38:57:76N 76:28.87W

Miami to Annapolis

We left Miami on 16th of May, through Goverment Cut. For any Miami Vice
fans this is a very straight channal that is often featured in the
series, usually with Crocket and Tubbs speeding up it chasing the baddies
in their cigarette power boat whilst wearing pink suites. Anyway, there
are two huge channels and if there are more than two cruise ships in
Goverment you have to go through a bridge and go up the industrial
channal which is what we did. With the Eastern seaboard being very
shallow, the deep water channal goes out quite a way. We were soon in the
Atlantic again and even better, in the Gulf Stream which is only about
two miles offshore at this point. In the first 24 hours at sea we managed
183 miles and beat our previous record, attained during the Atlantic
crossing of 166 miles. We knew that we had some bad weather coming in at
Cape Hatteras on Wednesday\Thursday which is not the sort of place you
want to be in with big red arrows on the grib file indicating NE winds in
excess of 35 knots, so after three days and nights at sea we headed
inland at Savannah, which is a place we had been told to visit.


We anchored about eight miles from the town in St. Augustine Creek, as
there seemed little point in taking Swiftwing all the way up the river
against a three knot tide. We followed a casino ship which was going the
same way. It was a very quiet anchoage in a muddy swamp with lots of
birds and surprisingly, not too many bugs. After a while we heard a North
country voice on the radio asking about anchorages so we directed them to
the same spot. John and Lara turned out to be from Keswick.We had a great
time with them. The following morning we both took our dinghies up the
Savannah river which was completly flat so we able to do 20 knots all the
way in Doodie. The river has some industry on it and very large ships
navigate what looks like a very narrow river. The free dock in Savanna
didn't look that inviting as it was busy and very jabbly from all the
ferries and industrial traffic, though the town is exceptionally pretty.

We got a map and started to explore the town; we met up with a school
group of 8th grade children who where being led by a very interesting
local historian, so we asked if it was ok to tag along. We passed through
leafy squares with statues of important Southeners with unlikely names
like Fontainville MacLeod and .Theodori .MacAllister, and learnt
something of the history of the place. It has fine colonial architecture,
beautiful squares and gardens and is kept clean and maintained to a high
standard. At the end of our walk we found a park with a foot fountain in
it. Lots of toddlers with their Mums where having great fun, so Duggy and
I took off our shoes and joined them it was great! The weather was really
hot!

We continued our way north in the Intrecoastal Waterway all the way to
Norfolk, Virginia then entered the Chesapeake Bay. The locals call the
Intrecoasal waterway,"the ditch" and is an inland route joining great
rivers, inland bays and large estuaries together through strategically
dug canals o cuts as they are called here. TheICW runs all the way from
Marathon, Florida to Norfolk Virginia, a distance of about one thousand
miles.

After entering the Chesapeake our first stop was Deltaville where we had
been told was a good place to leave Swiftwing for the winter. We anchored
in Fisherman Bay along with two other yachts and next morning an elderly
couple, Lynn and Temple, motored out to see us. They invited us to come
ashore at their private dock and offered us the use of one of their cars.
We went ashore and were given the grand tour of Deltaville which, despite
it's unassuming name is a very pretty little town of two thousand people.

We were taken to the local sailing club and told that as members of a
sailing club elsewhere, we automatically became associate members of this
club during our stay. We did return later in the afternoon and used their
very nice outdoor pool. Temple is the son of a British Naval Officer who
served in the first World War and was sent to Jamaica as Commisioner
during the WWII. Following the war he settled in Canada then moved to the
USA.

Next day we set off again for the next hop of our journey north and
stopped overnight in the Solomon Islands. Now this is not to be confused
with the Solomons in the Pacific. To start with it is not a group of
islands at all, nor is it even an island, but a peninsula which was
farmland until it was developed by a guy called Solomon who grandly gave
the place it's new name. Having said that it was a very pretty town with
a lovely harbour with plenty of space to anchor

Next stop was Annapolis, the sailing capital of the World if you are to
believe all the hype. Thirty marinas the size of Kip witin the space of
about three miles makes it a very busy spot. Crazily there is are
recognised anchorages within the creeks which are surrounded by marinas.
We anchored in Back Creek between the marinas close to friends from the
Caribbean, Chris and Elza. It was like being anchored in Tobermory at
West Highland Week and surrounded on all sides by marinas.

We spent a couple of days there exploring, doing the laundry at a local
marina and shopping. It's not all sun and beaches this cruising game! We
headed off then for Baltimore as we were to meet Sarah and Will off the
plane at New York and we thought that this would be the best place to
drive from. I'll leave Sarah to tell you all about Baltimore.