Spirit Dancer is now in the Chesapeake.

Below are links to Google Maps of our location, links to marinas if applicable and links to Kem's blog on the Houston Chronicle. Most recent event on top.

Tentative Plans

September 29, 30 & October 1, 2010

SPOT

Herrington Harbor South

Nice hurricane hole tucked in on the South side of Herrington Bay.

NEXT PAGE - POTOMAC RIVER

September 1 - 30, 2010

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"CRAB BALL AWARD" on chron.Commons.

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Excerpt: " You might recall, Bob and I were diligent in pursuing our extensive research project in the islands – consuming the consummate Pina Colada. While in the Chesapeake Bay, we have expanded that re... "

"VIVA ITALIA TRAWLERFEST" on chron.Commons.

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Excerpt: " Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Maseratis and Trawlers in one place – what more could one ask? The sixth annual Viva Italia Concours D’Elegance was held in conjunction with TrawlerFest this year ... "

"NATTY BOH"

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Excerpt: " Bob’s been training for a client in Anaheim the past few days and we celebrated his return at the Canton Wine & Jazz Festival today. The venue is O’Donnell Square, a couple of blocks ... "

"FALL EQUINOX" on chron.Commons.

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Excerpt: " How the Fall (Autumnal) Equinox got the tag of GOOD LUCK is not known, however, many love to treasure this notion. The Fall Equinox date might alter by a day or more each year, but hey, in 2010, Sept... "

"GO TEXANS!"

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Excerpt: " Last night on our evening walkabout, we stopped in across the street from our marina at one of the local watering holes, the Austin Grill. Great menu and a fair representation of a Sixth Street pub b... "

"MTOA RENDEZVOUS"

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Excerpt: " The reason we chose to spend a month in Baltimore (aside from the obvious multitude of things to see and do) was to attend our first MTOA Rendezvous. This organization, originally Marine Trader Owner... "

"TALK LIKE A PIRATE DAY"

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Excerpt: " The Baltimore Harbor pirate ship reminded me of an important holiday. Be prepared – tomorrow is International Talk Like a Pirate Day. Why is this day different from all others? Why do we n... "

"HAVRE DE GRACE"

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Excerpt: " Bob had a client training session scheduled this week in the quaint bay town of Havre de Grace and my schedule just happened to be free, so I tagged along. Less than an hour’s drive north from ... "

"TOO MANY OPTIONS"

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Excerpt: " In addition to the routine tours and events, this weekend definitely had too many options – all fun. We did our best to sort it all out over drinks at Mama’s on the Half Shell in our &ldq... "

"9 / 11"

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Excerpt: " The anniversary of September 11 is especially sorrowful for us. On that day, Bob and five of his trainers were training an international group of sales people and their managers at a Baltimore resort... "

Video: Paddle Wheel, Harbor Cruise Ship and Water Taxi run side by side to the Inner Harbor

"BALTIMORE ORIENTATION"

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Excerpt: " I found that I really needed a history/geography lesson when it came to understanding the different neighborhoods in Baltimore. We’ve already completed a superficial walkthrough of the areas, b..."

BEST SLIP, BEST DOCK"

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Excerpt: " We have really lucked out this time. Baltimore is a community of thousands of boats and boaters, and we are definitely in the best slip on the best dock in a great marina. Largely thanks to our frien... "

"DODGED A BULLET"

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Excerpt: " Baltimore and the eastern coastline dodged a bullet this week. Earl could have been a major catastrophe, but the weather gods decided to spare all of us and we are forever grateful. Spirit Dan... "

"INNER HARBOR"

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Excerpt: " Strange day - blue cloudless sky and no wind to speak of even though the threat of Earl looms just down the coast. If we were in the Gulf Coast under the same circumstances, everyone around us w... "

"BOATS IN THE BAY"

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Excerpt: " Just as we crossed under th Francis Scott Key Bridge, and headed up the channel to Ft. McHenry, this navy chase boat contacted us and warned us to stay as far away from the warship as possible. ... "

"TO BALTIMORE"

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Excerpt: " It was eerily quiet at first light. The mooring field in Annapolis that was full (with a wait list) when we arrived, has emptied out. Our dock neighbor, BraveHeart, and many of the larger yachts... "

August 27 - 31, 2010

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"NAVIGATING ANNAPOLIS"

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Excerpt: " Well, our time in Annapolis is soon drawing to a close. It’s been great, we've made some lasting memories, and we will certainly come back for another stay. We have walked the town every d... "

"ANNAPOLIS YACHT CLUB"

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Excerpt: " Since we are official Ambassadors Afloat from our home port Lakewood Yacht Club, we try to visit other Yacht Clubs along our route. The Annapolis Yacht Club was a MUST since we could see it a block a... "

"NAVAL ACADEMY"

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Excerpt: " We had one of the best days of our entire cruising adventure when we were personally toured through the Annapolis Naval Academy by Jodi and her husband Rob. Jodi is the daughter of one of our dear bo... "

