Thursday, June 27 — Destination Annapolis

Have to start with a beautiful sunset photo from last night that Jim took. It’s a wow! (And, I am working on getting the photos right-side up! Upgrades to the WordPress site are a pain!)

Spent a quiet night here at anchor. No wifi….and no Cubs’ game. Thus an evening spent talking and reminiscing about trips and plans and families. Two friends, one I’ve known since grade school and another with whom I worked very closely when I was at Bekins have both been recently diagnosed with dementia. So what I say is: Let’s make LOTS of memories while we can still remember them.

That said…..

Ospreys have taken over this sailboat — and by the size of the nest, they’ve been in residence for several years. This boat was about 30 feet long, so you can kind of get an idea of how much territory the nest has commandeered. Ospreys mate for life and return to the same nest each year. Both parents tend to their baby birds. Usually there are two, but this year we saw one nest with three babies all chirping for attention and food.

Early morning is a special time aboard. There is a “golden moment” that paints everything and everyone in early sunlight. Please note the clever coffee cup that I am holding.

Today’s destination is Annapolis, the sailing capital of the mid-Atlantic states. Here a group of youngsters is being towed out of the busy harbor area into Chesapeake Bay.

There are plenty of mega-yachts too (tho’ not as many as we’ve seen in Newport RI, Charleston and Fort Lauderdale!) Tsalta is our neighboring boat in Annapolis. We saw six crew board this afternoon. Two people, one of whom was quite elderly) dined on the aft deck….nobody else.

We took the United States Naval Academy tour again. Today was “I” day — induction day for the ~1,200 new midshipmen. Annapolis was bursting with parents — and the parents were bursting with pride. The photo above shows the seating area for the actual induction ceremony.. The neat and tidy rows in the front are for the inductees. The chairs in the back, draped with blankets, towels, jackets to “save” them will hold parents, siblings and friends of the inductees.

This year’s tour was not as good as last year’s….more history of naval battles than information about life on the campus. Who knew that John Paul Jones defeated the British navy while commanding a French ship!? (If you did…congratulations.) We had the parents of a new student along on our tour who figuratively jumped for joy when our guide estimated that four year’s at USNA costs roughly $375,000, courtesy of the US taxpayers.

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