August 1-13, 2026 Godfrey Bay, Virginia to Havre de Grace

Saturday August 1st

Up late 0920, English muffin with PB&J for breakfast, anchor up at 1040. Wind had switched to the S and was blowing 8-10 kts.

Saw Soulemate in a regatta ahead of us, but they did not answer our hail. We had our main up just before the chicane and waited til we were safely past the shallows to pull out the code-0. The wind then picked up to 13-15kts and we had to gybe anyway, so we furled the code-0 and put out the jib. Had a lovely downwind run going 6+ kts with wind gusts to 18kts. Some aft quarters and following seas. Turned into Fleet Bay and took down the sails before going into Indian Creek. Arrived at Chesapeake Boat Basin at 1400. There are nice new docks! Stopped at the fuel dock first. We used 16.26 gallons. With that and the generator hours for AC it looked to be 0.62 gallons per hour. Not bad for all the heavy motoring overnight. Docked on a face dock with lots of room. There is a 31' Sun Odyessy aft and room for another in front. Lots more sailboats than I remember. They still have the delicious Nightingale ice cream sandwiches in the office, and still have a courtesy car. We had a quick lunch (it was nearly 1500) and then off to Food Lion for more milk, OJ, deli roast beef and veggies. Stopped at the Ace Hardware on the way back to pick up some Goo Gone for the front hatch. The Velcro adhesive has melted everywhere. Also got some screws for Boji's transom and a couple of plastic plant dishes for the plants. Back to baji-naji to put those under the plants and trim baby Mitch a little. Unfortunately the dish didn't fit under the jade plant but did fine for baby Mitch.

Went to dinner with Mindy and Gil Cahill (went to NTW with Mindy, although neither of us remember each other from then) and got to meet their granddaughter, Dana, who is just about Tristan's age. She is a lovely little girl. We ate dinner at The Office, in Irvington, which was quite tasty. Laz had the pork chop with Bourbon sauce and I had a seared ahi tuna poke bowl. There was a scenic detour (we turned down the wrong street) on the way back to CBB. I showed Dana some of the sea life on the bridge from dock to shore. Laz and I had seen a skate swim by earlier. She found a crab and little fish. It was really wonderful to spend time with them.

There is upcoming weather, with winds and rain. Hopefully tomorrow we will be in Mill Creek, but we will look at the forecast and decide.

Sunday August 2nd

Up at 0730. Checked the Wunderground radar and the NOAA marine forecast and decided we could set out for Mill Creek.

Laz filled the aft water tank and then we went to get some Nightingale ice cream sandwiches in the office. I took some photos of the granary and the docks. Off the dock at 0905. The view was beautiful from baji-naji as we left. The wind was from S SSE and strong, 9-13 kts in Fleets Bay then building to 15kts steady. Going 110°-120° with aft quarter rollers. A fast ride to Ingram Bay! Anchored in Mill Creek at 1155, just before I finished my morning coffee. We put out 125’ of anchor line (75’ of chain) as weather reports suggested thunderstorms with gusts to 25 or 30 kts. Had some snacks: those salt and pepper Virginia peanuts are so good! Plus had VA cheddar crackers and some Maryland butter toffee almonds.

Went for a swim (no nettles! and hopefully no Vibrio!) then a Boji ride and met a lovely couple on a Bristol 4, Mirabelle ll, out of Deltaville. Chris Arias and his wife (did not get her name). They told me about a product in Europe, Stugeron, for motion sickness that is non drowsy, but you can't get it in the US. They always buy it when overseas eat the airport. We swapped sailing stories then headed off so they could get their swim before the storm came in.

Went around the corner to a very pretty area with beach. There is definitely more wind and wave without the spit of land shielding us. Headed back to baji-naji for a late lunch of leftover Thai chicken satay with peanut sauce and some romaine in a wrap. I went for another swim then sat and read as we watched the storm come over and by us. We got rain but no thunder and lightning or big wind near us. I finished Ann Leckie's Radiant Star, a great entry into the Imperial Radch universe.

A strange looking bug flew in and was resting on the nav station. Google lens tells me it's a robber fly, eats other bugs. Cool!

A gentle rain fell around us. I stood in it for a while, as I was already wet from swimming. It is so pretty in this anchorage.

My wet footprints on the teak. Muted sunset colors with the overcast sky. Pretty reflection the still water after the rain.

