It's the last sail of the season. No, really, I mean it!

Brenda, what about one more weekend on Pandora in Annapolis next weekend?   That's what I asked Brenda on the phone last week when I was on business in Atlanta.   Fortunately, she said yes.  Was it a desire to go sailing one more time or an agreement based on the fear that I would slit my wrists if I was away from the boat for too long?  I guess I will never know.  However, one not-so-subtle motivation for her might have been my suggestion that we visit Chesapeake City and the weaving store that I had spied on our visit there a few weeks ago when I was delivering Pandora from Norwalk to her winter home near Annapolis.  Whatever the motivation was, off we went on Saturday morning in the rain to visit Annapolis one more time.  The weather forecast called for rain, and lots of it on Saturday.  Yes, the weather man was right, actually perfectly correct for once. 

I had also had heard from a couple from Toronto who were considering the purchase of a SAGA 43 that they wanted to meet us in Annapolis on Saturday to see the boat and spend some time on board to compare notes on the design.  They had narrowed their search down to two boat types, a SAGA and Caliber 40 a more traditional moderate cruiser.  That is to say, one boat that is not too fast with lots of storage and the SAGA which will get them there much faster and in style if perhaps with a bit less stuff on board.  I know that deciding what to buy can be struggle in any major purchase but to me there isn't any comparison.  I still love having a boat that will pass about anything that comes our way in normal cruising circumstances.  Besides, with our speed we can be sure and get to port before the stores close.  No, I won't be winning any club races but for all out drag racing from point A to B, the SAGA beats (almost) all.  It will be interesting to hear what they decide. 

After getting settled aboard in the pouring rain on Saturday we were happy to return to shore and have dinner with some great friends and fellow Corinthians who live in the neighborhood where Pandora is berthed this fall.  Dick and Valerie treated us and two other couples to a wonderful evening at their home.  Terrific food and company.  Dick and Valierie have taken their sailboat Spring Moon, a Pacific Seacraft Crealock 37, all over including a number of trips to Bermuda as well as extensive cruising in the Easter Caribbean. Interestingly, Dick's boat is the actual one featured in, I think, the book by  Mate, "The World's Best Sailboats".  If not that book, it was another.  In any event, the boat has really sweet lines.

It was great spending time with fellow cruisers and made an evening in the rain much more fun.

Sunday bright and sunny.  What a difference a day makes!  That certainly applied this weekend as when we awoke on Sunday morning to head out the skies were clear and there was a nice NW breeze.    Dick and Valerie had suggested the prior evening that we might want to head down the bay about 10 miles to Galesville MD for the night so off we went. 

Galesville was once a fairly important stop for steamboats that moved from town to town along the Chesapeake Bay prior to the building of reliable roads and the widespread use of automobiles.  Now Galesville is a quiet town with loads and loads of sailboats.  I am still still struck by how few boats sit out on  moorings here as opposed to in the areas where we normally sail in New England.  Up there marinas are common too but many more boats are on moorings.  In MD there are so many creeks and bays that waterfront property isn't quite so precious and there are marinas everywhere.  However, in Galesville there are some moorings, somewhat of a rarity.

Our run on Sunday took us out into the bay, past a few large ships anchored south of the Annapolis Bridge and an unusual site, a US Navy Sub.  Now that's not something that you see every day. 

Of course, there was a very attentive Navy Hard Bottom Inflatable (HBI) buzzing everyone that became too inquisitive. 

Bummer about that as I wanted to get some better photos.  The HBI, blue light flashing on deck, following our every move as I snapped away, made me feel like a spy. 

In all of my years of boating this is only the 3rd time that I have seen a sub in "real life" and the only time that I was able to get close enough to get a good shot.  Perhaps I should say "photograph" as opposed to "shot".  Don't want the brass getting anxious.  You know how intimidating Pandora can be when she is bearing down on you at speed. 

