October 23, 2008


Annapolis to Beaufort, NC
We anchor at Rhode River, than Solomons Islands with it’s charming Marine Museum, Mill Creek, and than spent three days at marina in Norfolk – laundry, clean-up, gathering supplies and for us a treat – hot shower! Mile 0 of Intercoastal Waterway (some 1 000 miles long) finds us waiting for opening of the first of it’s many bridges at its first opening of the day after the rush hour, exactly at 8:30 a.m. 60 miles a day, starting at sunrise and ending the long days at sunset. We are part of snowbirds parade heading south, motor boats, sailboats; one after each other, the Intercoastal is quite busy at this time of year. We get interrupted by a cold front, hot summer days changed overnight to almost winter, with rain, cold and gale winds of up to 40 knots, but at anchor behind Buck Island, Nikan is safe and warm, stove working and we rest, read, sleep. Nothing to complain about. And than some more of the same schedule, till Beaufort, our last stop before heading to sea - direction Bahamas, if a weather window permits.

October 3, 2008

Annapolis, MD
We explore this charming, little town, calling itself “America’s Sailing Capital”, in full preparation for the nation’s oldest and largest in-water boat show. While on mooring, one dark, early morning J-P jumps in full preparation to confront thieves that are after our dingy – but what he confronts is a dingy full of ducks! You see ducks everywhere, trying to climb on anything dry, having their natural environment taken away by greedy boaters - there isn’t a piece of land within sight that hasn’t been taken over by some marina. The amount of boats around here is quite overwhelming!