Muddy Waters

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PH7hP1CGBoI

I love me some Muddy Waters. This morning’s coffee just tastes better with Muddy Waters playing on my Macbook.

As much as I love Muddy Waters… Anchoring in these muddy waters… less so. This Maryland black mud clings to and comes up with the anchor chain. I have yet to design a proper solution/method of dealing with this mud. Washing it off with a deck hose is just not working. The mud covers the foredeck and this is not mud you want to track into the boat.

Muddy Decks

Cruise To Solomons Island

We shoved off from Annapolis and made a 6 hour 50NM run south to Solomons Island. Captain Teresa was at the helm for this trip south. It was great to sit in the 1st Mate chair and just relax as Teresa studied the route on the chartplotter and worked the helm to stay on course.

As we turned into Solomons Island we passed floating hay bails?

Anchored

We had made reservations to spend the weekend at a marina in Solomons Island but left a day early as the weather would be better a day early. We slipped past Safe Harbor Marina and further up the Back River until there was nowhere else to go. A dead end. We squeezed Simple Life into a small cove surrounded by beautiful homes.

SV Alexandra

In the morning we weighed anchor and headed for the marina. As we hailed them on the VHF to find where are assigned slip was… They said the T-head of K dock.. I started to explain that without any letters on the docks I was not really sure where K-Dock was? I started to call out the names of the boats that were off my port and starboard bow. As I said the name of the second sailboat off my starboard bow, I paused. Our friends are here! We docked directly behind SV Alexandra.

We had planned to hit the Tiki Bar in Solomons Island but cleaning the decks would have to come first. While I worked the pressure washer, Teresa was baking my favorite Chocolate Chip Oatmeal cookies inside. Ain’t nothing like walking into a warm boat with the smell of cookies.

I was out on the docks when I heard my friend Carolyn yell “Marty”! Soon Carolyn and her captain Tim appeared and we made plans to catch up in Virginia while we enjoyed cookies.

The next morning we awoke to the boat rocking and realized that the wind was gusting to 20kts. A great day to stay inside and binge on the TV show Friends. We are almost done with Season 1.

Altered Carbon

I have been trying to blend in watching a SciFi show called Altered Carbon. If you are a SciFi fan like me… the storyline is amazing. It’s set in the future when human consciousness can be downloaded into cortical stacks as DHF (Digital Human Freight) allowing your consciousness can be “re-sleeved” into numerous bodies. Takeshi Kovacs battles the Protectorate as he seeks his lover from hundreds of years ago.

What Ifs?

The imagined world includes holographic AI’s, synthetic bodies, beaming consciousness across the galaxy as well as raises questions of what if…

What if you could come back in any body when your current body wears out? What if your lover came back in the different body? How would you feel looking into the eyes of an body unfamiliar knowing it’s your lover behind them?

Our trip down mid Chesapeake Bay looked something like this.

Solomon’s Island

We awoke to realize the sun was already up and rising above the Navy bridge we anchored behind.

There was one other sailboat on a mooring ball in front of a home and some great foliage.

When we arrived in Annapolis we anchored right next to a brand new UUS Sioux City (LCS 11) Navy warship.

The future USS Sioux City (LCS 11), a Freedom-class Littoral Combat Ship, will be commissioned a United States Ship (USS) on November 17, 2018 in Annapolis, Maryland. More than 5,000 people are expected to attend the commissioning ceremony at the United States Naval Academy….

The patrol boat was actively keeping any boats from getting close but we were able to snap this photo on our way past.

The trip down to Solomon’s Island was smooth and we came in and around the triangular island before finding a spot to drop anchor.

A nice view of a pink sky off to starboard.

Time to watch some football on the iPad.

Today’s leg looked like this.

Solomons Island MD

After getting some much-needed rest on anchor in Godfrey’s Bay it was time to push North to Solomon’s Island. This meant dodging the many fishing boats that dotted our path and taking in the sights along the shore. There appear to be many military type buildings which were festooned with satellite dishes and other communications equipment.

Satelitte Dishes — Maybe it’s just someone who wants fast internet?

As we got close to Solomons Island, we hailed Zahniser’s Yachting Center and requested a slip for the night. With each attempted to pronounce the name right, I butchered it worse. It’s sounds something like “Anheuser” in “Anheuser-Busch beer” except starting with a “Za”. Turns out it was a Sunday and they were closing at 3PM but the dockhands would be around till 3:30PM. We pushed the throttles down and MV Simple Life roared from our usually leisurely 6.5 kts to 9.3 kts. We arrived just in time for Jason the dockhand to catch our lines and we had no sooner tied up and plugged into power and we off to dinner at the Dry Dock Restaurant.

Bartender Timmy introduced me to a local IPA called Calvert Route 4. Apparently we were in Calvert County MD. It was great and so was dinner.

Calvert Route 4 IPA — Calvert Brewing Co Route 4 IPA

We chatted a bit with some of the locals at the bar and soon we would be back aboard to race off to sleep. In the morning, I walked the dogs around the yachting center and found many interesting boats.

Hinkley named Dragonfly

You don’t see sailboats on lifts back home

SV Grey Owl on a custom trailer

Stubby shoal keel and add on bow thruster

37 foot Hunter

Sharp knife-like keel with bulb at bottom

Must be difficult to slip like this?

Chesapeake Bay Deadrise Boat

Jason the dockhand was nice enough to use the courtesy van and drive us to the local Weir grocery store to reprovision. I was starving and purchased some precooked fried chicken. As I chased Kelly around the grocery store with the carriage I kept taking bites of fried chicken. Kelly remarked that “she could find me simply by following the smell of fried chicken down the isles”. I can’t believe I ate all 8 pieces of chicken and was now in need of a napkin.

At the checkout I heard a “hello” and it was the friendly couple from the bar the night before. Calvert County seems full of very friendly people. As we made our way back onto MV Simple Life, we passed through this simply designed gate and we were gone. On to Annapolis, MD.