Week 1: Oct. 3-9, 2012 (Day 1-7)

Week 1:
Wed. Oct. 3, 2012-- Day 1:
We left Ottawa to drive to Deltaville at 0330 hrs. through some light rain & cloudy conditions in some areas till late afternoon.  There were lovely Fall colours up to the Pennsylvania border.  We arrived at 1700 hrs. to sun & very hot (90F) & humid conditions.  And there she was, launched & now fitted with two new solar panels!  We did some unloading of the car & cleaning & stowing on the boat.  But most of all we were tired & hungry--small  pizza at Stanstring Family Restaurant.

Thurs. Oct. 4, 2012-- Day 2:
Another sunny, hot but not quite so humid day.  We had an unexpected visit by Peter & Sylvie Kitching with the boat in a disaster mode.  Our cruising buddies, Lynn & Larry Morrow, travelled 3 hours from Edenton, N.C. for a short visit to see us, bearing gifts & to discuss our plans to travel together over a lovely lunch at 'Southwinds' in Matthews. Carla & Rick (Euphoria-Cape Dory) joined us.  After the Morrows departed for home, we paid a visit to say hello to Jeannie at Nauti Nells, then of course West Marine & Hurd's Hardware Store.  We continued the cleaning & unpacking & stowing process until it was dark & also packing what we would need for our time in Annapolis & the boatshow.  Graeme did notice that the solar charging system was not right & left a note for Ian, the service manager.

Fri. Oct. 5, 2012-- Day 3:

On the road for Annapolis at 0545 hrs.  It was a sunny & quite a warm day (mid 80's) with a light breeze.  We first checked into our hotel, La Quinta in Jessup then headed to the boatshow.  We parked at the stadium for $10.00 & took the free shuttle to the show, arriving at 1045 hrs. We ran into several NSC members shortly after arriving, had lunch with several Bahamas cruising friends & NSC friends at the Fleet Reserve (scrumptious beef on a bun). We scurried around for "things" on our list all afternoon till 1700 hrs.  At Pusser's we had a large Canadian gathering & consumed many painkillers while conversing until we had to leave to catch the last shuttle bus at 1930 hrs.  Later Graeme happened to mention that he attended the Jeanneau Party for Canadian Jeanneau owners for a short time; what am I?  chopped liver?  We drove to Jessup to our hotel, catching a quick bite to eat along the way.  A fabulous evening weather-wise.

Sat. Oct. 6, 2012-- Day 4:
A sunny & lovely morning to start the day with an early start from the hotel to attend a Canadian Breakfast at the Catalina Boat Display of all places (0800-0945 hrs.).  Graeme & I split up to do our own thing afterwards.  While Graeme did tents & information gathering, I went on a number of sailboats until the waiting lines became too time consuming.  We met up with Jack Verheyden & Donna Sarazin at noon for lunch at the Fleet Reserve & made some tentative plans to meet up in Norfolk & travel together for a while.  In the afternoon we took some time away from the show & walked up main street Annapolis.  By this time rain threatening clouds & increasing cool winds moved in.  We returned to the show to attend the Jeanneau Owners Party by invitation only at 1830 hrs.-- free wine in a real glass with Jeanneau enscribed on it that we got to keep, free beer & scrumptious food.  By 2030 hrs. the party was quickly winding down as it was very windy & cold.  That night we stayed with our very kind & gracious friends, the Buckley's.  A wonderful sleep in such a comfy bed!

Sun. Oct. 7, 2012-- Day 5:
Unlike past days, today was cloudy & a light persistent rain started to fall by mid am.  We had a relaxing & good conversation over breakfast with our hostess & host before departing for home-- 'Sweet Chariot Too' in Deltaville for the next 71/2 months.  It was quite windy & cool when we completed our 3 hour drive & we had to face a disastrous,  uninviting boat upon our arrival.  I phoned my family in Ottawa as they were celebrating Thanksgiving with the usual, huge & delicious meal of turkey, ham & all the usual variety of trimmings.  In contrast we had doggie bag gourmet sandwiches from lunch at Paniera  that we could not finish + soup.  This was our  first exposure to select food items that I had left on board that tasted old & rancid & had just gone through a very hot summer--? store packaging.  Also now that we were moved to dockside where water & electricity was possible, we added some water to the boat tanks which needed to be purged well with chlorox & plugged into shorepower to run our little 800W AC heater as temperatures were dipping down in the 40'sF.  Some attention had been given to the solar charging system but it still was not solved.

Mon. Oct. 8, 2012--Day 6:
Happy Thanksgiving Canada!  Happy Columbus Day USA!
A cool (H mid 50'sF, L low 40's) cloudy, grey, on & off rain all day long & gusting NW winds.
Graeme attended to the solar charging issues & who knows whatelse.  I reorganized our large storage area on port which we call the garage, storage below the floor boards, my clothes & spent several hours catching up with emails when internet service was restored to many areas of Deltaville in the afternoon as a car accident on Sat. had taken a telephone pole down + it was a way to keep warm.  I made a batch of chili for supper tonight + a few other evenings.  Howling cold winds & water slapping against the transom but solar charging system working well, thank you Bill!  He simply removed the wire from Blue Sky to the other side of the shunt as the instructions indicated.  But we have a number of days remaining here to test the fix.  I just hope the weather improves very soon so I can begin the exterior boat cleaning.

Tues. Oct. 9, 2012--Day 7:
The weather did not improve much today-- rain during the night & early morning with a fine misty rain for a good part of the day.  It was still very gloomy & grey but the NNW to NW winds subsided.  And it was noticeably warmer today.  Graeme was very productive today; one project was replacing the old dinghy oars with his new ones, painted with the Canadian flag similar to the Canadian Olympic Rowing Teams.          

We turned shorepower off till evening after toasting bread for breakfast of course, observing the charging system  all day.  Despite the grey day & no sun the solar panels kept the battery system charged quite high (all but 7 AH).  Unable to do exterior cleaning again today, I continued to work away at a variety of computer issues.  A cloudy but calm evening & night; the water was like glass.  The resident heron once again made his presence known at sundown.