Annapolis, and visits to Washington CD and Baltimore

We arrived in Annapolis, Maryland on the 27th of May and have been enjoying lovely weather all the time, with 27 degrees C/ 78 degrees F, sunshine and a good breeze, and cool nights. We are moored right outside the US Naval Academy. Last week they had their passing out parade, supposed to to quite spectacular with Blue Harrier jets flying in formation. We missed it!
I like Annapolis. It is small with a lot of good quality shops, and altogether very much relying on tourist-industry.
We did Washington on 28th, and as I was standing on the spot where Martin Luther King gave his freedom speech 40 years ago, I had a phone call from Scotland to say that I was now a Grandmother. Wee Anna was born in Ninewells Hospital at 3.43 pm to my daughter Kirsten. Both are well. Really good news!!
Yesterday we took the bus to Baltimore and got our cruising permit with no bother at all. We had been worried as we had gone in vane to Norfolk and other yachties had gone to Richmond also
no luck.make an appointment with Bettye Tune in US Customs and Excise, 40 S Gay Street, Phone 410 962 2806, and it is straight forward. It doesn't cost you a cent.
Baltimore inner harbour area is really exciting with new spectacular buildings and fun architecture.

Shake-down cruise!

Saturday 24th May:
We left Deltaville two days ago and are now edging north up into Cheasepeake Bay.
Our 'shakedown cruise' is going to plan. The roller reefing had to be re-done, the depth- sounder is temperamental, (a good thing that we have forward looking sonar). The boat speed is too fast, has to be re-calibrated. The new anchor chain is a dream to work. The steering-gear box is fine. The new Isolator and charger put in by Schroeder's yard is working well including the new boat batteries. The WC Electo- Scan treatment unit is working well.
I could have bought a couple of small cars for the bill we paid Schroeder's!
David is servicing the outboard motor for the dinghy right now, as it was dead when we went ashore last night, and still refusing to wake up the from its winter sleep.
We are enjoying lovely weather , but the wind is northerly, so we will probably stay here at this nice anchorage in Reedville till Monday.

Nu er vi endeligt kommet af sted igen . Efter næsten 7 uger i Deltaville i VA. US. i Cheasepeake Bay . Halvdelen af tiden var vi på land og næste halvdel i vandet mens vi fik fornyet og forbedret Aros More er vi nu kommet af sted i går 22. maj . Vi sejler nordpå . Vi har ikke cruising permit. Amerikanerne er ikke med på den. De betragter os som en Freighter og det er irriterende. Og så skal vi være ude af USA 4. juli for da løber vores visa-waver ud. Lige nu nyder vi at være kommet af sted. Vi var begge to trætte af at være det samme sted, selv om vi havde det rart og mødte en masse søde og sjove mennesker, fik gode venner, og mødte gamle kendinge.
Dette kan betragtes som en slags shake-down cruise, for vi er ved at finde ud af hvordan vort nye Electro-scan WC treatment plant fungerer. Rulle foggen måtte ned og op igen, og vores dybte-måler er temperamentfuld, men det er godt at vi har forward-looking sonar. Den nye anker-kæde er en drøm at betjene. Alt det dyre electriske system med shore to boat power og nye isolator and charger og nye batterier fungerer. Det nye ror gear-box er i orden. Den automatiske gas afbryder fungerer. Og sådan kan jeg blive ved. Alt det, som den amerikanske forsikrings-opmåler bad om til den nye forsikring, er blevet udført.Alt det som har fungeret fint i 20 år uden uheld er nu gjort sikkert. Vi har hverken haft gas-eksplosion eller tabt værktøj på batterierne, eller noget andet. Nu om dage skal man forsikre alt og alle skal dække sin egen ryg. Jeg kunne have købt to til tre mindre biler for regningen til værftet.
Nok om det for vi sejler og er i fin form.Vi er lige ankret op i en vidunderlig lille creek i Cheasepeak Bay. Vejret er dejligt, ca 25 grader og solskin. Så vi klager ikke.

