May 8, 2015 - Welcome to Annapolis, MD

After our rough crossing (about 1.5 hours) across Abamarle Sound, we had a much calmer, short trip to Elizabeth City, N.C. where we tied up to the free docks in the downtown area. Gus, a local gentleman with many stories, hangs around the docks for most of the day with the intention of assisting transient boaters get tied to the dock and flirting with the women. Gus helped us get tied up, and then proceeded to bend our ears with his many stories about his life, the town, etc. etc.  Our last post detailed the events of the rest of our day.

Elizabeth City is known by boaters as the home of the Rose Buddies. In the early ‘80’s two local men hosted a wine and cheese party for 17 visiting boats and one of the gentlemen (Joe Kramer) stopped by his house and picked 17 roses from his garden to present to the women on the boats. This started a tradition and was carried on for about 4 years, until Joe died in 1987. After his death, his roses were transplanted to the park adjacent to the free town docks for all to enjoy. Mark took it upon himself to be a Rose Buddy and delivered roses to Vicki, Mary Ellen and me, with the message that, “This rose is beautiful, but not as beautiful as you.” Needless to say, he made brownie points with the ladies, but was scorned by Jim and Kurt.

On Sunday we left the dock and had sunny skies and warm weather on our trip down the Pasquotank River, down the Dismal Swamp to the Dismal Swamp Visitor Center free docks where we stayed for the night. There are 2 locks on the Dismal Swamp, with scheduled locking times, so planning the departure time and travel speed are important to avoid arriving at the lock too early or late. Yesterday we made the first lock with no problem – perfect timing, actually - and enjoyed a most spectacular trip down the very narrow Dismal Swamp. Named by Colonel William Byrd, the Dismal Swamp is FAR from dismal. It truly is one of the most beautiful stretches of river waterway we have seen on the trip.

The Dismal Swamp Visitor Center was a nice dock, nice location, but minimal dock space. Consequently, three boats were “rafted” off Blue Willow and two were “rafted” off Patriot for the night.  We all left the docks at 7:30 a.m., made it in plenty of time to the last lock on the river, and traveled up the Elizabeth River to free docks in Portsmouth, VA. As a special treat, we all went to the historic Commodore Theater for a once-in-a-lifetime experience. All theater seats are in a candle-light dinner setting, in easy chairs around a table adorned with a white tablecloth. Food is ordered by picking up a phone placed on each table. Food, service, and company (Mark & Vicki) were outstanding, while the movie would probably have been our last choice - Avengers : Age of Ultron. In spite of the movie, of little interest to us all, it was enjoyable because of the uniqueness of the theater. Great experience and great evening!

On the 5th we moved to Tidewater Marina in Portsmouth and spent the day being tourists around Norfolk’s military attractions. We took the ferry from Portsmouth across the river to Norfolk where we toured the Wisconsin battleship, which has been retired and is in residence at the Nauticus Museum. We then took a guided water tour featuring the naval shipyards in Norfolk, which is the largest naval complex in the world. Following the tour, Vicki & I took the ferry back to the boat while Mark & Jim returned to the museum for a more thorough tour.

In the evening we celebrated Jim's birthday with dinner out and a key lime pie birthday cake. He had a very good birthday, with "boy-friendly" touristy events.

On the 6th we arose early, left Portsmouth, and ventured back onto the water for our first introduction to the Chesapeake Bay. The Chesapeake is unbelievably HUGE but we were lucky that the weather was cooperative in providing a relatively smooth journey to our anchorage.

Yesterday we left the anchorage with Blue Willow and parted at the entrance to the Potomac River. They made the turn onto the Potomac for their trip to Washington D.C. while we continued on the Chesapeake to Annapolis. We had a very long day on the water, but it was unbelievably smooth - sun glistening on the water that was smooth as glass. We are now in Annapolis for a week to explore this area and take a side trip to Washington D.C. After the week, we will move along to Baltimore where we will leave the boat while home for our short vacation from our vacation.