Dinner was leftovers…Laz had the shephard’s pie and I had the ahi tuna. We finished the last of the Mason St. Bakery sourdough which was heated in the oven along with the shephards pie. It's still hot, 80° and humid. We will likely put the AC on to cool down the cabin, especially after I made dinner in the oven, but it will be a hot night sleeping. I don't think it will go below 78° tonight.

Monday August 3rd

Well it was 81° in the cabin at 0100 so I turned on the generator and the air conditioner in our cabin. The promised wind overnight didn't happen and it was quite still with the hatches open. Woke up at 0800 and heated up one of Oso’s cinnaknots to go with my usual yogurt, berries, chia and Stacie's granola. Ground the Ethiopian Kochere beans mixed with Brazil Natural Legender Especial decaf beans for coffee. As Laz was pulling up the anchor line a little crab was on it and kept swimming back to the line. It was adorable. Swam back three times then gave up and swam elsewhere. Since there was not much wind overnight, the chain was thoroughly muddy. We raised the main, reef 1 as big wind predicted, and motor sailed out of Mill Creek.

Coming out of the narrow part of Mill Creek we saw 4 dolphin, 2 of which came swimming alongside our hull! So beautiful. I slowed the engine so we could watch them for a while. They were near a field of crab pots so I'm sure they were looking for the soft shelled crabs they love.

As we exited Ingram Bay, we put out the jib. Winds were from the SW, 13-16 kts with 2-3 ft seas. We tacked out at 120° then gybed to head to the Potomac. Seas built to 3-4 feet and winds were 16-18 kts. The usual oscillation although it switched to the S completely as we headed past Smith Point in towards the Potomac.

There were some really cool clouds overhead but we did not get any rain on us. Wind softened to less than 5kts once we were in the Potomac and past the Point Lookout state park so we furled the jib and put on the engine. Docked at 1512.

We went looking for Paris Athena, the Vagabond 47 that we saw a couple of years ago in the water bere. We found her up the hill in her own work shed. Paris and Braddock showed up as we were admiring all the work that they have done. We got a lovely tour, so amazing what they are doing. They also follow Sailing Uma and have learned things about sailboat renovation. Link to their YouTube:

We went to dinner with Paris and Braddock at Courtney's Seafood, which was so much fun. The food was amazing; I wish I had taken a picture of the garlic and butter oysters, wow, and the fried zucchini and hush puppies. We swapped stories and had such a nice time. The promised thunderstorm with wind came through as we had dinner, so we stayed for dessert.

The rain had stopped when we stepped outside. There was a beautiful sunset waiting for us.

It was so stunning I took another picture of it when we got back to the dock. The storm also cooled everything down so it was 72° instead of the 103° our thermometer was reading earlier. Tomorrow we are headed to the Honga.

Tuesday August 4th

Up at 0800 and closed my eyes for a second because Laz was still asleep and next thing you know it's almost 0900! Had some of the maple Belgian waffles from Wildgrain, mine topped with Greek yogurt, chia and blueberries with a small splash of maple syrup. Laz had his with just maple syrup. Today's coffee was the Driftaway Columbian mixed with the Mayan decaf. We left around 1020. Getting off the dock was a little tricky as the wind was pushing us away from the dock. Laz managed to get aboard after he undid the last lines. Good wind from the start, 8-10kts from the E. We raised sail just off the docks in the little cove there and then sailed all the way out the Potomac. Tide was with us.

We saw this sailboat with only a mainsail up, reefed to two. There was maybe 10kts at that point. Not sure what that was about. As we went across, our ears were assaulted by the noise of Navy jets from Patuxent and either a couple of helicopters or the same one going around. The wind softened to barely 5kts, so we motored a bit until it picked up again.

We had a friendly golden dragonfly sit on the line bag for quite some time. Another was perched on our bimini roof. I hope they got a nice rest before flying off to wherever. When the wind picked up again, we pulled out the jib and sailed into the Honga. There was predicted rain around 1500, but we did not get any.

We anchored in our usual spot, a little ways off Rippin Brothers Seafood, and you can see the rain clouds in the distance. We are supposed to get some overnight, but the delightful 10-13 kt breeze is cooling down the cabin nicely. Water temperature is 80°, which limits how cool the cabin will get, whatever the air temp and breeze.

I sat and read while Laz did some computer things. I'm in the middle of Water Moon, by Samantha Sotto Yambao. It was recommended by our daughter, who thought it gave off a Phantom Tollbooth vibe. I agree, and really enjoying it.

