October 20, 2000

For us, this week was devoted to catching up on all the lovely spots on the Chesapeake we missed by having a time line as we came south to meet the GHTA group. We are in total agreement that timelines are NOT what this 2 year adventure is about, and we have renewed our commitment to deciding today what to do today! “Solomons” as the island community and surrounding area is/are called, lived up to it’s reputation as a delightful spot to visit. We strolled the streets of the adorable village, and agreed that this is a place to visit again. Ditto St. Michael’s. We’ve both been there before by car, but it was a wonderful experience to come into the harbor and tie up at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum. From the exhib,its in the buildings (and there are many on htis 7 acre site) you really get a feel for the life of the fisherman--and of the oyster, and crab. Then you look out on the water and there he is, the crabber going back and forth, back and forth as he removes the stubborn crabs (who won't let go of the bait) from the rolling trotline on the side of the boat. Talbot Street was, to a great extent, closed for the season, but we enjoyed the lack of traffic and low pedestrian levels as we walked about. Our dinghy exploration of the bay was neat also, as we stopped to chat with other boaters along the way. From St. Michael’s, we headed into the Chesapeake again, timing our travel to meet up with the 90 or more schooners who were lining up for the Great Chesapeake Bay Schooner Race. This race from Annapolis to Portsmouth, VA (at the bottom of the Bay) is an annual event to raise money to save the ecologically challenged Bay. Our friend Mary Mulrooney was aboard the Mystic Whaler, as she has been for several years! The two hours we spent moseying about among all those boats as they jockeyed for position before the starting gun went off presented a serious challenge for Fred’s Rule #2--Don’t hit other boats! But we were successful, and as the schooners headed east and south across the Bay, we turned Young America north to Baltimore. The Baltimore Harbor was filled with Navy boats--cargo ships, a hospital ship, and the skyline was dotted with cranes. We continued into the Harbor ‘til we could go no more--the end of the Inner Harbor, where the major renovation of the last several years has created a wonderful park-like marina. Well, ok, there aren’t many trees, but benches abound and many, many people were out enjoying the sunny days and impromptu entertainers. There is lots to do and see in the immediate area--Science Museum. National Aquarium, boats to tour--the USS Constellation, the last Civil War vessel afloat, built in 1854 and the last all-sail warship built by the US Navy; and the USS Torsk, the WWII submarine which fired the last torpedo (and sank the last Japanese ship) in August, 1945, at the end of the war that followed WWI, the War to End all Wars. The family behind us on that tour learned a lot from hearing Fred explain the boat, and they (both FBI agents) and their 15 year old son were full of questions! Neat. Friends Lynn and Jeffrey Levy who live in Baltimore introduced us to an Afghan restaurant (great food!), and on Friday evening cooked for us at their home. We borrowed their car on Sat., and with the crew of SNOW CAT (our dock neighbors) went to Annapolis to the boat show! It was interesting to see the harbor we cruised last week filled in with floating docks, and wall to wall boats and people! In addition to the Boat show, Navy played Pittsburg (and lost) so the traffic was pretty spectacular! Shuttle service was great, though, and, happily, we were able to return to Lynn’s car without difficulty. Today Baltimore became a memory, as we crossed the Chesapeake to tie up in Castle Harbor Marina on Kent Island, one of the friendliest marinas we‘ve visited. No less than three people have stopped in the past hour to see if we need transportation--or anything! We don’t, of course,as we’ve rented a car and soon will be underway on wheels, headed for Newburgh. It’ll be a busy week, and we’ll be back on the day before election day to catch up with y’all! Remember to vote! Fred and Linda Aboard YOUNG AMERICA

