Making our way to Annapolis

A rare occurrence in the area was the number of jelly fish; we would look down at the side of our boat and see at least 20 jelly fish with tentacles 12 inches long…we haven’t seen anyone swimming since we arrived in Chesapeake Bay…actually, since the 1,000 Islands.

Pulling up the anchor took a while as I hosed down the anchor chain foot by foot (with sea water!) as it came up off the muddy bottom. We departed under cloud cover around 09:30. As we emerged from the Miles River a couple miles north, what looked like rain was actually fog, we never got into the thick of it and it quickly cleared by 10:30. Once we reached the Chesapeake, weather and wind picked up and due to geography of Chesapeake Bay, the wind was blowing strong down the bay from the North…the direction we were heading. With our sails out, we began our cross of the Chesapeake at a 90 degree angle. The wind slowly swung around and we were able to point our bow closer to north, but ended up motoring the last few miles. Before we turned west into the Severn River towards Annapolis it was clear, this is a busy harbour. There were 3 large cargo ships anchored just outside in the Bay; sail and power boats going in every direction. 

We followed the buoys, approached the Annapolis Harbour peering through the binoculars looking

On a mooring ball in Annapolis Harbour

for the mooring balls described in the books. Only once we were in the harbour, did we see a few still available - tucked up in the harbour. We grab a ball with a yellow cover which was identified as suitable for a 46’ to 55’ boat only. Julie is becoming a pro at grabbing the mooring balls. It was only 100 feet from the Annapolis Harbor Boatyard where we would have a few maintenance items taken care of. Julie also read that we can hail a pump out boat on VHF channel 71 that pulls alongside your boat and provides the service of emptying out your waste tank…for $5! That was a no brainer; we hailed him before even paying for the mooring ball which was $35/night.

We prepared dinner, oriented ourselves and watched anything from big ships to little kayaks navigate this busy little harbour.