I made a stir fry with garlic, ginger, chicken marinated in soy and sesame oil, (with a little flour to make a sauce), carrots and broccoli over ramen. Camp cooking as I only have two burners and limited water. I par boiled the broccoli first, then cooked the ramen in the broccoli water. Some of the same water went into the chicken stir frying to create a sauce. We eat well on baji-naji.

Had the Brookie Dough for dessert. It was good, as all of the Nightingale ice cream sandwiches are, but not special.

Muted sunset colors with the overcast sky. They are still beautiful, more vivid than my camera can capture.

As if the sky felt the challenge, it then lit up the sky with fiery sunset colors. You can just see the lights of Hooperville below the sunset. We may get rain overnight, but for now we will leave the hatches open for air.

Tomorrow we are headed to the Solomons.

Wednesday August 5th

Slept til 0930, it was a windy and rocky night, good breeze through the hatches, with rain at 0455. We scrambled to close the hatches. Then turned on the generator to turn on the AC in our cabin, as it would be toasty without it. I think it was 78° inside.

I baked the Wildgrain croissants and made some hard boiled eggs. Bonfire smoked salt and fresh ground pepper were in the dipping container for the eggs. And coffee. Always coffee. Anchor up at 1115, we did not have far to go.

Great breeze to sail out the Honga and head over to Solomons. Hooper Island light has not yet been renovated for a multitude of reasons. We made great time with the wind 13-15kts and had the code-0 out.

As we sailed past the Patuxent Naval Air Station and into the Patuxent River, we were greeted by multiple aircraft doing touch and gos. No idea what they all were but they were cool! And loud! We were docked at Zahnisers at 1534, on floating dock H-13. Easy to remember as a Swiftie. When I mentioned that to the dockhand, she exclaimed that she is a Swiftie too and loved that I appreciated the dock assignment. August, playing on repeat. IYKYK.

We headed to the marina office to check out the improvements. They have done a really nice job with a lot of improvements to the heads, the laundry (now free!). I saw this pretty pink flower growing in the railroad tie marking the parking lot. Amazing where plant life will grow. We have the jade plant aboard this trip and I'm not sure it's happy with us. It will be coming back ashore with us, I suspect. Our wandering Jew is pretty happy, but may need more sunlight, it doesn't have much color. Laundry day since this free plus it's needed. There were 3 commercial washers and dryers and we used all of them. We were done in time to catch showers before our dinner reservation at La Vela.

Feast at La Vela! I love this restaurant. Started with the burrata over tomatoes. Laz had the Veal Saltimbocca and he said it was extra special because the prosciutto was precooked and crunchy. I had the Fettuccine Zafferano, like always. We have enough leftover for another meal, there is so much in that dish. Dessert was Apple strudel for me (took home most of it) and chocolate lava cake for Laz.

Walked the docks and saw these cool clouds with some sunset colors.

We saw a boat that reminded us of Paris Athena but we could not read her name. Back to baji-naji to put away laundry, make the bed and fall asleep. Tomorrow we are heading to San Domingo Creek, off Broad Creek and the Choptank. It's the back door to St.Michaels.

Thursday August 6th

Up before 0800. Laz filled the aft water tank and we checked radar and marine forecast. Other than hot, there is good wind, supposed to be from the S. I went to the boater's lounge and got a chocolate raspberry coffee, mixed with some Columbian. Yum. Laz had the rest of my apple strudel for breakfast and I had my usual yogurt, berries and granola. We were off H13 at 0912. I hailed SHZ to thank them for their hospitality and let them know we were off the docks.

Main sail up as soon as we cleared the channel from the marina. We motor sailed a fair bit past Drum Point then gybed and brought out the code-0. The wind was 10-12 kts from the WSW which worked for us.

Sailed past Cove Point Lighthouse, a restored 1828 lighthouse with a keepers home and an educational visitors center. Might have to visit by land some day. It took a while to pass the transfer depot / dock as the wind shifted and we had to gybe away.

We saw several large ships. Fidelio was going 18.7kts! But she was clearly light on load. Palm Coast is a tug pushing a barge and Royal Neptune (nice name) was going a nice 14.7 kts.

I caught a glimpse of the moon, so lovely. Wind direction kept shifting, often in an unhelpful direction. When it softened below 7kts we furled the code-0 and put on the engine.

