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It’s Monday morning and Pandora is making her way down the Chesapeake Bay on our way to Solomon’s Island, our probable stop for today.   Hampton is about 120 miles from Annapolis and we don’t have to be there till later this week so it’s not necessairy for us to cover a ton of ground each day.  Having said that, we may run into some headwinds later in the week so making time while the wind is favorable is a good idea.  As I write this we are under sail running wing and wing and making nearly 7kts through the water.  That’s good.

We returned to Annapolis and Pandora after spending the weekend with our son Rob and his girlfriend Kandice, at their home in Baltimore.  I was pretty glad to be off of Pandora for a few days given the fact that it had rained pretty much every day since my arrival the weekend before.  No, not exactly all of the time, but enough to make it feel like rain, rain and more rain.  Brenda joined me in Baltimore and we had a terrific time.  We had such a great time that we couldn’t even manage to leave with everything we arrived with.  How about leaving foul weather gear and a pair of Brenda’s sandals?   The gear will surely come in handy soon, if the last week’s weather is any indication?  And the sandals?  Well that’s a crisis as we are headed south and guess what the fashion of the day is there?  You guessed it.   What’s a girl to do?   Crisis averted, Rob is going to mail them to us in Hampton VA where we will be spending the coming weekend.

Prior to meeting Brenda at Rob and Kandice’s I had guests aboard from CT from Wednesday through Friday for the boat show.  It was fun having like minded folks on board to tour the show and they also kept me well fed and lubricated.  Actually, the lubrication was somewhat excessive but I have only myself to blame.  Having said that, I can’t say that they set a particularly good example.  It was fun, that’s for sure.

While Brenda hasn’t been in Annapolis since last Fall when we passed through here on our way to FL, we decided to head out today instead of touring the city to take advantage of favorable winds that are forecast for the next few days to make distance toward Hampton.

Last night was the first night that I really felt that we were back in “cruiser’s mode” as Brenda was aboard and we spent the evening with our good friends Bill and Maureen of Kalunamoo and their friends from NY.   We sailed with Kalunamoo off and on last fall and winter and really enjoyed their company.  Maureen, perhaps more than anyone, tries to keep me in line so I don’t push Brenda too much.  When I talked about taking Pandora to Turkey, her response was “down Bob, down Bob, one step at a time”.    OK, OK, point taken but I still want to go.

However, they are not without guilt as they did ask us if we’d like to do the Salty Dawg rally with them this fall.  In the interest of full disclosure, it was Maureen that first said, “we are going to the Caribbean, want to come too?” when they visited us in Essex a few months ago.  That run will take them from Hampton VA to Tortola in the BVI,  a trip that I’d love to take.   So there, it’s not just me Maureeen!!!

For now I am happy to have Brenda aboard, being underway and headed south.  Yahoo!!!

No post is complete without at least one photo and since there haven’t been any sunsets worth showing of late (recall day after day of rain?) I’ll put in a shot of the boat show as we passed out of the harbor. Oh yeah, and how about a shot of the Thomas Point light?  This is a “screw pile” lighthouse and certainly a form that speaks the loudest that you are indeed in the Chesapeake and headed south.  Indeed!!!

It seems that most everyone, teams, cities and countries have mascots.  Some become controversial in our ever so PC society such as the current debate about renaming the Cleveland Indians.   Welcome to America, where you can’t offend anyone.

Even Annapolis, it seems, has it’s share of debate about such things.  As I was walking around town the other day, I ran into a monstrous chicken, another and yet another.

Someone decided to set up an art project modeled on the same type such as the “cows on parade” in Chicago a number of years.  Legend has it that the city passed an ordnance making it legal to raise chickens within the city limits.  I am guessing that this didn’t include roosters.  Hens only.

