May 11, Friday – Day 14:  Our last full day in Annapolis, we did a few boat chores then took the dink into town for another visit to the shops and cafes – man, what a difference the weekend makes.  The streets were alive!  We noticed they were setting up for a Triathlon along the waterfront for Saturday  morning.  To take advantage of the finally nice weather we went gunk-holing as far up Spa Creek as we could.  Then the time had come to have a fare-well cocktail with Stanley and Susie on THE PEARL.  We plan to leave in the morning and although we expect to see them again along the way, we aren’t sure when or where. 

We want to thank everyone who has commented on our blog.  We haven’t had the time to reply to each of the comments but we have read them all and we appreciate each one of them.  It is so nice to know you are interested and/or care about us and are following our adventures!  Please keep them coming – it inspires us.

May 9th, Wednesday - Day 12
No visit to Annapolis would be complete without a trip to a boating supply store, so today’s challenge was to find the best way to get to the local boating store which was about 4 miles away.   We checked out the city bus schedule and discovered that the city bus went from our dock right by the West Marine.  As we hurried off the boat (parked at the city marina) to catch the next bus, we were greeted by a couple of really nice ex-loopers, Jimmy & Jerry, who had seen our burgee on the bow.    Very generously, they insisted on giving us a ride in Jerry’s car across town to the West Marine and another chandlery (aka boat store) and to Home Depot to pick up a  few supplies.  It was a wonderful experience and much appreciated, especially with the added  benefit of a brief overview of Annapolis & Eastport (a neighboring town), and to hear their tales & suggestions from their loop experiences.  

Since Wednesday is the day for the weekly sailing club races, we opted to move from the town dock to a mooring ball out in the harbor, which put us right in the path of the sailboats as they approached the finish line.   As luck would have it, the wind was coming down the race course from the finish line which made the racers have to sail the final leg on very tight tacks (sailing close to the wind) on the final leg toward the finish line.    So, watching from a neighbor’s boat (Stanley & Susie Marshall) here we sat, in the middle of at least a hundred hard-sailing racing sailboats, passing us within literally 2-3 feet under very strong wind conditions, heeled waayyyy over, criss-crossing among the moored boats and mooring balls in the harbor.  It was a thrill to experience.

May 10th, Thursday – Day 13
Today’s primary activity was to take a tour of the United States Naval Academy, which we really wanted to do before leaving Annapolis.   Thanks to Bill Doherty (Belinda’s friend) who attended the academy many years ago, and gave us suggestions on what parts of it were “must see” sights.   Unfortunately, we were too late in the school year to see the noon meal formation, where the entire brigade of all 5000 midshipmen gather prior to their lunchtime meal, and parade into the lunch hall, since the school year had just ended.

May 8, Tuesday- Day 11: For my birthday dinner the plan was to dinghy to Pusser's, a boater's restaurant known for their signature drink - Painkiller- made with Pusser's rum, from our mooring ball about a mile away. But since rain and high winds were predicted, we moved Rickshaw to the canal Pusser's is located on and we tied up across the restaurant. We would then have only a short dinghy ride. We had a great time with out new Texas Half Looper friends Susie and Stan who joined us. They will return to the east coast after exploring Canada this summer.

I don't have any pictures of Annapplis yet because it has been SO DREARY. Not a lot of rain and not too cold but very gray and overcast. We hope to visit the Naval Academy on Wednesday. We'll see...

Monday, May 7th - Day 10:  We arrived in Annapolis after an easy 3 hour cruise.  We picked up a mooring ball, dropped the dink in the water and spent only a brief hour checking out the area around the Harbor Master's office.  We invited a couple, from a boat next to us that are from Texas, to come over for happy hour.  They left Rockport, TX last March and are headed up to Canada this summer too.  We exchanged contact information and hope to keep in touch with them along the way. We plan to be in Annapolis until Friday - but who knows!

Sunday  May 6th – Day 9 –   After waiting for it to warm up and doing a few boat chores, we went on a long bike ride to tour more of the waterfront.  We got back to Rickshaw in time to enjoy watching people and boats gather for the Chicago concert.  But somehow it seemed a little empty not having friends with us to enjoy the view and the music.  We noticed several couples along the water front who didn’t have chairs and were sitting on the ground – cold, hard bricks.  So we invited them to join us on Rickshaw!   Here are pictures from Sunday night and other pictures taken over our short 3 day stay.  We loved Baltimore!!

