October 28, 2018 - November 3, 2018
The C&C rendezvous was quite a success. Sailors brought their boats from as far away as North Carolina, drove in from Canada, and flew in from Minnesota. We toured each other’s boats, admiring all of the updates and custom additions gleaning ideas for our own boats, shared meals, and lots of conversation. Bob and I are the only live-aboard cruisers in the group, but many of the couples are looking forward to the cruising lifestyle in the future. Sunday was the last day of the get together and involved visiting back and forth and saying good-by.
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| Four C&C boats are tied up in slips. |
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| Annapolis will always feel like home. |
We left Annapolis at 10:30 after breakfast at City Dock Coffee. It was windy and overcast, but our plan was to go only as far a Galesville where we dropped anchor at 1:30. Lola seems to be getting more used to the movement of the boat while we are underway, but did not join us in the cockpit. That night the temperature went down to 43 degrees and the boat was at 56 degrees when we woke up. Bob got up first and lit the propane fireplace to take the chill off, such a gentleman!
The sun was shining brightly when we left Galesville at 7:30 am, but the boat had not warmed up much. Our trip to Solomon’s was uneventful and when we tied up at Zanhizer’s H dock at 2:00pm the cockpit was toasty warm. Lola had joined us in the cockpit for most of the trip which is a good sign that she will be a stellar boat cat. Bob continues to revise our trip plan as we go along. Originally, he had planned seven stops between Annaolis and Norfolk. He has eliminated the Eastern Shore stops narrowing it down to five stops.
We left Zanhizer’s at sunrise heading for Fishing Bay, but the wind and waves kicked up negatively effecting our speed. We stopped for the night about 15 miles short of our goal in Wicomico River. We left the next morning at sunrise hoping to make it half way to Hampton. Our speed was good and the seas were manageable so we decided to go all of the way to Hampton. The wind and waves increased in the afternoon slowing us down a bit and we didn’t dock at the Downtown Pier until 5:15. Fortunately, the Bull Island Brewing Company was just a few feet away from where we were docked and we had a light dinner there.
Hampton, VA is the longest continuously occupied English speaking community in America even though it was burned to the ground in both the Revolutionary and the Civil wars. We went out to lunch on Friday and visited a unique antique shop.
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| The tree lined streets contain small local restaurants and shops. |
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| This antique shop also had a wide variety of local craftsmen's wares. |
On Saturday, we walked around town a bit and I visited the History Museum and the 98 year old Carousel.
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| This creative mural was on a building on Wine Street. |
The museum was very informative with displays tracing the early colonization thru the present.
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| Blackbeard, the famous pirate, was convicted, hanged, and beheaded in Hampton. His head was placed on a spike and displayed on a point of land at the head of the Hampton River to warn off other pirates. |
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| The carousel operated at the Buckroe Amusement Park from 1920 - 1985 when it was dismantled and stored until renovation could begin. |
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| The renovated carousel was reassembled in an enclosed pavilion where it now operates. The carousel contains 42 oil paintings, 30 mirrors, a Bruder Band Organ, 48 hand carved wooden horses, and two hand carved wooden chariots. |
The rest of Saturday was spent enjoying college football games. Go Penn State!
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