We had a quiet 10 days or so in Annapolis and are now headed south. We stayed on a mooring ball up Spa Creek in Annapolis. It was our first time in that specific location, and we loved it. It was far enough up the creek, away from Annapolis Harbor and the Chesapeake, that it was very calm and quiet. There were even times when we’d wake up at night and take a moment to remember we were on Tilia. Despite being up the creek, it was a short walk into the heart of things from a very convenient dinghy dock. Annapolis is a sailing town, boasting 22 dinghy docks or landings at the end of public streets. This made it very convenient to get to shore from the mooring.
We took advantage of our time in Annapolis by going to one of our favorite restaurants, the Sailor Oyster Bar — delicious oysters and all sorts of fresh seafood (some good cocktails too!) We also reprovisioned and did some laundry (not too much because it was a 45-minute walk to the closest laundromat).
The mooring was so calm that on a low wind day, we took the opportunity to remove our Genoa (one of our head sails), Jim serviced the furler (the mechanism that allows the sail to unroll and roll up), and then we “bent on the jib.” Which is to say we set up a new, smaller sail to prepare for our transatlantic next spring.
Part of the reason for our prolonged stay in Annapolis is that we flew back to Minneapolis for a 48 hour visit. We closed on a condo in near Northeast Minneapolis. It is closer to the retail center of near NE, so very walkable. It is a bit more space than our apartment, and it will be nice to have a bit more control of our living situation on dry land again.
We came back from Minneapolis with hopes of heading south the next morning. The nor’easter had other plans for us. There was a gale warning, and the National Weather Service recommended that “all boats stay in port,” even on the (relative to open ocean) protected Chesapeake. We stayed an extra day in Annapolis and are glad we did. There were winds from the north up to 30 kn sustained, gusting to 40, and waves up to 10 feet. While that would have been relatively comfortable downwind, we could have gotten in trouble if anything went awry and there was no reason to take that risk.
We waited a day and, courtesy of the last gusts from the nor’easter, we had an excellent sail south from Annapolis. With those winds behind us, we hit speeds of up to 10.2 kn. It’s probably our last big sail until we head east next Spring. We are enjoying it!