Lynn’s Comments:

Our visit to Annapolis was the first on our own boat. Unfamiliar with the mooring fields, we lucked out and found a perfect one for our boat, just north of the Spa Creek Bridge in the St. Mary’s Mooring field, named for the beautiful St. Mary’s Church and High School Campus a few yards away. We were close to a dinghy dock and a short walk to town, in a more protected area than the “big” mooring field, the center of action in Annapolis was just around the corner via Ego Alley, so called because of the boats that cruise in and out with rumbling engines, buff occupants, and loud music blaring. Temperatures were moderate (80’s), and we ate out several times. My favorite was a jerk chicken curry lunch at Pussers.

The St. Mary’s mooring field is picturesque and full of activity. Stand up paddle boarding is popular, along with kayaking, tourist boats, and local boats cruising through (yes, through the mooring field).  One enterprising young woman did a yoga workout on her paddleboard, while a Mom instructed her tiny son to paddle her around on hers. He was grinning from ear to ear.

Annapolis has a convenient dinghy dock at the head of Ego Alley. Trouble is, there are ducks everywhere and as soon as a dinghy is tied up they “flock” on over. Check out George’s photo via the photos link to the right. Before we could depart for lunch, two had tried to settle on ours, he rocked it hard with the painter and they jumped off. Surprisingly when we returned there were no ducks and no duck poo on our vessel, a small miracle to be sure.

Friday we headed for St. Michaels, on the Eastern Shore, a trip of 27 nautical miles. We were last here 28 years ago on our 25^th Anniversary Trip, when we had two sailboats full of friends and spent a week cruising the Chesapeake. The Crab Claw restaurant is still here, having just celebrated its 50^th Anniversary. As George has reported, we had a good visit with the Maryland family, ice cream at Justines, and an early dinner at the Crab Claw. The family time of this cruise has been a wonderful benefit, and the seafood another.

St. Michaels is crowded, busy and charming.  We chose a marina so we could have a nice family visit and there are boats anchored out here, but I want to check out something before we leave, a “back door” to St. Michaels which is on San Domingo Creek on the Choptank, which dead ends on the south side of St. Michaels with a dinghy dock of sorts. You can anchor in this beautiful creek and dinghy in without the crowded anchorage here. The quaint town of Oxford is in that same general area.

Of course not everything is ever perfect when cruising. Our dinghy motor has become temperamental and George has done a good job of cajoling it into service.  Could be that Maryland does not have ethanol free gasoline, or it could be something else.

Tomorrow we are back to Solomons, a favorite spot to be sure.