10/02/2008 Titus and Cliff visiting

09/27/2008 I had some visitors on the boat with me this past weekend. They are Titus and Cliff. We had sailed together on my trimaran sailboat in the San Juan Islands for nine days. They arrived at 3:00 am after flying in from work Friday night. The downside was that they arrived for the last full day of rain from the weather system I had been sitting through since Tuesday. We didn’t let it stop us though. They were both happier being on a boat in the rain instead of working. Late in the afternoon the rain let up enough that we were able to walk into Annapolis, have dinner and stop at the grocery store on the way back to stock up.

09/28/2008 Sunday we decided rain or no rain we would take out for a sail and went over to the eastern shore to St. Michaels. The weather cleared up and we had a great sail all the way into the St. Michaels harbor. We found a space to anchor for a perfect night. While Titus and Cliff were here for entertainment we played a lot of cards and dice games and would cook up some good meals. For dinner that night we cooked up Chicken Marsala on the boat. If you think that I am just camping this whole time, I believe this is living a good life.

09/29/2008 Monday we took a walking tour around the town and made a trip to the local library to check on email and weather using the computers. While there I came across their books for sale. What a deal, $1.00 for hardbacks and $.25 for paperbacks. Easy way to fill up the library and get me through the next wave of rainy weather.

I then got to have the pleasant experience of pumping out the holding tank. The holding tank is the septic tank of a boat. It was completely full and under pressure. I needed to undo the screw cap and get the suction hose on without a major explosion. I was patient and “got er done” without a bath. The dock attendant told us of watching people in their khakis’ and white shirts and taking a geyser shower and deciding to just jump right into the bay to clean off. That would make for a bad day, but a funny story to tell your friends. Titus and Cliff were glad it was my boat and not theirs as it was my responsibility to clean the tank. After that we had a good sail up the Miles River to the bay and then the wind died and we had a flat water motor back to Annapolis. For dinner that night we cooked up a beef stew, played cards and watched a movie to finish up the trip.

09/30/2008 We went into town Tuesday noon, had lunch and worked to find out about the public bus from Annapolis to the Baltimore airport. I had been looking on-line and found that there was a bus line “C-60” from Annapolis to the airport. We asked the woman at the local information booth and they knew nothing about the C-60, but gave us information about the C-14 that would need a transfer using the light rail to the airport. We then went to the main information centers and ran into the same information until pushing a little bit more. They originally thought that line was stopped, but then found the information that showed the route. We were told it was a three block walk to the bus stop. We did not think much about it as in Annapolis and other old towns, the blocks are usually short. It turned out to be more like a two and a half mile walk to the bus stop. When we arrived there we decided to call the bus company to verify the line still ran and were told it did and the bus would be there on time. As we were waiting for the bus, other buses came on went. There were the standard size buses and a shuttle size bus. At 3:00 the C-60 bus showed up. It was the Chevy version of a Ford Explorer, a total of 4 seats plus the driver. Basically for $4.00 you got a taxi ride from Annapolis directly to the airport, and you hoped there wasn’t any other group trying to use the same bus line.

That night I anchored off of the sea wall at the naval Academy. There were about four different groups of youth sailing activities going, some of it right off of the bow of my boat. It was great to sit and watch these youth out sailing. There was aggressive sailing on the start line and laid back. There were pre-teens on prams and teens in double handlers. It was cool to see no fear in the young sailing around in gusty winds and all of the boat traffic in the area. All were having a good time. I have also seen the Naval Academy sailors out. They have four different sailing fleets including a single hander (Laser), double hander, quad hander and the big Navy 44’s that had a crew of 8-10. It definitely teaches sailing skills and builds team work as they sail in the different classes.

10/01/2008 The next day I moved from the Navy sea wall back to Weems Creek where I feel like I have taken up residence as it is a great anchorage. On the way up, I motored past the Naval Academy training ships. They are the YP class of boat. It appeared they were doing “touch and go’s” in docking and man-over-board drills.

The other boats here are boats you come across in a good water front. This beautiful three masted yacht was anchored just up from me. At night time, they light up the masts and made for a beautiful site at night time. The other boat I believe is an Open 60 that is used for racing around the world by the single-handers non-stop.