Passed several sailboats out, one with pretty flags and a few really digging in. As we got into the Choptank, the wind had picked up to 14 kts. When it became a broad reach we pulled out the jib and flew down the Choptank. Getting into Broad Creek looked like it became narrow quickly, so we took down the sails before going in. It's a bit of a slalom to get into San Domingo Creek, but we went for it and found a pretty cove to anchor in, past Hambleton Island, past Leoni Island and Church Neck Point. We anchored at 1648. It was hot, nearly 90° and felt like more. The breeze helped and we have been drinking water all day.

Laz got Boji ready for a ride and we headed up San Domingo Creek to the dinghy dock at the Waterfront Park. We saw a bright blue double ender, Alexis, from Juneau! We tied off the dinghy and headed into town. It's only a few blocks to Talbot St (we were on W.Chew) but I was glad I brought a water bottle. We initially headed the wrong way; I thought we were supposed to go to St. Michael’s Market but Google maps told us it was a mile away, which made no sense. I double checked and we wanted the Village Market, barely a quarter mile the other way from W. Chew and across from Blue Heron coffee roasters. We found croissants, zucchini bread, a lovely pain de levain from a 150 year old sourdough starter, their amazing ginger cookies, the cheddar biscuits, some chicken salad, egg salad, shrimp salad, some hydroponic lettuce, an English cucumber and milk. There were no blueberries and I didn't want the raspberries, as I'm not sure the cyclosporiasis outbreak is over. Boji back to baji-naji with our groceries (yes, I had a cold pack in our cooler grocery bag).

Dinner was the lemon pepper dill shrimp salad, some cucumber sticks, pain de levain and shared a cheddar biscuit.

Beautiful view from our cockpit and some really crazy clouds that looked like a giant thunderhead with an eagle in it. Or maybe that's just me. It was definitely a thunderhead.

Some pretty sunset colors in some of the clouds. Very hot, so generator and air conditioner went on in the main cabin and will be in the aft cabin where we sleep. Tomorrow we are headed to Oxford, which is not far.

Friday August 7th

Up at 0830 but did not have a long way to go. Very pretty in our anchorage but too many nettles to swim. It's already 83° outside, with a good breeze, but expected to get hotter. We remind ourselves that it is, indeed, August.

I had time to make a nice breakfast, so we had French toast, bacon, an omelette and cherries. Plus coffee, off course. Lots of chores done: vacuuming, cleaned the toilet, checked the oil (good) and the sea strainers. Engine was fine, but the generator sea strainer had a lot of sea grass and a few nettles. The air conditioner and the refrigerator sea strainers had a lot of nettles (some in pieces) and some sea grass. I put down the swim platform so I could put the debris back in the water, but could not reach far enough to rinse. Luckily there is the aft hose. Liberal use of that and chopsticks got all the mess out and Laz out the strainers back where they belong.

I made a fun discovery when I checked Boji. A small fish was in the middle. When I picked it up, it definitely had claw marks, so some osprey must have dropped it while flying and it happened to land right in our dinghy!

I took some photos of our view, it is always fun to be somewhere we have never been. Although this was so convenient to St. Michael's we will likely be back. Apparently there was a junior regatta in the Miles River today so there may not have been room to anchor. We brought up the anchor at 1208, latest ever, but with many chores done. We put up the main just after leaving the anchorage, but the San Domingo is narrow enough with shallow shoals on both sides, that we waited until it joined Broad Creek to pull out the jib and sail. Wind was from the S, mostly, with a little W component now and again. Tacked multiple times to get out of Broad Creek, then a long tack before we gybed to get into the Tred Avon. Lo and behold there were ducklings racing! 420s, Lasers, Optis all in their own races. Schools of 10 to 20 boats and there were 6 schools. This is the practice day for tomorrow's racing. We later found out this is the regatta that was in the Miles River yesterday. I didn't get any photos, as we were busy dodging them as we went downwind. We were able to go wing a little ways into the Tree. I didn't want to gybe as that would put us in another school of ducklings. They were adorable. It's summer, they should be out there having fun. Apparently some are from the Annapolis Yacht Club. Just as well they were here in Oxford, as Annapolis got hammered with severe thunderstorms. We docked at A2 to the right of the fuel dock as you come into Town Creek. We had to go past and then come back as we needed to move Boji forward for the aft port side tie. The new dockmaster, Robert, stayed a while to give us the update on the town and his life. Jeff is no longer there Robert is still doing university courses, now online at UMD, he has a girlfriend, he still does EMT and is still interested in becoming a firefighter. The only restaurant open is Docks, which is the other end of town, although they might pick us up in the shuttle. Capsize and Popes Tavern are being renovated with both taking longer than expected once they tore some things out. Robert Morris has been condemned. However the market does Friday pizza popup or perhaps it's smash burgers. In any case, we walked to town after a quick small lunch splitting a roast beef sandwich with provolone, lettuce, tomato, cucumber on the delicious pain de levain. It's so nice to have fresh produce, much of it local. The market had blueberries which is wonderful because I was running low and small cherry pies. We put in our order for pizza and walked to Scottish Highland Creamery for ice cream. I had the Belgian chocolate with butterscotch and almonds for topping Laz had the pineapple sorbet which was outstanding. Not too sweet, fresh pineapple bits in it, very refreshing. As it was 90° and humid, the air conditioning and the cold snack were welcome after the 25 min walk into town.

