Position           38:57.46N 076:31.70W

Date                2359 – Friday 3 June 2011 (UTC -4)

A not quite as early start as intended and we were off by dinghy back to town for a shop in the very good local Acme store.  The manager, bless him, ran us back to the dinghy dock in his pick up which saved a great deal of sweat and grumbles.  Having seen that we could get a discount for cash at the fuel dock we up anchored and came in for a fill at the very well set up fuel dock.

Local yachtsmen tell us that the price of a gallon of marine diesel has gone up from $2.95 to $3.99 per US gallon in a year.  At £0.72 per litre after discount and including the ubiquitous sales tax it seemed like a bargain to us; especially remembering the £1.30 per litre in Bermuda.

Last away again, with a deadline to get to the venue for the final event of the Rally and the wind for 70% of the 26 miles to Crab Creek off the South River in Annapolis being on the nose we had a rapid motor and sail back across Chesapeake Bay to the western shore.

En route we again passed the Bloody Point Light.  The list is subsidence (not my dodgy photography).  Unlike the Nab Tower in the eastern approaches to the Solent this tower is in shallow water and unlikely to have been hit by anything large.  We debated as to whether the name was given after it had been built and settled or as a result of an incident in the war of 1812.

The entrance to Crab Creek was interesting.  Spotting it was the first problem and finding any water to float in was the second.  A pair of red and green buoys marked the narrowest part of the channel; they appeared to be no more than three boat width’s apart.  Having gone aground twice; the mud is very soft so we got off easily, and having received some local advice we realised that rather than approach the buoys head on we had to slide up at a very oblique angle

Local knowledge won the day and we found ourselves in the beautiful and tranquil anchorage of Crab Creek.

As the largest boat on the Rally we were very kindly offered the use of a mooring buoy by friends of our host which limited our potential swinging room.  Our big friend Alice joined us to raft up.  A quick tidy up and it was into Alice’s dinghy for the run ashore and a quick change on the jetty into a kilt to keep the locals amused; woollen kilts and salt water do not mix and dinghies are unpredictable even if in calm water.

The party was held in the OCC Port Officers for Annapolis Wolfgang Reuter and Gemma Nachbar’s garden and was incredibly well laid on.  They had taken the precaution of inviting many of their neighbours which meant that there would be no objections to the piping.

Fred Hallet, a past Rear Commodore organised some singing; the Mate surprisingly took part – with gusto!

The food was excellent.  Wonderful hors d’oeuvres, amazing venison burgers from the barbeque and a range of cold meats and salads were followed by a selection of puddings.  The Mate provided a brilliant chocolate and biscuit cake that was marketed as Prince William’s favourite and disappeared without trace or remnant.

We therefore come to the end of four really good days.  We put this event in our diary over a year ago as an objective to get to and we are so pleased that we have.  We have made friends that we no doubt will see again and again in our travels, have been introduced to a great cruising ground and have received wonderful hospitality.  Thank you Sid and Rebecca Shaw, Rear Commodores, for organising such a great event and to everyone else that took part for making us so welcome.