We had a nice visit with our friend Woody (who we met on our 2012/2013 trip) in Havre de Grace and when we went to his place for supper, he and his wife Kat served us crabs and showed us how to eat them. This was a much better experience than our last attempt at Maryland crabs in 2012 when we bought some crabs with another Canadian couple who also didn't know how to eat them and thought they seemed like a whole lot of work for not much return. If you have the right technique and the right tools, take your time and enjoy the company it can be a lot of fun. Now we know.
Last Thursday morning we left Havre de Grace in the rain and headed south for Annapolis. After an hour motoring down the channel from Havre de Grace we unfurled the jib and roared down the bay with about a 20-25 knot wind behind us. It was a great sail even if the weather wasn't fantastic. The rain didn't last too long and Ralph (the autohelm) drove most of the way with Dave and I taking over when we were sailing dead downwind. Other than a dramatic gybe at a navigation buoy it was a relatively uneventful trip and by four p.m. we had been to get our holding tank pumped out and were anchored just off the US Naval Academy in Annapolis.
We have discovered that our limiting factor while cruising now (in the US at least) will be our holding tank. It used to be filling the water tank that dictated how often we had to find 'civilization' or stop at a marina, but our holding tank fills up before we run out of water. This is a new thing for us, since we never used a holding tank in Nova Scotia, but it is the law in the US. For the non boaters reading this who have no idea what a holding tank is, here's a quick explanation. Boat toilets (called heads) typically use the water that they are floating in to 'flush'. The water is pumped into the toilet and then pumped out of the toilet, either overboard, or into a holding tank. In areas where there is not significant boat density and lots of natural movement of water (like our home waters of the Northumberland Strait) most people pump overboard. People with holding tanks will often pump to the tank when in an anchorage or a marina and then pump overboard once they are out of the harbour. Where we sail this is a matter of practicality - there is nowhere to get your holding tank pumped out. In the US there are many areas where it is the law that you have to use your holding tank. We started using our tank when we got to Maine and since then we have learned about pumpouts. Obviously when you pump the contents of your toilet into a tank eventually you have to get that tank emptied. There are pumpouts at city docks, marinas and in some places (like Annapolis) they have pumpout boats that travel around to boats at moorings or at anchor. So far we have had no issues finding a suitable pumpout and they seem to be keeping the costs minimal or free to encourage people to use them and keep the waters clean.
The first couple of days we were in Annapolis, we went to the boat show. The Annapolis boat show is a huge 'in the water' boat show. In fact there are two shows. The previous weekend was the power boat show and the weekend we were in town was the sailboat show. There are dozens of sailboats - many new and some used - tied up to docks brought in specially for the show. You can tour the boats and also visit the hundreds of booths selling every boat related thing you can imagine. Although the weather wasn't good - we had sporadic rain both days - the vendors weren't too discouraged as they said "sail boaters will come out in anything. If this had been the power boat show it would have been a disaster." I'm not sure what that says about sail boaters versus power boaters - I guess it depends on your perspective!
We looked at a lot of boats and had the same discussion we have had in the past about the idea of getting a new boat. When it comes down to it we would still be cruising the same waters with the same weather and most of the same amenities, albeit on a more nicely finished and 'newer' boat that would probably sail better. Is it really worth the money? Right now we don't think so. We've spent a lot of time and money over the past ten years getting Romana outfitted the way we want, and every boat ends up being a compromise somehow. We saw some beautiful boats, but we are pretty comfortable with what we have right now, and as one of the salesmen on an Oyster (a beautiful boat) said "the important thing is that you are out there doing it".
We also looked at a lot of gear and did end up buying a few things that we had on 'the list'. On the Saturday night we met up with friends Cathy and Dave, who had come down from Nova Scotia for the show, and had supper with them. It was really good to see someone 'from home'. On Sunday morning, we met up with our friend Gina again (we met her on our 2012/2013 trip) and had brunch with her and her friend Matthew. At the boat show we met Blaine, another fellow cruiser from our 2012 trip, who we spent some time with in the southern Bahamas. That was serendipitous, as we were touring a boat of the same make as his when the captain of that boat mentioned something about Blaine, and when Dave asked him if it was the Blaine we knew, he said "yeah, and he is on the next boat". Turns out he is working as a delivery captain, so we went over and said hi and spent a bit of time chatting on the dock to catch up.
We met some new friends over the last week too. At the boat show we were talking to a couple from Trenton Ontario who bought a Corbin (the same as our boat) and have gutted it and are re-doing it. Talk about a project! They are giving themselves 3-4 years to finish it before they head out. We invited them over to have a look at Romana and spent a couple of hours talking about the philosophy of cruising, boats etc. We've started to see some boats that we recognize from further north, as we all start to funnel in heading south, and we were joined at cocktail hour one night by a french couple from Chicoutimi. The other evening Dave went over to say hi to another boat in the same anchorage as us and it turned out to be an 84 year old retired electrical engineer who rowed over the next morning to ask if he could use our VHF to contact Towboat US as his batteries had died (is there anyone else who finds that ironic?). Dave lent him the phone and an hour later Towboat US showed up to tow him to his marina.