As we dodged the commercial traffic Brenda was just thrilled when I passed the bow of this ship.  Yes, she was anchored and yes we really were this close.  I could see some big scratches in the bottom paint on the bow.  I wonder what they hit?  

There was also a car carrier ship anchored nearby.  It's hard to see how this type doesn't just roll over in the slightest breeze.  Talk about windage.

Don't think it looks that big?  How about seeing something like this loom out of the fog some night?  The scale suggests how much fun that would be.

Further down the bay we passed one of the last screw pile lights left on the bay .  The Thomas Point Light is quite a sight.  In order to get this close to get a shot I anxiously watched my depth sounder as it showed less than 5 feet under the keel.  Had I misjudged the depth I would have been able to take photos of the light as the sun set. Not my first choice.

If it's worth having one Photo of Thomas Point Light, it's worth having a second, from the other side.

 Now this is a nice sunset photo from Sunday evening aboard Pandora.  Better from this vantagepoint than aground off of Thomas Point Light. 

That's it for now.  Our last sail of the season (really, I mean it).  In a few weeks Pandora comes out of the water for some winter work and back in the water mid March.  

I plan on putting up posts of the projects as I tackle them and am sure that the progress willl be as scintillating to all of you as it will be to me.

Where (was) Pandora this summer?

I prefer to do a post when I have some current information to share about what we have done in the last week or so.  However, as the season for us is drawing to a close I thought that it would be fun to look back at some of the places that we went this summer and note a few highlights.

This season's sailing took Pandora farther than we have sailed in any one season.   I don't know how far we actually sailed as I did not log the daily distances but we covered a lot of ground, or should I say water. It's unfortunate that I didn't keep track and I plan to keep track in the future.  We began our season just prior to Memorial Day in Norwalk where we had Pandora for less than one week at the Norwalk Yacht Club.  In fact, it's the first year in nearly 15 years as members of the club that we didn't take even a single day sail in "local" waters.  I decided a few years ago that I had had enough of sailing in Western Long Island Sound so we have been moving her around a lot to take advantage of having her in a variety of places.  The logistics are daunting but it makes for a lot of variety and there is just so much else to see.

Now that I have a boat that can really cover a good amount of ground in a day, the miles just don't seem nearly as long as they used to.  With her long waterline of 41.5' on a 43' hull, we can easily make 7+kts for hours on end, even against a nasty chop.  This makes 70km days a reasonable option.

After putting Pandora back in the water we headed east to Mystic where we used a friend's mooring (you can read about the fun finding the missing mooring chain in my May 31st posting) for the month of June.  On and off the boat for a number of long weekends plus a week over Memorial Day weekend had us visiting the eastern end of Long Island Sound and Block Island.

 A farm on the North Fork of Long Island.  Below show Shinn Vineyards, a great spot on the North Fork and a reasonable walk from Mattituck Harbor.

 

Our visit to the North Fork of Long Island included a visit to Shinn Vineyards, the only biodynamic winery on LI and perhaps in the US.  You can really see the difference in the look of the vineyard when no herbicides are used.  It's so much more lush and natural looking.  They have really nice weekly e-mail that's worth subscribing to.






For the month of July we sailed in and out of Wickford prior to heading up to New Bedford and on to Maine for August.  Our favorate place to visit in Wickford is Pleasant Street Warf, run by old friends.  What a great spot.  It looks like it did 50 years ago.

Pandora docked at Pleasant Street Wharf in Wickford.

A highlight of the summer was a weekend spent on board with my two sons Rob and Chris as well as my father when we made a run from Wickford to New Bedford, with a stop in Cuttyhunk.  My dad who just turned 80 is in terrific shape (I will be thrilled if I have his energy at 80) and we had a ball.  It was the first time in all my years of sailing when the 4 of us were on the boat together.

I just love this shot of us at the top of the hill on Cuttyhunk.

