We arrived in Annapolis a little after noon on Thursday (10/3). As we approached the Annapolis Maryland Capital Yacht Club (not really a yacht club) we noticed that our slip was at the very end of the fairway, which was quite narrow, only about 50 feet wide. It also had other moored boat’s bows and sterns encroaching into it. Not only was the fairway tight but the slip was also tight. Michael managed to get Scout turned sideways to put us stern-in then shimmied into the slip without incident. Fortunately, there was no wind. We consciously made the decision to leave on Thursday because Windy (Windy app) whispered in Michaels ear that it would blow like crazy on Friday. Thank you Windy, you were right. Good decision!

Once settled, we hopped off the boat and took a look around. Again, we found a charming residential neighborhood with beautiful historic homes, sprinkled with restaurants, small businesses and lots of nautical fare. We had a delightful lunch at the Boatyard restaurant. Boy, it feels like we are on vacation every day. Oh yeah, we are……

Friday (10/4). Today is Michael’s birthday and we spent most of the day at the 48^th annual United States Powerboat Show which claims to be the nation’s oldest and largest in-water show and draws nearly 150,000 attendees from all over the world.  It was indeed incredible. It seemed like miles and miles of new boats of all sizes, makes, models and prices. We walked 8,373 steps or about 3.32 miles and saw lots of amazing boats.

We thought Scout might be a little jealous again, but not to worry. Our big purchase will probably be a head (toilet). We currently have an electric head – which is wrong on all levels – it’s loud, it uses lots of battery power, it uses sea water which allows bacteria to accumulate in the bowl causing a not-so-nice odor.  No matter how much cleaning, additives and chemicals we use, it’s hard to conquer that smell. So, we’re ready for a change and made an appointment with Marshall, the head guy, to come over tomorrow morning and give us an estimate for a new VacuFlush system. As you probably know, anything with boats costs big boat bucks. Honestly, we’ve remodeled an entire bathroom for what this little white porcelain throne will probably cost. So, we’ll see. Happy Birthday Michael.

Saturday (10/5) morning Marshall, the head guy, came by to check out installation needs and he’ll send us an estimate in a few days. Later in the morning, I found a charming hair salon within walking distance, so I walked the ten minutes to the House of Ebbitt for my appointment. A lovely husband and wife team, married for 52 years, own and operate the salon. He says he trained with all the “greats” then taught in Washington DC until they moved to Annapolis. So, four hours and $275 later, I had a new special do. Yikes! That pretty much took up my day. Michael picked up some fresh jumbo shrimp and we had shrimp fettuccine for dinner on board and admired my hair!

Sunday (10/6) was overcast and gloomy so we just stayed on the boat most of the day. I worked on the computer and Michael did some boat projects. In the evening we met Joan and Gabe for dinner at Davis’ restaurant, the local hang out. Joan is my sister’s, friend’s mother and Gabe is her boyfriend. They have lived in Annapolis for three years on their 45-foot Jeanneau sailboat and are in a marina very close to us. Gabe is retired and Joan will retire in April of 2020, then they plan to release their lines and cruise to parts unknown. We had a lovely meal (crab cakes and seafood gumbo) and fabulous conversation sharing lots of stories. It was a wonderful fun evening.

We had planned to travel on Monday (10/7) but Windy, again, whispered to Michael and told him to stay put, winds will be a sustained 25 knots in the Bay. We have grown to trust our girl Windy, so we took her advice. We were being jostled around in the Annapolis Maryland Capital Yacht Club (not really a yacht club) slip so we called around and found Butler Marina, around the bend, had one slip available and we took it. We shimmied back out of our slip at AMCYC and headed the mile to Butler’s. On the way we stopped to pump-out the holding tank and top off diesel tanks. We arrived around 10:30 and found a small, lovely, quiet and calm marina. We are in the same East Port neighborhood so walking distance to good stuff. We walked to the historic downtown which was probably a long mile away and totally charming! We’ll stay here at least through Tuesday (10/8) and maybe longer since the weather is threatening to blow hard all week. Will keep you posted.