It seems that this “chicken ordnance” spilled over to the art world and some local artists decided that they too wanted to be part of the debate.  The deal is that local businesses make a donation to create a “chicken blank” which is given to a local artist or school class, which is then “finished” according to the desire of the artist/class.   The finished piece is installed somewhere in downtown Annapolis.  I wonder if there is an arbitrator of “chick taste” to determine if the finished piece is an “approprichick” design for the community?  I guess you will need to be the judge.

Anyway, so much for background, here are some of my favorites.  This one had lots of little guys crawling up his back.How about a fleur de lis inspired chick?If chickens were smart, and I am told that they aren’t, this one would be at the head of the class.
Civic, or “civchick” pride was very much in evidence.  Go firefighters!!!
I’m thinking school class.  The work of many, small, hands.
This one seemed to be looking into the conference room window of a downtown hotel.  The folks around the table looked like they were in pain.   As awkward as it was, I leaned up against the window and snapped this candid of one of the folks in the meeting, watching a Presentation, no doubt.   Not a good day at the office.   Me, I prefer a visit to the boat show. Yes, definitely better.  “Not so PC Bob.  Down Bob, down Bob.  Not PC at all.”|  Ok, I am told that some folks love meetings, really.   Could that be true?

The boat show?  Fun, even in the rain.  Not much to report there.  My boat improvement budget is blown, definitely blown for the season.  Time to go sailing. This weekend Brenda and I are visiting our son Rob and his girlfriend Kandice for a few days.  Let’s hope for fair winds early in the week for our run down to Hampton VA.

To visit Annapolis by boat is one of my favorite things.  The maritime heritage of the US is deep and Annapolis, arguably, is the deepest.  This trip for me marks the third or fourth time that I have been here by water and I have to say that it’s just great.  To view the city from the water and see the glow of lights on the capitol dome, Academy chapel and in the windows of private homes in the evening is magical.

As the front came through yesterday afternoon, with it’s gusty wind and torrents of rain I was struck, again, by how quickly things can change on the water.  One moment it was calm and warm and the next Pandora was being blown over one way and the next.  I had been out getting some fuel for my dink and saw blue sky off to the southeast and dark lumpy clouds off to the northwest.  Within literally minutes the calm was shattered as the front was upon us.

Later that evening, at sunset, I was treated to a magnificent and colorful sunset. Sorry, no picture this time.

It’s just so great to be here, tucked away in such a secluded spot, right in the middle of a city.  It’s hard to believe that I was able to just drop my anchor here and settle in for a week.  In so many harbors there isn’t any room for anchoring as it’s totally filled with “private, keep off” moorings, that are mostly vacant, leaving no room for folks to visit.  And, it’s clear that the city has made a point of making the water accessible to transients.  Interestingly, there doesn’t seem to be a problem with derelict boats camped out full time.  Perhaps that’s because the harbor master comes by to register anyone who plans to anchor for more than three days.  I had to give him a lot more information to anchor than I did to pay for a mooring.

Whatever the reason, it’s a city that still respects their maritime roots and history unlike so many of the communities that we have visited over the years where you have to pay a fee to be there, on a regulated mooring with no place to anchor.  On top of that, every street that dead ends at the harbor has a small dock for dinks.  So, how great is that?

Anyway, enough from my soap box for now.  As I sit here on Pandora I am also treated to all the comings and goings on the water.  Everything from the drama of the harbor police moving wayward powerboats (see last post) to really interesting boats that come by all day.

I was particularly struck by this rowboat that passed me yesterday.   They were being shadowed by another boat complete with an enthusiastic photographer documenting her every stroke.  I wonder where she plans to head.  I expect that her voyage will likely take her to another continent.  Europe?  Japan?  For now I expect that her destination is the Sailboat Show in a a few days.  I’ll find out more about here plans there.   I wonder where you go to buy such a craft.  Probably “home made”.  If so, I’d love to meet the folks that live in that home or the women rowing.  Clearly, she’s not a “girly girl” and probably not the type that spends the typical 8.5 hours per day watching TV.  Just a thought, if a bit random one at that.If I were going to row across an ocean, and I wouldn’t, I’d feel pretty comfortable (a relative term) in this boat.  It looks new to me.  No voyages yet. 

