We travelled up to Harve de Grace, properly pronounced without a French accent, which proudly claims to be the Duck Decoy Capital of the World. How exciting was that! Not very as it turned out. Having settled ourselves on anchor we then went to try to find a dinghy dock. At the nearest marina we were strongly advised against anchoring. There is a strong current and the holding is not good apparently, as there was a sunken boat against the harbour wall which, we were told was as a result of a slipped anchor we decided to pick up a mooring buoy instead.

The weather had been very hot, in the 90’s and humid, broken only by the occasional thunderstorm. We wandered around the steaming, hot, main street which seemed to be largely deserted. The very small town was made up of empty restaurants, tatty antique stores and duck decoy shops. We quickly realised that once we had seen one duck decoy shop we had pretty much done duck decoys and the best thing about any of these stores was the AC. The buildings were pretty though and we spent a couple of peaceful hours browsing around. Nothing really tempted us to stay longer however, we spent the evening on the boat, went for a run the next morning then set off down the bay. We stopped for the night at anchor went for a swim and had another quiet night trying to catch as much breeze as possible in our wind scoop in order to try to keep cool. Next morning it was on to Baltimore where we were able to anchor right in the middle of the town in a very sheltered spot. Baltimore has a very nice historic district, a great waterfront which we ran round and a Safeway supermarket right next to the dinghy dock. All lovely, it didn’t have the atmosphere and charm of Philley but we enjoyed hanging out, did a lot of walking, took the free bus around, had a very good all you can eat curry and chatted to Eberhart our German neighbour who came to us for a drink. Eberhart had been an ENT surgeon in a country district for much of his career and we learnt a lot about the German healthcare system. Interestingly Eberhart’s Dad had been a German POW in England, he had worked on a farm and felt he had been very well treated. His family had visited the farm many years after the war, been welcomed by the farmer who'd shared memories of the war and the work the POW’s had done. Eberhart’s father had a very high opinion of the UK and the British as a result.

We left and, for once, were able to sail all the way to Dobbins Island where we dropped anchor. We had intended to swim but in fact the wind had got up and by the time we were ready it really didn’t look inviting. The water is pretty green, brown in some places and it has to be very hot to entice me in. It was a lovely spot though, tucked behind the little horseshoe shaped island along with another 4 or 5 boats. We had been enjoying our nights at anchor, the Chesapeake is perfect for it, sheltered, quiet little bays and creeks for gunk holing. It’s the perfect mix for me, a night at anchor then off to another town to explore.

14th September- From Dobbin Island it was a short hop into Annapolis, said to be the capital of sailing on the East Coast. While we find it hard to believe it could claim that over Newport RI it is certainly a big centre for sailing and a wonderful cruising area. We picked up a buoy again in the harbour right off the main street and headed in for our first look around. Again, it is a very attractive town, lovely buildings both wooden and brick, some grand state buildings, lots of boats, yachty shops, bars and restaurants. It is very hard not to eat out for every meal but as we can’t afford it in $ and in calories we have to be sensible. However, we were tempted in for happy hour in an Irish bar, AC and wifi included. We sat at the bar and got talking to Leah and Andri who were lovely, drank more than intended and chatted some more. We were surprised to find out as they were leaving that, in fact, it was their first date having met on the internet. We felt a bit guilty at having gate crashed their date but they said they were inspired to set off on an adventure and we invited them out to the boat for a drink – date 2!

We were woken on Thursday morning, 15th September, by our estate agent in a panic about problems with the Chepstow house sale exchange which needed us to phone around, contact our solicitor and generally get involved in the drama. Our buyer’s buyer was threatening to drop out if exchange didn’t take place within the next hour, our solicitor didn’t have all the papers signed by our authorised signatories and we couldn’t get hold of the necessary person. Not what you want to hear half way around the world and unable to do anything. Eventually, solutions were found and 10 minutes after the deadline exchange went ahead. We have been trying to sell Springfield Court for 4 years off and on and we certainly didn’t want it to fall through at this point. We got the news that it had taken place and set off on our run, slightly the worse for wear it has to be said but very relieved.

Annapolis reminds us of Dartmouth, there is a large Navel College, everyone uses the water as a primary means of transport and there are two distinct communities on either side of Spa Creek, Annapolis and East Port like Dartmouth and Kingswear. Very homely. We were hoping that various cruising friends were going to turn up which would be a great reunion, Hullaballoo, Eupraxia and maybe even Island Kia. We were getting an AIS transponder fitted so that we could be seen by other ships and by all at home so there was plenty to do. We met the OCC port Captain, Westbrook Murphey for lunch and learnt lots about the area, the OCC has been a great support and the local port Captains very helpful.

