Deltaville, VA to Solomons, Maryland

Sunday, June 1, we left Portsmouth, VA on a very hot, humid and hazy day and cruised 50nm up to Deltaville, VA and the Deltaville Marina. First chore upon arrival was defrosting the refrigerator, then we hopped in the marina courtesy car and drove to the Deltaville Market and West Marine (conveniently located right next to each other).

Weather kept us in port a second day, when a front came through the Deltaville area with high wind and waves. Lots of dark clouds and rain.

This snake was swimming amongst the boats in the marina and as soon as I pulled the camera out, he headed for the reeds on shore to hide. No more dangling the toes off the swim platform!

Tuesday, June 3 we were awake at 5am to check XMWeather and weather.com. The weather today looks better than yesterday, but deteriorating this afternoon. We decided to get moving quickly, so we could be in Solomons, Maryland before the weather turned. We were off by 5:45am, just after sunrise. Out on the Bay we had 5-10 knots of wind and less than 1’seas, so we were glad we’d made the decision to leave early.

At 9:10am, we passed this white buoy that let us know we were leaving Virginia and entering Maryland. Nice to know!

At 9:10am, we passed the wide opening of the Potomac River. It took about an hour and a half to cross the opening and we were in some unpleasant, rolling seas. The motion was the worst since leaving the Great Lakes and sent me to the couch to calm down my stomach. As soon as we’d passed the river opening, everything settled down and we had a much nicer ride for the duration of the trip.

As we turned to head up the Patuxent River, the winds picked up to 16 knots. We’re so glad we left early and arrived safely at Spring Cove Marina in Solomons, Maryland. We plan to spend close to a month here visiting with family and friends in the area.

After docking the boat, “Gypsy Time” called on the VHF radio. They had heard us hailing the marina and called to let us know they were docked next door at Beacon Marina. Soon after we saw an email from CHRISTiNE letting everyone know they were in Solomons at Calvert Marina. It’s a small world in which we Loopers travel!

On Wednesday, Jim and Joan from CHRISTiNE dinghyed over to TOM-KAT to say “hello”. We had last seen them at Dog River Marina in Alabama in early December, 2007. Unfortunately they couldn’t stay long because of tornado warnings in the area. It’s hard to see in the picture and even harder to describe, but the clouds were breaking apart and falling down. We were sure that some of them would start spinning! There were high winds around, but we were tucked up against a hillside and well protected.

Thursday, June 5 was a big day. We received our second mail delivery since leaving Palmetto, Florida in late March! It always takes us a few hours to go through everything and sort, file and toss. Later in the day, we met Gypsy Time (John and Pat), CHRISTiNE (Jim and Joan) and Change of Pace III (Art and Jeanne) for a Potluck Dinner at Beacon Marina. It was fun to catch up on everyone’s travels since we’d last been together.

The weekend before we arrived at Spring Cove, Gypsy Time had been at anchor during another storm and had all their canvas torn by the high winds. They’re now awaiting new canvas and windshield. Thankfully neither John nor Pat was hurt.

Friday we did laundry before being picked up by Enterprise in our rental car. Once we had wheels, we ran errands, including ordering new lenses for my glasses (I had scratched the old lenses by using the binoculars on them!) and then some reprovisioning before company arrived.

Bob’s brother, Dave and his wife Pattie came down from PA, along with their son, Ian and wife Melissa, who live about five miles up the road in Lusby, Maryland. We enjoyed dinner at Vera’s White Sands Beach Restaurant on St Leonard’s Creek, which is just off the Patuxent River. We all met again for lunch on Sunday at Ian and Melissa’s home.

Since we’ve arrived in the Chesapeake, the weather has been very hot and humid. The thermometer in the picture will verify just HOW HOT it really was!! The 82.9 degree temperature in the lower right hand corner is the air temp INSIDE the boat with both air conditioners running. The thermometer does sit on the self near the large front windows, so the inside temp may be a little deceiving. The air conditioners were keeping the inside temp around 76 degrees. Even swimming laps in the pool makes you sweat with a water temperature of 88 degrees.

The fact that we’re not moving every day gave Bob the opportunity to perform a few maintenance chores on the boat. He replaced both the engine and generator zincs. The picture of them shows a new zinc on the left and the others are the old ones that were replaced……just in time it appears! Bob also replaced the sea water pump impeller on the main engine.

On Friday our daughter, Katie arrived from Boston to spend the week with us at Spring Cove and the Solomons. It wasn’t long before she was in her swimwear and looking to relax on the back deck! Cousin Ali arrived from Baltimore on Saturday to help celebrate Bob’s Flag Day birthday.

Sunday, June 15 Bob’s brother George & wife Geri, plus son, Ted drove over from Falls Church, VA to help celebrate Fathers’ Day. After lunch at Solomons Pier, we toured Annmarie Gardens, an artpark with sculptures on loan from the Smithsonian Museum. Ted and Katie became part of an exhibit and then Survivor Solomons!!

Thanks to everyone for visiting us in Solomons!

Our Best to All,

Sue and Bob