Annapolis

Tuesday October 5 – Monday October 11

We are anchored just off the Naval Academy on Spa Creek just south of Annapolis by 5:30 Tuesday evening with S/V Wild Thing near by. After a cold trip down here we decide not to journey into town by dinghy for dinner and Steve makes dinner on board, with Jan bringing dessert. Wednesday morning Steve & George go into town for a long walk over to check out Weems Creek as an alternative anchorage. We are in a GREAT location very close to dinghy dock to town & boat show BUT in strong winds out of the east or south we would not have very good protection. So even though that is not the prediction they want to see what & where an alternative could be. George likes his morning walks and has gotten Steve into going with him, so much so that Steve had to go by a good pair of tennis shoes since he did not own a good pair of sturdy walking shoes. Jan & I get to sleep in and are ready to go when they get back. Into town and it is already abuzz getting ready for the boat show. We go to lunch at a place called O’Brien's and Jan tries her first oyster shooter and says it is great. After lunch we go over to the Naval Academy for a tour, the buildings and grounds are beautiful. Bancroft Hall the largest college dormitory in the world is not like any dorm I have seen – a marble palace in the style of Versailles! A walk around town checking out what is where, George makes a run back to the boat while Steve, Jan & I stop at one of the local hot spots Pusser's Caribbean Grill to try some of their famous rum drinks. Jan gets the Rum Punch, I get the Jamaican me Crazy & Steve gets the Pusser's Painkiller, all are great drinks but the painkiller wins. Dinner that night at McGarvey's where Jan, George & Steve all enjoy oyster shooters = an oyster in a shot glass with vodka & bloody Mary mix as an appetizer, no way am I trying one. Thursday afternoon Jan & I get dropped off in town to check out the shops, and I think we saw every one. Steve helps George run speaker wire back on Wild Thing. After shopping and boat work we have cocktails on Wild Thing before going back to town as Beneteau is having a reception at the Marriott, and both our brokers who sold us our boats will be there. The place is packed and we have a few appetizers & drinks while waiting to meet up with friend Gina who is in Bethesda on a business trip and is taking the time to drive over to meet us for dinner. After visiting for a while we head over to Eastport to have dinner since that is where Gina had to park her car. It is always great to see family & friends just hard to say goodbye again. Friday is boat show day for us and we plan to be there when the gates open. George & Jan have a bigger & better dinghy so they have been acting as taxi, on their way over to our boat Friday morning they have engine trouble so they drift over to us and we all load into our dinghy for the ride into the show. We are there all day walking our legs off checking out the newer & bigger boats and all the boat gadgets you could possibly imagine. There are some beautiful boats but after all the looking we all decide we made great decisions on buying our boats. The Catamarans we were all so interested in seeing turned out to be not as spectacular as we were expecting. All the ups & downs into the different hulls front & aft and the room configuration were turn offs to me. They do have fabulous salon areas and big decks forward & aft but the rooms were just average. The monohulls we looked at were beautiful but a lot of the pretty features were not very practical. We did come back with a few gadgets and some ideas that will make cruising life easier, and it was a fun day. Back to the boats about 6:30 Jan & I rest while Steve & George fix George's outboard engine on the dinghy. Late dinner of grilled steaks on board Wild Thing. Saturday we dinghy over to Back Creek and go to Eastport for lunch then dinghy further up the creek to another dinghy dock to hike to West Marine. We have been really lucky with the weather again, sunny days high around 80° lows at night 60°. The winds have been variable but light so the anchorage has remained a great spot even with all the rolling caused by wakes from boats passing through the anchorage or passing by on the river, this is one very busy place. Every day the Navy runs a dozen 70 ft cutters up and down the Severn river by the anchorage, practicing maneuvering and man overboard drills with lots of horn blowing. It's pretty noisy during the day, but quiets down at night. Sunday morning George takes Jan in to catch a shuttle to Baltimore airport as she will fly home for a few days for a family situation. Sunday afternoon I take Steve to where he thinks is closer to his meeting spot with Sean. Our 30 minute dinghy ride really took him further away, but they finally connected and were on their way back to DC to have dinner & go to the Roger Water's The Wall concert as I made my way back to the boat bouncing along the Severn River in the dinghy. When I got back to the boat I noticed a couple of Boat US boats around two other boats. After getting back on board Ocean Star I could see that the sail boat that was anchored too close to a Catamaran had wedged its bow in between the 2 hulls of the Catamaran, not a pretty picture and a good reason not to anchor too close to other boats. Monday Steve calls and says he is on the way back so I get the dink ready to go pick him up BUT can't get the motor started. Luckily George is close by on Wild Thing so comes to pick me up to go get Steve who once again changes the pick up location. We get a nice tour of Spa Creek as we go to find where he got dropped off, load him & the provisions he picked up into the dink, back to the boats where we prepare for departure. By 1:30 Ocean Star & Wild Thing are heading down the Severn River towards our next stop in Oxford on the Eastern shore.

Link to pictures; http://picasaweb.google.com/103931849054358791487/Annapolis?feat=directlink