Heading out of the marina
We had a
fantastic time aboard Blossom this trip and were able to do a bit of exploring
as well. We returned to the boat on Sunday and spent a couple of days
provisioning, settling in and exploring the Annapolis area in the dinghy. This included going into “ego alley” in downtown
Annapolis to provision with wine, beer and ginger beer - there’s a great wine
shop right next to the dock. They told us that in the future we can call ahead
and they’ll meet us at the dinghy dock with our stash – talk about convenient!
While
heading into town, we noticed a Nordy 55 on a mooring ball. We stopped by to
say hi and were thrilled to realize it was a couple we’d met almost 3 years ago
in Ft. Lauderdale. We had a great time chatting and hope to get together with
them later this summer when they pass through Annapolis again.
The weather
was looking great so we headed out to St. Michael’s for a long weekend. It was
a little breezy in the marina when we left and we were shocked to realize it
was actually blowing over 17 knots once we got into the channel. It was nice
confirmation that the marina is incredibly well protected. (This was reinforced
again when we learned that conditions Monday when a storm blew through were
down-right tumultuous in the mooring fields in Annapolis Harbor yet we experienced
only moderate winds in the marina.)
St Michael's
As we turned
the corner and approached town, we were surprised to the see dozens of Union
Jack flags flying in the harbor. I did a little research and learned that St
Michael’s is an historic shipbuilding town known as “the town that fooled the British” for duping British troops in the Battle of St Michael’s. Martin got a
kick out of that! Now it’s a tourist town filled with restaurants, bars, a
large maritime museum and dozens of wonderful Mom & Pop shops. We’ve been
told numerous times that we had to visit St Michael’s and now we understand
why!
Beer Can Race
We anchored
outside the entrance to St. Michael’s and enjoyed the surroundings. We were the
only boat in the anchorage and it was very sleepy and calm. We were thrilled to see that we had a prime location to watch the Wednesday Night Beer Can sailboat races that evening. We sat up on the fly bridge and enjoyed the show. After taking some sailing lessons this spring, I really enjoyed watching because I understood the tactics and what was happening quite a bit more!
Then we learned that there was an Antique Boat Show and Art Show happening over the weekend – perfect timing! We spent a day walking around town, enjoying the little shops and restaurants. The next day the festivities started and we were so happy we’d put out both our flopper stoppers! Friday morning transformed the sleepy town into party town as folks came in and the docks and anchorage filled up.
Many more boats at anchor, including one with alternate transportation on board
A close-up of the 150ft boat with it's helicopter on the back deck
On Friday we
went into town again to enjoy the show. I found an adorable octopus necklace set
on sea glass that I had to buy! As we wandered around, we met a
couple manning one of the art booths who happened to be from St Pete and are
members of the Yacht Club. We’re looking forward to seeing them again this
fall. Then as we were eating lunch I got a surprise text from a couple we’d met
last winter, Julie and Randy – they were in St Michael’s on their sail boat and
saw that we were there as well. We met up them for drinks that evening. The
back story is that we’d met them at a restaurant one evening when we were out
with my cousin Kayleigh in Charleston, SC. We’d try to hook up again but our
schedules kept conflicting. How fun that we finally got together over a year
later in the Chesapeake 😊
Calm evening
After being
out in town, we were en route back to Blossom and decided to check out the
Miles River. The sun was setting and it was dead calm. We enjoyed the tranquil
river and scouted a couple possible future anchorages with our depth sounder.
Our fairway
Blossom at her dock
We’d planned
to stay at anchor through the weekend but the weather was due to get very windy
with a major thunder storm on Monday so we headed in a bit early. It turned out
to be a good move as Julie and Randy confirmed that Sunday was a very lumpy day
on the bay. And, of course, being back in the marina meant we got to play
pickleball and get a few errands done.
We ended our
time at the marina sharing a wonderful evening with Julie and Randy. And then it was time to head back to St Pete
where renovation work is in full swing!
Boat
Business:
This is the first time we've ever left Blossom with the AC running and we're not thrilled to do so. But temperatures are supposed to be quite high and we felt it the better option. Leaving her without AC (but with a dehumidifier running) would mean letting her internal temp could get very high. This would necessitate emptying the fridge & freezer (far too hot for these appliances) and possibly losing dry stores as well. This just isn't practical as we'll be coming and going every few weeks this summer.
To mitigate our anxiety, Martin has the Maritron system is set up with alarms to notify us if she looses power or if the bilge pump goes off. It's also programmed to text us twice a day, every day, so we know that it is in fact up and running. We also have asked for a marina employee to come aboard every few days to check major systems and make sure all is okay.
For those who don't know - this is an issue because when the AC is on, the raw water pump is running. This is the largest pump on the boat and should something go wrong, the worst case scenario is chilling - the boat could sink. Of course this is a worst case scenario...but this is why we've tried to do what we can...
A few maintenance tasks completed:
- Replaced the Racor filter on the fuel transfer pump
- Polished the stainless fittings on the flopper lines
- Replaced the seagull filter in the galley
- Replaced our soft shackle - which we use to attach or snubber to our anchor chain - which gave out after a few years of excellent service
- Trim an errant metal spike on the crane cable. Much blood has been spilled...
- Add a bit of water to the AC line. We have a very small, illusive leak we've yet to track down.
- Gave the boat a proper wash inside and out
- Replaced dimmer control unit for overhead lights in master head
- Replaced fan timer control in VIP head with a prettier one
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