July, 06

July 31st, 2006 Quiet week, Nancy was is Florida most of the week and because of storms her flight was delayed and she didn't get home until 11:30 pm Friday. I had to order new batteries for our forward bank, (they are connected to the windless and SSB radio). The old ones have been removed and I am just waiting for the new ones to come in on Tuesday. Boy are they heavy. Slightly larger that a car battery they weigh 68 pounds each. I ordered type 31 AGM's (glass mat).

This weekend we just boat hopped on the dock. We were invited for dinner on Escapade Saturday night and had a wonderful time. Escapade is a Solo trawler and a wonderful boat. Before we went for dinner we stopped by our neighbors boat Dr. Nick (a Grand Banks) and visited with Sam and Sharon. Nancy was telling them about my great skills as a skipper when Sam took this picture. It was embarrassing. After dinner aboard Escapade, we were walking back to our boat and Sharon called down from their fly bridge and asked us to come up. They had a party going. While there we ran into the owners of an Eagle trawler which they had named Eagles Nest. Their previous boat was an Island Packet they named Packet Inn. Since we once owned a boat named Eagles Nest we had a bonding moment. Earlier in the day Sam and I took his Grand Banks to our south marina and refueled. It took a long time to fill up the two tanks and the pump even stopped once when it reach the magic number of $990.00. Once the pump was reset, Sam continued pumping until he put in $1200.00 worth of fuel. We have now started a fund to help out the power boaters. (click here to see flyer, word doc.)

July 23rd, 2006 Oxford, on the Avon. Actually not the real one in England but the one on the Chesapeake Bay. We spent 3 days there. It is a sail across the bay to the town that is one of the oldest in Maryland. Established about 1663 the town marks 1683 as its official founding. Oxford and the town of Anne Arundel (now Annapolis) were selected as the only ports of entry for the entire Maryland province. It is now a sleepy tiny town made up of watermen. Hinckley Yachts is one of its proud businesses. For those that don't know about Hinckley Yachts, one of their small 28 foot boats will cost somewhere from $350,000 to $500,000 dollars. We loved another business that specializes in wood boat repair. The boat in the window display was perfect. The river that the city is built next to is actually the Tred Avon River. For locals who want to cross the river, it is the site of the oldest privately owned ferry in the country. The ferry connects Oxford with the rest of the Eastern Shore, including access to St. Michaels another town 7 miles down the road. Joining us on the maritime adventure were Jeff and Tessa, and Nicky and Jay. Jeff and Tessa departed our Marina about a hour after we left and Nicky and Jay started their diesel guzzling engines at the end of the working day. We all met at Flatty Cove, a nice anchorage just around the corner and well within a short dinghy ride to town. Everyone gathered on Solitaire Friday night for a spaghetti dinner. On Saturday night, Nicky and Jay hosted the group of us on "Victory" while we dined on some excellent "Omaha" filet mignon that Jeff and Tess brought along.

It started out as a rainy weekend but we enjoyed the time between the showers. After the first round of rain ended, we went took the dinghies into town and enjoyed a wonderful riverside lunch and self guided tour of the small town. I just love the history in this part of the country.

Coming back to our marina Sunday, the weather was just like when we left, a little light rain. Tippy is getting a little bored with her navigation job and rebelled. She refused to work the whole trip back. Wind was gusting a little and the swells from the storm of the day before were dying down. Sea conditions were swells of 2 to 3 feet and water temperature of 81 degrees. Of course we had to contend with the big ship that gets in the way. It was a good weekend to be out of the Marina. The storm was real severe at the marina and several of our neighbors lost electronic equipment because of lighting strikes. No boats were damaged other than the electronics.

July 16th, 2006 This has been a busy party week. It all started 2 weekends ago when fellow liveaboards, Steve and Mary Jane finally got through with all their retirements and set off cruising. Their first night out was an anchorage at a little town just up the bay from us. Well, we couldn't let that go, so 4 of us, Nancy, Jim, Jay and Nicky hopped in the car and drove to meet them. Once we got there we found a nice table at a bay side cafe and called Steve and Mary Jane on the cell phone. A short dinghy ride later, they joined us. We said our final farewells after a great dinner and left them to go on their way. We got a phone call from Steve last night from a anchorage in Maine. Boy, do they move!

The rest of the week was pretty normal with Nancy working, me sleeping, until Friday night when the Marina owners put on a evening pool party for the slip holders. Live band, food and drinks (wine, beer and pop). We had a great time around the swimming pool, catching up with Marina friends and making new ones.