We also were treated to an amazing sight as the fog descended on the harbor about one hour before sunset.   It's hard to believe that these two shots were taken on the same day.   As they often say about weather on the water, "if you don't like the weather, wait an hour".  And that certainly suggests that being prepared for anything is key when you are on a boat.

 

We have sailed Maine every summer  for over 10 years now and while we didn't cover as much distance in Maine as we normally do we had a really great time.  We lucked out with terrific weather in spite of the record rainfall that this summer brought to New England.

Have you ever wondered how they cut the grass on remote island summer homes?  Here's a shot of a boat docked in Rockland fueling up the John Deer for a visit to cut some lawns.  I wonder how they get them out of the boat when they get there?  I should have asked.

How often do you see a moon rise like this one in Rockland harbor?  Not a bad looking boat either. 

Our visit to Boothbay harbor was fun and this shot of a NY30 is a good example of the wonderful wood boats that you see all over Maine.  There's a thriving boat building and restoration business going on in Maine these days. Note the tall ship being worked on at the shipyard in the background.

Two weeks in August in Maine followed by nearly two weeks in early September found us heading down the coast with another stop in Wickford and back to Norwalk.  A hurricane went through in late August and in it's wake we had a week and a half of winds from the North and West which made for unusually fair winds when Brenda and I ran from Rockland all the way back to Norwalk.

A favorite place we visited this summer was Allen Island off of Muscongus bay just a bit east of Boothbay Harbor, the summer home of Andrew and Betse Wyeth.  Unfortunately, Andrew died earlier this year but we were pleased to see Betse still using the island.  In fact, she arrived when we were on one of their moorings.  She waved to Brenda, a thrill for her indeed.  The Wyeth's homes on the island show what can be done when you have good taste and style along with the money to indulge your vision.  There are many homes on the island and the scene does look just like one of his paintings.

Quite a variety of architecture on Wyeth's islands and it all holds together wonderfully. 

This is one of the Wyeth launches and is named after the famous explorer, Weymouth's ship the Archangel.

This view also includes a cross commemorating the landing of Archangel, way back in the 1600s by Charles Weymouth who, on behalf of King George, explored the coast of Maine.  When he anchored just north of Allen Island he captured several native Indians and took them back to England where they were presented to the king. Check out this link to learn more. There are sheep all over the island and they keep the trees from overtaking the landscape.  It's one of the most idyllic spots along the coast.

After we left Allen Island we wound our way through islands in Muscongus Bay. This shot off of the chart plotter really gives a good feel for how rocky the coast of Maine is.  Not a place that I would want to traverse without good charts and a GPS.  

What trip with Brenda would be complete without a visit to see some sheep, or in this case goats.

Quick...Maine or Afghanistan?  Hmm...

This one in particular boasted a great haircut.  Perhaps a bit of an "Elvis" doo.  He did have personality and was quite inquisitive. 

One of the farms that we visited was run by a older women who was a fountain of information on some historic and rare livestock breeds that she and her husband keep on their farm .  It's the passion of folks like this that make for rich experiences along the way.   Brenda and I really enjoyed talking to her.

I can't sign off without including one of Brenda's recent tapestries with a nautical theme.  For a girl that says she isn't crazy about things (or experiences) nautical, she is drawn to scenes of the water.  She did this piece recently for a show commemorating the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson's "discovery" and trip up the Hudson River.  She's not crazy about the piece but I think it's great.  Perhaps it belongs on Pandora.  Now, there's a thought.  

Now Pandora is in Annapolis where she will spend the winter.  I have a few projects planned including painting the mast and raising the waterline.  The mast will be done professionally with a heavy dose of do it yourself by your's truly and the waterline needs to be raised by me as well.  I have been meaning to raise the waterline for a few years as the additional 1,200 lbs of lead that was added to the keel when I purchased the boat plus all the additional cruising gear that's now on board have us down below the painted waterline.  Not good. 

