07092011.1700
Well, Mary and I are back at Bay Bridge Marina, home sweet home. Our three days in Solomon's, was fantastic. The first evening we decided to hit the TIKKI Bar downtown. We dropped the dinghy and motor and headed into town. I had a couple of beers and was surprised to find out the bar had gone cash only. Sign of the times I guess. We hunted for a place to eat and found a nice Italian Restaurant, so nice I can't remember the name (DiGiovanni's). No, really it was a great meal. We finished up around 1900 and headed back to Midnight Breeze and hit the sack early. I told Mary that for a couple of days she did not have to get up at five in the morning. We both ended up sleeping in. The next morning we decided we wanted to so some scouting of the local marinas for future plans. That's when it started to rain. We were at Zahniser's Marina at the time so we decided to have lunch at the pool bar to wait out the rain. It didn't look to promising so we headed back to Midnight Breeze and called it a day. Tomorrows forecast called for a nice day. Once again we were able to sleep in. We got a late start the next day and decided to take in the Calvert Museum. We spent about two hours there and had a great time. The volunteer staff is the best I have seen. They were very helpful and knowledgeable. The entrance fee was well worth the $7.00. From there we headed downtown to the Key Lime Pie Shop and then lunch at the Captains Table. Then it was back to dinghy and diner at The Back Creek Bistro. Their New York Strip is to die for. When we got back to Midnight Breeze I started to monitor the weather. We wanted to leave in the early morning and make the long trip back to Bay Bridge Marina in one shot. The weather looked like it was not going to cooperate. They were calling for early afternoon severe thunderstorms with high winds. Throughout the evening it didn't change. Mary and I decided we would make the decision in the morning. we made arrangements with the marina to hold over an extra day just in case. We celebrated our good fortune with diner out and were in bed by 9PM. I told Mary we would get up around 5AM check the weather and make a decision. 5AM came fast and the weather had not changed. I did some calculations and it showed a weather window around 10 hours. Mary left the decision up to me. It was going to be another motor sail if we made the decision to go. We needed to make at least 6 knots/hr to get us back before the bad weather settled in. I decided to go, I wanted to leave around 6AM again but this time we were an hour late and left around 7AM. If my calculations were correct we should make it to the marina around 2PM. The morning was just beautiful. We ended up motor sailing with 7-9 knots of wind as I predicted, and making around 7-7.5 knots/hr. Mary practiced her chart reading once again. We ended up getting back at 2PM and the storms came rolling in around 5PM. We made our window but it was close. If the storm had put on just a little more speed or if the wind had slowed, it could have been a wild ride but everything held steady and worked out in our favor. Would I do it again, yes? The next two days were spent recuperating and cleaning the boat. Happy Anniversary Mary! We are still married and in one piece!

Dave