10 Oct 2015

10/10/2015 : Annapolis, Maryland

We arrived in Annapolis at 4pm yesterday fully expecting the anchorage to be packed because the boat show is underway at the moment.  Whilst it is busy there was plenty of room so we dropped anchor close to another British boat we know and went straight over for drinks.

One of our favourite places in the Caribbean is Gustavia, the capital of St Barth's, which is chic and scenic but the anchorage is almost untenable as it rolls so much, partly the swell but also the wake from all of the waterborne traffic.  Annapolis seems to be a similar experience, although not quite as bad as it did die down last night, but we plan to spend most of our time ashore exploring this historic city and attending the boat show.

We spent a couple of nights at Solomon's Island on the way up here from Mill Creek: It's a big boating centre but the small anchorage is very peaceful.  For the first time this season we got the folding bikes out and explored the island and neighouring mainland, all very pleasant.

Everywhere we have gone in Chesapeake, both Virginia and Maryland, we have been welcomed very warmly and have got to know a lot of American sailors, many of whom we hope to meet up with again on our journey south.

So the forecast for the next few days, as for the last few, is full sunshine but it is Autumn type sunshine as the power of the sun has weakened.  But it's still T-shirt and shorts weather so not too bad.  All I have to do now is make sure Paul doesn't go mad at the boat show, after all at the last one in Southampton we bought a boat!