May 22 – June 24, 2008

Wow, lost track of everything once WS got back into the bay.  Can't believe we're back after taking WS all the way down the ICW, through the Bahamas to the Turks & Caico's then backup through Bahamas & offshore up the US coast until Norolk - what a trip!  

Well - by now it is late June WS is once again anchored in Rock Creek visiting with friends from the old marina White Rocks.  So -- let us see – I’ll try to make this brief – right!  Went from Chrisfield to Reedville, VA to visit with Lyn & her mom, Capt’n wanted to try to get into their dock Friday when we got there, but had to push to anchor instead.  Not good – holding bites there and had a hard time getting a good set.  Took Rats over to the pier with the hand held depth sounder – not good – 5’5” in places – worse than 2 years ago when we brought WS down before.  So ended up anchored out until Sunday morning.  Left and sailed up to Solomon’s for the night.  Took our normal spot as usual behind Zanhisers (free wifi) and again squeezed WS into a spot.  Had heard someone calling WS on the VHF on the way in, answered back, but no reply.  Then a dinghy pulls up along side WS & it Robert & Trish, friends from WRocks.  They were anchored further back with Bristol Rose, but heading in to meet their son.  We had not planned going to shore so we would try to catch up with them later.   Took Rats for a ride later, stopped by BR, but they were not back yet.  Robert & Trish are planning the same, but they plan to go a good amount further – all the way back to their homeland – Australia.  Well it ended up that it was them who called, but did not here us answer on the radio.  Left Solomon’s the next morning & had a good sail up to Annapolis – one of our favorite places.   Anchored off the naval academy as usual & the nice CQR dug in immediately.  Always nice here since a good amount of boats have ended up dragging in bad weather.   Had to run into Pusser’s for munchies and a beer on their outside deck.  Can’t beat the view of ego alley & is a favorite stop for us.  Just fun to watch the boats parade down there – esp. the big power yachts (“ego alley”) that can turn on a dime….  Had fun in Annapolis, but couldn’t decide what to do next.  Stay another day or leave and go to the Magothy, but we hadn’t stopped to visit with Mark & Allison from Angel yet.  So let’s go over to back creek – let’s take the dink – no let’s take the big boat – no Rats, no WS – whatever.  Glad we didn’t take Rats, would never have taken WS in then too tight.  So took WS in -- couldn’t have been through the last marker & dinghy pulls up beside – here it’s Broker Dave (who sold us WS & is a great guy) on his way home for lunch in his dink.  Said he spotted WS right off the bat – then a yell from Annapolis Landing Marina’s (ALM) fuel pier – here it’s Allison yelling at us for not telling her  we were coming (just kidding).  Well still needed to get anchored & wasn’t going to be easy.  Anchored further down, then backed down on it – no luck – WS was dragging - !$#$!  Okay, lets move further back - okay – same deal #$@#.  Okay, lets go way back – NOT – Capt’n didn’t like it.  Okay, let’s go back in front of ALM.  Finally got a spot and backed a bit, seemed to hold, but oh great – the goober in front of WS has a stern anchor out.  Good idea, but not when every boat around you is swinging on one anchor.  Since WS was the last in the line we would have to do the same or just give up & head up to the Magothy.  Just about to do that & Allison yelled if we wait until 4pm she could get us tied up.  Okay – works for me…  Broker Dave stopped back on his way back from lunch & had a nice conversation with him – actually helped me with getting my insurance issue resolved – got a number an a name that worked out great & saved me some big bucks…  Anyway – moved to the slip and stayed there until early Thursday morning, when we ghosted WS out of there before dawn.  Did have fun there - Allison & I went to the store & got WS stocked up on beer, wine & food (priorities here!).  Then cooked out with them at the dock the one night & next they come over to WS for dinner.  Took nice showers ashore & even did the laundry there.  Had a great time.  In the meantime, talked about working the boat show, so Allison introduced us to Marci who runs the shows for Ed who owns ALM & the shows.  So came up with a great idea – Capt’n could work getting the docks ready for the shows & Allison would try to see if we could put WS at ALM for the summer.  They are full, but could go on the long pier we were on once they move the barge off.  Okay, works for me - would love to spend the summer in Annapolis & really feel we need a home base now.  So, finally made it back to our old home – Rock Creek & White Rocks marina – partied like crazy all weekend with all of our old friends.  I was just great – had cars to use & real showers etc – all that fun stuff.  It was so funny, everytime someone asked if we wanted to go to a store, we'd just go - didn't need anything - but couldn't get over all that we could actually "drive" somewhere and holy @%#$ look at all this stuff & it's cheap.  Bad thing about coming back from the Bahamas, after paying over $5 for gas & diesel, $5 for a beer at a bar ($36 was minimum for a case of Kalik - $45 for Miller Lite & had even seen $72 for a case of Kalik (local beer) at Highborne Cay) over $5 for a bag of chips - everything looked cheap.  So lately - we have been back & forth – keeping WS anchored near MYC & White Rocks.  We were back out for a week – hooked up with Slow Dancing in Worton Creek for a night – was so nice to see them.  Tim & Michele on WS-Cat were trying to come up too, but left Baltimore too late & storms rolled in.  We just got WS anchored in Worton when the storms hit us.  Finally, ran over in-between storms once we knew WS was holding good.  Had a great time as usual – SD was moving pretty good during the storms & being a heavy Island Packet could just imagine how WS was riding them out.  Oh well – just checked on her a few times & didn’t worry about it.  Left the next morning for Sassafras river & met up with WS-Cat there.  Spent a couple days anchored near Georgetown & had a great time.  Sure different from the Georgetown in the Exumas, no white sand beaches or gorgeous blue water, but it was still beautiful and a great spot to spend a couple days.  Will head back there with everyone for the 4^th of July too.  In the meantime too - I’ve have went back home to got us a “car” so we could get around again & the Capt’n stayed on the boat and worked on the wood that had got beat to crap in the islands.  Ended up with a nice cheapo from my ex-brother in law – worked great – he is super good with cars so know I have something reliable that looks decent too.   Will come in handy for those little things – like shopping for beer, wine & food and visits back to Pittsburgh….  So, WS will head out for a week or two - Dan & Robin on Ka-Ching are heading up to the Sassafras early, so we may either follow or hit Rock Hall & slowing work our way up, don’t know yet….  After the 4^th WS will finally have a home after  almost 10 months of living on the hook.  We will tie here up at ALM & bring the car down AND almost be normal again  s/b interesting….  Can’t wait – ALM has gorgeous shower, nice pool, laundry & can dinghy right over to Annapolis – doesn’t get much better (except blue water might help – oh well, can’t have it all!)…  So, this will be it for a while, may update, but won’t be too interesting from here on in.  WS will be in Annapolis until the boat shows are over in October – then who knows….  Will try to get some new pics out there – Capt’n still wants his last fish we caught off NC posted….  Would like to find a way to get all the logs slimmed down and put the entire trip out there but haven’t had a chance yet – just way too busy being back in the “real” world!