Mythical Cousin...

Knowing we were going to be in Annapolis for a month, we contacted Richards Cousin Peter - the Mythical Cousin!  Hearing of him over the years from family, however never meeting.

What a treat we were in for!

We spent last weekend with Peter and his lovely wife Carla.  

We had the most fantastic time.

We chatted together as if we had known each other all our lives

We wined and dined, eating Maryland Oysters and Crab

They took us touring around their town - Baltimore, 

showing us the family home from when Peter was a lad…

They even taught us the game of "American Football"

It was sad to say goodbye, however we have no doubt we will meet again somewhere

They showed us the art of eating "Crab" - yes the table is loaded with whole Crab

(using your hands and a hammer is the trick to it)

While showing us around, we came across this little town with the most interesting name!...

The scenery was gorgoues...

Two guesses what time of the year it is???

Richard with his (not mythical) cousin Peter...

Thank you Carla and Peter for a lovely weekend!

Colours...

We received an email from David & Diana letting us know they would be visiting their son in USA.

It had been 10 years since we had seem them when we visited them at their home in the UK.

(David and Richard had been at Primary and Secondary school together.)

They invited us to join them for the weekend…
We had a really lovely time with them, enjoying the beautiful colours of Shenandoah National Park, and catching up on the 10 years gone by with lovely food, wine and fantastic company…

Thank you so much to Diana and David for inviting us.

Time Flies...

It has been a month and a half since my last entry - where has the time gone???

From Gloucester Harbour we headed back to Boston, collecting parcels that had been sent - 

The most amazing being a parcel from home… 

Lynnette and Dean had sent a box of goodies - thank you, thank you, thank you…

We motor-sailed down the coast and through the Cape Cod Canal.

Vineyard Haven there were hundreds of "Gingerbread Houses"…

 We stopped at many anchorages, with names such as Great Salt Pont, Lake Montauk, New Haven.

Leaving Port Washington, we headed back through Hells Gate, and passed the Statue of Liberty for the second time, arriving at Great Kills.

Here we went ashore and had a fabulous long lunch, followed by a bottle of Champagne on Our Rose to acknowledge having left home two years ago (16 September 2012).

We had a wonderful 20 knot easterly, averaging 7 knots, 

sailing from Cape May to the East Side of C & D Canal, where we anchored for the night beside a "Nuclear Power Station" - something you certainly don't see in New Zealand!

The next morning we came through the C & D Canal and into Chesapeake Bay.

We went to an anchorage called Dollar Ninety Eight and had our good mates Brett and Teresa on Seismic Wave come join us for the night - always great fun catching up.

We spent the next few weeks at various anchorages in the Chesapeake,  having to get our "vacuum packed" winter clothes out of storage (which haven't had to come out since we left South Africa).

We have seen some beautiful sunsets in the last month…

The Annapolis Sailboat Boat is one of the largest in the USA.  

Teresa and Brett left Seismic Wave for a couple of nights and driving up to join us to go to the show.

Rudi (and his partner Robert) from Maverick came to see us on Our Rose, joining us for dinner.