10/23/15 Friday

Relaxed departure. Well, not really. Take the outboard off the dinghy and hoist it via block and tackle to the back rail, David in the dinghy, me on the aft deck hauling away. Secure it. Now the dinghy itself, flipped on its side the hauled up out of the water in its pretend-davit sling via two blocks and tackles, plus the cargo net that attaches dinghy to the side of the boat, as high out of the water as we can manage. Then, secure the lines. Then get the fender boards out so we can go in for fuel. Done! And we're leaving the Annapolis Harbor at 9:49 AM, ten minutes earlier that our deadline. yippee.

Pretty day but winder than expected and hoped for. And all those Navy boats and ships, including a submarine (!) were out in their mooring field with passenger boats running back and forth - alumni weekend/week so lots of activities. Yikes! And the waves of 3-4'. Thank goodness they were behind us and to the aft, port quarter. Not like NJ when larger ones were smashing into us, head on.

I was scared this morning. Not sure why, exactly. The conditions weren't bad really. Maybe because we'd, essentially, been on land for 2 days. I took the dinghy in and out of town by myself. Had a half day of sight-seeing on my own. Feeling pretty competent and independent. But I was really scared leaving the harbor this morning. Off into the unknown again. Off into the unknown. The day was uncomfortable but not feeling very dangerous. We made decent time and arrived in Solomons Island about the time we'd predicted, maybe a little early even.

Discussing my fear w/David, I arrived at needing to plot our course before we leave the mooring, anchorage or dock. Rather than trying to decide the course while we're also looking out for other boats or wondering which buoy we should be attending to. It only makes sense to do so. We always have the idea of "go south" and there is time to plot details while underway. But, I'm too inexperienced and I know that multi-tasking is NOT paying attention. So tonight after dinner we set w/our respective charts - David's electronic, mine paper - and determined our direction in more detail than "south." Ideally, of course, we'd write the float plan down and send it to someone, as was the case when we made "flight plans" when I was young. Not going to happen but at least we've each figured out a flexible plan and confirmed w/each other than we were on the same...chart.

Amelia was scared, too, today but later, as the seas grew and we were bouncing around uncomfortable. First she sat on the step next tomy leg. Then she moved to between our feet, making us nervous about stepping on her. Finally, she and moved to the settee w/Amelia tucked close to my thigh with her head tucked in the crook ofmy elbow. When we stopped she ate and threw up. Now about 4 hours later, she's taken a nap, roused herself to have her own dinner, and is now sleeping beside me w/her front arms/paws tucked under her breast. What a delight she is.

Annapolis was a delight - beautiful, quaint, warm. Interesting/odd/disconcerting, though, that here I was in the birthplace, some say, of our U.S of America government, a major port for the slave trade in the mid-1770 and I'm reading Howard Zinn's book, A People's History of the United States, which speaks about all the people  whose backs our leaders and heros stood upon or trampled down as they (leaders and heros) climbed their way to wealth and power. Humans have been, continue to be, really horrible to other humans in the name of progress, alligence, godliness, .... Standing in the room where Washington resigned his Army Commission I was thinking that only wealthy, highly educated, men were in that room, making those decisions, taking care of each other and themselves. Granted I benefit from many of their decisions but they were not made with me in mind or the servants or the vagabonds or the children or the paupers or the slaves. I think it may be impossible to untangle all the threads that have brought us to here. I am glad to be uncomfortable in those "halls of government beginnings" though. The system supporting private property as wealth was not for the good of everyone, not even most... only a few, really...then or now.

And tomorrow we'll be in Virginia with some early morning sailing and some luck. Wonder what fears that passage will unearth.