June 16, 2000 -- The Tall Ships Cometh

We got up first thing in the morning to fix the ignition on our dinghy. Actually, we weren't going to fix it at all, but hot wire it. However, when we got the switch box loose from the controls, Mike was able to get it working again. We will fix this when we visit Annapolis. Just as we were finishing putting the dinghy back together, Janet on Britican stopped by to invite us and Second Line over to watch the tall ship's parade from their boat. They were planning to move to just outside the channel to get a good view. We had considered doing the same thing, but felt that it would be an interesting proposition considering our draft. So we accepted their invitation and had front row seats to the parade. We headed out to their boat around 7:45 AM since the parade was supposed to start at 8:00 AM on the Elizabeth River. On the way, we picked up Reed and Mary Jane from Second Line. We spent the morning talking, joking and watching boats. It was a lot of fun. Pictures will be forthcoming. At the end of the parade, we invited everyone over to watch the fireworks from Nightwinds that evening. We also stopped to invite Bill and Cindy on Rainbow's End. Everyone brought food and drink, and we spent the evening chatting about people we knew, people we didn't know, and of course, marine heads. It was great fun putting faces with voices and sharing in the camaraderie of the sea