Saturday morning in Elizabeth City started out with a visit to Romana from some new friends Nicola and Marc from Averi, who were planning to leave that day and wanted to have a look at a Corbin. Nicola and I went over to the Farmer's Market, which was on the lawn next to the wharf where we were docked and I was able to get a bunch of fruit and veggies as well as some baked goods, so I was pretty happy with my haul. One thing I have discovered talking with fellow cruising women is that leftovers seem to be universally loathed on boats (maybe because it is such hard work to get food we are loathe to waste it, so we feel that we must use it all up) so shopping with other people can work to avoid this problem. Nicola and I split a couple of small cakes so we could each get a taste of lemon cake, which our captains don't like, and Nina and I split a pint of cherry tomatoes, as she wanted some but not too many.
After putting everything away, Dave and I set off with Nina and Bob from Moondance to visit The Museum of the Albemarle (which for some reason I keep writing Ablemarle). We had missed it on the way down, because of poor timing, much to my chagrin, so I was determined to see it this time. It was certainly worth the visit. They had great exhibits detailing the history of the area, a small exhibit of fine art, an exhibit about the Coast Guard (there is a big Coast Guard base here in Elizabeth City) and about the North Carolina in the Civil War - and all this for free! In two hours I had taken in all I could, but I would definitely go back again if I had the opportunity.
On the way back from the museum, I picked up some shrimp and salmon from Quality Seafood and after lunch Dave and I walked up to the grocery store to stock up again. It was broiling hot so the half hour walk seemed really long, but we planned to get a cab back so we stuck it out. We made it back to the boat and stowed the groceries in time to get a shower before the building closed at 5 p.m. so that was a real treat. That night we had fresh shrimp, green beans and home made cake for supper. And we say we are roughing it! Sitting in the cockpit that evening I watched as the kids all dressed up in their prom finery came down to the wharf to use the boats as a backdrop for their photos. I wonder how many times Romana has been 'scenic background' in other people's photos?
Sunday morning we got up and left at 7 a.m. to make the 11 a.m. opening of the South Mills lock at the southern end of the Great Dismal Swamp Canal. It was a beautiful, calm morning and the trip up the Pasquotank River was lovely. I saw mallards, eagles and Canada geese along the way. We passed places with names like POssum Quarter Landing and you could almost hear the banjos playing in the background. The water here is tea coloured - the local Indian tribe's name meant "People of the Muddy Water" and I can see why.
When we locked through with 7 other boats, the lock master told us that there was a tree across the canal at mile 20, so we couldn't go any further than the Welcome Centre dock until they got it cleared out. That was fine with us, as we planned to stop there for the night anyway. As it turned out they got the log cleared out just before we arrived at the Welcome Centre, so the boats that wanted to carry on were able to.
We tied up at the dock just before 1 p.m., and a trawler rafted to us. By the end of the day there were 10 boats rafted there. We decided to rent some mountain bikes from the State Park Visitor Centre to explore some of the trails there but by the time we got there it was after 3 p.m. and they closed at 4:30. A nice park ranger let us jump the queue to get us on the bikes so we could get a bit more than an hour's ride and we set off. It was a very hot day so we took a leisurely ride along the canal road for a couple of miles before turning off on another road. I use the term 'road' loosely, as it is really just a sand/grass/dirt track and you certainly need a bike with fairly wide tires to handle all of the sandy spots. We didn't such much wildlife other than a ton of butterflies. Apparently there are quite a lot of different species here, and some of them are big. On the trip back Dave stepped up the pace a bit and I got a really good work out trying to keep up, which was great.
We were pretty tired after our bike ride so when we got back to the boat we just hung out and chilled a bit, chatting to other folks at the dock. When Dave went up to barbeque our supper at the picnic area (to avoid smoking all the other boaters out) we had an interesting chat with a young local couple - she is a biology major who teaches, and he is a basketball coach at the university in Elizabeth City. They were interested in what we were doing, and we were interested in finding out a bit about living in this area of North Carolina.
