Annapolis

5/23/16   To   38 58.375N,  76 29.173W    Annapolis Municipal Mooring #60    52.0NM

The rain gradually ceased as we motored up the bay.  With insufficient wind to sail, the engine got a good workout, and preformed flawlessly sans hiccups or stutters, much to our relief.  We appear to have found our payback zone for all the 'good' current we've enjoyed most of the way N.  It's a bit of a double whammy of the flood current not coinciding with much of our transiting time, and runoff in the Chesapeake watershed making its way to sea.  Even when we should have a few 10ths of a kt flood, the GPS on the chart plotter indicates around -.4, making long days just a little bit longer.  Maybe Delaware Bay, where the current runs stronger, will be kinder to us (and have runoff too).

Thomas Point light house off the South River

Sign by a replica of Thomas Point light house at the Annapolis Maritime Museum

As we worked our way N, the cumulus clouds began building on both sides of the bay.  The last batch of rain had swept in from the E, off the ocean, rather than following the usual westerly flow, so I wasn't sure which batch of clouds I should be watching.  We started 30 minute radar checks, and watched as a number of fairly nasty cells built around the region, from Philadelphia to S of Norfolk, tracking W, and NOAA issued one storm warning after another for much of  Chesapeake Bay over the VHF.

One of the tall ships sailing past the Naval Academy with a tour group

We tucked in between 2 cells as we headed into Annapolis, and it looked like we'd be home free - on a mooring and settled when any weather arrived.  There was an unexpected snafu - all moorings N of the bridge on Spa Creek were full.  It was a Monday, there haven't been that many cruisers, and with crummy weather all weekend, what were these people thinking?  A call to the bridge tender informed us the next opening (restricted hours) wouldn't be until 1800, leaving us with 25 minutes to back and fill as the clouds got darker and darker.  We had the connector in, helping to keep us dry, but the side curtains obstruct visibility more than we like, especially in close quarters.  We were doing circles between the mooring field, the Eastport docks and the docks by the burnt out shell of the Annapolis Yacht Club house.  The good thing was we weren't the tallest mast, and there was protection from the boats on the docks when the initial 25kts of wind arrived.  We did a lot of slow circles.

Work on the Annapolis Yacht Club building damaged by a fire

Most of the moorings beyond the bridge were empty, so once we cleared the bridge we picked up #60.  We'd have bridge noise, but it would be a short dinghy ride to the closest public landing (most streets have public docks).  Unfortunately it was still raining, and I'd been looking forward to crab cakes from Chick and Ruth's Delly.  I was thrilled when the radar showed a break in the rain, so when it arrived, we launched the dinghy and rowed ashore.  Yes! Crab cakes and an apple crisp crepe from Sofi's  for dinner!

Antares on the 'other' side of the bridge - St. Mary's church and Charles Carroll House

The bridge was noisy.  It's relatively easy to adapt to the whirring sound of tire tread over grates, but the bridge was under repair, with 3 or 4 large metal plates over work areas that sounded like drums as the cars went over.  However, if you're tired, even that sound merges into background noise.  There was a bright side - although the moorings were rated for 35' (not easily visible), the harbor master had no problem downsizing Antares a foot, and these moorings were $25/night, while on the other side of the bridge (rated for bigger vessels) were $35 for our length. He pointed out that dinghy dock by the Academy would have been packed. 

2/24/16    To  39 27.951N,    75 58.802W    Rogue's Harbor    51.2NM

Linterman's new vessel

I'd need a ladder to paint the bottom with this 8.5' keel!

We decided not to spend another night in Annapolis to take advantage of improving weather.  Knowing we needed to be off the mooring by noon, we ate a quick breakfast and went ashore to check out Mary and Chris Linterman's (friends from LCYC) new boat in Eastport.  Suffice it to say it's a big (46') go fast boat (twin wheels and rudders) and quite a change from Moon Shadow, their Erickson 35.  Mary said it was responsive, fun to sail, and they did over 9kts in 10-15kts of wind on the sea trial. We might reach 9 kts (briefly) surfing down a wave in strong winds and following seas.  They planned to arrive late Tuesday night, get the boat launched Wednesday and head straight for Newport.  We knew they'd be too busy to visit, and we'd need at least a day's head start if we hope to see them in Cape May.  It was interesting to take a look at the boat on the hard.  With 8.5' draft, it's not a boat for the Bahamas, but they are thinking about cruising the Med, and it would be great for crossing the Atlantic and Europe.  We'll keep in touch with them, and wish them a smooth maiden voyage. (They'll wave as they fly past us on the Delaware.)

Part of the fleet watching the practice run of the Blue Angel's air show

We caught the 1100 bridge opening, and were surprised to see all the moorings still full - usually someone departs in the morning.  As we turned to head toward the bay, we were faced with a flotilla of anchored and slow moving vessels, and a number of patrol vessels.  We'd wondered about the additional small red and green buoys when we arrived, apparently it was a channel for traffic during a Blue Angels air show scheduled for Wednesday.  Seems we arrived during graduation week at the Academy.  It looked like Burlington harbor before the fireworks.  We did catch part of the practice airshow - they buzzed the channel as we headed out, and watched them practice as we continued on our way.  The last thing we need is more unspent fuel on our deck, which looks like it has a case of pox, courtesy of the fighters buzzing us in the A&P Canal and Alligator River.  It requires a lot of elbow grease to remove from the non-skid deck.

Blue Angels in tight formation

With a late start and fighting the current, we planned to get to as far as possible for the night, putting us in a reasonable position to catch an East flowing current through the C&D Canal in the morning Wednesday before heading down the Delaware Bay.

Once the current finally stopped running against us, we pushed a beyond the Sassafras River, hoping to reach Cape May on Wednesday.  It would be a stretch, some 70NM, especially if we continued to fight the current at the same rate we had on the bay.  It was disheartening to see the 'extra' 10NM (compared to the actual chart plotter track) we traveled during the day.  That's an extra couple of hours at our speed!

Rogue's Harbor wasn't much of a harbor, but more a place where we could get out of the channel, have enough depth and swing room for the night, and would offer protection from N-NW winds if needed.  It was near Elk River State Park, across from the interesting, but unsightly, trailer/RV park across the river (Leonard told me to look the other way), and was 10NM closer to Cape May.  There was a dock at the park, but we were too tired to attempt to take either Antares in to the dock, or launch the dinghy to go exploring.  It was a very quiet night, much appreciated after the noise from the Annapolis bridge.