It has been so wonderful to be sailing again! The sails have been up and the engine has been resting most of the time . Bliss. So nice to have room to tack or just find the best angle for the wind. We have had a few long sails enjoying every minute of them, and finding our way to Deltaville, Solomons Island , Annapolis and Baltimore. These places are great fun each one different and full of opportunities for exploration and sailing!!!!!!! Brendan met us in Annapolis and we were able to spend a few days exploring the "sailing capitol" with hinm as well as seeing the Willis crew and Baltimore . There are tons of boats here. We have only been here in Fall and Spring so it is a wonderful surprise to see the zillions of marinas full , the races of all descriptions, the head boats and the classic craft. New England definately does not have a monopoly on classic and beautiful sailboats . We also met one of the fine Annopolis police officers in her boat on harbor patrol. We were literally 50 feet from our boat after a great dinner and harbor tour via dinghy. With our boat so close we really didn't believe the officer meant us when the loud speaker blared "sir take the boat out of gear for me." She had blue lights flashing and there was no one else around - bad situation land or sea. We however, had our experience with the Palm Beach safety inspection to build on. We could produce a whistle, an anchor, a flashlight and two life jackets as well as registration etc. However, the officer did feel that we needed 3 life jackets for 3 people - who could argue. She would not entertain the notion of the flashlight as a running light and took a dim view of the fact that a few of the numbers had worn off on one side of the dinghy. She was not even slightly impressed by the fact that we had replacements in the sailboat and would be happy to put them on in front of her. Ninety dollars later we traveled the few yards to our boat and debated whether we would show up in court in October. If only we could dream up a defense.
Weather has been pretty good, hot and windy in the afternoon with T Storms around 6 or 7. Lots of people are swimming. But there is a process. Get as high as you can on your boat, look all around for sea nettles, jump in and get out fairly quickly. Sea nettles are jelly fish about 4 inches across . they are ghostly white and have long - really about 20 inch - tentacles. They look awful. I've been swimming in pools.
There is so much sailing around here it is just wonderful. We have sailed for the most part around Cape Cod and the islands, Maine and Rhode Island away from city ports. The shipping centers fascinate me. The activity is non stop. On the dock, boats load using all kinds of tractors, fork lifts and trucks. It is a little like all the Tonka trucks the kids used years ago. Seeing huge ships negotiate the channels right next to us and seeing tugs and tows or barges everywhere has given me a whole new appreciation for yielding to tonnage. Still everyone manages to co exist reasonably well as far as I could see. After all, there is finally room to tack if necessary. We expect to leave Va and Md tomorrow headed to Cape May. Things are starting starting to look like home, no more Palm trees or Spanish Moss, no more alligators. It does my heart good but Tom is already pining for the tropics. The sailing and the thought of seeing family and friends is saving him from being morose about heading north.
