Days on cruise: 58
Distance traveled today: 43.4 miles
Time traveled: 4 hrs, 55 mins
Total odometer: 1,269 statute miles
After Friday’s rough day on the water, we were reluctant to leave our cozy anchorage Saturday morning given the forecast was identical to Friday’s. We puttered around the boat for several hours, but finally got antsy, and because the forecast would not improve until Tuesday, decided it didn’t make sense to wait. Friday hadn’t been unsafe, just no fun, so we screwed up our courage and pulled the anchor.
We were only 30 minutes out, having re-entered the Mighty Potomoc from our small St. Mary’s River anchorage, when we got a text message from Mimi (of Mimi and Jim from Ontario, Canada, with whom we shared dinner in Deltaville while on the hard a couple nights before). They’d been getting beat up out on the Chesapeake Bay for 4 hours, heading north with waves to 6 feet, and were considering coming into St. Mary’s if we were still there. We exchanged information on locations and travel speeds and determined we’d probably see each other out on the Bay.
30 minutes later we re-entered the Chesapeake and found the wind and waves to be bumpy, but not nearly so bad as Friday, so we settled in for the remaining 30 miles. It was sunny and warm, and the wind and waves continuously calmed as we moved north, so eventually we were relaxed and happy. We did find Jim and Mimi out there, and they got in our wake and followed us the rest of the way, expressing their happiness that things were so much calmer in the afternoon than they’d been in the morning.
Pretty sailboats on the St. Mary’s River
Jim and Mimi in their attractive 49’ Marine Trader, Perfect Balance, coming over to join us on the Bay
A photo Jim and Mimi took of “Next To Me” underway
LOTS of sailboat traffic on the Chesapeake
We also exchanged text messages with Charlotte (of Stephen and Charlotte from Jacksonville, our first Looper friends met back in Florida). They’d been anchored at Solomons, MD for two nights and were happy to hear Jim, Mimi and the two of us would be joining them there for the night. They gave us their location, and we made plans for the evening.
Very pretty Jackets II at anchor in Solomons Harbor
Stephen and Charlotte picked up Mimi and Jim in their dinghy, and they all came for cocktails and appetizers on our boat at 5:30. We had tried earlier in the day to make reservations at a restaurant, but weekends are busy in this lively marina town, and we couldn’t get a table except at 5:00 or 9:00; no good!
So we all ate hors’ d oeuvres on our boat, spent the evening together until 9:30 p.m., and then we’d guess everyone returned to their boats for a light bedtime snack, since we were never successful in finding a restaurant to seat us timely. We did go ashore in search, but only had a glass of wine and gave up after it got too late.
It was nice to see our friends again, all of whom leave early tomorrow morning: Jim and Mimi headed for home in Canada; Charlotte and Stephen headed to the eastern shore for St. Michaels where we expect to be next week after Mackenzie and Matt arrive over Memorial Day weekend. Life is good!
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