East Coast Travels

9/30 to 10/13 2007

We're working our way Back south. Visiting places we've seen before, but new to Ariel, and visiting spots we'd bypassed on earlier trips. Trying to take things a little slower this time.

We plan to post and update at least weekly. We move the older portions of the log to secondary pages accessible at the bottom of the page. Join our voyage!

Updated on 10/17/2007

9/30/07 - Felt funny waking up in the middle of a city. We spent the day with Miles and Laureen doing tourist stuff. Yes, the rumor is true, we even rode the Duck down the streets and into the harbor... even have the little yellow duck bill whistles to prove it. Interestingly the drive has to have a CDL (Commercial Drivers License) and a 25 ton Captain's license. We went to Cross Street Market about 8 blocks from the harbor. Laureen's sister and husband joined us there. Yes, you can tell she's a sister... Ruth says she's a cutie (I agree). Ariel will stay a couple more days while we head to Annapolis tomorrow. Ruth and I sat in the cockpit as darkness fell, enjoying the warm breeze and watching the city night life emerge. Very nice visit; I'd definitely come here again. 10/1/07 - We left Baltimore a little after dawn. It was a power sail - all motor, no sails. By noon we were entering the Annapolis harbor. About 2pm we anchored in the inner harbor. Actually the harbor was so crowded we anchored 3 times before we got our spacing right. It's only going to get worse as more boats try to squeeze in for the boat show. We are just behind Sampatecho, joining up with them after a long separation, May. It was great to see Bradd and Maeve again. Buddy remembered them both. Kewl! I helped Bradd get ready for the show for a couple of hours. I enjoyed the chance to work with him again. We had dinner on Sampatecho, learning that Echo had just wed. Neat! Her husband is a college teacher and a very nice guy. We also met Chuck Newman, an old Annapolis friend of Bradd & Maeve's. 10/2/07 - Another great morning, we have been blessed this trip. I spent the morning getting a layer (1/16th") of salt off the stainless steel. I joined Maeve on a trip to the show (it's in set-up phase) while Bradd headed out by car to pick up supplies, dropping Ruth at a grocery store on the way. Hey, we are multi-tasking fools. We were running over to Ariel when we heard someone calling us. It turned out to be the couple from Freddy Freddy, the character boat we'd first encountered in Ft. Meyers Beach. Tomorrow we'll go visit them and introduce Miles and Laureen. It was sure great to see them again. 10/3/07 - The day opened with overcast skies - looking like rain. Bradd & Maeve need to start setting up their booth in preparation for the show opening on Thursday. I went to work with Bradd & Maeve on set-up while Ruth worked on brokering from the boat. By noon the sun came out. Cruising Solutions was waiting for signage to come so I went to help set up the Latitudes and Attitude's booth - spent an hour stocking T-shirts on shelves by style and size. Yes, I'm trainable. Jody noted that they got an offer for Lost Soul they couldn't refuse and are currently boat less. B-Bob, my idol, is land locked! Hell just froze over! Now they are truly lost souls. We took Buddy for a dinghy ride up Spa Creek to visit Della and Floyd on Freddy Freddy. Miles and Laureen joined us there a little later. It was fun catching up with their adventures since we first met at Ft Meyers Beach and later at Solomon's Landing. They did the loop last year because it sounded like we had fun doing it. They loved the experience. 10/4/07 - First day of the show. We toured the show and did several stints in Cruising Solutions booth. During the day I learned a lot about how our charging systems were working. We've wasted a lot of diesel when the solar panels and wind generator were blocking out the alternator. At least we know now and we have the ability to remedy the situation. Ruth sold product for Cruising Solutions. I didn't do so well. Hey, beauty versus beast. The show is overwhelming... if we had a mega-bucks bankroll we'd still fall short on our wish list. But hey, it's fun to drool and ponder the what-ifs. We did spend a few dollars - got a system for making carbonated soft drinks. It will save $$$ and a lot of weight carrying soft drinks from the supermarket - about half the load when we come back from the market. We can now created de-caffeinated diet cola and a variety of soft drinks on-board using concentrates and a carbonator.  Way cool! She also bought a system for saving food . Good deal. There are a few safety items we'd like to pick-up (life raft, AIS, warning system) but we'll wait for future shows after the house sells. Mile and Laureen came over at dusk with nephew Kevin to see Buddy and meet us. He's a neat young man. We enjoyed his company. 10/5/07 - Show started at 10am under gray skies. I went to the show and worked Cruising Solutions booth. At noon Ruth joined us and worked the afternoon. What a mob scene. I did have time to learn a lot about their products and a lot about our power generation systems and the inconsistencies we've been experiencing. Still more to learn but I think we are gaining ground. 10/6/07 - Up at 6am to go to the SSCA swap meet. John had a pile of boat stuff to sell and I wanted to see a 90amp alternator. By 10 we'd pretty much sold out and went to the boat show to help staff Cruising Solutions booth. Another busy day with the crowd occasionally overwhelming us, a high class problem. I've learned volumes at the show while selling SkyMate satellite systems, LED's, filters and other cruising solutions. Show ended for the day at 7 and we headed for the SSCA/Lats & Atts party for pizza and beer. They'd run out of pizza, the beer line as 80 persons long and the place was jammed. We went to Rocco's for pizza and beer. Great end to a long day! 10/7/07- We worked the show all day, business was brisk. By the time we got back to the boat all we wanted to do was go to bed. Oh, for you Bitchin' fans, Bob and Jody bought a new boat for delivery at the next show. Guess hell's not freezing over. Bed was not to be though, we'd committed to doing a live SkyMate demo on AA that night. One couple had already bought a set-up that afternoon and the other were looking. We enjoyed demonstrating and getting to meet the folks. 