Tuesday October 7 — The moon was just as amazing this morning as it was preparing to set as it had been last night shortly after it rose.
We’re sad to report that the marina was rolly and uncomfortable. It didn’t seem to have any protection from the direction that the wind and waves were coming from today. 🙁
When we were in Baltimore, we’d mentioned that Eric had bought a replacement part for the wing engine exhaust from a supplier in Annapolis, called Portside Marine. This morning, he hailed a ride share to go pick the part up, which was a short drive from our marina in Annapolis.
continued… Once Kosmos was situated, we quickly took showers and go ready to go out. After three days onboard, we were excited to walk around onshore, especially in a new town. It could be tricky to get on and off the boat with fixed docks, so Eric had set up a line to give us extra leverage.
Since we were in no rush, we slept until our normal time and had a leisurely breakfast. Interestingly, when we first got up, there was no fog, and as the morning progressed we watched it slowly and steadily roll in on shore.
Saturday, October 4 — Our plan was to leave as soon as it was light enough to safely navigate. The days were getting shorter, and the sun was rising later, so we didn’t untie until 0650.
It was calm and peaceful on the water, though there was patchy fog here and there. There were also a lot of rowing (crew) boats out on the water that we needed to be wary of.
Wednesday, October 1 — We were not surprised to hear that the federal shutdown happened. Some of the yacht club members had told us that few agencies would actually shut down today; that many had squirreled away some funds to keep operating — at least for a little while — in case the shut down occurred. We found out that the museums would be open for a few more days, so we hadn’t needed to force ourselves to go to the Natural History Museum and Hirshhorn Museum yesterday, after all.
Our plan for today had been to finish seeing the outdoor monuments, but we were tired and needed to take care of some “life chores.” We decided to take the day off of sightseeing. After Keith and Christi finished school, all three of us washed the boat. We don’t think we’ve washed the whole boat with soap and a brush since Panama! It has rained enough – and hard enough – that it just hasn’t been necessary. In Baltimore, we’d had some air pollution settle on the boat, but that had been easily rinsed away with just the hose. But here in DC, under the flight path of Reagan International airport, we had a layer of jet fuel building up on the deck. And jet fuel didn’t rinse away — it needed to be scrubbed with a brush and hand wiped off with rags.
After boat washing, we went to lunch at a restaurant called Kinfolk, which was right near us on The Wharf (where the police car often sat).
It was southern food, and we hadn’t gone in earlier because we were dubious that they could accommodate Christi’s food allergy. But they actually had a lot of pepper-free choices, and the food was incredible. We wished we’d eaten there sooner!