It's going to be a busy winter with more than a few weekends in Annapolis to get all of this done.  Hopefully the winter will go quickly and soon we will be doing some early spring cruising in the Chesapeake Bay.

A visit to St Michaels

Yesterday, to take advantage of a beautiful fall day, we decided to spend a lay day in St Michaels MD, the home of the Chesepeake Maritime Museum.  The air was clear and a bit chilly. Of course, when Brenda asked me if it would be cool on shore, with great confidence, I said no, it would be warm.  Not quite and we both ended up wishing that we had jackets.  However, a bit cool wasn't bad at all.  What a beautiful day.

We went for a walk through town and enjoyed the sights including many beautifully kept homes in the historic district.  It was nice to see streets lined with quaint homes so well kept and tidy.  And it was refreshing to see a neighborhood where the homes hadn't become bloated and overbuilt as has become the norm in so many areas over the last decade.   Nice to see some order to zoning to keep things looking the way that they should.  

You just have to love this front porch.  A great place to sit and have a g&t on a cool evening.   We have a great front porch on our home in Upper Saddle River and hope to again in our next home down the road. 

This one was particularly nice and while it had been updated, it still retained an appropriate scale to the neighborhood and look of the period.  

The Chesapeake Maritime Museum is dedicated to preserving the rich history of the area.  In particular they focus on the fisheries, oystering and crabbing.  Brenda and I killed a few crabs when we had some terrific, if overpriced, crabcake sandwiches at a waterfront spot too.  Unfortunately, the declining water quality means that oysters are a lot less plentiful than in the past, but crabs are abundant.   No point in denying those hard working fisherman an opportunity to sell their catch, right?  We are in a recession you know and everyone must do our part, we did.

There are a number of historic buildings on the property and these two house the administrative offices. Very nice and beautifully preserved.

A well kept oyster buy boat in the collection.  What a sweet sweeping shear line.  

Prior to power becoming standard in the fleet, fishing for oysters was done under sail but after allowing virtually unlimited fishing under power, the stocks had become so depleted that once again the only way to fish oysters are under sail or with hand tongs off of an open boat.  It's boats like these that are sill used today.

What great lines these boats have.  Very simple construction (easy for me to say).  This is actually quite an old boat but much of the material is new.  You could see that the keel was old but most of the rest had been replaced.

It seems that these two boats at the museum take passengers out on the bay for afternoon sails.  Note the push boat on the back of the boat on the left. These oyster boats can't have their own power so they have small push boats with massive engines that push them around.  These push boats are just big enough to hold the engine and there isn't even a cockpit to sit in.  Someone fires up the engine and jumps back on board the big boat.  Sounds a bit hair raising to me.

The centerpiece of the museum is this screw pile light that was moved after being decommissioned back in the 60s and placed on the museum grounds.   Check out this link for info on how these lights are constructed.  Quite an amazing feat when you think about the technology that they had back when they were being constructed.   Imagine a group of horses on an anchored barge turning a screw around and around out in the middle of the bay. It's the nautical construction equivalent of  "when I was your age I had to walk to school up hill both ways...in the snow". 

A view south from the top of the light. It's not that high but the view was really impressive.

A view to the north.  Pandora is just behind the big red building.  We were anchored in a very nice little cove.  Very convenient to town and Rip loved being that close to shore.  When you need to go, you need to go...now.

A view from the back door of that red building of Pandora.  Every posting deserves a shot of our boat. Right?

This seems to be a popular spot to sit and enjoy the local activity.  This buoy was just off to our stern.  Yes we were anchored too near the channel. 

 

Every weekend the local sailing club has races off of the museum docks.  There were about 6-8 of these radio controlled skipjack sloops zipping around the course.  They are substantial boats and measure nearly 50" overall.   In order to be "legal" and able to race, each boat has to be made from the exact same plans and have a minimum weight of 20 something pounds.  My friend Dick, who lives right next door to Pandora's slip in Annapolis was there as he is building one to race himself.  One of these would certainly be a much less expensive alternative to big boat racing, it seems to me.

