We arrived in Annapolis on Monday, Oct 3, 2005 in the afternoon and left on Friday, Oct 14, 2005.  Can’t believe we spent a week and a half in Annapolis.  We met with many old friends and made some new ones.  We anchored Island Time in Back Creek, which is close to everything in the Annapolis area including the Boat Show which was our purpose in visiting Annapolis at this time.

Back Creek has notoriously poor holding for anchors as it is a mud bottom topped with soft silt from a nearby treatment plant.  On Tues the harbormaster came by distributing a letter to all boats anchored explaining (very politely) the situation and recommending a Danforth anchor be used as it holds better in mud.  Since we had down our CQR, we had to assemble Big Bertha, our Fortress anchor (Danforth type) which we purchased as storm anchor for the Bahamas, which sat unassembled in the cockpit locker.  The eye had to be spliced on the line and the anchor put together.  We deployed Big Bertha at an angle to the CQR to allow it to hold in the predicted wind shift.  So Tues was an anchor watch day to be sure we held.  Back Creek was very crowded, so the amount of scope we could put out was limited.  We barely had 3 to 1 which is marginal.  Two anchors made us feel more secure.

Wed we decided to explore and get some groceries as we had not provisioned since New York harbor.  We landed at the public access at the Back Creek Nature Park and started walking to where we thought the grocery store was located.  We passed several boat yards and boating related businesses including Kato Marine who made the davits for our dinghy storage on the rear of Island Time.  We walked for some time thru residential areas and continued to see more residential areas and we were about to turn around when we saw a traffic light ahead.  We continued to the intersection and lo and behold there was Giant Supermarket.  We stocked up on essentials including 4 Liters of tonic water for G & T.  The only problem was we had to carry the groceries back to the boat.  The walk back seemed much shorter but my arms seemed much longer after carrying all the stuff.  Must have been the tonic water but it was worth it as the G & T tasted mighty good when we got back.

Thursday we went to Annapolis to see how to get to the show.  Annapolis is a very cruiser friendly town when free docks for dinghies in several locations.  We left ours at the dock at the end of sixth st. which left us about six blocks from the show entrance.

Friday, we went to the show and checked out several vendors for water makers and other items we wanted to purchase.  In the afternoon we met Bob and Lorna from MBBC (by chance though we knew they would be there) and they told us where to meet them and Bruce and Pam at the show later for refreshments.  We also saw two other MBBC members (Ed Zeimer and friend Jackie) at the show.  Jackie told us they were staying on the boat owned by a friend of hers berthed nearby.

Saturday, we went to the meeting (called a GAM) of the Seven Seas Cruising Association at nearby Port Annapolis Marina in the pouring rain.  In spite of the rain, the meeting went on with four guest speakers on topics ranging from boat maintenance to weather prediction.  At dinner that evening (still pouring rain), we again met Bob and Lorna and Bruce and Pam along with Lynne and Rich and Bob and Carol longtime friends of  Bob and Lorna and Bruce and Pam.  Bob and Carol cruise their MacGregor 26 to the Bahamas and were full of information about going to the Bahamas and spending the winter there.  We hope to meet them there this winter.  Lynne and Rich live in Annapolis moving here from New England several years ago.  We found a table in one of the tents big enough for our group occupied by one man.  He was agreeable to us joining him.  After we all ate and were chatting, we started talking to man at the table telling him about our trip from Vermont etc.  He told us he had friends staying with him who sailed in Vermont.  Upon further conversation with him we found out his friends were Ed and Jackie from MBBC.  It’s a small world.

Sunday we again went to the show first stopping by the booth of Jed and Paige Guertin who we saw in Cape May.  We have known Jed and Paige for several years as they lived in Charlotte, Vt and sailed Lake Champlain.  They invented a union for rubber hoses called a turncouple which allows the hose to be disconnected from the pipe fitting without disturbing the barb fitting.  Anyone who has wrestled with removing a barb fitting from a hose without destroying either should check out their website.  Google turncouple for the site.

Later on Sunday, we met Bruce and Pam who drove us to the hardware store to get propane for the boat, liquor store for beer and gin, and the grocery store.  No more lugging tonic water.  By the way, it turns out the walk to the grocery store was only one mile as clocked by Bruce.  We thank him for their efforts.  After these chores, we went to Lynne and Rich’s house for dinner.  The painkillers flowed freely and dinner was great along with the company as Bob and Lorna were staying at the house along with Bruce and Pam and Bob and Carol (staying on their boat at Port Annapolis Marina) joined us.  It was a great evening and we thank Lynne and Rich for inviting us to their home.

Monday, we brought the spreader bar for our dinghy davits to Kato Marine to be shortened as it was too long for our new dinghy.  They said the modification would be ready by Wednesday.  We then called the Gerald W to pump out the holding tank on Island Time.  For $5 Gerald W comes along side and pumps out the holding tank.  It is operated by the Annapolis Harbormaster’s office.  Then it was off to the show again.  We finalized the purchase of our watermaker by scheduling delivery to the companies Portsmith, Va office where we will pick it up in a few weeks.  After that, we met the group to watch the show be disassembled.  It was a hoot.  There where boats and docks moving everywhere after 5 pm when the gun sounded the end of the show.  Everything was so well coordinated that by 7 pm the whole show was disassembled.  There were at least 200 sailboats of all sizes and types that moved in the 2 hrs.

Tuesday, the big event of the day was getting pizza in Annapolis.  We have not eaten pizza since we left.   There was one place in the center of town which had good pizza.  Exciting day!!!!

Wednesday, we picked up our spreader bar from Kato and installed it.  Jay and Priscilla from MBBC were in town looking at boats and called after they finished.  We picked them up at the sixth st dinghy dock and brought them out to Island Time for cocktails.  After, we went to dinner in Annapolis and really enjoyed ourselves at the buffet at Buddys.  Jay and Priscilla are fun to be with and we enjoyed their company very much.

Thursday we planned to leave Annapolis but woke up to a grey, cold damp day and decided we did not feel like sailing as the wind would make it colder.  So we just read and did a few small boat projects.

Friday, we finally left Annapolis for St Michaels, Md on the eastern shore.  We had a fun sail over to St Michaels.  We left Annapolis with a lot of good memories of friendships old and new.