Annapolis, MD

Wednesday, October 2 - The rain stayed away during the night on Magothy River and started again in the morning. The anchorage was calm overall; we were the only boat and I thought there was little rocking. Kevin said it was more movement than he would have liked but I think he got spoiled sleeping in a house while on his golf trip! We left at 9:57 a.m. after the rain stopped though it was still very cloudy. Weather predictions keep saying the rain will end “tomorrow” but “tomorrow” keeps moving! We arrived in Annapolis by 11:30 with many other boats already there for the boat shows. The power boat show started the next day, followed by the sailboat show the next weekend. We anchored next to the Naval Academy, further out than the last time but still close enough for a dinghy ride. Our plan was to try to get a mooring after some power boats leave, however many other captains had the same intention and they would get a buddy boat to help them tie their dinghy to an open mooring to save it.
For dinner we took the water taxi to town and went to Pusser’s, it was not crowded and we figured we would go before the boat shows started. We both got their signature Painkiller drink and I got mine in a souvenir tin cup as the restaurant is closing after many years in November. Afterwards we walked around the harbor area and stopped at Federalist House for a cocktail.

Thursday, October 3 - The sun finally came out!! It was overcast in the morning, causing me slight depression as it seemed “tomorrow” was still not here, but by late afternoon the clouds were gone and the sun was in full force. About mid morning the Harbormaster boat paid us a visit to find out if we had permission from the Naval Academy to anchor where we were, which of course we did. We took Pepper to shore and walked around Eastport, stopping at Davis’ Pub, one of our bucket list places to visit this trip. When we got back I called Brenda, whom I had been playing phone tag with, and found out the difficult news about her friend Vivian, who took her own life. It was a surprise to everyone.

Saturday, October 5 - Kevin worked on the sump pump for the shower that was not draining properly and I cleaned the dodger window with new products Kevin bought, hoping to make it clearer. That afternoon we took a guided tour of the Naval Academy and it is very impressive, full of tradition and exceptional people. The curriculum for the students is much more rigorous than regular universities and gave me a greater appreciation for those that attend. While being in athletics is not a requirement for admission it definitely helps as physical fitness and teamwork is a large part of the curriculum, including wrestling and martial arts for both genders.. The tour consisted of the history of several buildings and important figures in naval history, along with learning about their traditions. We toured a dorm room and John Paul Jones crypt. I also learned that navy personnel are called midshipmen, not cadets. After the tour Kevin and I toured the museum. That night I had a nice conversation with Sydney.

Sunday, October 6 - The anchorage was very busy with all the power boats coming and going for the show, and all seem to come close to us causing for a turbulent stay. Fortunately things would calm down after dark and until about 10:00 in the morning. A power boat anchored very close to us then immediately took the water taxi to the show. We took Pepper for a walk in the afternoon and when we returned the boat was very close to use. Kevin called the Harbormaster and it took two boats and 3 guys to relocate it. They tried to re-anchor it once then ended up tying it to a bouy further out. In the meantime we reanchored our boat a few yards further away from the shore wall. The weather started to cool down, it was in the mid seventies during the day with a steady breeze.

Monday, October 7 - Kevin spent a good portion of the day working on the shower sump pump, yesterday he rebuilt the hose connection and used glue to keep it in place. When we tested it this morning it worked intermittently. He tried to blow any potential clogs out of the line without having a compressor. Another Catalina 470 owner, Mo, came in yesterday with his boat and also drove his car here earlier in the week. He took Kevin to West Marine to buy a new pump and Kevin spent about an hour reviewing how best to install it. While he did that I continued with deep cleaning of the cabinet doors in the salon, inventorying the items. We cleaned up at 3:30 and went to Federalist House for the 4:00 happy hour, sharing appetizers and a panini sandwich. They were playing current country music which made me happy, it had been awhile since I listened to any.

Tuesday, October 8 - I got a bit of exercise by walking 1.78 miles to the grocery store, then took an Uber back to the dock. Kevin continued to work on the sump pump by installing the new all in one pump and switch from West Marine.
We had hoped with the Power Boat show being over there would be less traffic through the anchorage, and it did slow down, but not like we had hoped. The water taxis were coming close to us more than usual due to all the extra sailboats anchored. We learned from Mo that a few harbor rules are put on hold during the boat show, such as anchoring in the channel.

