May 7 to May 21. St. Mary's to Solomons Island

Monday, May 7^th we finally left St. Marys.  The weather was still cold, windy, and gray, but at least it wasn’t raining.  We had one of those days that makes us appreciate the nice days, as this one was rather miserable.  The wind was supposed to be from a useful direction, but it ended up being from the direction we were trying to go.  We sailed close hauled, heeled over with the rails in the water, with spray coming over the dodger and landing on us for most of the day.  The wind was 25-30 and gusty with a very unpleasant windchill. I became mildy hypothermic and had to go below and warm up with hot water bottles and handwarmers, under a blanket. Overall, not the best sail ever.

We anchored in Solomons near our friends on TANGO and the day started looking better.  We walked ashore to the grocery store, where it was mostly sunny, and we could wear t-shirts.  It is amazing how the weather changes in such a short time and distance.  We went out to dinner with Leslie and Clayton from TANGO and had a great time.

Monday it was again windy and cold so we stayed at anchor.  We did some errands in the morning and Bill had a haircut at the local barber.  In the afternoon Bill scrubbed the ICW moustache off the boat (the tannins in the water in the ICW dye the white boats a dirty looking brown color). I spent the afternoon catching up with some computer work at the library.

Tuesday morning it was 55 degrees inside the boat, and colder outside.  The wind was N 15-20 and the seas were 2-3 feet when we tried to head up the Chesapeake.  We may be slow, but we can eventually take a hint.  We decided that someone was trying to tell us something and we should listen.  We decided to turn around, leave the boat in Solomons, and go home for a week.  Within an hour of the decision we had arranged dockage and a car rental.  In the afternoon we docked the boat at Harbor Island Marina and started preparing to leave it for a week.

Wednesday we picked up our Enterprise car and drove to West Hartford, CT, and spent a fun evening with Rick, Robin, Eric, and Samantha. Thursday we drove home to Maine and were greeted by my mother and our dog, Bailey. It was wonderful to see them. Having the opportunity to be at home, see our family and friends, spend Mother’s Day with my mother, and to work on the house and the garden was an amazing treat.  

Friday, May 19^th we drove back to West Hartford for another visit and then drove back to Solomons Island on Saturday.  Sunday we played tourist in Solomons and went to the Calvert Marine Museum. The marine exhibits are interesting, but the playful river otters are the stars of the show.