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