Heading South

It was a dark and stormy morning, but the day ended with blue skies and a bright orange and red sunset over the Patuxent River, safely anchored in Back Creek, Solomon's Island, MD.

It started raining about 0300 this morning and we both thought there would be a miserable start to our trip back to Florida. But, by dawn, the rain had stopped, and the clouds had started to thin. We got two of the marina hands to help us get out of our tight space and we stood down the South River about 0930. We got the sails up right away and were soon making six knots to the south east.

A classic cold front passage left us with a blue bird day and north west winds by 1100 as we dodged crab and fish traps and made our way to the center of the bay, the only safe place�.or at least partially safe. I have read that the occasional crab trap floats out in the deep water are no longer attached to their traps. We saw a few, but once again, managed to remain un-tangled.

Although it was chilly outside, the Zep Tepi "solarium" remained toasty warm, particularly as the day wore on. The bay was ours all day. A few power boats push by, but I saw only one sail heading south, and one heading north. The wind was forecast above 20 knots, but never got above about 10 knots, so we motored on one engine and made only about six knots. But, that's all we needed to tuck into Solomon's by about 1600. After securing ZT on the hook, we dingied into town and got a great walk to a fabulous grocery store to get some extra milk so Kay could
make some warm soup. The town is about as charming as there is. Especially wrapped in Fall colors. The homes and businesses are just so quaint want to take a picture of each one you see. We decided that SI will get a much longer visit next Spring on our way north.

Kay's soup was perfect. Warmed us up after the cold dingy ride! Then we cranked up the generator to heat the boat before showers and HBO.

Kay and I are alone on this leg. It's fun to be able to visit and share all of this beauty together. Tomorrow we head down to Gwyn Island. I wish we had time to explore this old Virginia plantation island as it was the home of my great-grandfather, Walter Robinson.

The weather should be spectacular for the next week if the usual Fall pattern holds, getting warmer each day as we get further south.