Annapolis was bustling during the boat show - on the water and on land. It is hard to believe the number of boats that were there during the show, but then it cleared out pretty quickly afterwards. One of the most interesting evenings we spent was on the last day of the boat show when we sat in the cockpit and watched all the boats roar away from the docks so they could start tearing down. The following couple of days we watched small working boats push and tow large sections of dock across the harbour, presumably to store them somewhere else until the next event.
After the boat show we spent a couple more days in Annapolis to tour around a bit and stock up on groceries, which turned into a major hike. It is never more apparent that in North America everything is designed around the automobile than when you have to walk (or bike) to everything. Grocery stores are never located in the centre of town and often they are on a highway somewhere with no sidewalk access. We have had a number of long walks including stretches along the ditches of four lane roads in order to re-provision. On those days I definitely cannot complain that I am not getting enough exercise. Carrying a full backpack and sometimes other bags back from the store adds a little extra to the workout as well!
Annapolis is a lovely city, especially in the historic centre. There it is very nice to walk around the relatively quiet streets looking at the interesting architecture and historical plaques. I am a big fan of the Maryland flag, which I think is beautiful, and there were quite a few of these flying along with the Stars and Stripes. The city is dominated by the huge US Naval Academy complex and its associated support buildings.
Our attempt to go on a tour of the Naval Academy was thwarted by a combination of bad timing and tight security. We decided in the afternoon to go on a tour, as it was really interesting the last time we did it eleven years ago. Off we went to the visitors entrance to find an airport type security gate, complete with the X-ray machine and scanner you walk through to be told that we needed ID to get in. I didn't have any with me, so we decided to go back to the boat and get it, but not without asking about the tours. It was just after 2:30 p.m. and the young man working the security gate told us the last tour was at 3:30 p.m. No problem. Back to the dinghy, out to the boat, got my license, back in the dinghy, walked back to the USNA. The young girl working there looked at our ID and said "we need to see your passports because you are foreign nationals". It would have been nice to know that before we went back to get my driver's license, but we really wanted to go on the tour so.... we walked back to the dinghy, dinghied back to the boat, got the passports, back to the dinghy, walked back to the USNA arriving about 3:05 p.m. We got through security and walked up to the Visitor's Centre to find out that the last tour was actually at 3 p.m. As a 'consolation prize' we watched a fifteen minute movie about the academy and then went for a walk around outside. We stopped to look at the Navy 44 sailboats that they use for training and an older guy who was going to take a group out for some practice that evening asked if we were parents of one of the cadets. We told him we were just interested sailors and he asked if we wanted to come aboard to have a look. It turns out they usually take 10 crew out and sail to Newport or Charleston, SC and 'hot bunk', so there are five bunks below, along with a head, a galley, a nav station and not much else. Very sparton but it looks like it probably sails well. It was late in the day as we made our way across the academy grounds and past the very nice quarters for the upper echelons and it was obvious that this was the prime time for many of the cadets to go for their daily run as they ran past us in large and small groups.
We were anchored just off the Naval Academy seawall and after the weekend things there got busy, and in addition to watching the ubiquitous runners, on Monday and Tuesday nights they had their playing fields lit up with huge floodlights that spread out over the entire anchorage. It made for a surreal setting where the boats were all glistening in the lights and you could see everything on deck even though it was dark out. Luckily the lights didn't stay on all night, so it wasn't an issue for sleeping. However, we awoke each morning to the sound of the honking of the practice boats as they left the docks - when I first woke up I thought it was a train, which didn't make sense at all.
Finally on Wednesday, after almost a week in Annapolis we decided to head out. We tried to get the pumpout boat to come and pump out our holding tank, but they had some problems and had to do maintenance, so after waiting a couple of hours we headed to the city marina instead. We had a bit of a wait there, but eventually got away just before noon and motored north and east in flat calm to the Chester River over on the Eastern Shore, where we have spent the last few days.
It is quite a contrast here to the hustle and bustle of Annapolis. Although we have seen boats coming and going things have been very quiet and we have had the anchorages pretty much to ourselves. The rivers here have some small sandy beaches in places, lots of big marsh type grasses and tons of birds. We have been regularly disturbing herons as we explore in the dinghy, and we've seen lots of ducks and Canada geese, terns and a few cormorants. The other day we watched a guy pulling up his crab line and later saw him at the boat launch and he showed us his gear and explained how it worked, complete with chicken necks as bait!
Going for walks it is starting to feel a bit like the south with the trees and bushes lush and droopy. We've been treated to some beautiful sunsets and moon rises and just general calm. We spent two nights in Langford Creek and after a short sail yesterday, now we are in the Corsica River, near a town called Centreville, which is home to the 'oldest continuously working court house in Maryland' as well as a lot of other government offices and a US department of agriculture building that has tractor tracks in the concrete outside. Walking into town we also saw a house with a suit of armour on the front porch. These are the cool things that you see when you are exploring on foot.
Soon we will need to do laundry, so we are probably going to head for St. Michaels where I hope to find wifi so that I can upload this blog and some photos.
Note: I did upload this in St. Michaels on 22 Oct 2013. No idea what is going on with the different font in the first paragraph. Sorry! Next blog coming later this week provided I can find wifi.