The next morning we were on our way again. This time to a winery in the foot hills of the Appalachian Mountains, west of Baltimore. Linganore Vineyard was having a Reggae wine tasting for the weekend. Jay and Nicky came with us and we spent the afternoon tasting wine, buying wine, sipping wine and sitting on the hillside listening to Reggae music from an outstanding band. There were 25 artisans as well - peddling everything from clothes to suede "wine sling" that cradles your wine glass and lets you wear it around your neck for hands-free wine-tasting. We each had to buy one of those nifty inventions. We also walked away with an assortment of 8 wines - everything from a smooth Chardonnay to a Peach wine that is surprisingly dry and tasty. This is the first winery that we have been to that offered more that just the vine wines. They also had Apple wine, Peach wine, Raspberry wine and who knows what else. The peach wine is wonderful.. Notice the present tense, I am having some as I write. Wonderful afternoon. We may have to check out their fall Bayou Bash featuring two Cajun Bands.

We left the wine country of Mt. Airy, MD and that evening, went to a pig barbeque that was put on by our neighboring dock. A full pig had been roasting since 8:00 am and after a brief rain shower we dined on the picnic tables and had some great pork, potatoes, grilled vegetables, and endless deserts. We are now resting..

July 9th, 2006 We had visitors on Solitaire Friday night. Jay and Dy and Jay and Nicky came over for dinner. We drove to Annapolis and brought Jay and Dyan to our boat in Herrington Harbour. Nancy fixed a wonderful dinner. Her latest great dinner find is listed in the Galley Notes. The dinner started out with King Crab legs steamed in wine and herbs; served with bread and a cream sauce. Next was a pasta salad followed by barbequed marinated pork loin. We finished the meal with homemade key lime pie and very full stomachs. After dinner, we provided Jay and Dy with "limo" service back to their boat in Eastport.

July 3rd, 2006 Here's an update on last week. It was a normal work week for Nancy after travel and family visits during the preceding weeks. My part time job turned into full time for the week as I worked for 5 days. I am back to a 3 days this week. We are enjoying the store discounts. Nancy went to the Annapolis store and found a pair of Crocs (shoes) and went to the cash register and said "associate number ******" and loved the discount.

Friday night, Nicky and Jay gave a farewell party to Steve and Mary Jane - who are heading out on their Sailboat, Cygnus - after 8 years of planning and preparation. Nearly all our dock neighbors were there - enjoying Nicky's great appetizers and lots of libations. A highlight of the evening was the sailboat cake that Nicky made - She really outdid herself. Although we didn't know Steve and Mary Jane for a long time, they are true friends to everyone in our dock community and we will all miss them.

Saturday night we took our dinghy across Herring Bay and went to a fireworks display at our south marina. Another dock neighbor had suggested it and we made a little dinghy caravan. We were going into swells of 2-3 feet so it was a dinghy wet butt trip. Wonderful show - spectacular fireworks that were all choreographed to music, including Navy and Air Force songs, Toby Keith, Bruce Springsteen etc. A famous fireworks family was brought in to do the show. I can't remember their name now but I recognized it when it was announced. Along with the fireworks, the bay was filled with anchor lights from several hundred boats that had come in to enjoy the beach side display. The family that owns the Marinas put on the display not only for the marina customers but also for the little town of Rose Haven (next to the south marina) and the people of Anne Arundel county. The marina was opened up to the public and everybody could enjoy the beach, pools, tennis courts for free and about 25 or so food venders came in. It was a big day-long celebration with different bands playing through out the day. We tied our dinghies next to a friend's boat in front of the main buildings and made the short walk to the beach area. We stood on a little knoll with our backs to the tennis court fence and enjoyed the show. Coming back to our slips in the North Marina later that night was a different story from our dinghy trip down. All the navigation lights are hidden in the background land lights. Also, because we are so low in the water in our dinghies, everything looked so different. I did not see the last green light before our turn until we were almost on top of it. We had waited about 30 minutes after the show to leave so all the boats in the bay had a chance to get out of our way. We had following seas on the way back and water was coming over the transom getting my butt wet and Nancy stayed dry. A couple of the swells gave us a great surfing ride. Still a great evening from beginning to end - including the adventure of getting there and back.

A visit from our friends Jay and Dyan was a wonderful surprise. (Not really that much of a surprise since we had known about it for 3-4 weeks.) They had brought their boat, Far Niente, to Norfolk after a trip to the Bahamas and now were on their way to Annapolis. They called us as they went up the bay past our little town of Deale, MD. I had to work Sunday so Nancy drove in and met them at their slip at Horn Point, a tip of land next to Annapolis. They stopped by my store and Jay and Nancy bought a few things. When I got off work, I joined the group on Far Niente for dinner. We had planned to go to a wonderful Japanese place in Edgewater MD, but Di surprised us by cooking us a gourmet meal aboard their boat. She served Flank Steak salad with grilled croutons and horseradish, along with some great wines. We were joined at dinner by John, another dock mate of theirs whose boat is two slips away. It was a wonderful evening filled with laughter and conversation.