Dave (our water tank man) tried his best but all the things that needed doing just couldn't get done by end of day Tuesday. So... a Wednesday late morning departure looks to be the plan. I'm writing this on Tuesday night, hoping I can post it on Wednesday morning and it will be true!

We have filled the tanks and flushed them 3 times. Along with a primary filter, we also use a seagull water purifier for drinking water, and what we sampled tasted good so I think we are set on that score. Once we get the whole area closed in again, we can put our mattress back on top and voila! a proper berth!

We'll try to make the Great Wicomico River for an anchorage on Wednesday, but it all depends on what time we get away. It would be nice to make a 2 day trip to Norfolk but that looks doubtful right now so we'll just have to see where we get and let you know when we can.

I went back to edit an earlier posting because I forgot to tell you about the Chili Cookoff. As for what we did the last couple of days... hmmm... tidied up the stackpack that lies along the boom and collects the mainsail. There had always been that little block (pully) at the stern end and it took Richard's common sense to show me that by tying a line through it to the topping lift (the line that lifts or lowers the end of the boom), it would hold the stack pack up very neatly. Geesh - how could I have not figured that out before?

We looked at charts and anchorages with Richard to figure out some options, and as always wish there was more time to check out several of them. Then there was laundry... and more grocery shopping (chocolate, cheese, ginger beer - Goslings has its own brand now and we like it a lot)... and purchasing a couple new pillows because our down ones are so old the fabric keeps tearing - with the result that every time Jim fluffs his pillow, feathers go flying all over the place. I thought at first he was moulting, but that is not the case. The lovely mute swan in the picture came for food and didn't lose any of his downy feathers either!

Here's hoping that the next time I post something, we'll be down the Bay!