May 5th, Day 8 -
Change of plans! We decided to move Rickshaw closer to the pavilion and stay another night!  So after watching the kinetic parade we  moved Rickshaw to within 30 yards of the concert!!  We ate lunch in Little Italy (delicious seafood lasagna),  did a little shopping then did some people watching from the aft deck.  People like to stop and ask us questions about Rickshaw, where we are from and where we are going.

May 4th, Day 7 –
Change of plans!  We woke up thinking we were headed to Annapolis from Rock Hall, but decided instead to go to Baltimore and spend two nights – Friday & Saturday - before going to Annapolis.  If we delay Annapolis by two days we are hoping our friends Ron and Anita, on A Vita, will catch up with us there.   The trip
across the bay was short – 26nm –and uneventful.  There aren’t any places to anchor and be close to the activities in Baltimore Harbor so we spent the first night on the outside dock of a marina directly across from the waterfront entertainment district.  We had seen on the internet that there was a kinetic parade (no motor, just petal power) on Saturday morning near our marina but we were excited when we heard Lynyrd Skynyrd was playing at the pavilion, down the harbor,  just 400 yards from our slip!   But we were disappointed to learn that Chicago is playing on Sunday night – the day we leave.
As soon as we docked we jumped on our bikes to check out the area.  We found a fresh market mall and bought some salmon and shaved ham.  Then we pedaled thru the entertainment area and by the pavilion – we noticed that it is possible to dock just feet from where Chicago will be playing........

May 3rd, Day 6 – We enjoyed the quiet secluded anchorage in the Wye River last night.  This morning we decided to skip gunk holing (exploring up rivers and creeks in a dinghy) and head to Rock Hall via Kent Narrows, where we had wonderful crabcake sandwiches for lunch at a cute little waterside restaurant.  After lunch, we continued our journey north which required us to navigate under a very narrow drawbridge between Prospect Bay and Chester River.  You know what happens when water is ‘restricted’ in a narrow passage?   It speeds up and creates all kinds of eddies and cross currents.  Ye-ha – what a ride under the narrow bridge with the current causing us to fish tail and, at one point, pushed us cross ways as the current was pushing against our stern– but Jim did an excellent job of getting us straight just as we went under the bridge and between the narrow bridge pilings!    We continued on to Rock Hall which is really sleepy this time of year and mid week.  But off season also meant there was plenty of room at the free city dock.  We unfolded our bikes and took a tour of the town.   Tomorrow we plan to head to Annapolis. 

May 2,  Day 5 ~ We woke up to thunder and lighting at 6:30.  By 8:00, the sun was shining and we were underway by 9:30.  Solomons is about 3 miles off the bay.  Just as we reached the bay the FOG settled in all around us.  Our visibility was about 1/2 mile.  But with radar and  AIS (Automatic Identification System - which displays on the chartplotter the name, distance, speed, etc. of nearby boats) we felt informed enough to continue.  It was a little unsettling when we couldn't see anything - but reassuring when thru the mist we could faintly see another boat.  Seeing the other boat confirmed how much visibility we really had.  With nothing to see, it seemed the fog was thicker than it really was.  The fog finally burned off by 1:30.  We crossed Chesapeake Bay today and dropped the anchor in the Wye River.  
 

May 1, Day 4 ~ was  a layover day due to weather.  It rained most of the morning but cleared up by noon.  Too late to leave, but nice enough to work on the boat!!    Boaters define cruising as: Working on your boat in exotic places

We dropped the mooring ball and moved 300 yds to a fuel dock and took on 240 gallons of fuel which pretty much topped off our 900 gallon tank.  We also topped off our water tanks.  Then we moved into a slip at Spring Cove Marina.  Jim tested the new dinghy winch.  I did laundry and completed the refinishing of the teak handrails.  We took the marina shuttle (golf cart) to Food Lion, CVS and West Marine.  We did lots of research on places to visit in upper Chesapeake Bay.  So  many places - so little time.  Our goal is to be in NYC by May 26th but see everything we can between here and there.