On August 30th, we left Annapolis (after one month) with an eye toward our next big stop, Washington, DC. We stopped one more time in the West River to say our goodbyes to the Opert and Fleming families, including an impromptu dinner hosted by Jess and Jon. The next day, we sailed across the Bay to San Domingo Creek, a southern access point to the iconic Chesapeake Bay destination of St. Michaels. After a short dinghy ride into town, we walked around for several hours, exploring shops and splurging on ice cream at the famous Justine's Ice Cream shop. The kids favorite stop was a little shop with a book section. We've been reading Kindle books for so long that to hold a book and turn the pages, they were in heaven. We stayed for an hour, perusing the shelves and enjoying the luxury. From St. Michaels, we headed toward Solomons, MD. Along the way, we discovered that we had a leak in the head (toilet). Now this a problem that needs to be fixed immediately and with access to lots of fresh water and on-shore bathrooms. So, instead of anchoring out, we pulled into Calvert Marina, a great family-run facility with a swimming pool that the kids enjoyed while Eric worked out the issue (thank goodness!). Reed and Ava had a great time netting crabs off the docks, they caught several keepers so we had a crab dinner that night, a nice treat! They even caught one crab that happened to be eating an ear of corn - we joked that it brought its own side dish! Ha! To head to DC, we sailed 20 miles south to the entrance of the Potomac then headed back north. The Potomac is wide and shallow for the first 50 miles, it was a deserted sail up to the Tobacco River, dodging squalls and finding a peaceful anchorage to swim. The Chapel bell on shore gently rang every 15 minutes, a nice background to the calm evening. The second 50 miles, the Potomac narrows and starts to curve and wind; boat traffic picked up and the shores became more populated with homes and commercial venues. The most famous we passed was Mount Vernon, home to George Washington. We pulled into the Washington DC late afternoon with the Washington Monument and Capitol building in site. We are anchored off the Capitol Yacht Club, a very friendly and conveniently located marina about 5 block walk to the National Mall. We plan to stay at least 2 weeks to take in all the sights without getting burned out from all the sights. | |
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We finished a great visit to Annapolis with many more adventures, mostly those type of visiting friends and other cruisers. Some highlights were:
The most memorable and bittersweet moment was spending our last evenings with our friends on Raptor. Kids had fun swimming, sailing, playing games on board while the adults relaxed and enjoyed beautiful sunsets and made plans for our next meet up when we travel across the country next summer. After many hugs and tears, we said our goodbyes as Raptor sailed north toward New York and we made preparations for our trip to DC. We learned a lot from and sure will miss Jaime, Andy, Owen, Carmel, and Addie. But we carry them in our hearts on the rest of our journey. |
AuthorsWe are Karrie, Eric, Ava, and Reed Sanderson. Our house is in Seattle but our home is wherever the four of us are...and for the next two years, our home is Night Music, a Tartan 37 Sailboat. Archives
June 2016
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