Our friends have reminded us that our blog shows us lingering in the Alligator-Pungo Canal back in mid-May, despite the fact that we are comfortably ensconced at home in Vermont. An update is in order.

The day after our close encounter with the barge was busy on the waterway, filled with skiers of every sort, some experienced enough to do somersaults. The Coast Guard stopped us in Currituck Sound for a safety inspection in an area so narrow that we couldn’t actually pull over. Instead they tied up to our boat, and Bob continued underway at the wheel while I did the show and tell. They were very polite and we received no citations. We ended the day at Waterside Marina in Norfolk, VA and were lucky to find a slip. There was a wine festival going on next door, an arts festival just a ferry ride away in Portsmouth, and a gathering on the dock of Great Loopers. Lots of activity and we did our best to fit it all in, as well as catch up with friends Mary and Mark last seen in Florida and window shop in the d’arte arcade of galleries en route to the MacArthur Mall to make the obligatory stop at the Apple store whether we needed anything or not.

Our trip north up the Chesapeake Bay against the current was broken by a pleasant stop to meet up with Forever 39 at their favorite anchorage, which they begged us not to mention by name. So this lovely spot shall remain nameless, but we attest that it a lovely protected place, so nice that we stayed for several days to do boat chores.

The next day we tried to continue north but the seas were too rough, so we went to Reedville on the Great Wicomico River. Yes, the fish plant was running but we managed to anchor upwind of it. Bob had a chance to determine he is still happy with the soft shell crab sandwiches at the Cockrell Creek Crab Restaurant there. The wind seemed to die down in the afternoon so we headed out, winced as the 3-ft waves threw salt all over our previously clean boat, and stopped for the night in a quiet spot off Smith Creek in the Potomac River.

We left very early, hoping for an easy ride, but we bounced a lot against an ebb tide, 4-ft waves and north winds gusting to 25 knots. We arrived safely in Solomons, to rest briefly and continue a flurry of boat chores and cleaning before leaving the boat there for the summer.