THE BOAT SHOW!

Island Packets at City Dock

Kris and I did the show on Friday the 8th of October.  The skies were clear and it was sunny and warm.  A beautiful day to do the show.  We had a list of items we needed and our first stop was the MapTech booth for charts of Central America and Cuba.  The salesman could help us out with the Central America charts but being a US company he could not sell us charts of Cuban waters.  Kris pressed the man on options to obtain the charts and he finally sent us to the Land Fall booth.  He gave us the name of the salesman at Land Fall along with a note of referral.  It was a very nice jesture on his part and paid dividends.  We were able to purchase all the charts we need in both paper and electronic formats.  Upon leaving the MapTech tent I was doing some people watching while Kris looked for boat shoes.  I spotted a familiar face and went over to say hello to Bob Culver a fellow member of the Fair Haven Yacht Club.  Diane, Bob's wife soon joined us and Kris arrived a few minutes later.  We had not seen Bob and Diane at the club this summer and wondered what they were up to.  It turns out Bob retired last October sold his home and moved to Crisfield Maryland on the eastern shore of the Chesapeake Bay.  Bob has moved his boat down and plans to sail the Chesapeake as a warm up for a Caribbean cruise.  Bob told us they have been following our blog with interest.  We exchanged cell phone numbers and email addresses.  It was wonderful to spend some time with old friends working toward the same dream.  We also ran into Lynn and Sally Means a couple we had met in Atlantic Highlands.  We had wondered where they were as we expected to see them again over our five days in Cape May.  They stopped on the way down to Cape May at Barnegat Bay and Atlantic City.  We just looked at their blog this morning and they have arrived safely in Norfolk,VA.  We're currently waiting out some weather on the eastern shore in the San Domingo creek the back door to St. Michael's.  But I'm getting ahead of myself.  Back to the Boat Show.

Boats everywhere

 Jeff and Marjorie from Far Niente were at the show on Friday and we bumped into them late in the day.  We made plans to have appetizers and cocktails at an Irish Pub we discovered earlier in the week.  The Pub's name is CastleBay and they run a happy hour every day from 5-7pm.  Drinks are reduced in price as well as the appetizers such as steamed shrimp, calamari and oysters on the half shell.  Great food and drink at reasonable prices.  We found in general Annapolis is a bit pricey.  Except for the $25 moorings.  Our accommodations were great!

Big boats, little boats

 In response to our blog invitation to followers to join us in Annapolis for a "dark and stormy," Dave and Jan Ahlers contacted us saying they would be at the show on Saturday as did Tim and Chris Criss. Approximately 4pm on Saturday afternoon I was doing some work on the dinghy and Kris received a phone call from Dave Ahlers.  It turns out Dave was calling from the Spa Creek lift Bridge and we could see Dave, Jan, Tim and Chris standing on the bridge.  We made plans to take the dinghy to Eastport where Dave would pick us up with his big bad dodge truck. Dave asked us if we needed to do any provisioning or get supplies.  I told him we were having a great deal of trouble getting our propane tanks filled.  We had tried several times and it was proving difficult to find a place that would refill tanks and not exchange.  We were told a TruValue hardware located somewhere in Eastport or Annapolis(?) would fill the tanks.  We had some trouble finding our way around that evening.  Dave drove the big bad dodge at warp speed around the narrow and traffic clogged streets until we found the hardware store and got our tanks topped off.  As we had not been in a car or travelled much faster than 6 knots Dalliance's captain was having anxiety attacks during the drive.  He settled down once he adjusted to the motion.  We then stopped for "dark and stormy's" at the Boatyard restaurant a famous watering hole for sailors known for their dark and stormy's.
 

Fair Haven Yacht Club at The Boatyard

 

After filling our bellie's with grog Tim told us about a seafood restaurant know for it's crab.  We again had some trouble locating Mike's Crab House but solid navigation skills on Jan's part got us there safely.  We all had a great time out that evening and Kris and I were thrilled to be spending time with old friends.  Thanks Dave, Jan, Tim and Chris for stopping down to spend time with us.  It meant a lot!  Dave and Jan called Sunday morning said good bye again and headed north.  Tim and Chris did another day at the boat show and we joined then for a couple of hours in a city park where St. Mary's church sells pit beef sandwich's.  It was a nice relaxing sunny afternoon and we chatted about this, that and other things with the Criss's.  We hugged and said our good bye's to the Criss's and felt some sadness on parting.  



Tim & Chris

 

Dave & Jan

An evening of laughter & sailing stories