Spending Time at St Michaels

I want the people of Joplin to know that they are in the hearts and thoughts of people everywhere. Of course, NautiNell has the “Port of Joplin” on her stern. Every day, Mike and I are surprised by those that take the time to stop and tell us how sorry they are. They always tell us to pass their words on to those we know in our hometown. Mike and I always point out that Joplin is our home and we know that although, it may take a very long time, Joplin will become the great little town it was before May 22, 2011. God Bless you all.

Friday turned out to be rather an uneventful day. Mike did fix one of the heads though and the other one seemed to fix itself! We took a dinghy ride around the area. It’s very nice here and there are some very nice homes. I was told that this area is “old money”. Well, they do know how to spend it! Big homes, big boats……

We went over to El Sea and visited with them for a while. They are from Nashville TN and are both licensed captains. They have boated this area before and spent a lot of time on the Tennessee River and the Tenn-Tom. It was great talking to them. We soak up as much information as we can. They are staying until Sunday, I believe. We are either leaving Sunday or Monday. Haven’t decided yet.

Of course, when we got back to the boat, the head (the one that fixed itself) decided it wasn’t fixed after all. Mike needs to order a repair kit. We’ll order it at West Marine and pick it up in Annapolis when we get there. At least the other one is fixed! Between the heads and the generator, Mike is keeping busy. Actually too busy. Surely things will get better….. Right?

We enjoyed another sunset and watched the osprey. There’s a nest with a baby in it and he doesn’t like to be left for very one. He has become quite vocal. Mom comes back with food every few hours.

Saturday has been a great day so far. We’ve learned to relish the good days when there is nothing to fix because we know that it could change at any time.
The weather is beautiful here. They forecasted a slight chance of rain the last couple of days, but it hasn’t even been cloudy. This morning we took the dinghy back to town. We had planned to go to the farmers market, but didn’t get around early enough. Surprised? No, of course not. Anyway, we did get in town in time to have lunch at the Carpenter’s Saloon. Just in time to enjoy the “singing bartender”.A 300+ pound – openly gay man - singing "New York, New York". Even doing the high kicks! Quite a sight!

We walked on down to the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum. This museum consists of 15 buildings. There were several boats, both original and replicas. It was worth the time spent. If you are ever in this area, I would highly recommend this museum.

After the museum we walked back to the grocery store- more beer and Diet Pepsi! We spent the evening on the sundeck just kicking back. I must not forget the renaming ceremony! See my other post for info on that. It deserved a separate posting!

The kids across the bay were shooting off fireworks. That was fun to watch. Guess we’ll hang around here a few more days. No real reason to leave! The number of boats has grown to about 16. All are sailboats except three. This side is definitely less crowded than the other. We saw boats going in every direction on the other side. Some rafted up with a dozen or more having a ball. It reminded me of Lake of the Ozarks some. Of course, it is Memorial Weekend!

Sunday has been a very relaxing day. The weather is gorgeous. We have close to 20 boats anchored with us now. Most of them are sailboats. It’s really pretty to look over the bay and see all the boats. Many are decorated with flags (including us).

We plan to leave out early tomorrow morning to go back to the west side of the Bay. We are going to drop an anchor in Rhode River. This is only about 15 miles from Annapolis. On Tuesday, we will boat on in to Annapolis and stay at a dock a couple of days. By then, we will have anchored for seven days in a row! I’m looking forward to a little dock time. There’s laundry and grocery shopping to do. An Admiral’s work is never done.

Remember, the other day I said that we were watching the nest of the baby osprey. Well, guess who decided it was time to fly! It was so cool to seem him fly around and back to the nest. His parents weren’t even there to see it. By the time mom got there, junior was already tucked in his nest waiting on dinner. Kids!

I’ll talk more later. Till then!


Admiral “C”