Maryland, Land of All-You-Can-Eat crab...

We made it to Annapolis! On the mythical Chesapeake bay! And got taken out for two dozen Crabs! That was it! Two dozen steamed, garliced crabdies, two pitchers of Yingling Lager and the three of us got those crabs as hammered as we got ourselves! So exciting! I guess crab is the big thing on the Chesapeake, where there are Crab Shacks all over. Our host, a single hander named Phil, had scoped out this joint the previous night, and the big blonde waitress welcomed him like long lost family, very homey place. Delicious crag, but next time we'll also order some rolls, or salad, or something that won't leave us with "crab-morning-breath". Isn't that nice?!

Yet, once again, my laptop just won't "go on line", so I have no pikkies for you all at this point, will post when I can.
We pulled out of NYC on a cool, hazey day. Sailed past the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. Went through a field of freighters at anchor, huge black hulks just...sitting there! Then down Raritan Bay for Sandy Hook, intending on anchoring for the night, then continuing on to Atlantic City, O, Joy! But the wind really piped up and we needed shelter from a strong south wind. As we sailed down the coast of Sandy Hook, we saw a bay on the chart that looked OK, so we headed for it,. As we pulled around the corner, however, we saw that our depth-sounder was trying to tell us it was too shallow. About then, we saw a sailboat lying on its side on the beach, so after a strong case of the heebie-jeebies, we and made for a walled basin, further on at the bottom of the bay. It dawned on me right then, that the nature of our travelling was different now that we were in open ocean, no longer canals and rivers. We have to pay strong attention to the weather forcast on VHF, and must stay put during bad weather.
So after lying at anchor ourselves for two days at this place, Atlantic Heights, we had a weather window that showed it would be better to abort our previous plans to come in to Atlantic City and to make a straight shot right through to Cape May at the Delaware Bay, which we did. It was a 30 hour sail amd my first overnight passage.
We could see the lighted casinos on the edge of Atlantic city in the distance for 8 hours! I was the one to pass it, at sunrise. The open, bounding mane on one side, Soddom and Gomarrah on the other!
Cape May was absolutely packed with sport boats! We came in on my watch, and my tactic for collision avoidance was to go straight and let these big, uber-speedy boats pass us, which they did in large numbers. And close! So we don't really like the water around Cape May, and didn't get a chance to see the old town, too bad as it is highly acclaimed. Our lesson learned is this: Stay away from sportsmen's hot spots on weekends!
The long trip up the Delaware was neat, we saw a dolphin a few feet from our port side, leaping and playing. That made up for all the jack-asses at Cape May!
My learning curve had taken a nasty bend during all of this; not being able to see the towns we were passing through when the weather was rough or the anchorage just too far out, getting everthing wrong when ...well, when doing just about anything on deck! I was feeling menopausal, empty-nested and empty headed. I hadn't been off the boat for seven days! Yarg!
When we finally did get off the boat at Chesapeake City, my eyeballs were spangled with trying to see any kind of distance! I was tottering about like a tipsy miss! My mood didn't improve until we anchored, debarked and went strolling the fine streets of Annapolis.
So for the moment, we are well, the weather is absolutely be-ooo-tiful! Deep blue skies, deeper blue water, calm wind which is great for all the non-sailing we're doing.
The boat handled well during all this, sails remained intact, planks still holding, no leaks.
Our next destination is Elizabeth City on The Dismal Swamp. Cool, huh?