Day 89- Solomons, MD

We finally got out of Annapolis!  I lost count but I think we were there for more than 10 days.  Pablo had serious ants in his pants and was dying to move on.  It was a test on multiple levels for us.  We had little wind and thus not much power generation.  Pablo hasn’t fully installed our solar panels but rigged them up temporarily which helped a little.  We reached capacity on our holding tank.   Our kids have been troopers about a lot of things on this trip but I think reached a limit when we told them they couldn’t use the bathroom until we could pump out.  Something about not being able to use the bathroom for a bit makes everyone NEED to go NOW.  As productive as our time is in places like Annapolis it is also very frustrating.  We find it hard to bridge boat life and regular life.  We don’t have all the ‘tools’ (like a car or two cell phones, unlimited power to charge computers etc…) to do things as efficiently as everyone around us, so it becomes frustrating after a bit.  It is much easier to stay in more remote places where the pace of life is slower and thus our expectations seem to be lower also.
Our trip to DC was fun and successful.  I spent the morning in the State Department Office of Authentications.  Bet you’ve never heard of that one.  I had to get some documents authenticated in order for the Finnish embassy to release my passport.  After delivering the docs to the very modern embassy building (fancy compare to the El Salvador embassy which was basically a strip mall store front with a flag in front) we saw the White House, had a tour of the Treasury Dept Bureau of Printing and Engraving (see Mia's blog for more info) and went to the Air and Space museum.  I could spend a lot more time exploring DC.
From Annapolis we sailed south to the West River and anchored for the night.  In the morning we walked in to Galesville, a nice southern feeling town, to mail a letter.   We spent the rest of the day sailing to Solomons, MD.  

The girls in front of the White House

Couldn't get close enough to see the cracks

Hmmm...

Thomas Point lighthouse

Cool art in Galesville, MD

Galesville, MD

Day 86- Annapolis, MD

Yes, we are still in Annapolis.  It being the self proclaimed sailing capital of the world, we've had plenty to do. Probably the highlight was the really nice day spent with Bill and Margaret exploring the Naval Academy and eating fantastic crab. Another very productive day was spent at the boat show. We were able to pick up critical items like paper charts for the Caribbean, courtesy flags for most of the countries we'll be visiting, a watermaker and lots of floating key chains. Many of the booths at the show give away freebie advertising key chains or lanyards. The kids were challenged to get as many as they could. Great for us, as they were busy. There are other cruising families here! We were invited to a nice potluck where there were kids ranging in age from 7-16.  The other family boats set a disciplined example of doing school work every morning.  We are striving toward this...
Since we have been on a mooring in a protected anchorage (no wind) for more than a week we are low on power. Will have to elaborate on our adventures here once we have our batteries topped off. We will go into DC tomorrow and leave for the Eastern shore of Maryland on Wed..

Pushing muddy water in the Chesapeake

Anchored in front of the Naval Academy

Hanging out in the homemade hammock

At the Naval Academy Chapel with the Browns

Boat show bling

Day 77-Annapolis, MD

After exploring Sassafras River we took advantage of NW winds to sail to Annapolis. We have the coldest weather we've encountered on the trip so far. In stark contrast to what we thought was summer yesterday, the high was in low fifties today with rain showers. This is the first day Pablo has worn pants since the beginning of the trip. We're anchored right in front of the Naval Academy in Annapolis. The big boat show is here next weekend and more prime protected anchorages are already full. We plan to explore Annapolis for the next couple of days. Hoping to find decent wifi to post pictures from the past days.

Day 75- Sassafras River, MD

We're in the Chesapeake!  It feels like a new stage of this adventure.  In fact we've traveled over 1000 miles on this journey already, so it's time for a new stage.  We left Cape May early to catch favoring currents in Delaware Bay and the C&D Canal.  Pablo's planning was excellent, we had a 2-3 knot current in our favor for about 12 hours.  The winds picked up late afternoon and were blowing 20 knots on the nose, against the current, making for a bumpy ride.  We were happy to tuck into a calm anchorage in the Sassafras River.  Really looking forward to exploring the Chesapeake.

Day 74- Cape May, NJ

Finally starting to catch up on the blog. We left Port Washington, NY Tuesday morning and motored through the middle of New York City. New York City was almost as busy on the water as it was by land. A lot of ferries, tankers, tugs, and every kind of boat imaginable, not to mention helicopters on floating platforms. As we passed the Statue of Liberty the fog rolled in. Nothing like navigating through one of the worlds busiest harbors in thick fog to get your heart beating. I was thrilled when we were out of New York Harbor and offshore. The vastness of the Atlantic Ocean felt really nice! We sailed all night in southeast, 15 knot winds and arrived in Cape May mid day. Fairly uneventful except for running into an unidentified object. It made a lot of noise but luckily bounced off the hull. It was too dark to find it even with our powerful spotlight. Remi and Mia are convinced it was a submarine. The anchorage in Cape May is full of cruising boats heading south.

Foggy New York Harbor

Cape May anchorage

Day 72-Port Washington, NY

We are currently in Port Washington on Long Island very close to NY city. We had to pick up a part for the boat and make a trip into "The City" as Mia and I needed to renew our Finnish passports at the Consulate. We took the Long Island Railroad directly to Penn Station and walked across most of Manhattan (or at least it felt like it) to the United Nations complex where the consulate is. Despite spending the last 20 years on the East Coast we have managed to avoid NYC, so this was a new experience for the entire family. What a trip New York City is! The variety and density of people is staggering.  Just amazing to see how tightly packed everything is.  It was hard getting used to being so close but yet so isolated.  We ate lunch so close to the neighboring table we felt we were in the couples lap, yet not a word or any kind of acknowledgment was exchanged the entire meal.  This has got to be a defense mechanism as one would overload if you acknowledged or exchanged words with all those close by.  Reminds me of the Crocodile Dundee scene where Mick walks thru the city saying Good Day Mate to everyone…

We stumbled upon fun places without planning.  Half way through Time Square Mia asked “Isn’t this Time Square?”  Pablo, not the details planner, is a strong believer in the philosophy if you position yourself in new situations and surroundings you will find the interesting areas.  In that spirit we somewhat serendipitously wandered into the New York Public Library to use a printer. What a fabulous building. I tried to capture some of the marble, wood carvings and murals but did not come close to doing it justice. Even our over tired and over stimulated kids were impressed with the grand reading room (ironically full of computers) with vibrant and realistic cloud mural ceilings.

We're docked next to a yacht that makes us look miniscule. MITseaAH is 150ft mega sailing yacht that planes at speeds of 25 knots. Like many things experienced in NYC it was loud and obnoxious.  See here for a video. Note the pool and hot tub in photos below. They have a "full service" seven person crew. Sailing on a mega yacht seemed pretty cool until we watched the crew cater to the clients, including removing the socks off their feet.

Docked next to MITseaAH

MITseaAH pool and hot tub

Walking in Manhattan

New York Public Library, note the ceiling mural

Times Square

Day 70- Oyster Bay, NY

Yesterday was rainy and foggy so we decided to stay put in the Thimble Islands huddle up down below with good Wifi and 3G access (always amazes me, the more remote the better the Wifi). Pablo sent the kids out in the rain to clean off the boat. The kids had been cooped up for a while by then and had a blast soaping up the boat. We left early this morning and had to motor all the way to Oyster Bay, NY on Long Island. We looked into a mooring but at $1.50/ft it was by far the most expensive we have encountered. So we're anchored. Not much seems to have changed here since we came through a year ago. Expansive estates, huge yachts, and even the same cruising boat anchored next to us.