October/November 2024

We left Lady Liberty and the lights of New York city in our wake at dawn and continued our journey south along the USA east coast. As we wanted to visit Baltimore, our route included a short cut around the Delmarva Peninsula through Delaware Bay and the Chesapeake Delaware Canal.

On our journey up that bay, we experienced a microcosm of the roller coaster of cruising life. We had debated the merits of tucking comfortably into Cape May Harbour on the eastern side for the night versus rounding the Cape and anchoring off – a potentially less comfortable night but better positioned to maximise the forecast conditions to start the run up the Bay the next day. We opted for the latter.

We rounded the Cape to find stronger head winds than we expected and got the anchor down. The anchorage was more suited to settled conditions as there was not much protection from wind or waves. The current was holding us side on to the wind and the waves which were giving the boat a good buffeting. In preparing dinner I managed a balance challenge of which my physiotherapist would have been proud.

We went to bed early as it was the easiest place to be with the boat rolling from side to side, anticipating a long wakeful night. The current changed direction and allowed the boat to face more into the wind allowing us to sleep. We were amazed when we woke early in the morning to find we had slept for six solid hours. However that was the end of it as the conditions changed again and so we drowsed our way through to sunrise.

The morning brought us more wind than forecast -20-25 kts rather than 15 kts, and with it blowing against the current, slappy waves had built up. Gritting our teeth, and rugged up against the biting wind, we got the anchor up and set off sailing to windward into the wind and waves. It was very rough with the boat hobby horsing through the waves and getting a robust salt water wash from bow to stern. Several new minor leaks appeared and I was kept busy dealing with these and monitoring one very pesty known leak to ascertain its source.

In these conditions it’s a matter of wedging yourself into a spot and sitting it out. We knew that the wind should ease as the day wore on. I have found that imaging myself at the desired destination and keeping the perspective that the discomfort will be relatively short lived is a good way of maintaining morale. It’s also a great way of keeping my thoughts from running amok with all sorts of potential gloomy scenarios. We did at least have current in our favour, so we made reasonable progress.

The forecast held true and within a couple of hours the wind eased, the waves decreased and the sun shone. We were making such good progress that we decided to keep going to the next anchorage up the bay since we still had current in our favour. In our experience, taking current into consideration is as important as the wind, especially as we are sailors that prefer to sail rather than motor, if possible. In some situations, favourable current of even 1 knot combined with light wind can significantly improve boat speed.

By early afternoon we had sailed into a perfectly calm and empty anchorage, the wind had dropped, we had shed one layer of warm clothes and we shared a delicious lunch followed by a wonderful nap in our sunny saloon. After a rough or challenging sail, the extent to which you appreciate even the smallest things is remarkable.

The evening was the exact opposite of the previous one. The silence was deafening without the wind blowing through the rigging and rattling various deck fittings. The boat was perfectly still. The clouds had cleared and as the sun set, a full moon rose and the water sparkled in its light. We enjoyed a wonderful hot shower and one of our favourite easy dinners -tacos. Equilibrium was restored aboard Paseafique.

Our main reason for visiting Baltimore was to take a trip down memory lane as we had lived there in 1991/92. Baltimore is a city that has really suffered in the post-industrial era. In 1828, the first commercial railroad was launched here and by the 1900’s, it was the second largest seaport in the USA. It was also a manufacturing hub but the shift of manufacturing offshore initiated a downward spiral. Residents with resources and contacts left for greener pastures. Housing prices fell and many vacant houses could not be rented or sold and so fell into disrepair. The tax base for the city shrank, diminishing the ability of local government to address the many economic and social problems that emerged. The inner-city area was down trodden when we were there but it seemed much worse now. Residents we spoke to were of the opinion that it had worsened since Covid. Of all the places we have visited, we felt the most unsafe in some parts of Baltimore during the day.

We walked past the School of Public Health where I studied for a year, took a bus to the outer ‘burbs to visit the apartment complex in which we lived and walked along the waterfront to the Aquarium frequented by Phil and the boys when we lived there. It all felt a bit hollow as none of the people we befriended were there any more, the apartment complex had changed hands and had a different name, and the aquarium didn’t look at all like Phil had remembered it. The waterfront and some areas around it had been revitalized and was really very nice.

Views along the Baltimore Harbour

Having satisfied our wish to see Baltimore again, the next port of call was Annapolis, an absolute yachting mecca, and also home to the USA Naval Academy. The Academy is open to visitors, which surprised us, and so on the recommendation of a friend, we duly gave it a visit. We were amazed at how fascinated we were to walk through the grounds, watch the students going to and ‘fro, visit some magnificent buildings, while away two afternoons in the museum, and attend the morning colours. The USA certainly take military service very seriously indeed. The acceptance rate for the Naval Academy is only slightly higher than for some of the Ivy League Universities and the students we spoke to were highly ambitious. Their time at the Academy is disciplined and also full of rituals and traditions.

There are some truly magnificent buildings in the US Naval Academy

Officer’s quarters and morning colours

Examples of items made primarily of bone (from their meals) by French prisoners of war imprisoned by the British during the wars of the French revolution, and now in the US Naval Academy Museum. The ship models were made entirely from memory.

Annapolis itself has a fun and entertaining tradition – a tug of war called “Slaughter Across the Water”. Annapolis is situated on one side of Spa Creek, and the “sister” community of Eastport is on the other side. Apparently, in 1997, the Spa Creek Bridge was closed for maintenance without much warning, leaving the Eastport residents stranded. Consequently, there was a tongue-in-cheek declaration of war by the Maritime Republic of Eastport followed by secession. In November each year, the declaration of war is made, and a tug-of-war is held across the water. A 518-metre piece of rope is placed across Spa Creek and each side fields several teams of 33 tuggers from their communities. It’s a full-on community event with bands, and food and beer stalls on each side. We decided we would support the Eastport side and had a lot of fun cheering the tuggers on.

These guys were in charge of the tug-o-war rope – setting for each round of tugging and giving the signal for the start of the tug, and then packing it up for next year

We didn’t have so much fun while filling up with water and diesel in Annapolis. We motored over to the fuel dock late one afternoon and decided to fill with water first. In a split second of brain fade, Phil opened the diesel tank (openings for diesel and our back (non-drinking) water tank are nearby each other) and began filling it with …… water!!! It took a few minutes before he realised why the back water tank wasn’t expanding, and by then about 30 litres of water had gone into the diesel tank – which wasn’t empty. Yeee gad!!! What a terrible sinking feeling. Fortunately our friend Adrian was in the same anchorage not too far away and he towed us back so we could re-anchor and consider our options. We managed to remove the water that had settled to the bottom of the tank using a small electric pump but we needed a solution to remove the water which had become dispersed through the diesel. We ended up getting a professional fuel cleaner to come the next day. He pumped the fuel out of the tank and through his cleaning machine and then back into the tank. This required us to get the boat back over to the fuel dock and that was a very tricky and hair-raising exercise using two dinghies to get it into a small spot without ramming the dock or other nearby boats! It was an expensive mistake ($US400) but it had a silver lining. As we are not able to open our fuel tank, it has not been cleaned since we left Australia. Now we had a very clean tank and some very good quality fuel polishing chemicals for future use.

The fuel cleaning machine in action

From Annapolis, we went further south down Chesapeake Bay to Norfolk, Virginia from where we were planning to start our trip down the Intra-Coastal Waterway. Norfolk is home to a massive naval base – the largest in the world, where the might of the USA military machine is on full display.

And something a bit more beautiful from Norfolk – a glass goat in a gallery