Up the mast!

This was a 'First'.
This morning I was up the mast of Aros More. There was a small job to be done up there. Now I can tick it off the list of 'things to do'. I actually quite enjoyed it when I had reached the top.
Just the very last few preparations to get done before leaving. The spinacker pools arrived back and the depth-sounder is due tomorrow. So, if the electrician can work out all the spagetti- junctions of wires round and about, then, Bingo! we'll be off!
Yesterday the German couple, Helle and Edgar, we met in the Bahamas last year arrived from Florida. They had their yacht Lucky Palima liftet out of the water today. They have bought a big campervan and plan to travel to Alaska over land and be back here in november and continue their cruise.

The Historic triangle of Virginia

Guess what! We are still in Deltaville, but it won't be long before we leave. I have said that for weeks now. Who knows, one of these days we'll manage to get escape.
We are waiting for the new liferaft, and depth-sounder back from repair, and a few other things.
At the moment the weather is horrific. It is cold: 13 degrees inside the boat, the westerly wind is gale-force, it is raining cats and dogs. This is definitely a place of great variations!
We were enjoying lovely summer weather wearing shorts and t-shirts and now we are back to the winter woollies.
At the week end we hired a car and went to the 'Historic triangle' being Jamestown, Yorktown and Williamsburg, which were where the first settlers arrived from Britain in the 17th century. It was an interesting outing.

Change of plans.

We hope to leave Deltaville next week and head North at a leisurely pace.
Yes our plans have changed since we are late in leaving.
We have to be out of the US by July 4th as our visa-waver runs out.
I plan to fly back the the UK for a few weeks. Kirsten, my oldest daughter 's first baby is due 9th July. David has plans to pay his sister, Jane, in Canada a visit for a week to ten days. We will both return to the boat and sail on till later in the year. Our aim is to leave the boat somewhere in Canada for the winter, and come back and continue our cruise next year.

From Stingray Point

Believe it or not . The percentage of orsprays to seagulls here is 2:1.
i saw a water snake at the pontoon at Schroeders Yard.
The sunsets are breathtaking.

3rd May. We are now afloat. Aros More was launched on 1st May. We left Sanderling House B&B and our wonderful hostess and host, Jill and John Walter. Jill and I got on like a house on fire, just like sisters. We were born within a month of each other in1949. All the time there, the two of us compared notes. We have so much in common, really amazing, and when we met today we wore the same colour clothes in upper sites. I wore pale green shorts and a white t-shirt, and Jill wore a pale green t-shirt and white trousers.
We are having a great time here, enjoying ourselves. David is just a big boy playing with his favourite toys in the way of sorting out the boat and making sure all the equipment works. This morning the watermaker got checked out and is now working again. I am enjoying and sucking in everything, meeting people, looking in shops, Saturday morning activities about the village such as car boot sales and Yesterday Deltaville Marina had a boat sale. Boat owners were selling items them did not need anymore. Unfortunately we did not manage to get there in time for trying to sell all our charts from Antigua to Virginia. I was over there and met a lot of other yachties. Some of them were selling drift- anchors, safety equipment, warps and fenders, others sold cups and cookers, windmills and dinghies.
5th May. Adolf, the Hun, our wind steering gear was checked yesterday, David ordered a new Liferaft, as the old one has now retired at the age of 23 years! Our new inflatable dinghy has arrived and I stencilled the name on it. We are getting nearer than ever to our leaving date. Skip our very good craft man in the yard came down one evening and gave us a couple of tunes on his trompet.

May day Launching!

Aros More was launched yesterday. We had a lot of fun since we did not have engine power and needed a few strong men from the yard to help us in between the pools next to the slipway. We are still working to get ready to leave. We hope to get the gearbox in today or tomorrow. All the other items on the long list seem to be fixed now. The surveyer was happy with our improvements, so all is well. The only thing is, that we are behind in our sailing plans.The weather is nice and we are in good spirit, so what does it matter