Our delicious spinach and artichoke pizza (today's special). I asked for mushrooms and sausage to be added. We walked it back to baji-naji to enjoy.

On our walk back, I saw the ferry pull out, just to the right of the sign. Crazy that it has been running since 1683 with continuous service since 1836! We enjoyed the pizza in the cockpit. Amazing what some cloud cover and a breeze can do to make it feel cooler. We are both waterlogged from trying to hydrate appropriately. Going below to air-conditioned baji-naji feels good. Showers then reading a bit then bedtime. We are off to the Wye River tomorrow, up the Eastern Bay before Miles River, the harbor of St. Michael's.

Saturday August 8th

Up at 0800. We woke earlier but fell back asleep. We were hoping to get an early start as the Wye is close as the crow flies, but far by water as you have to go around shoals and islands and things like that. Off the docks at 0904.

We managed to leave before the ducklings came out…they are all lined up on shore with one lonely one that got to go first into the water. I watched them come out as we motored past. Later, when we had sails up and we turned around, we could see bigger boats racing as well. They weren't there yesterday. The wind was 5-6 kts from SW so we sailed out the Tred Avon across the Choptank, then tacked.

We noted that this red mark was well off it's usual spot (by almost a mile) and we don't think the cormorants had anything to do with it. We furled the jib and put the engine on to avoid the shoals off Tilghman Island, then motored passed the Leaning Tower of Light House aka Sharps Island Light house. I saw a mylar balloon glinting in the distance and we slowed to pick it up. Laz is quite good with the boat hook.

Poplar Island is looking good (top left) after restoration. We were able to put the code-0 out when we entered Eastern Bay. Had quite a nice sail in. We were followed by a catamaran Double Force for quite some time before they took down their sails. The wind shifted and we furled the code-0 and pulled out the jib. We were passed by Blue Yonder; we met their owners on the docks at SH Zahnisers. Laz hailed them to wish them well. They were headed to St. Michael's for a watermans event.

We heard deep rumbles and lo and behold there was a large thunderstorm approaching, likely responsible for the wind shift. We took down and stowed the code-0 as we motored into the Wye River. By the time we set anchor, at 1659, we still had not been rained on. Laz set up the Starlink after we took the code-0 down and we saw the storm on the Wunderground weather app, but it looked like it might pass to the north of us. At anchor we saw this thunderhead which looked like it was giving us the finger. Hmmm. There was a sprinkling of rain, not enough to close the hatches and certainly not enough to cool us down.

Happily anchored in this beautiful spot near the Wye Island Natural Resources, a nature preserve.

Dinner was a mix of the leftover fettuccine zafferano and the leftover bluefish and veggies. Cherry pie for dessert (from Oxford Market)

We saw a beautiful sunset, although at 91° we are below, with the generator and AC running.

The wind picked up so we turned off the generator and the AC to enjoy the evening in the cockpit. Stunning colors. Will be turning the generator and AC on again for the night as it is still humid and the nice breeze has only cooled it to 84°. Tomorrow we will sail to Annapolis to meet Cate and Jim and maybe the boys for dinner.

Sunday August 9th

A hot and uncomfortable night, despite the generator on and AC running. Couldn't get to sleep and when I did, it was not restful. Up at 0820, up anchor at 0915. The zucchini nut bread from the Village Market in St Michael’s is excellent. Had my usual yogurt, blueberries and Stacie's granola. The blueberries from Oxford market are sweet and juicy. Some good wind in a reasonable direction so we put out the sails, but did have to use the engine for parts of the Wye. Once out into the Eastern Bay we sailed across, then tacked and went towards Kent Island. So many motor boats were flying by us, likely heading to the Miles River to watch the docking contest. The wind got squirrelly and light, below 3 kts. I kept hoping it would build again, as I saw other boats sailing. Oh well.