The English invasion of Annapolis was successful, the three of us were anchored together and first night was spent with much hilarity and wine ashore. Really nice to meet up with great friends and to catch up on each other’s trip. Leah and Andri came aboard for Whiskey Mac’s and bacon sandwiches then joined us for the evening out with the others. Julia and Andrew headed off for a land trip to Washington the following morning and we stayed and enjoyed the delights of Annapolis with John and Sandra. We toured the Navel College which is an enormous facility where navel cadets spend 4 years until they graduate as junior officers. Murphy and his wife Cindy met us for dinner with another two OCC Brits who had been sailing for a lot more years than us around the Caribbean so we had a fun and informative evening.

We had an AIS transponder fitted so that we can be seen by other ships, we can now be found on www.findship.com wherever we are in the world. (Or will be when we sort it out)

We left Annapolis a little reluctantly on 21st September and sailed to St Michael’s, unusually we sailed the whole way in a good breeze. Hullabaloo was already there and Eupraxia left with us. We all met up for a beef dinner on Hullaballoo which was the usual fun filled and rather alcohol fuelled evening, we have been so lucky to find such a lovely group of like minds to cruise with and our time together has been a rel treat. St Michael’s, another pretty water side town had an extensive Maritime Museum with oyster boats, a lighthouse and many exhibitions about life of the Chesapeake through the ages. We realised again that the humble oyster has been the basis of very many communities around the world for many centuries.


We wandered around town and had a soft shell crab sandwich which was delicious although slightly off putting to see a whole crab come in between bread and crunch through the lot. We left the harbour and moved to a beautiful anchorage just 30 minutes away where we were on our own for the night. We all went swimming when we got there as it was hot and although the water was rather brown the temptation to get cool overpowered our reluctance, it was lovely once in, very refreshing, if only it was blue. They all came to us for dinner, the sunset was fantastic and the temperature warm and comfortable, perfect.

We left for Oxford the next morning, it was a perfect day again and we swam when we arrived. Our Chepstow house had completed at last and we felt the need to celebrate so we all took the tenders ashore to find a happy hour. Oxford had a distinctly end of season feel, the first bar was shut up and we had to get back in the tender to look for somewhere else. We sat and watched another spectacular sunset with $3 margarita’s then back to Eupraxia and our last night all together. I’ve said it before but the people we’ve met have been one of the great joys of the trip, locals who offer help and make us welcome and fellow sailors with whom we can share plans, experiences, fears and doubts. These two boats have done the same trip as us, we’ve kept in e mail touch and met up whenever possible, and it’s always fun, the six of us of the same age have the same family position and concerns at home and matching sense of humours, we’ve loved being together. I really appreciate having some female company, we share concerns and it’s great to have a laugh with likeminded women living the same life as me.

The next morning Hullaballoo had left before we got up and the weather had turned again, we were becoming used to the cycle of weather fronts that blow in with wind, cloud and rain, colder, northerly winds for a couple of days then the sun comes out again. James and I ran then went back to the boat, I gave the boat a rainy day clean and James put cupboards back together after the AIS fitting. We had a quiet night, definitely needing 24 hours without alcohol and an early night.

Sunday we woke to sunshine and a nice breeze to take us to Solomon’s Island, now a convoy of just two. On the way we came across a small sunken fishing catamaran and called the coastguard who told us that the crew had been rescued 45 minutes before, it was creepy to see it upside down in the water only the front of one hull floating, we never found out what had happened.

Solomon’s Island now has a bridge so is connected to the mainland, we had a good anchorage and the little village had most of what we needed. We treated ourselves to dinner out but, again there is an end of season feel about the place. The weather changed again, Monday was cloudy but warm, we ran, explored on our bikes, found the supermarket and shops and Sandra and John had an early supper with us. No let up on Tuesday (27th September), we woke to rain and grey skies, a day of blogging, internet at the library and staying out of the rain – not what we are used to. James keeps his eye on Hurricane watch, there is a lot of activity in the Atlantic off the Caribbean so we can’t ignore it, thank goodness nothing coming close so far, we hadn’t even had much wind.