ANNAPOLIS

Annapolis is said to be the Sailing Capital of the world. It is also the home of the US Naval Academy and hosts one of the best boat shows. Our trip would not be complete without an extended stay at this fun and historic town. We had a good sail across the bay, although we had to tack a couple times due to the South winds. We were in no hurry and thoroughly enjoyed the sail. Between the Bay Bridges over the Chesapeake

There were plenty of moorings after the Labor Day exodus and we grabbed one of the town moorings in front of the Academy. Cruisers kept coming in all afternoon while we went ashore to have dinner and explore the town. We had some fond memories of Pussers Bar and Grill where we had experienced quite a few of their Pain Killers several years ago at one of the boat shows. Denise was on a mission to have one of their original, and potent drinks. After dinner we hopped on the free trolley to take an evening tour and see where they went for future reference, and then took a stroll down Main Street. Bars and Restaurants along Dock Street

A view of the Bay from Church Circle

An evening veiw of Annapolis from our mooring.

Wednesday was another cloudy day with threats of rain and thunderstorms. We had a lazy morning with a hearty breakfast on the boat and then dingied to shore to take a shower in the municipal facilities. We returned to the boat to drop off stuff and then take a dingy tour of the harbor. Denise went aboard and as I was sitting at the stern in the dingy, I noticed there was a mast right in front of us that was awfully close to our boat. I yelled to Denise and rushed the dingy around to the bow to see what was happening. Denise also ran to the bow, but before we could do anything, we had t-boned our neighbor. It was 350 Catalina named Dream Weaver. Denise had caught it a little before it hit and softened the blow to avoid any damage, but it make a crashing sound that was apparently heard all around the harbor. How it happened made no sense at all. Dream Weaver was turned completely sideways to us and one purpose of moorings is to not have to worry about swinging into your neighbor. We called the harbormaster and had him make a report. He said that the moorings may have dragged some and got us too close together. The only explaination for the different positions we were in was that we had our single mooring line on the port side and they had theirs on the starboard, which still didn't seem likely to cause the problem but we switched to the same side as theirs to be safe. What a way to meet our neighbors! We met and talked to several boaters about what happened and met the owners of Dream Weaver when we came back that evening. They were totally unaware that anything had happened. We did a daytime walking tour of the town after the incident and visited the Maryland State House. Annapolis was actually the Capital of the United states for about a year. The Treaty of Paris was signed here that ended the Revolutionary War and George Washington resigned his commission as Commander in Chief at the State House. It is now the Capital of the State of Maryland. The town was settled in the early 1600's and was built with the Government building on the highest ground and the Church on the next highest hill. The result is the State House towering over the city with the church being right next to it but slightly lower. There are circles or roundabouts around the State House and the church and all the streets lead away from each of the circles. The entire town appears to be as it could have looked in the late 1700's and early 1800's with narrow brick streets and sidewalks and vintage and historic buildings in every direction. The view from Church Circle down to the Bay is beautiful. The entrance to the State House, the Capital of the US for a while.

The Senate Chamber in the State House

Examples of the older style homes throughout the town.

Denise wandered through many of the shops and we wound up visiting several historic and local bars for a "happy hour" dinner before returning to the boat. We had been anticipating the Wednesday Night Races at Annapolis that included more than 150 boats that would race right around our moorings to the finish line a few hundred yards from us. After waiting until way after dark, we found out that the races had ended the following Wednesday! On Thursday, we finally got the some of the rain they had predicted. It rained most of the morning. The ducks have apparently been using our dingy as a play pen overnight. The last two mornings I have had to clean out all the feathers and duck poop before we could stand to get into the dingy. One of those glamorous things about cruising, I guess. The rain finally quit around 2 PM so we hopped in the newly cleaned dingy and headed for town. We had decided to take a tour of the Naval Academy. It was oabout an hour and a half tour but it was well worth it. So much history and a very interesting campus. It is a naval college that produces officers for the Navy and Marine Corp and it is very impressive. We may just go back again tomorrow to look through their naval museum, since we ran out of time to see everything they had to offer. Dahlgren Hall

The Naval Chapel

There are a lot more pictures I wanted to post but the internet is not co-operating. I will post more of them later. Our plan is to head back up North to the Baltimore area tomorrow to prepare for our flight home next week. We do have plenty of time, and it is kind of nice not having to rush around and being able to hang out at nice places like this. The only delima is that there are so many nice places to choose! Keep following our blog and we'll try to keep you up to date.