Annapolis Md. Graduation day at the Naval Academy! A very busy harbor!

Let’s pick up that mooring ball!  I’m not comfortable with that! The wind is blowing and the seas are 1 to 2.  Grab that line it is getting away.  SNAP!  CRACKLE! POP! In less than a twinkle of an eye, my wrist is broken. Two of the smaller cleats were torn from the rub rail and hit my wrist on the way off.

Annapolis ambulance responded  and transferred us to Baltimore Washington Medical center because the local hospital was overwhelmed. The traffic was horrendous; it was Memorial Day Weekend. An orthopedic surgeon is needed.

We are flying home tomorrow. See my local doctors and perhaps get a smaller cast . A short hiatus from the loop.

small cleats

ambulance

before the morphine

reduced the fracture with local anesthesia that hurt

straightening out the fracture

ambulance at sea

Once a waterman’s enclave, St Michaels, named for the Archangel Michael, has been transformed into an upscale tourist destination, but the town still has a quaint charm. We anchored just outside of the city and used the dinghy to cruise in.

The eighteen-acre Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum is located directly on the dock. Just down the main street is a distilling Company that gives tours and tastings. In between them is an array of small shops with many treasures. We did it all.

As we were returning to Dream Seeker, the skies were darkening, the winds were blowing and a storm was brewing. The challenge became to return to the boat quickly enough to properly secure it without getting plummeted.  Clear heads prevailed and all was accomplished properly and in a timely fashion. The fierce storm only lasted one hour.

That “damm dinghy” performed well but we have not yet mastered the art (or perhaps it is a science) of launching the dinghy and returning it to its proper place on the bridge.

Tour guide and owner distillery

Driftwood Art work

strange mermaid

Moonshine

St Michaels town namesake

what do they distill in there?

Gods Grace Looper boat

The weather is sublime the winds are from the west and the barometer is rising. All is well with the world!!!!  What is going on in the world anyway?  Should we be worrying about anything?

Yesterday found us in another grocery store, drug store and liquor store, acquiring all the comforts of life. We managed to buy enough to have eight friends for drinks and dinner on the boat last night.  I was having such a good time that I forgot to take a picture.  Celeste and Ken from Vero Beach joined us.

The new anchor light was delivered yesterday and with a little (maybe more than a little) effort from Denny, is now shining brightly. An overnight delivery brought us another much needed waterway book.

Next stop St Michaels.

lighthouse and the skipjack

Golden Daze a fellow looper

It was tobacco; not fishing that brought the settlers to the Solomons. Over a century the Solomons advanced from fishing to tobacco to shipbuilding and about 1860, to oysters.

Hence the skipjack, a sloop rigged, fifty-five foot sailboat boasting a centerboard rather than a keel. A traditional fishing boat used on the Chesapeake Bay for oyster dredging but hardly a traditional sailboat.  Its mast is seventy five feet high and made from a single tree. It is flat and huge.

A three-hour sail on a balmy day became a three-hour magnificent sail, especially when the captain, after some cajoling, agreed to unfurl the enormous sails. It was a gorgeous day and a wonderful side trip provided by the boating club.

The cleanliness of the  Chesapeake waters is touted to have improved much over the past twenty years.  The theory is the Chesapeake is now so clean you can see sea grass and dolphins. Perhaps they are there but we didn’t see any, but the day was glorious.

a beautiful day

the mast

Denny and Tamara

the mainsail

an oyster bed dredger

lowering the mainsail

It is morning and we are sailing up the Chesapeake past the entrance to the Potomac River and directly into Spring Cove Marina.  Just in time for the 4 day DeFever Rendezvous. Twenty-five DeFever boats and 100 people.  It is smaller than the Looper rendezvous but has just as much enthusiasm.

Dream Seeker is on “Open Boat” today, which means we show our boat to the others, and we can see theirs. It is amazing how much variety there is in the same style boat.

Remembering some life lessons. Slow down and smell the salt air!!

Seminar

Transportation to dinner at Kingfishers

Spring Cove Marina

A very large, beautiful, almost empty (at least on the surface) choppy, body of water.

Anchoring out early for the night in a small lagoon!  Try to fix that anchor light again.     O!  what the heck let’s have a sundowner instead, it’s so peaceful on the fly bridge.

A pleasant surprise! A small town of 800 friendly people,  a hardware store to please anyone and a 15,000 square foot West Marine to please Denny.

We had lunch at “The Table”, a gourmet farm to table restaurant that can compete anywhere in the US. The fish tacos were amazing and I took it as a positive omen that they served my very favorite chowder, Manhattan clam chowder.

Our microwave oven died, why not, everything else did.  There is a Wal-Mart twenty miles away, let’s see if they have what you need, it’s only 20 miles away.  Take the truck. The Marina could not have been more accommodating.

There are four “Looper” boats here, all great people knocking on our door. We had dinner with Phil and Dolores from Huntington Long Island.  They are restarting the Loop from here having abandoned it last year.

We are leaving in the morning for the Solomon Islands and the DeFever rendezvous.

We recommend this Marina Great People

Good local market

Excellent restaurant

the Deltaville Market

Foul smells and stale air, I am not sure if I have been promoted or demoted.   Forty-five minutes in what Denny calls “the holy place” AKA the engine room, an inner sanctum of pipes, tubes, sharp angles and interminable noise.

Six hundred gallons of fuel is being loaded on the boat and I am watching the progress of fuel go up a gauge and opening and closing valves. Is this job really necessary?? Could someone else do it? Who did it before today?

We are in the Chesapeake Bay hoping to reach Deltaville this afternoon. The rain continues, the seas 2-3, the temperature is 64, and a hearty soup is cooking on the stove.

Five hours later, Deltaville, sailboats and sunshine. Ah Mecca!

sailboats Deltaville

looper group photo 2019

It is time to leave this marina, most of the tasks are done. It is getting noisier every day. We have seen all we want to see of Norfolk, too much time has been spent in one place.

There is a storm coming in tonight we will leave when it is over. All the washing is done. The repair of the anchor light has proven to be a difficult task not yet achieved.

The fleet of 2019 is on its way, all at different intervals. We leave in the morning.

Emerging from the engine room

Fleet of 2019 Boats making the Loop

The sessions are finished, the books are put away, the parties are over and acquaintances, soon to be friends have been made. Boats still in the Marina, Dream Seeker among them, have concerns they need to address.

Denny is deep in the bowels of the boat extricating the old washer. Fortunately he has help from some newly acquired Looper friends.

I should be at the local mall getting my nails done but instead I am on the ferry to another marina to buy a boat part. The anchor light still does not operate properly nor do many of our cabin lights.  The seawater pump hose is still leaking creating a salt mine in the engine room. We are staying a few extra days in this Marina to remedy these problems.

A trip to the local Harris Teeter worked out the provisioning problems. Docktails solved the rest.

Arden Brenda Sonia

Gregg and David

Wayne Denny Gregg

Janet and Jody

The launch of the washing machine

Sonia and Brenda

David and Bruce