We wake up the familiar mill pond yet again. The nuclear power plant actually looks quite beautiful as its steam billows out of the cooling tower. With no wind, it just goes straight up into the sky, leaving a lovely reflection on the water. I don’t suppose one is supposed to wax lyrical about such things but it certainly looks nicer than the chemical plant opposite!
We wait for the current to be with us but it sets in a bit late so we have a bit against us for a few miles before eventually going with us and helping us along.
Ann makes tea all round. When Mike takes a slug out of his cup and swallows, he nearly throws up over the wheel. Screaming for a glass of water he manages to communicate that Ann has put salt in his tea instead of sugar – as he has three spoonfuls of it the taste is pretty dire. She won’t be allowed to forget this particular transgression. She can’t even blame anyone else for this major wrong-doing as she was the one who had re-arranged my galley so the salt pot was by the tea and coffee stuff.
We continue to motor (sigh) along the canal, and under many bridges that it doesn’t look like we will be able to pass under. I almost wait for the screeching of mast against something hard but thankfully it never comes.
From the moment we started off in the morning, Ann has been worrying about her dwindling supply of cigarettes. Eventually, after 15 miles, Mike takes pity on , amazing after the salt incident, and pulls in to Chesapeake City just so that she can go and buy some.
We tie up to the town dock which is free for 24 hours. You only have to pay a nominal cost for water and electricity and since it looks so pretty, he decides to stay the night. Amazingly, there are two other catamarans on the dock, one from New Zealand and one French Canadian. Mike manages to slip in between the other two.
Right by the dock is the Chesapeake Inn where Ann is able to buy a small stock of her life support system. We go over for a drink and then while everyone else goes off to explore this little town (it’s no city really) Mike and I have an afternoon nap. I have never been good at lunchtime drinking! When I get up I too go off armed with my camera and find a lovely lots of clapboard houses, very much in the style of New England.
The town (it used to be called the town of Bohemia before it was renamed Chesapeake City in the 19th century) is very pretty with lots of guest houses, inns, restaurants, gift shops, art galleries and clothes shops but not one shop selling groceries. For that we, and the 680ish inhabitants, need a car. Everyone seems very well groomed and respectable. I can’t imagine any of them going to the toilet, it’s that kind of place!
We eat on board in the evening as we had already taken something out of the freezer as we thought we would still be on the go. Even though we are full, we manage to push down a huge ice cream bought from the shop just off the dock, and therein lies a little tale of crap service.
Terry and Alice waited for the shop to open at 4 pm as advertised on the door, along with about 4 other potential customers. At 4.15 they had all tired of waiting and left. At just past 5 pm Terry and Alice had gone back to find the shop assistant just opening. When Terry told her that they had been there at 4 pm, she ‘explained’ that the times had changed. How about changing the bloody sign then?
When we turn up in the evening at 8.50 pm (the advertised closing is 9 pm) she first tells us we can’t have ice cream then relents and says that we can have one from the 5 flavours that she hasn’t yet put back in the freezer. Unhelpful or what? If she had offered to serve us anything she might have got a tip for her hopeful ‘college fund’ box on the counter but she’s a miserable little madam and gets nothing.
Still, the ice cream is good. Luckily I wanted the one that she hadn’t put away.
Position: 39 deg 31 min N, 75 deg 48 min W
Distance so far: 2512 miles
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