We got back from our trip to the west coast to Solomons Island. On
top of everything else we had to do to get the boat ready, an osprey
with a nearby nest decided the Northfork's mizzen mast made a good
dinner table. Fish parts littered the deck and were dried and
crusted hard. Mark got to spend much of the day washing and
scrubbing the deck.

Our friends Hannes and Katja arrived the second day. They were
taking a short vacation, spending most of a week with us followed by
a trip to DC. They showed up bearing gifts for the Northfork. These
included a Jolly Roger pirate flag, a Beer Party Flag, cookbook, a
combination bottle opener/bbq-lighter/flashlight, and two harness
tethers (we only had two on board if weather got bad). We had a
whirlwind couple of days where we had to run a million errands.

The first day out, we sailed across the bay to Dun cove near Tilghman
Island, where we set anchor and had a barbecue. The next morning we
headed over to St Michaels via a sneaky backdoor route Dana had
noticed, which saved us alot of sailing. We anchored again and
headed into town after an exploratory party located a public dock we
could use. We got dumped on that night from storms probably
associated with Hurricane Bill that was passing us by about 600 miles
off the coast.

The next day we brought our bikes ashore and our guests rented bikes
and we rode west out of St Michaels 9 miles a tiki bar in Sherwood
Mark had found on his iPhone. Just as we finished our rum punches
and were heading out it started to pour very hard. We must have
looked pretty pathetic because an SUV with a woman and her nephew
pulled up and offered to give us a ride. There was only room for
Dana, Katja, and our two folding bikes, so Hannes and Mark still had
to soldier their way back to St Michaels in the rain. No one stopped
for them. They rolled up to a Pizza and Wine bar called Ava to Dana
and Katja's taking pictures. The girls had been discussing over a
bottle of wine what they could do to help the guys, coming to the
conclusion that they could drink more wine. Mark and Hannes bought
some St Michaels shirts to celebrate completing their ride.

Over the next few days, things started going wrong on the Northfork.
A fairlead control pulley suddenly broke. The fore head raw water
pump stopped working (again). The main sail got jammed when
unfurling. Water was found in some of the floor compartments that
are supposed to be dry. The refrigerator stopped keeping things
cold. Some bolts were found loose on the engine transmission. The
engine's 24V alternator belt had broken. In order words, all hell
seemed to be breaking loose, although thankfully the boat was still
afloat. Mark did his best to keep a good attitude up as went from
problem to problem trying to get them fixed. The fairlead pulley was
ordered from Amel and the line was tied to a cleat as a work-around.
Dana determined the refrigerator problem was because the batteries
were dropping below 24V. Mark rolled his sleeves up and replaced the
alternator belt. The transmission bolts were replaced and tighted
up. The source of the water remains a mystery that we are still
looking into. There was some discussion that all the problem were
the result of bad luck Hannes had brought with him, but no definitive
findings were made.

After St Michael's, we headed to Annapolis. After only finding slips
that were rather expensive ($3/ft), we tried anchoring several times
in the Back River but each time were unsatisfied about how close we
were to the other boats and objects in the river. Ultimately, we
hooked onto a mooring. It said the cost was $30/night, but didn't
say who to pay that to and no one approached us so it turned out to
be free to stay there. The first night, we dinghied over to Ego
Inlet and had dinner at Pusser's restaurant. The second day, we
dropped Hannes and Katja off so they could head to DC. We were sad
to see them leave, but hopeful that this would mean the end of
breakdowns on the Northfork (unfortunately this didn't happen). Mark
proceeded to give the engine an oil change. He bungled this because
his oil pump resevoir was too small to hold all the oil pumped from
the engine and only 3/4 of the oil was actually changed. We realized
that we needed a 5 gallon bucket to hold oil from changes.

The next morning, we pulled up to a fuel dock and filled up on fuel
and water before heading to the head of the Chesapeake and the C&D
Canal. We anchored in the Bohemia River just before the canal
proper. Dana started on the laundry while Mark set up the wifi
antenna. There were some sharp words over whether tans belonged with
the whites (Dana thinks they do...).

The wifi antenna we had purchased recently is working surprisingly
well at pulling in signals from far off. It regularly detects over
50 signals, usually at least one of which is open and strong enough
to connect to. It has made a big difference having fairly regular
access to decent internet service, as it lets us carry out big
downloads and even watch movies. Currently, we temporarily hoist the
antennae on a halyard 20-30 feet off the deck. That seems to work
pretty well as we continue to ponder over how to permanently install
the antenna.