Half Way up the Bay

We took advantage of a free, do it yourself pump out station at Solomon's Island before proceeding up one of the creeks for an anchorage.  Solomon's was not on our list of places to stop and we didn't go ashore, but now that I've been there it looks like it could be a fun place to spend a day or two.  From what we saw it appears to be just a weekend and vacation destination, probably from Baltimore and Washington.  There are several marinas and lots and lots of boats.

We were awakened in the anchorage about 3:30 AM when it started raining.  I went back to sleep after helping close some windows, but Denise couldn't and decided to stay up.  If you received an email at an unusual hour, that would be why.  The rain didn't let up until almost noon and we kept checking the forecast.  Finally, at 1 we decided to head back out into the Chesapeake to see what it was like, which wasn't too bad, so we kept going.  By late afternoon the bay was as smooth as silk.

As we progressed up the bay the commercial traffic picked up. 

The burden is on us to stay out of their way.

We were passed by a few commercial ships, but as we approached Annapolis, just south of the Kent Narrows bridge over the bay, the commercial ships were stopped.  Some were anchored.  It appeared only one ship could pass under the bridge at a time and north and south bound ships were taking turns.  These ships were bound for Baltimore and some must have had appointments.  This one that had passed us earlier was now anchored.

Incidentally, this ship was still anchored south of the bridge when we left Annapolis on Wednesday.

We kept going and decided to go into the Annapolis harbour and tie up to a mooring ball.  Denise did a great job at the helm as I grabbed the line on the mooring ball. It was so good that the Harbour Master even complimented her on her driving ability. Annapolis is all about boating, sailing seems to be the more popular version.

Yesterday we moved from the ball to the Annapolis City Docks and took a spot on the bulk head.

The historic district of Annapolis, which is also where the docks are is a very thriving tourist destination. The pubs and restaurants are active until the wee hours and the morning starts early with trash pickup and street sweepers.  This little canal is a dead end and is called Ego Alley by the locals.  Boats constantly came down the canal, turned around at the end and headed back out.  Kind of like cruising in a car back in the day.
Tuesday morning after coffee and a brief walk around the historic district we went to the Naval Academy, just 2 blocks from our dock. 

We took the guided tour of the Academy, but didn't see any Midshipmen because they were gone for the summer and the new class of Plebes isn't due for another couple of weeks.  It's a beautiful campus with lots of interesting history and I took lots of pictures, but again won't post them here.  Surprisingly to me was that there were not a lot of bronze statues.  But we were not done exploring the city and bronze statues were soon to be found.

After lunch we went to the Maryland state capital, also very close by and also very historic.

Annapolis is where Thurgood Marshal began his quest for equal rights justice on his way to the US Supreme Court. 

He argued for Donald Murray when he was denied entry into the University of Maryland.  Being a bronze statue, Denise just couldn't resist.

Just at the end of the canal where our dock is we found the Alex Haley memorial.  Annapolis is where the slave ship that brought Kunta Kinte to America landed.  It is here where Alex Haley researched the archives for his book Roots.  The memorial depicts Alex Haley telling family history stories to a diverse group of children.  Again, Denise couldn't resist.

We enjoyed Annapolis, but still haven't gotten the all you can eat steamed crabs.  The plan was to do that for dinner, but we had also had a big lunch and neither of us were hungry enough to indulge, but we did still have crab, as in crab balls.  Our next destination is Chesapeake City on the Chesapeake and Delaware canal and we've heard there are good places there for steamed crabs.