Hurricanes and more

So, we ended up staying in Worton Creek Marina until four days ago - its friday today... I think.  By the time Matthew had some idea on which way it was going to go, we were really too late to even hope of finding a mooring spot at Annapolis for the sailboat boat show.  It turned out ok, we rented a car for the weekend and drove back and forth to Annapolis. 

View from the bridge of a sailboat

Chris and Tom

Al's brother Tom, his wife Chris and their son Noah came down to Annapolis for the weekend as well.  It was great to spend some time with family after being away from everyone for so long.   We attended the show on Friday and Sunday, and oh what a show.  All those sailboats you see in glossy magazines were there to walk through, and I got to briefly dream of being a gazillionaire, with room for a party of many and dancing on the foredeck. Then reality hits you the back of the head when you realize how much work and dollars keeping one of those up would be, never mind trying to dock one somewhere even with everything being run by pushing a button, I'll stick with our little sailboat thanks.  Mind, one we saw had a large luxurious bathtub in it....

Annapolis is the capital of Maryland and home to the US Naval Academy which is federal service academy, so we saw lots of young adults in full uniform at the show and around town.  The population is only around 39,000 people, and it felt like they all are living in the downtown core along the waterfront, though it was likely just all the visitors that made it feel so busy. The downtown streets are narrow, stemming back to their colonial beginnings with street names to match, old brick buildings, brick streets, two round abouts that have streets going off in different directions.  It's easy to get mixed up in which way you're going.  It's quite a lovely city, and it would have been nice to spend some more time wandering around its harbour area. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annapolis,_Maryland)

Blustery saturday with rain

The Saturday in between was an awful day of rain and wind.  Remnants of Hurricane Matthew that spewed out around itself.  I was glad to have the car to be able to get around and not get too wet.  We found a couple chandlers outside the show to spend some money at on saturday as well as a few of the vendors at the show over the two days we were there.

The harbour at Annapolis on Sunday

After a lovely but blustery day at the show on Sunday with Tom, Chris and Noah, we said our goodbyes and they headed home and we headed back to our little boat. The marina that we're in is well protected from the wind and tide, however, if the wind comes from the north, it keeps the tide low and the water out of the bay. So, when we arrived back at the marina, it was a very low tide, so low in fact that our little boat was stuck in the mud, not bad, but bad in that it was just out of our reach for getting on board.  We thought we'd wait a bit for the tide to come up and then be able to get back on board.  So while we waited, we skyped home and talked to family as they were celebrating with their Thanksgiving dinner.  It was so great to see their faces and talk to them.  Even after that time, our boat was still stuck...so Al went off looking for a gangplank that we could use stretch across to the boat from the dock.  It worked, and we retired for the evening.  During the night the boat did float again, and by morning all was fine....

On the road again... so to speak

Bay Bridge across the Chesapeak Bay

The next morning we were up early as we had to take the car back, it was a great deal for the weekend.  We picked up a few groceries before they gave us a ride back to the marina.  We just spent the rest of the day getting ready to move out the next morning.
The next day did dawn nice and sunny, so after a pump out and fuel up we departed for our next harbour.  We motored as the wind was right on our nose, so couldn't even get any help from the wind.  The tide was with us for most of the trip this day thankfully, it did slow us down later on.  We passed Annapolis after going under the Bay Bridge and carried on south to Herring Bay and a lovely little marina there.  The journey in was another story... we were in a crab pot minefield to say the least, they were closing in on us from all sides.  We found out after that there was a route in that was supposed to be clear of traps, we missed that memo.  The marina was great, all in a small man made harbour that looks out onto the Chesapeake.  We walked out to the beach that evening and tried to decipher all the lights that blinked, flashed or just shone all over the place.  A boat even came in after dark, through all those traps... crazy people.

Sunset at Herrington South Marina

Brown pelicans abounded this day

One of the navy ships we passed.

The next day was good weather so we continued on our way to Solomons in Maryland.  The trip to this harbour was through Navy restricted zones, there were a couple military ships that we passed, we had until 1 pm to get through before they started exercises.  We were through in plenty of time, but we heard other boats being directed out of the area by the Navy. There were all kinds of aircraft buzzing over us during the last part of the trip as there is a navy military airport on the bay into Solomons that tests new Navy aircraft. 

Calvert Cliffs State park

 Also along this coast is cliffs that have fossil beds that are part of Calvert Cliffs park.  Apparently, one can walk along the beach and find fossils from Miocene times (10 to 25 million years ago) as well as arrowheads and the likes and keep them.  We didn't get there, we would have had to rent a car again to do that.

View from the marina restraurant

Along the way we have been trying to figure out, well Al has been trying to figure out why our exhaust is spewing out so much steam.  We had been ruling things out as we went along, however, the problem is really 'building up' so we chose a marina in Solomons that specializes in Westerbekes (our engine).  We had called ahead to book a spot and ask about someone looking at the engine.  When we arrived, Billy the mechanic came to meet us and check out our issue.  Though we'd had our impeller checked in Ontario and changed in Worton, Billy found little bits of impeller in the heat exchanger and all parts between it and the exhaust.  After he had removed some impeller bits the decrease in the steam was very evident.  So, long story short, Billy took out the heat exchanger to clean it out, took out the water pump and discovered a completely destroyed impeller.  This problem wasn't something new, it had been an issue since we were on Lake Ontario, so the whole thing has been a real mystery as to why the impeller is now in little bits when it hadn't been when previously checked and replaced.  Still shortening the story, Billy got us a new pump, as the current one was the original and re build kits no longer exist, a new impeller and managed to replace cracked parts on the heat exchanger without having to replace that too. 

Al peddling...

Each post has a bird

That all got fixed today, and our little boat is much happier, lots more water coming out of the exhaust and no steam after being in gear tied to the dock for some time. ... and we're down a good chunk of change.  

This town is a lovely little spot, we borrowed bikes from the marina to get around. Thankfully, its quite flat as the bikes only have one gear.

Solomons, MD harbour

We used the bikes to go get groceries and check out the place.  There is a lot of boat building and fishing history that goes along with this place, as well as the war of 1812 against the British that is ever present in plaques along the boardwalk. 

We are planning on moving again tomorrow morning and if all goes to plan we will be entering the Potomac River enroute to Washington, DC.  That is a 96 mile journey up the river that will take us a few days.

It appears that the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW), that we hope to use to get to Florida is in rough shape still with very high water, some of it closed, so we aren't in any hurry to move down the coast. 

So that's catching you up to today, glad you're sticking with us....thanks