A large roro, Arc Endeavor, was making its way quickly up the Bay. A bunch of jokes ensued: Arc of a Diver, Arc Welder, Arc du Noah, Arc à la Noah, Arc à la Noah Deux, etc. Completely forgot Arc de Triumphe.

This pretty Tartan 430 was out.

Bloody Point Light looking bloody marvelous.

Nice to see other boats out, either motor sailing or sailing with a colorful spinnaker. Wind picked up to 10 kts, so we were able to tack towards Kent Island at 120°. Any breeze was welcome as the temp was in the 90s with real feel of 100°. We have been hydrating, but it is hard to keep up in this heat. When we tacked towards Annapolis harbor, we were able to make it all the way on one tack, woohoo! We were assigned Canada dock at Bert Jabin's by DJ. I had to back her in from out in the harbor which is not my strong suit, and avoid a pretty wooden sailboat. I steered it the wrong way once. DJ was also giving instructions, but so soft spoken I didn't hear him the first time. Once tucked in we turned on the AC and just sat there to cool down. We both felt like there was no way we could drink enough to stay hydrated in that heat. Showers then off to meet Cate and Jim, who were nice enough to pick us up. It's less than a mile to walk, but in the heat a ride was appreciated!

We had a great time with Cate and Jim at Beacon Waterfront! Such a good time I forgot to take pictures of our meal, just got the apps (roasted brussel sprouts with Thai chili sauce and a crab dip). And dessert, donut holes with chocolate and caramel dipping sauce. I had a great salad with mixed greens, strawberries, goat cheese, candied pecans and seared ahi. Laz had a mahi wrap with fries. I may or may not have had a fry for quality control of course. Jim had the poke bowl which seemed a lot smaller than when I had it, and Cate had salmon. It was so wonderful to catch up with them. Jim had recently returned from a sailing trip with Boy Scouts (and their older son) and had stories to share. After dinner we stood outside talking for quite a while until I realized the bugs were biting, then they drove us back to Jabin's. A lovely lovely evening.

Tomorrow we will try to make it all the way back to Havre de Grace. This heat has been difficult. Despite air conditioning, baji-naji does not cool down much when the water temp is 82-83°.

Monday August 10th

Up at 0800. I went to the breakfast and lunch cafe at the marina and picked up a bacon, egg and cheddar wrap for breakfast and an Italian sub for lunch. Plus coffee. They have Rise Up coffee, a local Annapolis roaster. Storms are expected in HdG by 1600 or 1700. We will go as far as we can, but with engine all the way, especially as the tide is running 1.5 kts against us and there is less than 3kts of wind.

There were quite a few cargo ships anchored between Eastern Bay and the Bay Bridge. Some were hard to see because of the heat haze.

As we approached the Bay Bridge we saw this odd float with what looked like a pallet crane on it. Most remarkably, there were pelicans as well as cormorants on it! Have never seen pelicans this far north. Megalodon (what a great name for a tug) came and picked up the small barge and pushed it up the Bay.

When we were even with Old Baltimore Light and Gibson Island, we saw the first storm system come by. We were watching the radar and weather app closely and knew there was a gust front, as they called it, moving quickly towards us, with potential wind gusts to 30kts. Time to put PFDs on and watch the sky. This system passed over us with no rain and the highest wind was 15kts. Cool. We saw good wind afterwards, but it was from exactly the direction we were headed. Other boats took their sails out but we decided not to. Grace hailed us because she thought we would run her over, but we were well ahead of her on our course. Sol Searcher had her sails up, but she looked to be bigger than us. Monitoring the radar and Wunderground app we saw another system approaching which looked to be a more active thunderstorm. We calculated the time to home port and it did not look like we would be back before that storm. Laz suggested we tuck into Still Pond, right in the middle which is fairly well protected from all directions but the North. We anchored at 1505, right in the middle of the cove, in 7’ of water and put out all our chain, all 75’ and some line, to a total of 100’. Should be enough scope. We checked and double checked that we were securely anchored. Just after we settled, a cabin cruiser, Mischief, pulled in and anchored farther in. Sol Searcher followed soon thereafter. Their anchor did not hold the first two times they tried, but held well on their third try to our starboard forward.

