Summer on the Bay?

We are STILL at a dock! Greetings from NAS Patuxent River, Maryland (still!). I hardly feel like a cruiser right now...water, power, wifi, a car...but it's all good. We are deliberately staying put to make sure we have everything in order for our daughter's foreign exchange program--so far, so good, with a critical appointment at the French embassy coming up next week! After that we may take the boat north or we may not. We have our car so we are looking at some land trips and even some international travel.

How have we been keeping busy? I'll let the pictures tell the story!

Field trip to the Patuxent River Naval Air Museum.

Shopping trip to Mako Spearguns in Fredericksburg, VA. Trent and I got some new pole spears to try out, we all got new gloves, and I got free diving fins! 

Lots of sewing projects...my Sailrite Ultrafeed LS-1 is getting a workout! Made some protective wraps out of boat blanket to protect the dinghy, made fuel can covers and put flaps on the old ones, and am now working on some new bags for the paddle boards for when they are stored on deck.

K is getting in lots of time at the local skatepark.

Berries! I have picked so many blackberries and raspberries near the marina!

We've also been hitting the bowling alley and movie theater on base, celebrated the 4th with our friends on S/V Waypoints, installed a new toilet base and macerator in the aft head, and Katreina is working on a major art piece on the door of the aft head (Amphitrite!). So we are marching along in a mostly land-based existence for the time being. 

But let's not forget the REAL fun! We sucked up not one, but TWO jellyfish in our a/c system in the span of an hour! It was only like 95F out, so it was great. And of course I was in the middle of cooking dinner which only added to the the swampy heat. We needed to clean the strainer anyway, but my love of these creatures was tested a bit!

Jellyfish extraction is no fun!

We at least have an "end" to our summer laid out--both adults will be working the fall boat shows in Annapolis with Fawcett Boat Supplies. This will put us on the same migration path/timeline as many other cruisers, but it is a great way to make some cash, hang out with boaters, and check out new products in the industry. It's a lot of hard work, but also a ton of fun!

~Jo, 1st Mate