Norfolk and stops along the way to Baltimore Md.

May 19 - 26, 2002 - Norfolk and stops along the way to Baltimore Md.

Well, I did it again and got behind on my reports, so I have to play catch up again. I must admit that it is a lot to think about after a long day on the water, AND a beautiful grandbaby to enjoy, so bear with me.

We really enjoyed Norfolk. The Waterside Marina was right down town in the heart of all the action. We could walk up to a great big, beautiful mall and there were a lot of shops and restaurants right at the harbor, so there was a lot to do. Friday afternoon Dave Peterson from St. Joseph, who is a lawyer with the Navy, picked us up and took us on a tour of the Navy Base and aboard a command ship. He had hoped to get us aboard an aircraft carrier, but those plans didn't pan out, but it was very interesting to see how big those Navy ships are. Bill loved to see how they operate. That evening Dave and his wife Amy came down to the boat for a drink, and took us to a real cute restaurant nearby. It was fun to see them and we appreciate the time they spent with us.

The next day, a Saturday, I took a taxi up to Norfolk General to see why my bronchitis had come back. After 6 hours in the ER, they decided that I probably had a virus or it was an allergy. They gave me Claritin, and so far I am better. Who really knows what it was. Hope it doesn't return, because I don't think I could bear spending another day in a waiting room. It rained most of that day, so I guess it was O.K. There was a front moving through the Norfolk area, so we were glad that we had decided to spend another day there. However, two boats, Mo Martini and the Serendipity that we had been traveling with did leave that day for the Tides Inn Resort. We were surprised that they left as the weather was iffy, but I guess they thought they could get there ahead of it.

We pulled out of the Waterside Marina on Sunday, May 19th and headed for the Tides Inn Marina and Resort and the weather forecast was O.K. for the Chesapeake Bay. Soon after we left, we saw a boat, the Laura Lynn and he was going back to Norfolk. We called him on the radio to see why, and they said the Bay was too choppy and they didn't want to travel like that. In spite of that report Bill decided to continue to see for ourselves. Well, they were absolutely right, and we turned around also. This was really the first day that we couldn't go when we wanted to. James couldn't walk around and the boat was a mess, which just isn't any fun. We thought we'd go back to Norfolk, but discovered that Hampton Roads was closer to where we were near the Navy base, and we found a marina there nearer to the Bay so we could get an earlier start the next day. We finally found the Hampton Town Marina and settled in for the night. There was a 1920's authentic restored carousel right next to the marina and James had his first carousel ride and he loved it. Of course, we took a lot of pictures. Wish we could reconstruct the old carousel in St. Joe. It was real neat. The town was cute and a lot to see if we could have spent a day there, but we had to keep going forward.

In the morning we left again for the Tides Inn in Irvington VA. NOAA weather report called for 2 footers in the Bay. Well, what do they know. ???? I'll bet they have never been on the water on a boat. A number of boats were out in the bay traveling and we talked to some of them. Some of them turned back and some went on. It was pretty bad and the boat was getting trashed, with everything falling all over and water coming in on the couch etc. AND, of course, James couldn't walk around and had to be held, which he didn't really like much. After some more rockin' n' rolling…we decided to turn back - it was just too much. But after we turned back, the Chesapeake Bay seemed to be "lying down" a bit so we decided to try it again and turned around again! Well, it really didn't feel much better, so as we were again trying to decide what to do, Bill noticed that the port engine was overheating, so he shut it down while he surveyed the situation. Pretty intense I must admit. Needless to say, we turned around again and called the Marina to say we'd be back. This was a CRAZY day to be sure. Amy and I steered the boat while Bill did his magic on repairing the engine. He diagnosed the problem to just be a broken hose clamp and it caused the antifreeze to leak out. After he got it fixed we were almost back to Hampton and the weather seemed to really be improving, SO, because we needed to keep moving to get Amy and James to Chesapeake City to return to Denver, we TURNED AROUND AGAIN and endured the trip to Tides Inn. Poor James though. If he wasn't sleeping, he had to be held, which made for a very long day for all of us. By the time we arrived, the whole boat was a true mess and it was a lot of work to get it straightened up. Oh, Well. The resort was LOVELY. It would be a neat place to revisit someday by car. We docked right in between Mo Martini and Serendipity and were glad to see that they were OK. However, they had had a nightmare trip from Norfolk with the squall hitting them real hard. They had their parents aboard and everyone was terrified. They even thought they might turn over. Grandpa hurt his knee and had to go to the doctor for a brace. Oh, Boy, No thanks. They were really shook up, and stayed at the Tides Inn for a couple of days to recoup from their ordeal.