10/8/07 - Last day for the show. We had hot but great weather. SkyMate came by to let Cruising Solutions know they had set a dealer record for any show.... that was before we sold 2 more sets. The couple that came to demo bought a unit this morning and another bought as the show was tearing down. Watching the show tear down was a treat. At one point I counted 14 sailboats moving simultaneously out of the grid of docks that links the show together. A few J-boats tried to sail out but were forced to power due to lack of wind. The crowd applauded their effort. The tear down is an excuse for a major party. In a little over and hour the show had disappeared. We left before the power boats moved in. They had to all be in place that night so the docks could be reset and the booths set up. 10/9/07 - Sunny, hot and humid! We joined Bradd & Maeve with John's car and went to a Laundromat and grocery shopping. Hey - two tasks completed in one day. It sure was a treat having a car. After hiding from the sun the rest of the afternoon we joined Bradd & Maeve for dinner on Sampatecho. It was great to reconnect and relax. They will be rushing to Melbourne, FL to leave the boat for their next 2 shows. We will try to laze down the Chessie and ICW with Miles and Laureen,  showing them what we've seen before and exploring new places. 10/10/07 - Heavy rain last night, t-storms gave the deck a good wash down. Fantastic! The squall moved several of our neighbors around while we were on Sampatecho - fortunately none became entangled with AA. Bradd stopped by a little after sunrise to say good bye for now. We'll next see them in Melbourne, FL. During dinner last night we talked of their daughter Echo and her status. She recently wed long time USA boyfriend Leo, then had to return to Canada as her visa was running out. Now she's in Canada and he's teaching in Ohio. No one knows when she'll get to rejoin him. Too bad she's not from Mexico, a short swim and they'd be together. Bradd had introduced us to Bob and Paula Hofgren of Fourth Watch who wanted to buddy boat for a while with someone who had been in these waters before. They joined us and a flotilla of Canadians for the half day voyage to St Michaels. We walked St Michaels late in the afternoon. It is a picturesque little village - aimed at tourists. Miles and Laureen did a little provisioning before heading back for the evening. They were in a slip while we anchored with Fourth Watch. 10/11/07 - Heavy rain and winds bounced us out of bed at 2am for a quick boat inspection. All was well so we went back to sleep while the boat got a good wash-down. Woke up to cool gray skies and winds gusting to 25. That diminished for a while around 8am, then picked up again. Cold gray windy day. A few boats went out, we decided that given tomorrow's forecast is worse we'd stay in this harbor (more secure than the one we'd picked for tonight), leaving for Solomon's Landing Saturday early morning. We'd planned to be there Saturday night originally and are skipping an isolated anchorage - trading it for a longer day on the water. I spent the afternoon with Miles & Laureen at the Museum at St Michaels. It was great! If any of you get down this way don't miss it. The displays are well done and interesting! (Ruthie is sick again and is quarantined to the boat - must have caught something at the show. She's in the "cootie cabin, the forward berth)). 10/12/07 - Happy Birthday Ruth... well, okay, Happy Anniversary of your birth Ruth. The second most important item of note for today is that is the "real" Columbus Day. We left St Michaels shortly after dawn on the premise that Sailflow.com has been more accurate than NOAA weather. Whoops, today was NOAA's turn to shine. The winds were 20-25 with gusts over 30. It was initially a wild ride but later the 28 mile run to Solomon's Landing settled down and became fun. Ariel topped 13 knots while AA did over 11. Enroute we all dodged 3 ships and a couple of tugs with barges. By late afternoon we joined Ariel at anchor at Solomon's with Fourth Watch trailing about a half hour behind. Miles and Laureen finally got to meet Paula and Bob over drinks on AA. Later I cooked ribs, mashed potatoes and peas for the two of us while Ruth answered B-day greetings from family and friends. It was a pleasant evening! My love is now a perfect 10... 5 5. 10/13/07 - Cool morning, 51 degrees, with broken overcast. As it warmed into the high 60's the day cleared. I'd planned to spend the morning washing and wax the sides of the hull. Not to be - Laureen noticed a piece of cloth hanging from the forestay wrap of our genoa. We unfurled and dropped the sail to discover that the sun shield, a fabric panel that covers the trailing edge of the sail and protects it from UV when wrapped, was loosing its strength and had torn in several places. We also found several seams had started to split. Time to get out the sewing machine. Two hours later the damage was repaired. I'll have to replace the sun shield and luff tape in the next couple of months. My job done we packed up and went to the Calvert Museum. They were getting ready for their "Bugeye Ball", a fundraiser they hold annually, so the museum was crowded with table setting for the participants. We were also rushed as they were closing early. I was impressed by the changes they'd made since our visit 2 years ago and by the live display of river otters in a habitat. Overall the St Michaels museum was better.

Fort McHenry Laureen with smile & new tattoo Lightship Chesapeake Thomas Point light, leaving Annapolis Ariel turns into the Miles River A skipjack with its push boat Fourth Watch joins us at anchor Port of St Michaels This was our first visit to St Michaels. The anchorage was large and secure, their museum was first-rate, and the town well worth a walkabout. A few of the Solomon's boats Calvert museum from our mooring After St Michaels the Calvert lost a little of its uniqueness. Still we were impressed with their continued improvements. Both museums are well worth the effort to see them.

Visit earlier portions of our east coast travels...