Today we head back to Annapolis and home again.  A very busy week at work and a trip to Atlanta.  I hope that we can steal a few more weekends here prior to getting Pandora ready for the winter.

October in Annapolis

After a really amazing trip down the New Jersey coast Pandora is now in Annapolis.  Actually, as I write this we are in "historic" St Michaels, the home of the Chesapeake Maritime Museum, which we plan on visiting today.

We have rented a slip near a friend's home in a creek near down town Annapolis for the month of October and November.  After that I will have Pandora hauled for a few months in a local yard to have some work done on her, namely the repainting of the mast which has been pealing.  Unfortunately, the mast wasn't properly primed when the boat was built so the paint hasn't adhered well over 10 years in the weather. 

With the long Columbus Day weekend we decided to visit Annapolis and take in the Boat Show, a must visit for anyone who loves sailing.  It's a great time to connect with old sailing buddies and to meet new friends.

We had lunch at the show with our friends Keith and Rose on Camelot, another SAGA 43.  While I spent a day at the show I am pleased to say that I was good and didn't buy much.  I did get the newest book from Jimmy Cornell a well known author and crusier who has written an overview of his many years afloat.  Jimmy autographed my copy for me which was a treat.

Just North of Annapolis are a pair of bridges crossing over to the Eastern Shore.  Impressive structures and really massive at over 4 miles long each.  I took these photos last week as we passed under them while approaching Annapolis following our run down the Jersey Coast.  It will take a lot of tolls to pay for these guys.

It's hard to imagine that there is enough paint and manpower to keep such a massive strcture in fine shape. 

Last evening we had drinks aboard another boat anchored near us in St. Michels.  There were three couples aboard including one Frank and Gail aboard their SAGA 43 Alcid.  Interestingly, Alcid passed us last week when Pandora was tied up at the town dock in Chesepeake City.  Frank and Gail live in Maine but have spent the last 6 sailing seasons sailing in Europe, much of it in Turkey, Greece, Spain and Croatia.  Their boat is very thoughtfully laid out with all sorts of nice touches and very neat and tidy.  Frank and Gail are retired and spend about 9 months a year aboard and are a fountain of information about cruising.  The other two boats in the raftup were a small 25' powerboat that had been trailored up from Georgia and a Sabre 38 from Annapolis.  Interestingly, wjat the three skippers had in common was that they had know each other since grammar school.  How great to keep in touch for so long and there they were, rafted up in this great harbor.

We hope to see Alcid again soon and hope that our paths will cross again in the spring when they are again headed north for the summer.

Well, I'll sign off for now as Rip has to go ashore and we have lots to do.  It's a beautiful fall day and we have plans to visit a food store, knitting store for another project to keep Brenda in stiches and we'll also fit in a visit to the museum.   First thing first, Rip's getting anxious.

Until later.

Is summer really over? Not quite, we're headed to Annapolis!

I can't quite accept that the summer of 2009 is coming to a close. It's October 2nd and I am writing this while leaving the C&D Canal which connects the Delaware River to the northern end of the Chesapeake Bay. Well, perhaps it isn't quite dead as we decided to take Pandora to Annapolis with the hope of enjoying some late season sailing.  While mid summer in Annapolis is oppressively hot, the "shoulder months" in the spring and fall are really nice and extend the season by a month on both ends when compared to sailing in New England.

I left on Thursday morning at 4am with three friends to make the nearly 300 mile run from Norwalk CT to Annapolis. My friends on this trip are fellow Corinthians, two from the Annapolis area and one from CT. The four of us connected late on Wednesday night at Norwalk Yacht Club to prepare for a 04:00 early AM departure.


My crew has an interesting mix of backgrounds, Denise is a police officer in Bethesda, Jason a web developer and Kathy a retired officer turned attorney. While our backgrounds are very different, we share a love of the water and sailing.   That's the whole point of the Corinthians, actually.

