Life in port

It's been a gorgeous day here, but sadly the Captain is out of town so we stayed tied to the pier. No biggy--we walked, swam, waxed the boat, played shuffleboard, horseshoes, and frisbie, and went to a south-of-the-border themed party here at the marina, complete with awesome food, good music, and margaritas. Not bad for a "quiet" day!

Kids enjoying the spread at the Herrington Harbour South Slipholder Party.

St. Michaels

We headed to St. Michaels this weekend since Frank's sister and her husband were heading there and we've been wanting to check it out.  The weather made for some sporty sailing, with 15-20kt winds the whole way across the Chesapeake (I drove!) and some gusts once we made it into the eastern bay, but we made it and secured a nice little anchorage just outside the harbor.  We put out all 100' of chain as there was a possibility of thunderstorms in the forecast and the area was reported to have poor holding.  Just as we dropped the hook, we caught sight of the tour boat that our family members were on and made preps to meet them in town.



The kids enjoy a little "rail time" during some calmer winds.

While not grossly hot, it was wicked humid!  As soon as we pulled up to the dinghy dock I was impressed with the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum.  I can't wait to go back and give that place the time and attention it deserves.  The kids immediately found a playground and got to working up a sweat.  While we played Frank took his sister and her hubby, who had never seen our boat, out to the anchorage to check it out.  Of course the kids and I had to scope out the town's ice cream and toy offerings, and it didn't disappoint!

Frank, Fawn, and Darrell cruise past The Crab Claw on their way out to the boat.

It seems that we haven't completely scared off our brother-in-law as he did return to town and talk to us.  After a little more socializing and playground time we headed back to the boat--it was time to go swimming!  The water was cool...just perfect really.  The wind was creating a little surface current that challenged the kids, but we all had a blast and wrapped up with showers on the transom.  Then it was grilled steaks, cocktails, and bed!

The trip home was pretty uneventful.  We had a nice sail for a bit, but motored to avoid beating into the wind.  It was too hot to delay getting to the pool!  Wrapped up the weekend with some grapefruit crushes and an amazing belly flop display by the kids.  Once again a great weekend.  It's going to be tough to go back to work!

The Captain and 1st Mate enjoying the pool.

Special forecast

My AGs (that's Aerographer's Mates for you non-Navy types) ROCK! Today they added a forecast and tide data to the weather brief for St. Michael's, MD, which is where we are headed this weekend. Looks like the winds will be a little brisk and there is a chance of showers, but I think it will work!

Wax on, wax off...

I can not compare to a cleaning crew. For the past two nights I've danced with the weather in an attempt to scrub and wax the deck, even going so far as to chamois dry after a rain shower! The orbital buffer has helped, but between work, the weather, and the darkness, I've not made the progress I had hoped to. Still I managed to get most of the topside surfaces done, I just know that with a day or two off work (and maybe two more people on my crew!) I could really make some headway. Still I can't deny that it's nice to see that gleam and know that my work put it there. :)

Evening stroll

Tonight brought me back to another reason why I love our marina--the eco trail.  After dinner we decided to go on a long walk to check out radar mounts on other sailboats and oogle at the Leopard 39 cat that's tied up here.  As we walked along the docks to the east side of the marina, Katreina kept stopping us to read the educational signs along the way.  That, the slightly cooler air, and the many crab, snakes, and birds we saw, really made the walk nice.