"ANNAPOLIS"

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Excerpt: " We had a great cruise over from St. Michaels to Annapolis. Crossing Bloody Bar Point and the lighthouse, one can see how many ships were easily led astray into shallow waters and ended up on the bott... "

August 22-27, 2010

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"LADY MARYLAND"

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Excerpt: " What a treat today to watch the Lady Maryland gracefully sail in and dock right beside us. Each of the crew members was with an individual in training and watching the teams and the Captain call out ... "

"ST MIKES"

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Excerpt: " Since we have been working our way up the Chesapeake Eastern Shore, we have docked at towns that were historically quaint, politically quaint, watermen quaint, community specific quaint, boater quain...

"VOYAGE TO ST MICHAELS"

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Excerpt: " What a great day! We knew it was going to be long, remember, we are going REAL fast at 10 miles an hour – ha – so it was an early AM departure. We were in luck, the breeze was at our back... "

Jellyfish are in abundant supply here in the bay. We saw hundreds of them moving around our boat. We also saw them in the Calvert Maritime Museum where I was able to capture them on film.

August 20 - 22, 2010

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"SPINELESS MENACE"

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Excerpt: " A 2008 National Science Foundation report of “Jellyfish Gone Wild” tells of nightmare accounts of them shutting down nuclear power plants in several countries because they clogged the coo... "

"SOLOMONS REUNION"

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Excerpt: " Our stay at Solomons was complete with great meals (if you go, don’t miss DiGiovanni’s Italian Bistro), and good friends. We met up with Charles and JoAnn, there on their beautiful sailbo... "

"SOLOMONS REVISITED" on chron.Commons.

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Excerpt: " We have returned to Solomons Island, MD. In September 1998, this was where this yachting dream of ours took shape. That is when we attended the 4 day boat party called TrawlerFest with the Poe’...

Zahniser's Yachting Center - Back Creek Video

"UNUSUAL SIGHTINGS"

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Excerpt: " Today was a picture perfect day for a cruise and we headed out early from Crisfield, across Chesapeake Bay to Solomons Island, MD – beautiful blue sky, flat seas and cool weather. We could have... "

August 17-19, 2010

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"WALKING THE PLANK"

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Excerpt: " OK, we are used to marinas promoting future amenities as if they were in place, so when we docked at Somers Cove, we weren’t too disappointed that their “floating docks” were s... "

"CRISFIELD COUNTERFEITERS"

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Excerpt: " We are comfortably docked at Somers Cove Marina in Crisfield, the hometown of Lem and Steve Ward – only you avid duck hunters will recognize their names. The Ward brothers were barbers, an... "

August 15 - 16, 2010

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Parks Marina Tangier Island

Our cell phone booster antenna provided the only access to cell coverage (AT&T) in the area. No WiFi unless you have a booster antenna to pick up a signal from the museum about 10 blocks from the marina.

Enter on the sound side (only side we used) at mid-tide or better. 6' 6" is the least we saw.

Awesome stop. 79 year old Milton Parks helped us dock and then took us on a buggy (golf cart) ride tour of the island. Neat restaurants. Made some new friends.

About Tangier Island

"TANGIER, THE EXPERIENCE"

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Excerpt: " As I mentioned in my last blog, this island will not appeal to every boater. In fact, in the many months that we have been out cruising, we’ve only come across two other islands that gave us th... "

"PARKS MARINA, TANGIER"

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Excerpt: " The Waterway Guide said, “Nosing through the channel leading to Tangier Island is a rare experience. There’s no other way to put it.” Contrasted against blue sky are small white she... "

"AN AMAZING PLACE"

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Excerpt: " Tangier Island is truly one of the most unique places we have ever traveled. We loved every minute we were there, and felt we could have stayed much longer. Not every visitor to the island will appre... "

Muriel Eileen - 1924, 58 foot Oyster Buyboat - see it in the "homecoming" video or slide show at bottom of linked page. She was next to us at Parks Marina.
About the Muriel Eileen

August 12, 13 and 14, 2010

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"CAPE CHARLES"

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Excerpt: " Cape Charles is on the southern tip of the Chesapeake Peninsula and our first stop along the eastern shore north from Portsmouth. The Bay Creek Resort (and spa) is located north of the town, but we c... "

"WATERMEN"

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Excerpt: " Watermen of the Chesapeake Bay have been called that for centuries because they harvest many types of seafood in different seasons. In any given year, they may harvest blue crabs in the summer m... "

Watermen - Cape Charles - Video

Watermen - Cape Charles - Video .flv

"CROSSING THE CHESAPEAKE"

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Excerpt: " Not too unlike crossing the Gulf of Mexico or crossing the Gulf Stream; crossing the Chesapeake was a milestone for us. Today was picture perfect – until the very end, when it was a little ... "