Mike
10/10/2007, Annapolis, Maryland

October 5

We got to the boat show shortly after 10am and began wandering through tents filled with vendors of all sorts of boat stuff...There were a few items that we wanted to check out... including a life raft, epirb, ssb radio and a new refrigeration system. We were really not set on purchasing anything but sometimes the deals at the boat show are too good to pass up. It was another 90 degree day with little if any breeze. We had lunch with Dan and then made a second circuit to make sure that we didn't miss anything.

Our purchases for the day included a new three stage regulator, an wi-fi antenna to hopefully give us better internet service, two bottomsider seats, a soda maker, and a new SSB radio system including a pactor 3 radio modem.

We said good bye to Dan, who was flying home on Saturday and hiked over the bridge to our dinghy.

October 6

I had been planning on spending the day today at the Seven Seas Cruisers Gam but when Steve and Carol came to pick me up.... I decided to stick around the boat and get some work accomplished.

The first project was re-wiring the new regulator and getting it installed which took longer than it should have but was an easy job. Then I installed the new wifi antenna which seems to work fine most of the time.
Ken stopped by in the afternoon saying that he was going rent a car this afternoon and would be happy to play taxi if we had any place to go. I took him up on the offer and we went to Home Depot to purchase some vinyl fence corner posts to use to mount my solar panels. (I have a great plan, I just hope it works)

We had planned to attend the Latts and Atts party tonight and actually got in the dinghy to go but we were already tired and were faced with a three mile dinghy ride so we turned around. On our way we ran into Barry and Susan (some of our neighbors) and ended up having snacks on Night Hawk.

October 7, Sunday....boat show

About daylight I climbed out of bed and made coffee. When it was brewed and pressed, I went above to wipe down the cockpit and in the park ashore there were 6 police cars and a body on the grass about 40 yards from our boat. Thinking back, we had heard a gunshot last night about 10 while watching a movie but really hadn't thought much about it... although I did mention to Kathy it was definitely a gunshot as opposed to a fire cracker or back-fire. We watched with morbid fascination as the police surveyed the area and later when the coroners showed up to do their thing.

The story we heard was that during the course of the morning a couple from one of the sailboats moored here had taken their dog to shore before daylight and found the body ... and a gun on the ground. Although the police were professional, they assumed that it was a suicide.

I worked on cutting our mounts for our solar panels but need some star-board to finish the job. Steve is going to town tomorrow and will take me along to pick up what I need.

We decided to go to the boat show again so after showers and clean clothes piled in the dinghy and headed for town. Our major purchase for the day was a drinking water filter that will keep bad things from getting to our digestive tracts and eliminate the need to buy bottled water. I also picked up a hand line for ocean fishing that I've been meaning to make and some Garhauer stand up blocks and seat covers for the cushions in the cockpit.

It was so hot... 90+ with high humidity that we spent most of the afternoon in our swim suits back at the boat.

After supper we went over to visit with Steve and Carol.

October 8

I worked on the solar panel mounts until about 11 when we went to West Marine. I picked up some starboard and a foot pump for the galley sink. After lunch, Kathy and I spent the rest of the day fabricating the clamps which will bold on to our davits supporting the solar panels.

I wanted to finish today but that wasn't to be... I don't have the right length bolts on board and will need to make a trip to the hardware tomorrow morning.

Comments [1]

Mike
10/06/2007, Annapolis, Maryland

Dinner with Jackie and Dan...

At around six, three couples went to shore to be picked up for dinner with strangers having no idea what to expect. (And yes, there was talk of trolling for cruisers, axe murderers, etc. , they just seemed like such nice people!) It was just one those thing... how could we say no? We were collected in two cars and in a few minutes found ourselves at a wonderful waterfront home a little to the south of our current mooring. There were 14 of us for dinner. The host and hostess, their brother and sister in law, two parents, the six of us and another boating couple that Dan and Jackie had befriended who are anchored on Back Creek. We checked our their boats and then had hors d'oeuvres outside while Dan Grilled steaks. Dinner was perfect...

Dan and Jackie had made the same trip that we're planning a few years ago and plan on doing it again as soon as they can ... I think that they are shooting for about three years from now.

We had a great time meeting new people and chatting about the little problems that all boaters face.

Dan and Jackie have recently purchased a lighthouse located at the southern end of the Chesapeake
Bay and are in the process of it restoration. It was interesting to hear them talk about their project.

The evening ended all too soon and Dan ran us back home to Spa Creek.

The picture is compliments of Susan, who remembered to bring her camera!

Comments [1]

Mike and Kathy
10/06/2007, Annapolis, Maryland

Tuesday...

A mostly uneventful day. . . Mike went shopping with Steve. They went to West Marine and Bacon's, a marine consignment store. I think he bought some toilet paper and that was about it. I cleaned the boat and the cockpit. When Mike got back we had lunch and went into town to try the showers at the Harbormaster's office. Since Mike forgot his shoes, we took showers and hopped back into the dinghy. We rode out to talk to "Adventuress", another Bayfield 40 anchored in the harbor. We had to get back to get ready for dinner-but that's another story.


Wed...

After coffee we had visitors from "Adventuress" (a Bayfield 40 anchored off the Navy Yard). We spoke with them yesterday and invited them over this morning. After an inspection and a nice chat, they left to prepare for their sail to St. Michaels. Kathy and I went to town to pick up a prescription and to hike to the post office to mail a package. The harbor area is crazy with the set up for the boat show. Most of the docks and tents are in place and the vendors are in the process of hauling all of their stuff for the opening tomorrow. We had lunch at Pussers Landing and returned to try to extricate our dinghy from the dinghy dock...they were four deep. Coming and going involves walking over the three that are in your way without going swimming.

During the afternoon we checked UPS tracking and found that one of the three packages that we were expecting had been delivered to the Harbormaster's office so we went back to town to pick it up. The rest should come tomorrow .... Solar panels and some Westerbeke parts.

Thursday...

Nothing much got accomplished today. We charged up the batteries as best we could and did some reading. I made Jambalaya which takes a while. Shortly after noon we saw on UPS tracking that our solar panels had been delivered and Dan (our friend from Michigan) called about the same time ... so I headed for town. Dan hailed me from one of the boat show docks and after collecting him we went over to the dinghy and crawled through about four of them to tie up. Our packages were not at the harbormaster's office but I found them at the Boat Show Headquarters. The dinghy was full on our return trip. We spent the remainder of the afternoon catching up and then went back into town after dark to meet John and Barb (more Michigan friends) for dinner.

Comments [1]