Pandora's Crew, Denise, Jason and Cathy, Corinthians all.

When planning a long distance delivery you can hope for the best but really never know what you are in for with the weather until you get underway. The forecast called for fairly heavy winds out of the west with a planned shift to the south. It was our hope that we would be able to catch the westerlies for a run down the Jersey Coast and round Cape May for the run up the Delaware as the winds shifted to the south. Amazingly, we actually were able to make that work.   The truth is that it's the first time I have ever been able to sail that distance.  By the time we stopped yesterday we had covered 232km at an average speed over the bottom of 7.25kts, and most of that under sail.

Here's a view of the Chrysler Building.  I wonder what old man Chrysler would have to say about the state of the domestic auto industry.

We motored into a fresh west wind from the club in Norwalk down to the East River and the past the east Side of Manhattan, by Governor's Island, through the upper NY Harbor and out around Sandy Hook. To our delight, the winds began to fill in more from the west as we rounded the Hook. We killed the motor and turned south.

Back in August we visited Rockland Maine and you may recall seeing pictures on an earlier posting that I took at the Maine Boats, Homes and Harbors Show. At that show I saw a really high tech 70' sailboat that had been built on spec in Booth Bay (oops, bad time to be trying to find a buyer for a multimillion dollar toy) and was now looking for a willing would-be owner. Well, it's a very small world and there it was, that very same boat passing us in the East River.  While I feel pretty smug about how fast Pandora is, that boat passed us like we were sitting still, they just zipped by. It’s ironic that the boat is named “Available”.  That's a good name as it seems they are still looking for a buyer. We shouted across to them as they zoomed by and they confirmed that they were indeed headed to Annapolis for the boat show next week.


As we rounded Sandy Hook a large school of bottle nose dolphins crossed our bow. I have heard that dolphins are very playful and often seem to be having a great time jumping out of the water just for the apparent joy of it. Well it sure looked like they were having a ball. One after the other they jumped clear of the water and generally having a great time. For once I was actually able to get a few terrific action shots.  So often I get out my camera only to find that the whale, dolphin or some other creature disappeared before I could get a shot. The harbor porpoises in Maine are much more shy and not nearly as fun loving as this group. Perhaps it was hearing about all those seasons of Flipper that got to them. Perhaps not. Quite a contrast from the big city to see these beautiful animals. 

If you have spent much time on the water you will know that it is really rare to be able to sail for nearly 24 hours straight but that’s exactly what we were able to do as we headed down the Jersey coast. After a full day of sailing on a beam reach at 8+kts, our highest sustained speed through the water was 9.7kts. 

As we were abeam of approached Atlantic City at about 2AM the winds began to die and back clockwise around to the South. If you want to see a real contrast try seeing Atlantic City all lit up on dark night.  Everywhere you look it's black and then...ablaze is the city.  Now that's an impressive carbon footprint.   I wonder if Al Gore owns stock in any casinos.  Hmm....

Amazingly, as we approached Cape May the wind picked up out of the south and we sped up the Delaware River to the north and the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal, the C&D. That’s just beyond lucky as the timing was just perfect. Winds backing from the west to the south on cue. On top of that, the night was fairly clear and the moon, just one day from full was nearly bright enough to read by. A magical time.

We had set up a watch schedule for the overnight hours with two on deck at all times and two down below sleeping. Our schedule called for Denise and Jason on from 8pm until midnight. They were enjoying the night so much that they didn’t get me and Cathy up until almost an hour after that, at 1am. Cathy and I stood watch from then until nearly dawn when we both crashed, exhausted into our bunks. I didn’t want to head below until we were well into the channel to head up the Delaware, a very narrow cut down the middle of the bay.

