Merrily Sailing in Maryland--Oxford to Solomons Island

Wednesday, October 12, 2016

Today, we wandered around Oxford, Maryland. Quiet little town.  Nothing too exciting.

Several more boats squished into our anchorage.  So much for thinking there was only room for two boats. On one boat the kids were swinging around the mast like they were on a trapeze.  Looked like fun!  It was a couple who were "boat-schooling" their four daughters while they cruised south. I guess you have to take your fun wherever you can get it when you're a kid living on a boat.

Although it's a lovely temperature through the day--not too hot and not too cold, just like Baby Bear's porridge--the evenings get quite chilly.  In fact, by about 5 a.m., it's downright cold.  I even had to wear a toque to bed!


Thursday, October 13

We got up and had breakfast and then got ready to go. While I was cleaning up the kitchen, Carey's back suddenly spasmed and he couldn't even stand up.  First time that's ever happened.  Of course, he was doing something very strenuous at the time--tying his shoes.  Hmmmmm.  Eventually, it eased enough that he could go out to raise the anchor, but that was questionable for a while.

We lifted anchor at 9:00 and headed for the fuel dock on our way to Spring Cove Marina in Solomons Island.  Uneventful trip, except we saw our first pelicans!   That made us feel like we were definitely moving south.  Carey tried to keep moving throughout the 6 hour trip to try to keep his back from seizing up again.

We finally got our jib up today.  The winds have not cooperated very often, so we were thrilled to sail today.

(Photo credit: Nicki Ackerman)

Spring Cove Marina is owned by John Kretschmer's sister, Liz Richards, but she isn't here at the moment.  However, we did see Quetzal, John's boat, getting its bottom painted here.  (We sailed a passage in the Caribbean with John last January, so we are well acquainted with his boat.)

We docked on a T dock, stern to stern with Off Duty II.  The marina did a great job of giving us directions to find our way, and to dock.  They had a big yellow flag on the end of the dock, so they were able to tell us to look for the yellow flag.  Brilliant!  So different from Port Annapolis Marina where we couldn't even find a sign that said we were at the right marina!  They also have pump out hoses on every dock, which are free to use, a great Ship's Store, and a pretty picnic area with tall pine trees that make us feel like we're in a Canadian Provincial Park.  We are quite impressed here.

First thing we needed was a shower and then groceries, so I could cook a stir fry for dinner for all four of us.

Nicki and I took the courtesy car (yes, they offered us a free courtesy car! So nice.) to the grocery store, but had less than an hour, because we had to have it back by 5:00 when the office closed.  We ran around the store like lunatics.  While I was waiting for Nicki to get checked out, I helped a frail, old lady put her groceries in her car and offered to take her cart back.  She was so appreciative that she blessed me!  I can always use a blessing.

On the way back, we missed our turn so I handed my iPhone to Nicki to get directions.  We made it back to the marina right on 5 o'clock, so I ran into the office to hand over the key and then went back to get our groceries out of the vehicle, a Toyota 4Runner.  Unfortunately, I didn't notice that Nicki had put my phone between our seats when we arrived, but an hour later I looked for my phone--no phone!  Yikes!  I went back to the vehicle, which I had dutifully locked, and could see my phone sitting right where she had put it.  Aaaarrrggghhhh!  I knew someone else had signed up to take the car that evening, so I stuck a note on the window in hopes that they would leave the phone right there until I could retrieve it in the morning.  I was trying to be calm, but my whole life is in that phone!!!!  Okay, deep breaths.

Carey had been busy while I was away and had done a pump out for us.  I was quite happy to miss that job.

On a good note, we had a delicious stir fry dinner with a fresh baked baguette.  Yum.


Friday, October 14

We decided to stay put today, because they were predicting high winds.  We had lots of things to do, so it worked out well.  My first task was to see if my phone was still in the vehicle.  Yippee!  I got my life back.  Now, I could concentrate on the laundry.

Carey's back was still quite sore, so we borrowed the courtesy car again to pick up some Robaxacet.  We were also looking for some rigid backing for our solar panels. No luck on that score, but we did get some pain medication, as well as some good deals at the Ace Home Hardware.

Later, I washed the potable water cans that a boater had gifted to us in Annapolis. Generous people are everywhere.  Carey and I had ballpark franks and salad for dinner to get us in the mood for the Blue Jays game tonight--game one of the ALCS against Cleveland.  We are going to the marina lounge where we'll be able to watch it on the TV.  First game we've seen in a while. Go, Jays!