It was an early 6:30 am rise & 7:00 am departure today. We were moving from our one night stay with the wonderful harbor hosts on Solomons Island, 57 miles north to Annapolis Maryland.
We left early because we did not want to arrive in the busy port of Annapolis at 4-5pm, the boat traffic would have been a zoo.
The early departure worked great, we arrived in Annapolis about 1:45pm. Got fueled up & in our slip by 2:15pm.
Today’s ride was very bumpy, but not terrible. We started the route following our GPS Plotter course, but then went off course to once again hug the western shore of Chesapeake Bay for reduced waves.
After arrival, we spent about an hour washing the darn salt off of the poor Mahi Mahi. We have been in some big seas, with water coming over the bow and sometimes even over the flybridge. This was the first wash the Mahi has had so far on the trip. The magic “Salt-Away” product comes to the rescue again.
After pre-dinner showers at 5pm, we went for a walk into the bustling city center square.
We visited – several shops, the State Capital of Maryland, and a narrow transient boat canal called Ego Alley – where folks come by boat to the restaurants and bars. It was Deena & Jerry’s first time in Annapolis, so they were very excited. The streets were jammed and the town was lively.
Our dinner tonight was another one of them “hard to believe” stories. Jerry wanted a Guinness, so we stopped into your average Irish bar. There are several Irish bars in Annapolis. The name of this place was Castlebay Irish Bar.
When we arrived the place was fairly empty. When we left it was packed.
We started with a couple Guinness and then Jerry told me that I had to drink a Jameson Irish Whiskey with the Guinness. After an initial “No Thanks”, Jerry talked me into sharing one.
Just kidding, we did not use straws to share the Jameson !!!
It wasn’t half bad, and did pair well with the Guinness, and we did let Deena in on the fun.
Well, we were starting to feel good after the long day, and decided to stay for dinner & have the highly recommended Corned Beef.
Then the fun began. Jerry starts a conversation with the guy on the bar stool next to him. Jerry talked about his old music store business, his love of music, and his past life playing the accordion. The old guy next to him turns out to be the owner of the bar Vince Quinlan. Vince is a music lover himself, showed us a photo of his 8-10 vintage guitars, and then pulls out from behind the stage, an old italian accordion that had not been played in years.
Jerry has not played in 2-3 months because of carpletunnel in his right hand, but gave it a go.
The owner Vince, who is 78 years old, was so happy to hear the accordion being played again, that he offered to give it to Jerry. We did not take the accordion, but did stay for another hour as Vince started to open up about his life. The conversation made me think the we were listening to Forrest Gump.
Vince came over to the United States as a young 20 year old man from Dublin Ireland. He initially lived in Manhatton and worked a lower level job on Wall Street. Then went on to become a very successful Lead Guitar & Singer Musician, playing Irish music. He claims that his band played in the National Mall in front of Jimmy Carter. He showed us a framed photo, from above the bar, showing 4 dudes playing in front of thousands of people on the National Mall.
While he was talking to Jerry & Deena, I did a quick Google search, and found this.
Enlarge the photo and read the members of the band. It appears that ole Vince was definitely in a band. I’m still not sure about the National Mall photo & Jimmy Carter.
More info on Vince & the Castlebay Pub https://www.castlebayirishpub.com
After leaving the Pub, we walked thru the residential area of Annapolis. Lots of narrow/multi-unit buildings, many B&B’s, and one really cool private residence that actually looked like an old church ?
In the photo above, look at the sign on the front lawn – Private Residence !!!
When we got back to the boat, we were treated to get another, end of the night surprise. There was a man on a loud speaker system from the Annapolis Yacht Club right behind our boat, announcing some type of nautical musical tribute. I’m not sure if this was only a Memorial Weekend event, or a more frequent event at the Yacht Club. The event occurred at exactly 8:20pm, to coincide with today’s sunset time in Annapolis.
That’s all for tonight. Tomorrow we will visit the United States Naval Academy.
Nitie Nite 😴
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