However, what’s with the guy in the stern who probably didn’t think I could see him.  Perhaps if I scrunch down real low, know one will see me.  I wonder if she even knew he was there.  OMG, a stowaway!!! So, that’s where all of my sea biscuits have gone.  GIVE THEM BACK!!!Not all transport in Annapolis is waterborne, at least not all of the time.  I loved this one.   Yellow is such a great color for a plane.  I wan’t to go for a ride!!!  I wonder if my life insurance would allow this?  No wait, I am too old for life insurance now that I am getting AARP mailings what seems like every other day. Count me in, I am going.  As soon as he lifted off he powered overhead.  What fun.  You too can get a ride and sign up at their site.  They take a lot of private yacht photos and you can go to their site and purchase a print.  It seems to be a franchise operation.  Perhaps now would be a good time for you to chuck it all and purchase a little yellow plane for yourself.  Perhaps not.

Enough dreaming.  Time go get the lead out.  Today is sunny and cool.  No excuse to sit around.

There is a natural distrust between sailors and powerboaters.  Well, at least there are stereotypes that fuel the perception that there are differences.

Last evening I witnessed an event that did nothing to change my opinion that at least some powerboat owners that operate their vessels differently than the sailors that I hang out with.

Let me explain…

Yesterday two large powerboats anchored near Pandora in Spa Creek, Annapolis.  First the big one dropped his hook, with very short scope I might add,nearby. After he was settled, another powerboat arrived and tied up to him.  The two boats represented a lot of weight and windage for his anchor but it was calm so there probably wasn’t a lot of risk to them for the time being.  After tying the two boats together, they jumped onto a water taxi and headed into town, probably the boat show.

Some time later the wind picked up from a different direction and, as you would imagine, they shifted direction.   The bad news was that they were now sitting just a few feet of the dock of one of the homes on shore.  To make matters worse, if they had dragged even a few feet, they would have bumped into the owners very nice yacht, no make that two very nice yachts.  I guess that the homeowner made a call as a short while later the harbor police showed up to check out the situation. After securing his boat to the wayward raft, the officer jumped up on the bow of the offending yacht and proceeded to pull up the offending yacht’s anchor.  To see that anchor come up so quickly really showed just how short the line was. And, let me tell you, the holding here isn’t that good under the best of circumstances so to go with short scope was a very risky move.

As I watched the officer try to maneuver these two boats, each much larger than his patrol boat, made me realize that he could probably use some help.   As luck would have it, another sailor was observing the events and he too pitched in.   So, like three tugs maneuvering a cruise ship, we helped shift the “raft” onto a nearby private mooring.  It was great fun.  My crew from Essex was still on board and took a few shots of the action.  There’s me holding the mooring line as the officer and other helper nudged the raft.  I am glad that there wasn’t much wind as our puny boats would have been no match for the shear bulk of the two offenders.  It turns out that the other sailor who helped out was Mike from Wombat of Sydney a very nice guy.   I need to learn more about how he came up with that name.  Exactly, what or who is a Wombat anyway?

As you would imagine, the officer was very appreciative of our help and stopped over to thank us once everything was properly secured.   They say that the satisfaction of doing good is it’s own reward.  Yes, that’s true but I did ask if perhaps I could get a “get out of jail free card”.  Alas, no such luck as he was all out.

A short time later, the owner of the home who’s yacht and dock were threatened by this whole incident showed up to present me and Mike with our own bottles of very nice red wine.  What a wonderful gesture.   Brenda and I will enjoy the fruits, so to speak, of my labors.  The wine presenter is on the right. In the interest of complete candor, the owner had a large powerboat on his dock. However, he also had a good size racing sailboat.   However, no stogie for him and he has great taste in wine.  I guess that makes him a good guy, powerboat or not.