On Tuesday, May 21st we left Tides Inn for the Solomons, about 60 miles away. It was cool, less than 50 degrees and it felt good to me. We were hoping that today would be less traumatic that yesterday. As we entered the Chesapeake Bay it looked pretty nice, so we had to wait to see what it would be like when we reached Windmill Point where we had to turn. Our loran and radio haven't been working right all the time - today, just after we had put out waypoints in, it stopped working, so Bill used compass headings instead for a while. Darn, waves started splashing up over the bow again, so we will be wet everywhere again - I hate that the most when my little floating house gets all messed up and ugly. We didn't feel unsafe, so we continued along and plus we had Mo Martini and Serendipity bringing up the rear. We were traveling along when we heard Serendipity on the radio reporting in frantic "We've hit something, we've hit something!". They were able to turn off that one engine and limp along as they located a small marina nearby. Mo Martini and Serendipity turned in for help. We found out the next day the diver; she found a large barge line wound around the prop, and that it took a couple of hours to get it off. They stayed the night and started out again the next day.

We stopped at Solomons, where Amy and I walked to a nearby grocery store while James slept and Bill washed the boat. We took the stroller so we could pile the supplies in and walk back to the boat. When we checked out with $100.00 worth of groceries, the young people asked where we were going and we told them the marina. They said they would be happy to drive us back, which was a godsend an we were both tired after a long day on the waters. This made our day, for sure.

Wednesday, we left Solomons for St. Michaels and the St. Michaels Harbour Inn and Marina about 50 miles away. We needed diesel so we stopped at a nearby marina to get fueled up. It was a pretty, cool and crisp day and we had nice deep water to cruise on for now. St. Michaels was a very cute town and we wished we could stay longer but before we left Bill rode his bike to town to tour the Maritime Museum, which he said was great and very interesting. I did laundry and Amy took James to a nearby park. We left about noon for our trip to Annapolis MD, which was only 27 miles. Gigi and Bob Carlson, who we had met in Ft. Myers at the flea market having lunch, live in Annapolis. They are boaters and were interested in our trip, so they have been giving us advise on where to stop in their part of the country and have been following our trip on the web. They joined us at the boat for cocktails and we all went to the Chart House for dinner. I found out later that Kevin Gersonde might be the manager of that restaurant and if he is - we had a lovely time! Bob and Gigi were very helpful and nice to us. We had a lot of fun with them and we hope to see them again someday - maybe when they do the circle trip down the road and travel through St. Joe. We have met some of the nicest people.

Annapolis is a great spot and we fully enjoyed the town and all it's traditions. We were lucky to be able to get a boat slip there as it was Memorial Day weekend, and it was very busy.

Sunday, May 26th we left Annapolis for Baltimore at 8:30. It was cloudy and a little foggy, but there was plenty of visibility. We could see many large boats and cargo ships looming out of the slight fog. It stayed cloudy all the way to Baltimore, which was about a 3-hour trip. In Baltimore we stayed at the Inner Harbor Marina, which was right in the heart of the waterfronts activities. When we arrived the only spot they could give us was right on a wall behind a restaurant, which was very unpleasant. We complained so they moved us up away from the restaurant and said they would get us another spot the next day. They said that they had been booked up for the Memorial Weekend since January. Oh well, we made the best of it. There were MILLIONS of people and families visiting the waterfront all weekend, which made eating out etc. impossible. James rode all over in his stroller and charmed everyone. There are many sights to see here, but we mostly just walked around to get a flavor of the city. Bill did get aboard the ship USS Constellation for a tour and also toured a submarine, which was interesting.

Grandpa and I had the pleasure of babysitting James all day on Memorial Day while Amy took the Amtrak into New York City to visit a friend and take a peak at Ground Zero. She was gone all day and we had a great time playing with James and taking him for another walk all around town. We will be very sad tomorrow when we have to take Amy and James to Philadelphia to fly back to Denver as it has been such a special time to have them aboard the Rendezvous for a month, however, we will be picking up Catherine the same day for the trip to New York City. That will also be a special time. I suppose that all of you know that she and Mike are expecting their first baby in early September, and we are so happy for them.