Almost Home!

     We had a great time at Oriental, spending time with all of our friends. Twice we went out on the water with the Edwards, sailing F-Js and having dinghy-water fights. We were also able to reunite with Ruahk, who was staying in New Bern, and got to meet some of their friends in the area. We stayed at Oriental through Tuesday, with a surprise visit from our friends on Diamond on Monday and Tuesday! We had a lot of fun catching up and reminiscing with them.
     We put in some long days after that, moving north. Wednesday we were on the south side of the Alligator River. Thursday we moved up to Broad Creek, which is north of the Albemarle Sound. Our original plan was to cross the sound Friday morning, but because Friday's weather was a little bit rough, we decided to put in the extra miles and cross it Thursday evening. We were all very glad we did.
     Friday we stayed at the free wall at Great Bridge. We didn't think we were going to be able to stay there at first, because when we were waiting for the bridge to open right on the south side of the wall, the wall was full. Fortunately, a couple of the boats that were tied up to the wall were also waiting for the bridge, so they left, and we were able to get a spot on the wall. We went out for dinner at the Mexican Restaurant no more than a couple of blocks away. We have gone there every time we tie up at the wall - it's got great food at reasonable prices! At this point, we were traveling with a boat called White Seal, a 36 ft boat with a 17 year old girl on board. We had previously met them in Georgetown, and they are a lot of fun! They joined us for dinner, as well as a celebratory ice cream at Dairy Queen, because it was my mom's birthday the next day.
     Saturday morning we left bright and early, wanting to arrive at our free slip in Hampton early. Last year, while traveling down the Chesapeake Bay, our friends on Messenger signed us up for a free night at the Hampton marina during the Annapolis boat show. We greatly appreciated that, as it made it much more convenient when my Uncle came to visit us. He lives in Virginia, and made the relatively short drive over to visit us. We had a fun visit, and he took my dad and brother to the store to stock up on some groceries that we needed to get home. However, the slip was right behind a bar, and they had loud music playing till all hours of the morning.
     Sunday we left early and headed for Crisfield, MD. Crisfield is, unfortunately, a dying town. Last time we were in Crisfield, (which was on our last trip 7 years ago) we were able to go to the crab plant and watch them pick crabs and such. We were not able to do that this time however, because we arrived so late and they were already closed.
     Monday we headed for Solomons. This was our first stop on the trip down, and we have been here many times for Trawler Fest's, which we used to come to every year. We had to take a layover day here, because the weather forecast for today was 10-15 kts of wind, which isn't to bad, but it was on our nose. There were also supposed to be 2-3 foot seas, also on our nose. That means we would have been pounding into them the whole day, with no sails to steady us. So we opted to stay here for the day. Christine, Mom and I took the bus to Calvert Cliffs, a state park famous for the sharks teeth that have been found there. We each found a couple, although they were not very big.
     Tomorrow we plan on heading to Still Pond, an anchorage about 2 1/2 hours away from home. We should be able to make the run, although it's kind of long at 63 miles. But the wind looks slightly more favorable tomorrow, so hopefully we'll be able to put some sail up. Our current plan is to arrive home Thursday morning, but of course, we are boaters, so our plans are set in Jello!

A toast - To old friends and new! (with sparkling grape juice :) )

Dinghy water fights!

Michael, Christine, Alexis, and Nicole sailing the F-J's!