Monday morning we left the dock just before 7 a.m. at the end of a flotilla of 7 boats, heading for the other end of the Canal to the Deep Creek Lock for the 11 a.m. opening. It was quite foggy when we started out, and fairly taxing to concentrate on the canal and the boat ahead as we motored along on another calm day. Soon enough the sun burnt off the fog and we got to the locks early so we anchored while we waited. Another 2 boats came along behind us, so there were a total of 9 boats locking through. Robert, the Deep Creek lockmaster and bridge tender, had the boats organized with military precision (fitting for the Army Corps of Engineers who manage the canal and locks) and shortly after noon we were through the locks and on our way again, after he played us a tune on a conch shell (yes, an actual tune), reminded everyone to keep the green marks to starboard all the way out of Norfolk and told us that the Gilmerton Bridge (the last bridge opening on the ICW) was opening on demand now instead of on the half hour - good news for all the sailboats!
We had been debating about whether we should stop and visit Norfolk or push on past without stopping, and a message from my cousin telling us her husband was in Annapolis for work tipped the balance. We decided to keep going and try to get to Annapolis to visit with Richard before he headed back to the UK on Thursday. Unfortunately that means we will miss an opportunity to meet up in Norfolk with new friends Jane and Bob on Flextime, but hopefully we'll see them later on in Annapolis.
Shortly after 1 p.m. we were through Gilmerton and at 2 p.m. we passed mile zero of the ICW. Our trip up the ICW was significantly shorter (and consequently easier) than our trip down. We passed the big navy ships, with Dave googling their numbers again to see what was what, and just after 3 p.m. we left Norfolk heading into the Chesapeake Bay. We're moving so fast I can hardly get the cruising guides out of storage quickly enough for the next phase of our journey!
That night we anchored in Back River, just south of the York River, in front of what we figure was an apartment building for military housing. As we were heading in the channel we had flyovers from a number of military jets, so we thought it may end up being a noisy night, but we didn't hear them again after we anchored and it ended up being really quiet.
Tuesday we got up early and left at 5:30, planning a long day to Solomons, MD. It was flat calm and hot so we motored up the Chesapeake Bay, passing the big rivers that feed the bay from the west side - the York, the Rappahonick and the Potomac, ending up at the Patuxent River where we went in to Solomons and dropped the hook just before 8 p.m. - covering 87 Nm in 14.5 hrs. As well as the heat, we had to deal with a barrage of flies and small biting bugs that were buzzing around us all day. The flyswatters got a work out both in the cockpit and in the cabin and by the end of the trip there were bug guts everywhere. The wind did pick up for the last couple of hours, so we were able to motor sail and it finally blew the surviving bugs away.
That night it cooled off and Wednesday we awoke to fog. We set off early again and chugged north, dressed in fleece (Dave even put his toque on) - what a change from the day before. But at least there were no bugs - apparently they don't like wet, cold weather either. We got some wind and when we changed course a bit we were able to get the jib up and motor sail, but the current was against us the whole way, so we were going fairly slowly. We chugged past the Choptank River on the eastern shore and headed for Annapolis. I have finally succumbed to Dave's cold, so grilled cheese and chicken noodle soup was the perfect lunch under these conditions.
We picked up a town mooring in Annapolis shortly after 2 p.m. and took the dinghy down for the first time in two and a half weeks! A couple of hours later we were checked in, showered and had done a bit of a tour of Spa Creek in the dinghy before heading back to the boat to relax for a while as we waited for Richard to finish work. Dave went in to pick him up - he was working about a one minute dinghy ride away from the mooring we were on - and we had a nice visit with him. It was Wednesday night, which in many sailing communities means race night, and Annapolis is no different. As we sat in the cockpit having a drink we had a front row seat, as sailboats blew past us on the way out of the harbour and soon they were sailing back in towards the finish line. It must make it extra challenging to have to race through the middle of the mooring field but everyone seemed to know what they were doing and no-one ran into us. We went for a short walk and had supper with Richard before saying goodbye and heading back to Romana for the night.
