First Week of Spring in Annapolis

—Blogpost written by Bob 

Monday, March 22

Reaching a low temperature of 39 degrees during last night was the lowest temperature we expected to see in a while.  The remainder of the week will feature lows in the 50's and highs in the 60's and 70's!  The water temperature at the Annapolis sea buoy is still only 40.3 degrees F, probably still too cold to run our reverse cycle heater (but we'll give it a try soon).

This was our last week in Annapolis and we expect to leave for Kent Island on Saturday.

It didn't take much effort on my part to get back into my routine for preparation for my radiation treatment this morning, even though I thoroughly enjoyed the weekend off.  With my treatments scheduled for 11:30 AM every weekday, I don't have a lot of time to accomplish much--just the afternoons.  

However, today I really needed to complete the couple little tasks that I didn't accomplish on Saturday: gathering up the (no longer needed) GIGstreem WiFi hardware and cleaning up the cockpit in general.  

I'm running out of yellow stickies!

Of course, I added a few very small tasks to today's agenda: measuring our car's trunk space for a new (still to be purchased) cooler and confirming that the (newly energized) satellite radio in the car was working properly.  Everything was accomplished by 3 PM.

My NIKON battery grip came in today for my Nikon D750--it looks and works great--it holds an extra battery and provides a better grip for vertical shots.  It makes my camera appear a lot larger (and more professional).  In the process of adding the grip I discovered that one of my three batteries was nearly dead--it spent most of the day on its charger today.

Maggie made delicious pineapple-strawberry
daiquiri's for Happy Hour tonight.

Tuesday, March 23

Sleeping was much more comfortable when the outside temperature was only 45 degrees F!  We almost didn't need to use heat but we kept both oil-filled radiators on their lowest setting.  Today was a beautiful spring day.

----------

I made more detailed measurements of our trunk space for the soon-to-be-purchased cooler but decided that I couldn't fit in the trunk the way I'd liked.  So, we decided to use the back seat for accommodating the cooler.  I have tentatively decided on the IGLOO Sportsman 40-quart cooler--it is certified "bear resistant."  

The IGLOO Sportsman 40-quart cooler

I don't expect to see any bears between Annapolis MD and San Miguel de Allende.  It is still possible that we will decide on a slightly different cooler before purchase.

----------

We filled our fresh water tanks using the dock's faucet for the first time this season--they just turned on the water today.  We allowed the water to run overboard a good amount of time so that we were sure to flush out the potable antifreeze used in the system.

----------

For Happy Hour we had shrimp cocktail, one of of favorite snacks with our evening drinks.

Wednesday, March 24

It was rainy "cats and dogs" (meaning at this link) from the get go in the morning with a prediction for almost 1-1/2 inches of rain during the day.  The outside temperature remained in the mid-50's all day.  As the day wore on the rain slowed down but it was still very wet outside.

----------

We went out for lunch for the third time this week, today at Italian Market.  We put off rearranging some stuff in our storage unit until tomorrow afternoon when it is expected to be much dryer outside. 

---------- 

We started to use our reverse-cycle heat today!  We couldn't use it for the last two months because the water was too cold.  

Thursday, March 25

The warm atmosphere and the cold water combined to form a fog bank over the bay this morning.  It was drizzling lightly as we began moving around in the morning but the drizzle disappeared a little later in the morning.

After my radiation treatment in the late morning, we came back to the boat for an excellent lunch consisting of rib eye steaks (I think the best I have ever eaten!) and asparagus.  After lunch we gathered things up off the boat to take to storage, including both oil-filled radiators, excess pink antifreeze, etc.  We spend about 1-1/2 hours at our storage unit, mostly reorganizing.  Afterwards, I was beat!

When we returned to the boat, we reorganized some more.  We left Lola in the enclosed cockpit while we were working inside.  She managed to escape the enclosure and was having a walkabout in the nearby parking lot until a boat neighbor saw her and brought our attention to the matter. 

Is this YOUR cat?

I don't know what she was thinking?  She quickly scampered back onto the boat and wanted inside.  Anyway, she is safe and sound now.

----------

Next up, we will be traveling by boat to Kent Island for our summer slip...stay tuned for our trip!

Thanks for following our blog!