Annapolis (Part 1) MD USA

Leaving our overnight anchorage behind Mayo Point in South River, Annapolis

The Mayo Point anchorage in South River worked out very well for an overnight stop but we wanted to move around to Weems Creek, just to the north of central Annapolis, to be more conveniently located for getting into the historic centre.  On Monday 7 October we got the anchor up at 0910hrs and motored for a couple of hours to cover the 13½ miles to Weems Creek.

Thomas Point Lighthouse: the last in-service screw pole lighthouse in Chesapeake Bay

On the way we passed Thomas Point Lighthouse, the last in-service screw pole lighthouse in Chesapeake Bay, looking splendid in the sunshine.

Five and Dime and Ruby Tuesday anchored ahead of us in Weems Creek

Weems Creek is very pleasant but it isn’t the closest anchorage to the city centre.  However, we had heard that Spa Creek and Back Creek were already full to capacity because of the Annapolis Boat Show.  In fact, the harbour master closed Spa Creek and the area outside it to anchoring vessels because there were so many there.  So we were somewhat concerned that there might not even be any room for us in Weems Creek.  Our friends Lionel and Elsie on Ruby Tuesday had arrived there a week ago and reported that it was filling up rapidly so we were very relieved when we turned into the creek and found that there was still plenty of space for several yachts to anchor just inside the entrance.  Hot on our tail from Deltaville were Doug and Mary on Zipporah and they had requested an update on space, so our first task after dropping anchor was to message them to pass on the news that “there was room at the inn”.

Main Street (L) and Francis street (R) with the white cupola
 of the State House rising up from behind the trees

We wanted to head into Annapolis so inflating the dinghy was the second priority and, on the way to the shore, we did a quick circuit to say hello to some of the other OCC yachts anchored in the Creek.  Five and Dime,and Bojangles, neither of whom we had met before, were ahead of us but were all locked up.  However, Lionel and Elsie were on board Ruby Tuesday, so we had a quick chat with them and then welcomed Doug and Mary to the anchorage.  Our friends Patty and Peter on Serendipitous, who had organised the OCC Chesapeake Cruise in June, were on a nearby dock and we spent some time chatting with them before cycling into Annapolis.

Left: Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County.  Right: St Anne’s Church, originally founded in 1692 but this 3^rd version dates from 1858 and still looks remarkably new

Reynolds Tavern

We took a very circuitous route into town stopping on the way to check out the nearest supermarket, Graul’s in West Annapolis about a 5min cycle ride from the dock.  From there we headed towards Annapolis Towne Centre (not the same as the historic district) and located Bacon’s Sails, a famous second-hand sail loft and yachting consignment store.  We picked up a couple of pieces of teak trim to cover a hole left when we fitted the new refrigerator and lamented that the varnish was significantly cheaper there than where we had recently stocked up.  By now, having biked several kilometres, we felt that we had earned an ice cream, so we cycled into the historic centre for a quick recce of the Boat Show location and then up to an ice-cream shop on Main Street.

The US Post Office

Suitable refreshed, we continued up Main Street to Church Circle to see the Court House, St Anne’s Church, Reynolds Tavern and the elegant US Post Office.  This part of Annapolis is really rather elegant with its historic buildings and the US Naval Academy; it’s definitely worth a trip.  By now, however, it was time to retreat back to BV for dinner.  After all of our days of boat maintenance and charging around, it was rather nice to be at anchor, sightseeing again and just enjoying life living on board BV.

BV at anchor pointing west before the wind changed

On Tuesday the wind changed to come from the northeast.  Looking at the forecast we were slightly concerned but it turned out that we were sheltered enough in Weems Creek, even at the entrance, and far better placed than the main overflow anchorage just outside Spa Creek.  We spent the day on board catching up on our admin.  It was very much a writing day: emails, an article for the OCC magazine and lots of blog work to get that going again.  There is still lots to catch up on in the blog from our time in the USA in May and June but we’ll eventually get around to that when life slows down a bit – not sure when that will happen!  Plus, of course, there was some painting and varnishing to be done in Nicky’s saloon paint shop: the last couple of coats of paint on the boards which will protect the deck under the SCUBA tanks and the fuel jerry cans and the first few coats of varnish on the teak plate we had bought the previous day.

Wednesday continued in a similar vein.  We did set off with the intention of attending the parade at the Naval Academy but our UK driving license photo ID was not accepted by the security guards [Ed: Foreign nationals need to bring their passports as ID] so instead we went shopping further afield.  We cycled a few kilometres to an out of town Target to get a CO2 refill bottle for our Sodastream and then returned to the centre to buy some wine and an icecream.  All fairly mundane stuff, but the big event was the Annual OCC Annapolis Fall Dinner in the evening.

Weems Creek, Annapolis, Maryland, USA