Rain !!

We finished the enclosure for the cockpit just in time, I got it up yesterday afternoon and the rains started just after midnight last night. So far we have had 6" of rain and it is coming down at the rate of 2" per hour. High tide is at 11 am today and Midnight tonight, so we expect the docks to be under water during the high tides and the winds pushing the water up the bay. We are tied up between four pilings and the bulkhead in the marina so we are very secure and are not worried.

Are we having fun yet?

The answer is yes, We are having fun! We had a good day yesterday, traveling first to West Marine for a Safety seminar for crossing the Gulf stream then later that afternoon we went to the Boatyard Beach Bash featuringThe John Frinzi Band with “Coral Reefer” Doyle Grisham, Jim Morris and James “Sunny Jim” White with an incredible performance. We had good food, Painkillers to drink and had just a great time. It is all worth it!!

Sail & Lunch

We went out for a sail on the Bay this morning and then went up Mill Creek to one of our favorite resturants in the area, Cantlers. As we approached the entrance to the creek where Cantlers is a small float plane exited and took off right ahead of us.There is a picture in the slide show at the top of the page.  We had a wonderful lunch and then Sailed back to Spa Creek and our Marina.

The slide show has been updated and I will be posting pictures from the next leg of our trip on it. You can still get to the older slide shows by following the links on the left side of the page.

nothing new

Time is passing quickly, we got most of our back full enclosure done but ran out of material needed to place the windows in and the Sailrite store is closed until thursday so Mike is a slacker again-catching up on reading.We often take the city bus to explore the town and of course for groceries and boat part shopping.I made him get the dingy ready for night trips, just in case we are out late-sunset comes early now, we bought battery run red/green and a bow light.We also replaced the old garden lights from the back of the boat with new LED  ones and also another solar LED that is a spotight that is on a rail facing the cockpit-all from Home depot.The West Marine free seminar this week was about Bahamas cruising and it was very good- I feel that we are ready except for the water tank being small-still considering a watermaker-a young man who has solo cruised with his cat between here and the Bahamas for several years  feels it was worthwhile-his 36 foot boat has bigger water capacity already but he says hauling water by dingy leads to back pain sooner or later. The owner and his crew are very friendly and help Mike with any missing tool or part.We are still swamped by a gorgeous 60 foot trawler owned by a retired movie producer and his actress wife-The Spirit Of Zopilote -makes me want a trawler.    

rain day

Yesterday we went to a free seminar at West Marine on the InnerCoastal Waterway-it was interesting and helpful, given by an employee that has made over 20 trips-next week they feature the Bahamas.We made a grocery run and then a Sailrite trip for more supplies to make the enclosure in the back of the boat.Last week my daughter sent me a small air conditioner just in time for a 96 degree day-hid in the wonderful cool boat that day. Today has been cool rain-mid 60`s so we took the bus to the mall and had lunch at a Tex-Mex restaurant with a blues brunch entertainer-sweet and great food-at a mall. The boat next door belongs to a lady who teaches women to sail and one of the young ladies noticed the Madison,Ohio on the boat and said that her family lives there- I went to school with her uncle-small world.   chris

mercedes

~Oh Lord won`t ya buy me a Mercedes Benz~  It would seem that most people in Annapolis have a Mercedes but I guess that I will take early retirement and the bus system instead . Today we had breakfast with the Seven Seas Cruising Association members that live here,we gained more helpful advice about crossing over to the Bahamas and about the intercoastal waterway-nice people.We took a cab today and bought the fuel pump part we needed then other marine stores for dreaming and bought a chip of charts of the Chesapeake, we saw a sore front for watermakers and sat down at his big desk where he tried to sell us a $12,000.00 system for our little boat-needless to say that we will explore more options at the boat show next month.On the way home we took the bus to the mall to make the better half happy-god news for him-I only bought childrens books.      chris

laborless day

Grilled a lunch burger then goofed off until dinner .We found an inexpensive Italian diner on the waterfront and had a good pizza,caeser salad and gelato,on the way back we crashed the race week celebration and enjoyed live music and a few stories and of course great people watching there.It`s an easy 15 minute walk over the bridge to downtown and so am getting lots of milage on the feet.   chris

lazy sunday

Started our day at the farmers market downtown-pricy but did get some nice produce,much smaller than I thought it would be too. It is a race weekend so the harbor is crazy busy and between the holiday and a Navy football game tommorrow downtown was too busy- did enjoy a yummy ice cream cone-the waffle cone was warm even.Got a few boat chores done but need parts Tuesday so anticipating a relaxed holiday.We have met some of the live a boards and getting good travel advice.There are a few gorgeous 50 foot boats in front of us and many beauties that stay empty.The dockhands  have a crab boil some  evenings-just take a net and scrape the pilings,I can see lots here now at low tide and sunset-must find the net soon.  chris

non event

Thank God that Earl was a non event-no wind and little rain.It has been so hot so boat jobs have been put off until today.My wonderful daughter has come to our rescue and expedited a small room air conditioner to use until we get our marine air conditioner  from Fla.-we did`nt even use the marine air conditioner last year.When we are on the water it is breezy and no need but it was stifling even with 5 fans at dock last week.We have been using buses and exploring the town and have found Whole Foods grocery,huge mall and West Marine and Fawcett Marine.Fawcett`s has moved away from downtown-sad.Yesterday we walked to Eastport maritime museum and bought tickets to a charity event featuring some of the fellows from Jimmy Buffets band-can`t wait.Off to find a laundramat.   chris

Earl

Here is where we will call home for the next month, Petrini's shipyard. We are up against the bulkhead between four pilings. We have eight lines out making it look like a spider caught us in his web, but we will be safe if Earl comes ashore around here. We are having a good time exploring the area and hope to do some sailing in the bay after Earl has passed.