Tuesday...

A mostly uneventful day. . . Mike went shopping with Steve. They went to West Marine and Bacon's, a marine consignment store. I think he bought some toilet paper and that was about it. I cleaned the boat and the cockpit. When Mike got back we had lunch and went into town to try the showers at the Harbormaster's office. Since Mike forgot his shoes, we took showers and hopped back into the dinghy. We rode out to talk to "Adventuress", another Bayfield 40 anchored in the harbor. We had to get back to get ready for dinner-but that's another story.


Wed...

After coffee we had visitors from "Adventuress" (a Bayfield 40 anchored off the Navy Yard). We spoke with them yesterday and invited them over this morning. After an inspection and a nice chat, they left to prepare for their sail to St. Michaels. Kathy and I went to town to pick up a prescription and to hike to the post office to mail a package. The harbor area is crazy with the set up for the boat show. Most of the docks and tents are in place and the vendors are in the process of hauling all of their stuff for the opening tomorrow. We had lunch at Pussers Landing and returned to try to extricate our dinghy from the dinghy dock...they were four deep. Coming and going involves walking over the three that are in your way without going swimming.

During the afternoon we checked UPS tracking and found that one of the three packages that we were expecting had been delivered to the Harbormaster's office so we went back to town to pick it up. The rest should come tomorrow .... Solar panels and some Westerbeke parts.

Thursday...

Nothing much got accomplished today. We charged up the batteries as best we could and did some reading. I made Jambalaya which takes a while. Shortly after noon we saw on UPS tracking that our solar panels had been delivered and Dan (our friend from Michigan) called about the same time ... so I headed for town. Dan hailed me from one of the boat show docks and after collecting him we went over to the dinghy and crawled through about four of them to tie up. Our packages were not at the harbormaster's office but I found them at the Boat Show Headquarters. The dinghy was full on our return trip. We spent the remainder of the afternoon catching up and then went back into town after dark to meet John and Barb (more Michigan friends) for dinner.

Comments [1]

Monday, October 1st

On our way back to Enterprise to return our car we stopped at the grocery store again for some aluminum foil and Splenda which we forgot yesterday... old age. On our return, we charged our batteries and had a visit from some neighbors that we hadn't met. Barry and Susan stopped by with a rather strange invitation. Last week Kathy and Donna took the bus to the grocery story and while waiting for the Brown B to get them back home, a lady pulled up and asked if they were boaters and if they wanted a ride. Her offer was accepted and she drove them back to the dinghy dock. It seems that a week or so before the same lady had given Susan a ride back from the same store and she had given the lady a boat card with her email address.

Yesterday Susan received an invitation form the husband of the good Samaritan lady to dinner and included "Second Wind" and "Sapphire". So tomorrow night the six of us are going be dining with absolute strangers.

We left for town to pick up some foam brushes and to find a notary republic to resign some of Kathy's retirement papers (for the 3rd time). The dock area at the center of town is being rebuilt for the boat show and it interesting to watch the huge tents go up and new piers sunk to hold the temporary docks that take up most of the mouth of Spa Creek. We stopped for lunch at an oyster bar and I had the best fried oysters yet served on a sandwich with chopped tomato, lettuce and a little dressing.

Back at the boat we spent the rest of another perfect day... sunny and mid 80's, getting another coat of Cetol on our teak.

We were still full at dinner time so I made a BLT salad and called it good. Some folks stopped by later and we sampled the Pumkin' Ale that Jack and Debbie had sent along with us... it was very well received.

Comments [0]

The Runaway Dinghy

About a week ago, Mike was washing the boat and he apparently stepped off the dinghy without tying it up. I went up above shortly after and some people on shore were shouting and waving at me-the dinghy was on its way to shore. They were hoping it would get there so they could take it for a ride. Luckily, one of our neighbors saw what was happening and went to rescue it. He brought it back to the boat and we tied it up securely. Since the dinghy is our mode of transportation to and from shore, it is a relatively important piece of equipment. One does not swim in Spa Creek. It seemed that was a lesson learned-what if we had been in a lake, or it had been a windy day?

Well, of course this is not the end of the story. The past week when Mike was working from the dinghy on the teak on the outside of the boat. I was cleaning something below when he shouted that he needed me. Yup, there was the dinghy making its way to shore. "Call someone, quick!" Well, I didn't see anyone about on the back of their boats, so I called Ken and Donna on the cell phone. Ken jumped in his dinghy, picked up Mike and set out after the wayward dinghy. It was by now hiding under a dock near shore. Once again, the dinghy was brought back to the boat and securely tied.

Now, Mike says he did have the dinghy tied up the second time, but must have knocked the rope off with the extension cord. I think there may be other explanations. Maybe we didn't go to shore enough those days and the dinghy just wanted to go? Maybe someone THOUGHT they had tied up the dinghy... Whatever the case, we hope the dinghy does not run away from home again-especially not while we are here!

Comments [2]