It was quite still and warm, the calm before the storm. We watched the sky darken and heard thunder, but did not get any of it over us. Wunderground app showed that it went to our north. However the next storm incoming is large covering multiple States.

Pre storm selfie

We watched some bald eagles soar in the wind that was building. They were chattering away. I saw them land safely in the trees.

We watched the storm roll in around us, with cloud to cloud lightning as well as cloud to ground. Lots of rumble thunder.

It was wild how it was rolling past, all around but not on us yet. The winds had definitely picked up. As it came over us there was a really bright flash of lightning with almost instantaneous quite loud thunder. We had left the navs on and saw gusts to 35kts. At one point we could not see anything but the rain sheeting around us and the waves 3-4’.

We're guessing there were gusts to at least 40kts, based on how it felt when we saw 35kts on the navs. We were rocking and rolling for sure. I had to stand on the steps and hold on as it was not at all comfortable for me below. PFDs on for sure, and got a bit wet before we got our foulies on. baji-naji handled it quite well, but I watched Boji flip over with some of the big waves coming in on our beam. All in all about 2 hours of storm. The worst part was about 1/2 hour. When we could see, it was good to note that we did not drag anchor at all. Neither did Sol Searcher or Mischief, thank goodness. It was quite an experience.

After it cleared, we flipped Boji back right side and the bag of gravel in the new case was still there! Laz had tied in on nicely. There was a beautiful sunset.

When it had passed over, I decided to make a pasta sauce with steakburger meat, local zucchini from one provision run, the last tomato from the owners of Josie, garlic from the CSA and carrots. Used some of the sourdough for garlic cheese bread and served the sauce over bowties.

A delicious gingersnap from the Village Market for me and a brownie for Laz.

A beautiful sky after the sunset. Homeward bound tomorrow.

Tuesday August 11th, JKL’s birthday. Hard to believe he would be 94 today. Then again, he used to say, if you don’t celebrate them, they don’t count. So he could be just 72!

Up at 0700 because it was raining and all our hatches were open! We went back to bed after closing hatches. Up at 0900 and we had a leisurely breakfast of strawberry scone, apple cinnamon muffin, yogurt with the usual berries, chia, almonds and Stacie’s granola, and coffee, of course.

Raised the anchor at 1115, and motored over to talk to the folks on Sol Searcher. They are out of Middletown DE and keep the boat in Rock Hall. Their captain, who stood watch during the storm, clocked 54 kts at the peak of the storm. Lovely.

Good wind 13-15 from SSW so we were able to gybe tack to the Havre de Grace yellow off Aberdeen and Spetsutie. The wind stayed brisk until we got into the Havre de Grace channel.

We were able to go wing for part of the way down the channel.

As we were coming down the channel, what appeared to our wondering eyes? Could not believe that red 14 is back in place! Wooohooo! It’s been a couple of years since we saw it last. Since it marks 2 feet on the other side, we are happy to see it back, especially for a

As we got closer, we noticed a big tent near the HdG lighthouse. We couldn’t remember seeing that before. Not sure if it is for an event or for the summer. Will have to check it out. We arrived back in our home slip at 1500. Fueled up and found that we used roughly 0.62 gallons per hour since our last fill up. We took on 20 gallons, which was a deliberate choice; we normally fill up 13-16 gallons, but knowing we were going to home port, we let it go a bit. We hold 40 gallons, but prefer to be on the cautious end of things.

We packed up all the perishables and the dirty clothes and linens to take home to wash. It will be a few weeks before we can sail again due to land commitments. I found a set screw on our bunk as I was getting the sheets off. Laz took a look and it appears to have come from the steering mechanism. The steering wheel on the starboard side is loose, which is not a comfortable feeling. Laz needs different tools to address both issues.

Got take out from Red Sombrero on the way back to the house: taco salad al pastor for Laz and a fish taco and al pastor taco for me, plus rice and black beans. And churros, although I was really too full for them. Nice to be back in proper air conditioning. Time to catch up on Ride or Die (Hannah Waddingham and Octavia Spencer) and Ted Lasso (a rather different Hannah Waddingham).

Thursday August 13th

Back with proper tools, Laz was able to put the set screw back where it belonged with some Loctite to keep it in place. He checked all the other screws to make sure they were tight and was able to secure the starboard steering wheel properly. Yay!