38 58.38 'N:76 29.55'W
On Saturday April 29/17 we had some excellent sailing between the hours of 07:00 and noon. At that point the wind came to a sudden and complete stop. One minute it was blowing 20 knots. The next minute it was blowing 2 knots. As soon as the wind died those mean and nasty flies made their appearance. We armed ourselves with the super swatters and started the engine.
During the early morning hours we had spent some time dodging crab pots as we were sailing then we were dodging fishing boats while we were motoring. I mean hundreds and hundreds of fishing boats. We couldn't get any of them to talk to us on the radio to find out what was going on but Google provided the answer. It was the largest striped bass tournament in the world!
At the entrance to Annapolis harbour we started dodging sailboats as is usually the case in this area. We entered Spa Creek which is our favourite anchorage. This is a fantastic place to drop the hook. The creek is lined by beautiful homes and condos. It is completely protected from any wind direction. There are dinghy docks conveniently located at the ends of most streets making it easy for cruisers to visit most attractions in the city within easy walking distance.
The spring boat show was in full swing in the harbour so we attended that on Sunday April 30. The spring show is not as large as the one in the fall but we enjoyed the day walking around the exhibits and touring some of the boats.
Dagny arrived in the Spa Creek anchorage in the late afternoon and dropped the hook beside us. We joined Dagny and Our Diamond for dinner at a Mexican restaurant in Annapolis. It was a great night with lots of laughs and we stayed out a little later than expected. During the 500 ft dash from the dinghy dock back to the boat, without our navigation light, we managed to get pulled over by the police. The short story is that after a lengthy discussion a fairly exasperated police officer let us go on our way. I'm pretty sure he had no idea what to do with these 2 Outrageous Canadians. Whew!
On May day (May 1) homes in the area display floral baskets at their entrances as part of a community contest. It was really nice to walk around and see the different arrangements. There were no two the same and we were surprised at the large portion of the community that participated in the event.
Paul made two trips to the top of the mast during our stay in Spa Creek. Allan from Dagny and I hoisted him up there using the 2 Outrageous tandem winch set up. This is certainly a lot easier than using only one winch. We still got our morning workout though!
Lana and Rob from Our Diamond live in the Annapolis area. Lana was kind enough to drive us around to all sorts of locations to get the items we needed to continue our journey northbound. We hosted a dinner on 2 Outrageous on May 3 which included the crews from Dagny, Our Diamond and White Bird.
We weathered out some bad weather for the next couple of days. We were still able to get to shore and tour around the town though. We visited the Naval Academy noon parade and museum. We had been there previously but it is something that can definitely be enjoyed more than once. Also it is just such a beautiful city to walk around looking at the homes and gardens.
We had one final get together with the crews from Dagny, On Y Va, Our Diamond and Heartstring on May 5. We met the gang at Charlie's for some great pizza! We said goodbye to Our Diamond and Heartstring. Dagny is continuing on with us and we will see On Y Va again somewhere further north.