Our stay in Saint Augustine
is pleasant and productive, but we have a goal of getting to Annapolis by May 18th, so we take
a calm weather window to head as far north as possible. Like many passages, it is mostly uneventful
and sometimes boring. At other times, though, it is serenely beautiful as
witnessed by this spectacular full moonrise.
Another time we are entertained by a pod of over a dozen dolphins which
play in our bow wake in the clear ocean water for at least 30 minutes.
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| A mother and a youth play in the wake |
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| Two more come by - notice how the top one has rolled over on its side to look at us. This is common for dolphins to want to have eye contact with people. |
We find
we have virtually no wind for the entire 60 hours, so rather than risk running
out of fuel when rounding Cape Hattarus, we duck into Beaufort, North Carolina
and anchor in the creek that flows past town.
One on side we have Beaufort with its waterfront restaurants and shops,
and on the other side, in contrast, is the Stillwagen Banks National Seashore
with one of its wild horses grazing nearby.
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| No more than 100 yards away a wild horse grazes by the shore. |
We don’t stay long in Beaufort, though, as the first
tropical storm of the season is bearing down on us in an unpredictable
fashion. Tropical Storm Ana is forecast
to make landfall somewhere in the Carolinas
sometime in the coming six days. While we won’t see hurricane strength winds,
we would like to be at a protected dock somewhere away from the open ocean. So,
we head twenty miles inland to Oriental and take a dock at a marina that has an
attached three story hotel to the southeast, the direction from which the winds
will come. And we wait. We are at a dock
so we can accomplish lots of tasks with readily available water and electricity
and nearby marine supply stores. I even sweet talk the local hardware store
into delivering a steam cleaner to the dock so I can clean the carpet and
upholstery. And we wait. Others have congregated in Oriental so we enjoy
drinks and dinners out with cruising friends.
And we wait. Five days later Anna
finally makes landfall near the North/South Carolina
boarder and we see only winds in the low twenties. It’s not over yet, though, as we have to
remain one more day since the winds have blown all the water out of the harbor
and we are aground in our slip.
We depart Oriental the following morning and work our way up
the ICW to a sunset anchorage at the remote south end of the Alligator River. We can see a few other boats anchored in the
distance but otherwise there is nothing around until four F-18’s begin doing
practice routines overhead. We suspect they practice in remote places like this
so that the noise doesn’t bother people in more developed areas, but the noise is so loud
we can hardly hear each other speak. The
next day we motor sail northwards against a strong north wind and cross the
riled up Albemarle Sound. This is an ill advised tactic and many of the
other boats heading our way, turn back.
But we persevere as we have a goal, and, in the meantime, discover all
the places the boat can leak water – more maintenance ahead for Burt! It is my birthday so in celebration we get a
dock in Coinjock, NC, a little hole in the wall village that
sports a well recommended restaurant famous for its prime rib. One must place their dinner order ahead of
time, so we order one 16 ounce (as opposed to the 32 oz.) prime rib dinner for
Burt and an additional order of sides for me as I will share this huge slab of
meat, all for $22. It is some of the
best prime rib we have ever had, and in addition, I am treated to a free
dessert since it is my birthday. What a
deal!!!
The next day we depart Coinjock with a huge group of boats
and begin the slog through several opening bridges and one lock that separate
the ICW from the Chesapeake. Usually the timing is such that sailboats can
not make all the bridge openings without having to idle away waiting for an
opening, but this time, due to the large number of boats passing through and
one very kind bridge tender, we tagged along at the end of the fleet and made
all the bridges, squeezing into the last available spot in the lock. We have never been able to do this before,
and we arrive in Norfolk/Portsmouth early enough to snag one of the free docks
on the Portsmouth
side.
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| Norfolk's commercial side is evidenced by a proliferation of cranes and dry docks along the Elizabeth River. |
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| And as we leave Norfolk, we pass an incoming aircraft carrier - one of the smaller ones but no means very small compared to us. |
The Chesapeake awaits and in
two long days, with help from spring’s long hours of sunlight, we find
ourselves picking up the last remaining mooring ball in front of the Naval Academy
in Annapolis.
The ball, by most people’s standards, would be less desirable as it is a
distance from the dinghy dock, but for us it is outstanding. Why?
Because in two days the Blue Angels will be arriving in Annapolis for Commissioning Week at the
Academy, and we have the PERFECT vantage spot for watching the show. On Tuesday morning the jets roar into town doing
multiple passes over the area in which they will perform. That afternoon we are treated to an hour
rehearsal with some of the planes seeming to fly just over the top of our mast. The noise is unbelievable; the precision
beyond our expectations. That night the
pilots are visiting Annapolis
in the company of some of the midshipmen, and we see them walking down the
street to constant applause from the surrounding crowds. And on Wednesday
afternoon they give the formal performance.
Annapolis harbor is chock a block full of
boats – private ones anchored as far as they eye can see and many tour boats,
some of which are brought down from Baltimore,
with customers packing all the decks. It
is pandemonium, but we are happily bobbing away on our mooring watching the
spectacle with friends who are anchored further up Spa Creek. The experience
leaves us with goose flesh. A narration
was broadcast over a local radio station but the roar of the planes obliterated
the radio at its highest volume. At
times the jets seem so close that the wings are touching. And at
the conclusion, they performed the missing man maneuver, where five jet leave
in formation while the sixth turns skyward, dedicating it to a midshipman who
had died the previous week in the Amtrack accident in Philadelphia. It was unbelievably moving. And in a similar
vein, I discovered on the internet that the Blue Angels have a ten percent
fatality rate – it is obviously a dangerous career.
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| The Blue Angels arrive skimming over the tops of nearby masts. |
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| All six together in the opening portion. |
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| Afterburners and vapor trailing off the wings. |
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| So close you can see the pilots - Burt thinks the further one is looking at him; I think he's checking the critical distance between his neighboring jet. |
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| Some of the maneuvers seem downright goofy. |
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| Others are simply awe inspiring. |
But we are in Annapolis for more than
the Blue Angels. In celebration of
qualifying for
Medicare, we are changing our health care providers to
doctors in the Annapolis
area. It makes more sense to schedule
routine visits somewhere where we can stay on the boat and visit more than once
a year. It is a laborious process to
line up the full array of providers from long distance, but we seem to have
most everything resolved and we can reach offices either by bike or the local
bus service. Along with doctor visits,
we are doing more repairs and maintenance.
Burt is busy varnishing and redoing the fuel system for the dinghy while
I empty all the cabinets in the boat, thoroughly clean them for any mold, and inventory
our supplies in anticipation of a major reprovisioning run with a rental car. The
EPRIB’s battery has expired so that is taken to a shop for an overhaul. All the
canvas is removed from the boat, treated for mildew and waterproofed. It all
takes some creativity as we usually do this spring maintenance at a dock, not a
mooring ball, but we have succeeded. We
take a little time off to visit with friends.
One cruising couple has just purchased a home on a creek near Annapolis. We are invited over to their house a mere
nine days after they moved in and are very flattered to help christen their new
abode. The view through their front
door, out the wall of windows in the back and down the wooded slope to the
water where their sailboat is docked is priceless. It is moments like this that
make you long for a home again.
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| On the mooring, it is fun to be a turning mark on a tight spinnaker leg as the Wednesday racers head to the finish at the Annapolis Yacht Club. |
So, we will remain in Annapolis
for about ten more days until all the doctor visits are completed. Then it is off to hopefully cooler New England for the remainder of the summer.
