Tuesday, October 6th (start of week 2)
Air temp 62, water temp 69, winds SW @ 10
We are on a mooring in Back Creek which is about 1/2 mile from Annapolis. The City of Annapolis maintains moorings in several places around Annapolis including 5 or 6 in Back Creek. We usually pick up a mooring in the main harbor but there was a small swell coming in from the bay yesterday so we decided on the more protected Back Creek area.
There are marinas lining both shores of the creek from the entrance all the way to the end except for right next to our mooring where there is a small forest of trees. The marina just to the south of us is a huge boatyard but thankfully, there is not too much noise from folks working on the boats. Lots of birds and ducks around and it's like we are in a little sanctuary corner of the creek.
Two big events for today. We DIDN'T work on the boat and we DID get to shore. This was the first time in 8 days we've been off the boat.
After breakfast, I decided to practice my flute in the cockpit. I hadn't played in several days and I'm always a little squeaky when not playing every day. But, it sounded better as the flute and I warmed up. Laura would laugh because every time I stopped at the end of a song, the birds in the woods around us would be singing and making lots of noise - like they were trying to sing along with the flute. It was fun.
Toward noon we decided to go into town. I took off all the "ocean" straps from the dinghy and lowered it into the water. Laura helped me hoist the engine off the rail using a block and tackle on the end of our mizzen boom. She lowered it onto the dinghy as I guided it from below. After securing it to the dinghy and locking it in, I attached the fuel line. It started nicely on the 4th pull.
We loaded up 2 bags of garbage and our backpack with normal gear - wallets, phones, handheld VHF radio, a sailors Leatherman (gotta bring tools to fix stuff) plus sweater and jacket if it got cooler. A short time later we were underway.
But wait! I hadn't checked the gas tank. I stopped the dinghy to look at the gauge and it read only about 1/4 tank - about 1 1/2 gallons. This should plenty as our 4-stroke Tohatsu is pretty frugal but I don't like to take chances. Back to the boat and fill 'er up from one of the 4, 5-gallon jerry jugs of gasoline I keep for the generator and outboard. Ok. Underway again.
But wait! Had Laura grabbed my mask? Nope. Back to the boat for the mask. The third time was a charm as we motored out of the creek past our neighbor who was probably wondering if we would go back again for something else.
There was still a light swell on the bay as we motored out of Back Creek so I just ran the dinghy barely on plane as we bounced across the waves for the 1/4 mile run into the Severn Creek to downtown Annapolis and the city provided dinghy dock. We tied up, locked the dinghy to the dock and WE WERE ASHORE!
Both of our legs felt a little wobbly as we took our first walk longer than 40 feet in over a week. We do exercise on the boat and workout from going up and down our 8 stairs about a hundred times a day, but legs need to walk.
Where was everybody? There were about 1/4 of the normal people around the waterfront and shops. Guess COVID was keeping lots of people home.
We were both hungry from skipping lunch as we we walked to our favorite lunch spot Chick and Ruths Deli. They were open but had very few patrons - even for 1:30 in the afternoon. We sat at one of the tables in front of the store all by ourselves. There was only 1 cook and 2 servers / waiters when normally there would be 3-4 cooks and maybe 8 wait-staff.
The menu was also about 1/10 the size of their normal menu and they didn't even have the 3/4 and 1 pound burgers. I settled for the 1/2 pound cheese burger and Laura had the pastrami Rubin sandwich. We were both looking forward to their delicious chocolate milk shake and decided to split their 33 ounce with 2 straws. It was just as we remembered - chocolaty, rich and delicious.
After lunch we walked around the Maryland State House where we saw this huge pumpkin. I figured it wasn't real but we walked over to it and it was! I took this picture of Laura sitting next to it so you could see the size. I think it was the biggest pumpkin I ever saw.
After a walk around town, we headed back to the boat. I needed a nap from all that milk and burger. We skipped dinner and just had a few snacks to hold us over. Later we watched two of the Daniel Craig James Bond movies on the computer then hit the sack around 9pm. It was a very nice day that we both enjoyed.
Wednesday we have no plans other than maybe go to the Davis Pub for dinner. We were there on our way north last Spring with our friends Chris and Bob. They are at their condo in Jupiter, Florida so we will miss them this trip.
Our plans are to stay here one more night as there is a front coming through tomorrow (Wednesday) that will clock the winds from SW to NW. It should be a lively sail down the Chesapeake on Thursday to the Solomon Islands then on to Reedville for a visit with Walter and Mary on Friday.
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