Friday’s forecast was for NW winds 10-15kts, gusting to 25kts. Perfect for a fast sail south, but boy was it cold! Rugged up in our Icebreaker gear we dropped our mooring lines at 8.30 am, with the help of Peter, Phil and Gayle who’d come to farewell us off the dock. Hard to believe we were actually leaving after all this time, but there was Joe waving to us as we passed through the Spa Creek drawbridge, and there was Rod on the other side of bridge with a cheery wave goodbye. Goodbye Annapolis, we were on our way!

Continue reading “Southbound”

 

The time has come to say goodbye to “Naptown” as it’s affectionately called by the locals, and it’s also time to give a big shout out to all the wonderful people we’ve met in the four months we’ve been here. Without their generosity, hospitality and sense of humour I’m sure we’d be stark raving mad by now (OK, OK, some of you may think we reached that point a long while ago). So, here, in no particular order, we present the Toucan Naptown awards:

Continue reading “Friends & Neighbours”

It’s cold, it’s raining, the geese and ducks have deserted Spa Creek for warmer climes, and the Annapolis Boat Show has been and gone. Winter is coming, Jon Snow. So now it’s our turn to head South. After four long months of working like navvies, suddenly our last week in Annapolis is upon us with a rude shock. Are we ready, you ask?

Continue reading “The Final Countdown”

 

We’ve become very good at bargain-hunting when buying gear for the boat. But as many of you may know, there’s always that one bargain that turns out to be lemon…

Continue reading “Radio GaGa”

Saturday dawned bright and sunny, our oil leak had been fixed (we hoped!) so we were free and clear to get off the dock and head down to St Michael’s for the weekend, in company with “Mischief” and “Huckleberry”, two yachts from our marina. St Michaels is approximately 25 NM south-east of Annapolis, a nice easy 3-4 hr trip if the wind gods weren’t on coffee break. Continue reading “Heading in the Right Direction?”

 

It’s been exactly three months since we moved onto the boat, summer has been and gone (together with the work barge), the house opposite is almost built, and that faint glimmer we see at the end of the tunnel may just be daylight and not the lights of an approaching freight train. Continue reading “The Glimmering Light”