the harbor. Just lots of wind.
Here is a picture D took of Second Wind in the Annapolis mooring field. We're the red-stripe boat near the center of the picture.
Tomorrow we plan on sailing down to the Choptank River and visiting St. Michael's and Cambridge for the next several days. I'll let you know how it goes.
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