Wednesday, October 9 - Sunday, October 13 - This was the week
of the sailboat show, we did a lot of walking, shopping and visiting with friends we have made through out our cruising journey. Wednesday started with dinner at Latitude 38 with Tom & Tina and Jen & Rich. I made reservations and they contacted me twice to confirm, which I found odd, turns out we were the only people there! I guess they wanted to make sure we were coming to justify staff. Thursday we went to the boat show and met up with Jen (Rich was working) and Tom & Tina, we eventually each went our own way and then all met up for lunch at Pusser’s. We went on several sailboats; Catalina’s, Catamarans and a sailboat that was as wide as a catamaran. The catamarans are nice because they are so big, but in the end I like our boat the best.
On Friday we went to the VIP tent as Jackie graciously gave us her tickets because they decided to stay in Fernandina to wait out Hurricane Helene. We had pastry and mimosa/Bloody Mary for breakfast. Then we walked around the vendor tents. We visited a compost toilet vendor and decided to take measurements on our boat to determine if it would fit. For lunch we went to the VIP tent and they had a nice spread of pasta, chicken, salad and sauté vegetables. I got a blueberry vodka drink that the bartender recommended and it was not good, the bar consisted of these cane mixers and they were too sweet for me. In the afternoon we went back to the compost toilet vendor with our measurements and continued to review if we could fit it in our aft cabin. In the end we determined it would not. Kevin bought a waterproof lightweight jacket and I got a Helly Hanson zip up fleece. We went back to the VIP tent for afternoon appetizers and met a couple that chartered with Travis and Tara; a couple that had a slip 2 down from ours at Watergate Marina in Texas. They sold their Catalina 470 for a large catamaran and started a charter business in the BVIs. What a small world! That night we went to a Catalina 470 owners party at the marina where 3 boats were docked. We met several more Catalina owners, including John and Marlene from Serendipity. It was a long day and I was spent!
On Saturday we went to the boat show late in the morning and met Tina and Tom for lunch at Dry 85, a prohibition theme pub. The food was good and the atmosphere was fun. That afternoon we purchased Turkish bath towels - Kevin finally realized that our heavy cotton towels were not good on the boat!! We also bought a waterproof backpack and I got a hat that should fit well enough to stay on my head in wind. That evening we went to the Catalina tent for the owner party and saw Guy & Marie from True Love (whom we met in Maine) and John & Marlene, in addition to a few of the other Catalina 470 owners that we met Friday night.
Sunday morning we went to Jen and Rich’s for a blueberry pancake breakfast. They invited Tom and Tina plus another sailing couple from Virginia and the Commodore from the West Palm Beach Yacht Club. Jen and Rich showed us their wonderful hospitality for the second time allowing us to do laundry, take real showers and do some grocery provisions. We brought Pepper and she and their dog Dodger got along great. Jen and I took them on a long walk through a wooded park and to an outdoor art sale. Unfortunately I didn’t bring any money as I found a cool piece of useful pottery I would have bought for Christmas presents!

Monday, October 14 - We knew the day would be windy and intentionally stayed on the hook, and it did blow! Winds were clocking in at 30 mph and boats were dragging all over the anchorage. We got lucky with the pumpout boat as we were the last one after he was told to stop because of the high winds. He told Kevin he made an exception to still do our boat because “we were good customers“! I think he was referring to Kevin’s tipping! We stayed on the boat so we could monitor the situation and make sure that a) we didn’t drag and b) we didn’t get hit. Kevin watched a large sailboat drag past 2 other boats. The owners of a nearby boat that were about to get hit boarded it and together with the Harbormaster moved it. True Love hailed us as they were dragging and coming to anchor by us. When they pulled up anchor they brought a metal frame structure with them, cup holders and all. They had to pull anchor a second time and snagged an anchor with chain!! We started dragging just a bit later in the day and reanchored around 2:00 pm. We made 3 attempts as the wind was so strong it kept pushing us off our intended drop point. We had intended to go ashore to do a few errands but decided between the wind and the boat show traffic we could wait.もっと詳しく