June 6, 2008

We arrived in Norfolk this morning after 6 days at sea and 697 NM. The first three days had very light winds and seas with the corresponding slow sailing. Two days were under 100 NM for the day. Then we got to the Gulf Stream and the winds picked up to about 20 knots for a couple of days. We set a new record for Bella Vita when we covered 171 NM in 24 hours and then over 150 the next day. We were probably sailing about 7 knots with a 3 or 4 knot current. The trip goes pretty fast when you can cover ground that fast. The last day we rounded Cape Hatteras and the winds dropped. It was nice after two days of up to 10 foot seas. One night we even had fog for a few hours. That's the first fog I'd seen since Maine, almost two years ago.

The trip from the Bahamas was pretty uneventful and we didn't even see any dolphins although we did see a whale one evening. It crossed behind Bella Vita and we could see it spouting for quite a while although we didn't see much of the whale.

Steve brought his latest toy with him. It's a device that finds its location via the GPS system and then sends it to a web site via a satelite phone system. You can send a preset message to a list of email addresses whenever you want or it can be set in track mode where it will upload the current position every twenty minutes. The data is overlayed on a Google Earth map so anyone can log in and see where you've been for the last 24 hours. It's really nice and I may have to get one if I don't sell the boat and end up going to the islands again this winter.

Steve flies out on the 9th and I'll head up the Chesapeake Bay for my annual work fest. We're doing some of the tourist things while we're here. Harbourfest is going on now so we went downtown to see the attractions. It's like a BIG county fair with all kinds of boat stuff going on. There was a parade of tall ships and a bunch of different types of boats along the water that you can tour. You could find about any type of food you could want along the waterfront. Steve was having a problem with one knee so we tried to minimize the amount of walking we did but we toured the Nauticus Naval Museum and a Navy Hydrollogical Survey boat, both pretty interesting. The battleship Wisconsin is moored next to Nauticus but was closed for the day because it was too hot. Dinner at Outback and back to the boat for SDG&Ts.

Sunday we went to the Cousteau Society headquarters building and a quick walk through the Virginia Air and Space Center in Hampton. There wasn't time to see everything so we went to the Mariners Museum in Portsmouth. It is one of the nicest mariners musuems I've seen. They have the artifacts, and some of the remains, from the Monitor. The first two iron armored ships, the Monitor and the Merrimack, fought a battle in Hampton Roads early in the Civil War. The battle between the two ships was pretty inconclusive but it foreshadowed the end of wooden naval ships. The musuem has a full size replica of the Monitor and several items salvaged from the ship. Large items, like the engines, are in large tanks of water with electrical current being passed through them to stabilze them. Eventually, they will be put on display. In addition to the Monitor wing, the museum has large displays of the military and commercial history of the Chesapeake Bay. Very worth while for anyone interested in marine history.

After the musuem we headed for Langley Air Force Base for an air show that we written up in one of the information books. At the gate, we found out that the book was wrong and the air show wasn't for a couple of weeks. So on the way back to Norfolk, we stopped at Fort Henry to see the Casement Musuem. Fort Monroe is at the southeast corner of Hampton and was one of the principal defenders of Hampton Roads during the Civil War. It is still "active" but not a lot there. Not sure what the Casement Museum is since it was closed by the time we got there. We walked around the fort for a while and then headed back to the boat in Norfolk.

June 17, 2008

I reached Annapolis yesterday morning after stopping in a few really nice anchorages along the way. The Bay has some nice places to stop but you have to put up the nasty mud. Your anchor and chain are full of mud when raised and it gets all over the deck. Then when I drop the head sail, it gets in the mud and looks terrible. Between the mud and the crab traps, the Bay loses a lot of its appeal.

There is a nasty thunderstorm predicted to go through tonight and there are few good places to anchor in Annapolis so I was hoping to get a mooring in Back Creek. Back Creek is well protected from both wind and seas but there are only five moorings there. Most people want to be closer to downtown Annapolis and go to the moorings on Spa Creek so there is frequently space availble in Back Creek. They were all filled, I guess other people don't like to anchor in nasty weather either. So I went across the Severn River to Mill Creek. Mill Creek is also very well protected but being further from Annapolis, it is rarely crowded. There were no boats in the anchorage so I spent a comfortable night there. The storm was much stronger to the north and south of Annapolis so it worked out fine. I'm going to go back to Annapolis this morning and try again for a mooring so I can do some provisioning and laundry. Tomorrow I'll probably head for Gibson Island and get to work.

June 18, 2008

I am in Annapolis now and on a mooring in Spa Creek beside the Naval Academy. The Academy is right downtown Annapolis and the Capital building is at left edge of the daytime picture. It is not as protected or quite as Back Creek but it will do for a night. I found a laundramat close to the dinghy dock so that worked out well. The grocery store was a differnet story. It was just over two miles away so it was a bit longer walk than I was expecting. I made it OK and should have enough stuff to last me a few weeks. Once I get to the boatyard, it becomes difficult to get groceries. Fred, the manager of the boatyard, let me take his van into town a few times last summer so if I run out of something I need, that may be available.

Annapolis was the end of a cross country bike race and the first riders came in on Monday, June 16. They race from Oceanside, CA, to Annapolis in about 5 days. That's 3,000 miles in 5 days and they climb about 100,000 feet. It's not quite as bad as it sounds since they ride in teams and switch riders about every four hours. The winning team came in two days ago so I guess the team in the photo just got here. After my poor showing in my 30 mile ride, I guess I'd better do some more training before trying a coast to coast ride.

Sailing is a big thing around Annapolis and there are sailing schools everywhere. This is one right at the mouth of Spa Creek and the is another big one at the mouth of Back Creek. Both seem to cater mostly to kids and there are others for adults and bigger boats. There were little sailboats everywhere yesterday as I was going into Back Creek. They seem to stay away from you but since they have the right of way, it makes me a little nervous. You always wonder if they know what they're doing, especially when you see them being towed in two or three at a time.