October 13, 2008

The five days we spent in Washington DC with the Great Harbour group (all wearing our grey Capital Cruise fleece jackets!) flew by! When touring the Capitol (Hillary’s office provided the guide), and the memorials that we’d not seen before (Jefferson and FDR) Fred and I decided it would be good for all elected officials to visit these inspiring places frequently, while carrying a pocket mirror. They could hold the mirror up after re-reading the dreams for our country, look themselves in the eye and ask “How am I doing?” Think it would help??? Arlington Cemetery and the changing of the guards was impressive. The eternal flame burns on at JFK’s grave. Washington’s Metro system and particularly the new Circulator Bus, made getting around really simple and convenient, and the Capital Yacht Club was a perfect place to stay. Easy walk to the bus, the fish markets, and the clubhouse!. On Thursday evening, friends from New York, Joe and Leslie McCarthy ‘stopped by’ (they were in the area to attend the Annapolis Boat Show) and we drove to Arlington to visit the Marine Memorial (we called it Iwo Jima) and the Pentagon, where the 184 benches were recently dedicated to honor the lives of those who were killed on 9/11/01. The memorial planners did a magnificent job. Each bench is inscribed with a name, and if appropriate, the names of other family members who died there that day. (Each person has a bench, arranged by year of birth.) The benches face either the path of the plane or the building. A night security guard shared many stories with us, and it was a very moving experience. One of the best parts of the week was spending time with the other boaters from the Mirage group. We had frequent happy hours and dinners together and it was great to get to know each other! On Friday, Fred and I stopped in at Mount Vernon to visit Geroge W’s home. Young America was literally tucked under the bow of the tour boat while we learned about making linen from flax and other Revolutionary things. Five of the seven Great Harbours meandered up Aquia Creek to celebrate the end of summer with the Aquia Harbor Yacht Club. This was another great group of people, and we especially enjoyed a skiff tour of the creek and canals that provide waterfront for the 2500 homes in the Association. Beautiful, secluded, private, and a great place to hide your boat in a hurricane. Very nice. Sunday we wound our way back out of the creek and headed down the Potomac to the Port Tobacco River (yes, tobacco was exported from there) and joined CAROLYNN ANN to ‘raft up’ for dinner. Joe, aboard CA, set the anchor, and Fred, aboard YA, drove up alongside so we could tie up and step across from boat to boat. It was a beautiful, still evening, followed by a gorgeous sunny day, and as I write this, YA is about to turn out of the Chesapeake Bay into the Patuxent River, where we will explore the Solomon Islands. See you next week, as we wend our way North to Baltimore, before leaving the boat for a week to visit our ‘vacation home’ in Newburgh. Fred and Linda

October 6, 2008

Greetings from Washington, DC! Last Monday the weather finally righted itself, the waves returned to normal, and Fred and I, at last, after 5 ’weather’ days, freed our lines from Atlantic Harbor, NJ. We started out around 8 am, expecting to go as far as seemed sensible. Well, turned out that sensible didn’t necessarily prevail, and we did our first boating overnight! We passed Atlantic City at dusk, and decided that we could go on to the tip of NJ. Arrived there at 10:30, and again decided not to stop, rather to snip the tip off NJ by cutting through the Cape May Canal. (2 days later we read the guidebook which strongly urged that boaters NOT go thru that particular canal after dark. We know why!) It was very, very tricky, but we went very, very slowly, and made it safely. After going about 10 miles in 2 hours we made a right turn into the Delaware Bay, heading north for the Chesapeake-Delaware (C&D) Canal where it was STILL very very dark! And then the Coast Guard reported that the C&D Canal was closed “until further notice”. Well, we were committed, so we pressed on. Fred napped from 5-6 a.m., and at 6, I’d just gone to sleep when the canal was pronounced open. I was up at 7--just as we entered, and it was a delightful passage. Heading south in the Chesapeake Bay now, we were almost to Annapolis when the Bay turned to junk--chop and wind and yuck, so we pulled into the Annapolis Town Dock, had ice cream and burritos and went to bed. Wednesday dawned beautifully, and we zipped down the Bay, turned into the Potomac River at 3:30, and were anchored in Horseshoe Cove in the St. Mary’s River and ready to join 6 other Mirage boats for a pot luck supper at 5:30! That was the beginning of the 2008 Great Harbor Trawler Association Capitol Cruise, and what a hoot it is! The seven look-alike trawlers have cruised together from that beginning point, where we explored historic St. Mary’s--the original capitol of Maryland, up to Colonial Harbor and Mattawoman Creek, past Mt. Vernon (we’ll stop in on the way back out) to Washington DC. Yesterday we docked at the Capitol Yacht Club. The Washington Monument provided a backdrop for the commemorative photo of 20 boaters, from CAROLYN ANN, LAZY DOLPHIN, LO QUE SE A, MOON BEAM, PUFFIN, SILVER QUEEN and YOUNG AMERICA. Boaters from AVOCET and BERLIE MAE are here sans boats, and a couple of former owners have joined the group as well. We’ll spend the week sight seeing and just ‘hanging out’. Tomorrow we’ll tour the Capitol, where the legislators, having done their deed, have gone home. I’m avoiding mention of the current political --I’m at a loss for a descriptive adjective. Suffice it to say that we watched the debates and are----no, I AM going to avoid political comment. See you next week------------ Linda and Fred Aboard YOUNG AMERICA