Annapolis, Washington and the frankenstorm

We are sitting in Annapolis where we have been for the best part of last week.  The weather forecast shows a huge storm brewing in the Atlantic so we have delayed our departure for a few days.  More of that later.

We arrived in Annapolis last Friday after motoring down from our last anchorage in the Sassafras River.  It was a pretty uneventful journey in calm weather.  We pulled into Annapolis in the evening and anchored just off the town.  We had arranged to meet Scott’s brother Lars and his son Ross and spend the weekend sailing.  As we were anchoring the wind picked up (seems to be a usual scenario now) and kept blowing 20 to 25kts.  Annapolis is a very busy sailing and naval town and there were hundreds of sail boats zipping about as we were trying to maneuver.  Lars and Ross transferred out to the boat from a water taxi and we settled down for the night.  Ross was extremely apprehensive as Uncle Scott had decreed an electronic free weekend.

Calley whooping Lars at Backgammon

Next morning was beautiful warm weather with clear blue skies.  We left Annapolis heading for a secluded anchorage on the other side of the Chesapeake.  Again very little wind and after trying to sail for a while we resorted to the engine eventually pulling into a beautiful bay around 4 o’clock.  By this time the kids were beside themselves without their precious DS’s so we said jokingly that if they swam around the boat they could get 30 minutes of electronic time.  Amazingly they were all in the water in no time.  Calley and Sam are used to swimming off the boat so for them it was no major apart from the cold but Ross did incredibly well getting up his nerve.  When you are in the water looking at the boat the sides look extremely sheer and forboding so he did really well.  The whole episode was pretty funny - its amazing what kids will do for electronic time although further similar deals were met with very little enthusiasm thereafter.

Kids preparing to get 30mins electronic time

Story time with Uncle Lars

Next day was perfect - 10 to 15kts NW, blue skies and warm.  We pulled up the anchor and sailed back to Annapolis with Lars doing a fine job helming for almost the whole way.  Back in Annapolis we parked the boat at the Yacht Basin marina, tied up and went for a beer and bite to eat.  Lars and Ross then departed for New York.  The Dulcinea crew had a busy week lined up visiting the sights in Washington DC.  The plan was to have four days in DC, then celebrate Calley’s birthday on the Friday and then take off further south on Saturday. 

Washington DC is an amazing place.  The first day we walked the National Mall, saw the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial and visited the Capitol Building where we got into both the senate and representatives viewing galleries.  It was awesome.  Washington was a real surprise - the whole centre is comprised of grand 19th century style buildings housing museums, galleries and government departments.  It is certainly a fitting capital for a superpower.  The place is very clean and there are lots of trees in the middle of changing colour.  We cannot recommend Washington highly enough - it’s really a must see at some point in your life.

Lincoln Memorial

As close as we got to the White House

Capitol Hill

Capitol Hill 

We had Wednesday off but apart from that spent the time visiting a few of the museums (which are all free) and looking at some of the other buildings including the Whitehouse.  The number of museums is staggering - the Smithsonian alone has 19 different museums and then there are art galleries, libraries, etc.  On Thursday Nic took us to Georgetown Cupcakes ( some of the ladies may be aware of the TV show) to pickup birthday cakes for Calley.

Georgetown Cupcakes

So here we are now on Friday.  It is Calley’s birthday so she was up pretty early and very excited.  She had a few presents and is spending the day playing with them.  We have cancelled any school today - not because we are nice but because we have a load of other things we need to attend to.  Annapolis is a pretty nice place.  Nic and I visited here last year when we were out scouting for boats but never got a chance to have a look around.

OK we got a bit closer

Yesterday Skip gave us the heads up on hurricane Sandy which was passing over eastern Cuba and the Bahamas.  It is forecast to travel offshore up the eastern coast of the US and then curl NW sometime after Cape Hatteras making a land fall somewhere between the Chesapeake and New England.  The problem with this storm as Skip explained is that there is also a trough over the US at the moment which will combine with Sandy and produce a very wide storm front so no matter where it goes the affected area will be huge - hence the media title of Frankenstorm.  Given this information we have delayed a departure until Tuesday or Wednesday at the earliest.  The current forecast is showing maximum winds in our area of 65kts expected on Tuesday so we are all a bit apprehensive.  We are in a pretty good location but having never experienced this its pretty daunting.  We will be taking as many precautions as we can but in the end after clearing the decks and doubling up on the dock lines it will be a case of just waiting to see what happens. We are very  appreciative of Skip who is sending us regular updates and its good to have him to talk to about it.

Frankenstorm - We are located just at the end of the dotted line!