Solomons to Annapolis
May 30, 2013
After almost a year ashore and sitting in a slip, we sailed out of Solomons and into the Chesapeake bound for Annapolis. The day was warm and almost windless. In the company of Folie A Deux and Rigel we sailed north past many places we thought we would visit a year ago. Annapolis is the first place I ever took a sail boat ride thus it closed a circle for me. It was a first for Bear and Scurv. We were not disappointed. The approach is past anchored freighters and into a very active sailing area.
We took a mooring ball in the city harbor just a couple hundred yards from the US Naval Academy. That spooled up the history freak in this old dawg. After all, John Paul Jones is entombed there. As it turns out, so is a relative of Bill on S/V Rigel. We did not go ashore first night and just watched other boats arrive.
Yesterday, Scurv signaled the need to visit shore with his trademark wet willie in my ear at 0600. I think the tater juice from the previous evening made the sun hotter and the task of putting the motor on the dink much harder. We motored up “Ego Alley” to a park just at the end where Scurv made his mark. It seemed the sun had a target on me and it was a very hot walk. Annapolis is a dog friendly town and it was evident even at 0630. Scurv ran out of marking fluid so we went back to the boat. Bear was still fast asleep.
Yesterday being Wednesday and race night on the bay was something to behold. I am used to seeing maybe two dozen boats partake but not a hundred or so. The finish line was near a bridge past the mooring filed. Boats were actually racking through the field and that made for some spectacular moves to gain a lead on others. Take 25 boats seriously finishing a race in a 50 boat mooring field and things happen. It was like Keystone Kops on steroids.
We will be here a few days just to see the historical stuff. That gives us a chance to see many boats come and go and possibly get to know more cruisers. I took a New Zealand crew ashore yesterday. Along the way we worked on an international form of English--- sort of.

The picture is a of the dead end channel in old town that is called "Ego Alley" where folks like to show off their boats.