Despite the fact that we were in port, we had another early morning on Thursday, as we had planned a day trip over to Washington DC. We had decided to take a commuter bus and the last one left Annapolis at 7:15 a.m. We got to the bus stop (about a 15 minute walk) in plenty of time and had a very comfortable ride to Washington. Traffic was slow, so the trip took longer than scheduled, but it was less than two hours when we stepped off the bus at 14th and F Street, not far from the White House.
There began our walking tour of Washington DC. After the obligatory photo in front of the White House we walked down behind it, where you actually have a nicer view, and through President's Park then down to see the Vietnam Veterans Memorial (where thousands of names etched into a huge black stone wall make a very moving monument) and the Korean War Veterens Memorial (a beautiful series of sculptures representing all of the branches of the armed services that fought in that war along with an etched wall showing faces of some of the veterans) then up along the reflecting pool to the World War II Memorial and past the Washington Monument. I am amazed at the simplicity of this iconic structure - an obelisk made of big rectangular chunks of rock.
From there we headed up Jefferson Drive, along The Mall towards the Capitol. It seemed that every high school in the US was visiting Washington the same day as us, as we passed through masses of teenagers and their chaperones in matching t-shirts, mostly in loud, easily visible, colours. It was also Peace Officers Memorial Day, which meant the flags were at half mast (okay, we googled that to find out why) and we saw a parade of mounted police from the bus on our way in, and then when we got up to The Mall.
This is where the museums of The Smithsonian reside and we had done a bit of research to pick which ones we wanted to visit. These museums are all free, so it is possible to just 'dip in' to them for as long as you want, without feeling like you need to stay long enough to 'get your money's worth', which is wonderful as far as I am concerned. We stopped in at the Smithsonian Castle, where there is an information centre and learned a bit about Smithson - the man who made the original donation of money and artifacts which started this National Museum. Next we went to the Hirshhorn Museum (modern art) where they had an exhibit about Destruction, which depressed both of us, juxtaposed with a funky up-beat, colourful installation with one of the best quotes ever (see photos).
By this time we were getting pretty hungry, so we decided to head to the Air & Space Museum to get a bite to eat before having a look around there. We decided to get tickets to an Imax show about the shuttle and space station and then we went to eat. As far as I could tell, most of the highschools visiting Washington were at this point lined up in the massive McDonald's at this museum. After five minutes in line amidst the cacophany we opted to head outside and get a Polish sausage from a street vendor (it was delicious) which we ate in relative peace and quiet on the steps. We toured the museum for about an hour before heading in to watch the Imax show.
Next up was the National Museum of the American Indian, which we had read on-line was a real highlight and I have to agree. It was a beautiful building, with really lovely and moving exhibits. Unfortunately by this time we were getting tired and a bit museumed-out (even me), so after watching a short film we only spent about an hour looking at the exhibits. I will definitely go back next time I visit DC, as there was so much to see and it was very good It included exhibits about Indian tribes all over North and South America, with content from the tribes themselves, so we learned a bit about tribes from Chile and Peru through the US to Manitoba and Iqaluit. I cannot recommend this highly enough, so if you are in Washington DC, you should go!
Now it was 4 p.m. and we were pretty much done in. We wandered past the Capitol Reflecting Pool and glimpsed the Capitol building itself before parking ourselves at the bus stop in front of the Department of Labour. While we waited for the bus we had an ice cream from a street vendor. Although the day had been overcast, it was warm and we managed to avoid the rain, although dark and ominous clouds were looming as we waited. A very friendly bus driver picked us up and two hours (and a half hour nap for me) later we were back in Annapolis. Although we overheard a couple of women commuters complaining about the bus service on this route, for us it went really well - and only $17 for two fares both ways was a real deal.
When we got back to the mooring field we found that our friends Bob and Jane on Flextime had arrived and were moored right next to us, so we said a quick hello before heading back to Romana for supper. Needless to say, we slept well last night!
I'm not sure what we are doing next, as we are trying to figure out weather and tides to get a good current down the Delaware Bay to Cape May. This may mean gunkholing around in the Chesapeake for a few days, or 'staging' somewhere strategic. For the time being I just need to brave the rain and get some laundry and groceries done.