Even though the bay is really wide, over 10 miles, widening to over 15 miles wide before narrowing again some 45 miles up where the canal cuts over toward Baltimore, it's really very shallow. It's only the constant dredging that keeps the river open to commercial traffic. In spite of the massive size of the river, much of it is under 10 feet deep. As we rounded Cape May I had to head way out from shore in order to avoid the shoals that would surely put us aground. With the constantly shifting sands I found that the water depths really weren’t consistent with what he charts said should be there. At some points we had less than 10 feet under the keel in spite of being more than 5 miles from shore. It was a bit nerve wracking.  I have my depth finder zeroed to the bottom of the keel so when it says 2' remaining, it means it.

As we sped down the coast I was also thrilled to past boat after boat that couldn’t keep up with Pandora. The same thing happened on the Delaware River as we steadily overtook and passed a number of boats making the same trip. Pandora generally can outrun most boats, and some much larger, when the winds are right. It’s nice to be finally have a boat that doesn’t always arrive last into a harbor.

Continuing up the Delaware on a broad reach we screamed along with a favorable tide making 9.5kts over the bottom. As we entered the Delaware bay the water turned the color of coffee, so different from the deep blue of the Atlantic.

Just before the canal we passed the Salem Point Nuclear Power plant. What an imposing structure! It made me happy to be down wind from all that steam. With a drive for “green” I wonder how many more of these will be popping up in the coming years. I am guessing that the fear of global warming and rising electrical rates will trump a fear of glowing in the dark. You can’t very well unplug those curling irons and espresso makers can you?  A girl's (and guy) gotta live, right?  Makes you want to go out and get a hybrid Suburban, and a 60" flat screen, doesn't it?

By late morning we reached the canal, dropped the sails and headed into the calm waters of the C&D. The canal was built (dug?) back in the early 1800s and has gone through several transformations to bring it to it’s modern form of over 200’ wide and a controlling depth of over 30 ft. The current runs hard so we were pleased to hit it as it began to turn west, in the direction we wanted to go.

I had read in the cruising guide that the town dock in Chesapeake City offered free overnight dockage on a first come, first served basis so we decided to make the stop and spend the night.  Besides, the prospect of heading south to Annapolis against 25kts of south wind on the nose wasn't appealing in the least.

The tiny harbor and town of Chesapeake City just off of the canal was about 3 miles short of other end of the C&D so we were able to cover much of the distance with the tide an we pulled up to the dock just after noon.  There's a sand bar at the entrance to the harbor and we nearly bumped so I was very pleased that it wasn't completely low tide.

The crusing guide said that the town was very quaint and friendly. Well, they weren’t lying. What a beautiful spot. This shot was taken from on board of the town green. Not a view that I see every day, I can tell you.

A few hours later we watched a bride and groom be photographed here.  Nice to know that Pandora (framed here in the gazebo) was in their shots.

We had dinner here overlooking the C&D.

This is the old town hall, now a stained glass studio.

The homes really look like a story book with one period home more quaint and well kept than the last. We had dinner at a great historic inn overlooking the Canal. There was even a wedding going on down at the town green to complete the picture.  You just can't make this stuff up.

Cathy went for a long walk early today and found us a great local coffee shop where we had “the best breakfast in town”. Well, my omelet was bigger than my head and I scarfed it down without ceremony.  The conversation was great fun as Cathy and Denise swapped cop stories.  If I ever get arrested I hope that it's one of Denise's friends or at least someone else who sees the good side of humanity like she does.

But wait, there's more to make this an ideal stop on a trip south!  Cathy was quick to point out that there was a knitting and fiber spinning store in town, the ideal lure to get Brenda to make the trip with me. Perfect!

Now we are headed toward Annapolis under power, passing through narrow channels lined with lovely homes and well tended green lawns.   The strong south wind has been replaced with a flat calm sunny day. 
If I don’t sign up now I will miss the whole trip to Annapolis. I’ll be back for more updates soon I hope.

One last thing.  They changed the interface on Google Blogger and it gave me some fits.  If there are odd things going on with this post, it's their fault.