Perhaps you are wondering what happened when the wayward powerboaters showed up.  I am so glad that you asked.   Well, the owner arrived by water taxi, climbed on board, all the while probably wondering how his yacht had moved several hundred yards from anchor to a mooring.  He came up on his bow of his now relocated vessel, while puffing on his altogether fat cigar,  and casually looked down at the lines and mooring.   I could’t resist and said,  “You missed all the fun.  The harbor police and harbor master were here to move your boat”   So, what did he say to that, you ask?  “I wanted to be sure that everything was properly secured”, and walked back into his cockpit.   No questions, just concern that perhaps someone had not secured things properly.  Can you believe it?   I would have been mortified if I had done what he had but his reaction didn’t provide even a hint of self doubt.

However, there was justice, I hope, as the harbor captain paid the skipper a visit this morning.   Fine?  I am optimistic.

So, are sailors different than powerboaters?  You be the judge but I can’t say that I have run into many sailors who are so casual about anchoring but have seen a number of episodes, by “the others” like this.    No, I don’t want to paint everyone with a broad brush but this was one for the books, or blog as it were.

So, are sailors and powerboaters different?  You be the judge.  Me, I got a great bottle of wine and made a new friend, or two.    I can’t wait to share that nice bottle of wine with Brenda.

Oh yeah, my crew from Essex departed today just ahead of the rain that is now pounding down on Pandora’s decks.  Now that I am finished with this post, I’ll have to figure how to keep my self occupied for the rest of the day until the rain stops.

Hmm… Can you say time to clean Pandora?

It’s Saturday morning and an absolutely beautiful day here in the northern Chesapeake.  We spent last night in the basin at Chesapeake City, a spot that I have visited a number of times.  It’s a very quaint historic village complete with a Tiki Bar.   While the old homes look the part of early america, I expect that the Tiki Bar at a local resort wasn’t there when barges were being pulled along the canal by horses.  Just a guess.

The view this morning of the bridge and “town” was quite a sight.    A bit earlier in the morning we were treated to a rainbow over the bridge.  Nice juxtaposition of arches.  Don’t I just have all the luck?   However, I didn’t want to push it by heading out to find the pot of gold.  Perhaps I already have but I don’t want to jinx it by chasing rainbows. Yesterday we caught the tide going up the Delaware River and enjoyed a windless run on perfectly calm waters all the way, over 50 miles, from the ocean to the canal.  The tide really rips and the 2kt current made our run up take hours less than it would have been if we had gone against the tide.  I wasn’t pushing the engine very hard so our 6.5 kts combined with the tide pushed us at a respectable 8.5 kts.  To buck the tide would have reduced our progress to 4.5, a 50% reduction in speed.  That would have been painful.

Along the way we passed a number of really beautiful lighthouses.  Today’s lights aren’t nearly as scenic.  To say that “they don’t make them like they used to” is certainly an understatement when it comes to government structures.  So, let me get this straight, less spending on elegant architecture and more on something else. What might it be?  No wait, I remember, free stuff for everyone?   Can you say entitlement programs and I don’t mean that we are entitled to nice looking lighthouses.  Never mind.  Perhaps I’d better quit while I am ahead. Good thing that the founding fathers liked architecture and light houses in particular.

Anyway, these are nice ones, indeed.  It was barely getting light when we passed this one. This one looks like it came right out of a Harry Potter book.  Pretty ornate.  You almost expect to see a wizard standing on the balcony summoning up a water spout. The day broke as we entered the river mouth, with a fabulous sunrise reflecting on the water.  It doesn’t get any better than this. So were are we headed today anyway?  Not sure exactly but I do need to get closer to Annapolis so my crew can make their bus on Monday.  However, with the boat show in town, the powerboat show that is, I may have trouble finding a spot to anchor.  The show breaks up on Sunday night so perhaps I can grab a spot as one group leaves and the other arrives.

Wish me luck.  This is just so great…