Eastern Shore of Maryland

Sailed to the Eastern Shore of Maryland the home of Cambridge, Oxford, and Easton.

 Enjoyed Cambridge with its' free concrete town dock. Biked 7 miles to a meeting and the Hyatt Spa (guess who) and enjoyed several wonderful dinners.
The Bistro Cafe was totally French and when we mentioned this to the folks in London during a recent Skype session, Jaime wanted to know if the were rude to us as well! Finally got our fill of crab cakes supporting  the local crabbing industry.
After gathering parts at various ports as available, SS backing plates, polysulfide chalking, SS bolts of the right length so as not to scratch the companion way hatch, the crew installed our new life raft on the cabin top where it is safe and accessible if needed.

Our safety inventory is now complete with all the  originally secured USCG required stuff, i.e. life vests, fire extinguishers, flares, VHF radio and horn. The new additions of the  life raft, and the EPIRB added to recently acquired SSB radio (with much greater signal capabilities {we've spoken to NY from Florida})  and SPOT which you may be familiar with.
This  piece of technology, the EPIRB, (Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon) gives the most piece of mind while sailing far from land. When activated in case of  emergency it sends a signal thru satellites orbiting the earth to the local Rescue authority with coverage world wide. While in/near the USA that is our own USCG, and they receive our coordinates giving our exact position and because we have registered with the USCG they will know all about HD and her crew. Just like the commercial, Priceless!
Back to the Eastern Shore, Oxford was a bust, not much there other than the famous Robert Morris Inn and white picket fences so we sailed up the Tred River to Easton.

Easton is a very pleasant surprise. Enjoying the meetings, restaurants, coffee houses with live music and of course West Marine. A few local coffee houses one which roasts their own, colonial era downtown and extremely friendly people. A little over an hours drive to Annapolis and plenty of waterfront estates with deep water docks.

Very friendly folks. As we were walking out of the local coffee shop a woman asks "are you boaters", yes, "HD?", yes, "my husband wants to speak with you", OK.

Seems we were anchored in the creek with a huge empty barge at the dock to one side. A sister barge full of gravel shows up every couple of days for unloading and could come in the middle of the night. The creek was clearly not wide enough for us both. Since the marina couldn't handle HD due to length, Bob offered for us to raft up with him at his dock alongside the marina. Did I mention they are very friendly folks. Nice place with good food.
One of the locals mentioned the sailabration that Baltimore was putting on the coming week to celebrate the bicentennial of France Scott Key's writing of the National Anthem. There are to be a couple of dozen or so tall ships along with various navy ships from all over the world as arriving Wednesday.
Off to Baltimore where Mick Jagger said in the 1969 concert attended by the caption " Bal-ti-more shake your arises"

Jamestown & Williamsburg

Sailed up the James River from Norfolk to Jamestown for the Memorial Day Holiday. Great sail with wind power the whole way causing an arrival after dark. This we normally avoid, however HD only need to pull over to the side of the river to drop the hook and not negotiate the entrance to an unfamiliar harbor, so the crew was comfortable with the plan.

 So the real reason for the arrival after dark is the 60' James River bridge which got missed in the day's planning and needs a two hour notice to open.

We anchored off Jamestown just as the three ships of the Virginia Company of London did on May 14,1607 establishing the first English speaking permanent settlement in the new world.

We did the tourist thing at Jamestown, Williamsburg and Yorktown and got a little smarter on our Country's history.

A real weaver

A brick maker

Used to hold sand for building ramparts for defense used at Yorktown by both the Brits and colonists

Visiting Williamsburg always conjures up a 55 year old disappointment of the captains'. Seems his parents sent he and his older brother, Pem, on a night tour of Williamsburg's special buildings to get ride of them one night in 1956. While in the bakery we watched the bakers pulling fresh bread out of the wood burning brick ovens and slabbing yellow butter on the steaming treasures . The guide must have said they were using  200 year old ovens and methods. So the 7 year old little captain pulls on his high brothers arm and said " don't eat it its 200 years old". I can still smell the bread we avoided due to inside information.

Back to Norfolk to gather parcels and then up the Bay to Irvington, home of the Tides Inn.
Unfortunately not a pleasant experience as we clipped off the controls to our gas grill on the way in to the dock. Its' Australian; the parts are on the way to Annapolis with the shipping costing as much as the pieces. Then during the night as the  tide was coming in, HD caught her stainless steel rub rail on a bolt on the piling and ripped off a 6' piece which the crew repaired with new SS screws to almost good as new.
Continued to explore the  west side of  the Bay with a stop at the Solomons, just north of where the Potomac River joins the Chesapeake. Liked the natural multi-bay harbor and the feel of a no frills boating community; both commercial and pleasure. Most memorial part being the car ride of 8 miles in the dark back to HD by a friendly local lady we met.
Onto the Eastern Shore...