Annapolis to Portsmouth

I called the galvanizing place on the appointed day and they reassured me that our chain and anchor would be shiny and new, ready to be picked up at noon the following day. Because the process involved a 3 mile walk, then renting a car and driving 120 miles each way, I asked for, and was granted, assurance that it would be ready by noon.

You win the prize for guessing right. When we got there, they had not started on our stuff--it was sitting on a pallet looking lonely in the middle of the yard.

When I walked in and they realized their goof, they went into panic mode. They assured us they could get it done by closing late that day, and that quality of job would not suffer. We returned shortly before closing time and waited until they finished up, then loaded our treasure into the car.

These guys are good people, and really stepped up for us after initially dropping the ball. I suspect our business is sort of "nuisance business" to them (they do tons of big commercial jobs), but they treated us like we were important and made things happen.

Major thunderstorms with big time lightning and wind hit Annapolis shortly after we got back, so Lisa with her better judgement, decided we needed to go to a 7-Eleven and hide out until it blew through. After things cleared up somewhat, we went through the process of transferring the chain from the car to our floating car, and then to the mothership. It is wonderful not to have rusty chain anymore.

With the chain back on the boat we were ready to head south. A big front with lots of wind and rain was due to arrive in 2 days, so we hightailed it to the Patuxent River, passed Solomons and wound our way up to the beautiful St. Leonard Creek. This is one of our favorite spots--and a good thing too, because we would be there for a few days. The creek offers good protection and a front row seat to watch bald eagles show why they are our national bird.

The wind and rain came. We got 13 inches of rain in 2 days. One of the days had over 10 inches.


Real men make French toast.

After the bad weather cleared, we made the 2 1/2 hour trip to Solomons. We saw the crew of Voyageur, the Island Packet that had been struck by lightening on our way up the Chesapeake. They just got their boat back after several months of repairs and all new electronics. We enjoyed spending an evening with them.

After leaving Solomons, we had a lively sail to Mill Creek off the Great Wicomico River. That was followed by a windless day and the use of the motor to Chisman Creek.


We passed this dudet that was heading north on the Chesapeake.

The trip from Chisman Creek to Portsmouth would be our last day on the Chesapeake this year.


As you can see, Nicki May put the fear in this aircraft carrier. She ran away from us like a baby. We followed her to her berth in Norfolk.


She may not be pretty, but can't get much more practical. All unpainted aluminum. We saw her in the Bahamas 2 years ago.


Now, she IS pretty, though a bit sad because her coffee is gone.